Arranged Marriage

Married At Fifteen!? {Ch. 2}

"Nooo!" I screamed dramatically as Simba fell off the cliff. Evelyn elbowed me. "Shut up. You're ruining it. Oh my god He's not coming back up. He's not coming back up!"

"No! Simba! Nooo!!" we both screamed loudly. That's right. We're crying over the main character in a Disney movie. But seriously, The Lion King is good. It deserves to be called a classic! Unlike the stuff they seem to be shelling out, now... In my opinion, anyway, don't get offended.

I yawned, and so did Ev. "Creepy!" I said, and she laughed. "Hey, what time is it?" she asked me.

"I dunno," I answered. "You're the one with the cell phone."

She chuckled. "Right,"

I continued watching the movie. "Oh my god! Evelyn! He came back up! Simba's alive!" I screamed in joy.

"Oh, shit," she mumbled, looking at the time. "Huh?" I asked. Did she suddenly have something against animated lions?

"Love, you gotta be home in ten minutes. Then I gotta get in a car and drive to *someplace, I don't know where. But she's moving away, so...*."

"Ohh." I said. "Aw, Evie, what am I gonna do without you?"

"Don't call me Evie, Lovie, and how am I gonna survive without you?" She responded.

"Lovie, ew. And I dunno, but I have to go. Help me pack?" I asked her. She nodded, obviously sad.

We packed my stuff in silence, and we cried and hugged each other as we left. I waved to her when I got to the end of the driveway, and she waved back from the door. I turned and walked to my house, and she closed the door to her house.

Tears began running down my face, but I didn't even notice. I'd just lost the two people I cared about most in the course of twenty-four hours. It was not my week. And I still had a month to go until school started! I almost, almost, wished school was already in, so I had something to take my mind off all the inevitable loneliness I knew had to be coming.

When I got to my house, there was an unfamiliar car parked there. Oh, well, I couldn't care less. I walked inside, and saw my parents sitting in the living room. "Lovette, honey, come upstairs with me. I'll help you get cleaned up. There are some people I want you to meet, who'll be affecting your future very drastically." My mom said, standing up.

"Okay," I nodded. I really didn't care who they were, so I didn't look deeper into my mom's words. I just felt numb and full of sorrow.

I walked up to my room, Mom following.

In my room, there were three very pretty women standing around. "Lovette, please sit down." My mother said, not so much as a request as an order.

I did, not saying anything, now confused. My mother nodded to the women, who immediately rushed up to me. One pulled me up, ripping off my clothes, so I was just in a polka-dot bra and white undies. Can we say 'awkward'?

I tried to cover myself up, and she threw a dress at me. Gratefully, I put it on, and she rushed over and began fixing and hemming it to look good on me. One of them began putting make-up on me, and the other pulled my hair. I gasped as she practically pulled some out of my scalp.

"Mom," I finally managed to say. "What's all this for?"

She regarded me warmly, guilt filling her eyes. "Oh, Lovette! You're getting married! I'm so sorry!" She rushed over and tried to hug me, but she couldn't find an opening through the ladies.

"What?!" I screamed, causing the women working on my make-up to "Tsk, tsk." at me. I glared.

"Mom, what the hell do you mean, I'm getting married?" I yelled, causing even further annoyance to everyone working on me. It was pretty sad my parents had to call in professionals to get me to look nice, anyway.

"Honey, I'm so sorry." Again with that phase! I'm tired of everyone being 'so sorry'! I wanted to yell at her, but didn't, figuring I deserved an explanation for at least one thing today.

She continued. "But you still have to get married. You see, back, before you were born, your father and I got into some trouble. We were in very bad debt, and about to go bankrupt. One day, you're father met the family of one of his friends from college. They were very well off, and decided to help us get back on our feet. Their son had just been born and I already knew I was pregnant with a baby girl." She paused, waiting for a response. I just nodded. I had a feeling I knew where this was going.

"So, honey, in return for their kindness, we promised them you would marry their son when you turned fifteen. As you know, you're birthday was a month ago, and we can't put this off any longer."

She finished and I just there, not really wanting to say anything. She stood in front of me, probably waiting for me to explode, which I probably would have done, any other day. But now, I was too tired to do anything. I felt sick at heart, and there was a stone at the bottom of my stomach, telling me there was nothing I could do. I wanted to puke, or cry, or scream, but I couldn't. I hadn't eaten all day, I'd run out of tears, and I felt strangely out of breath.

"When's the wedding?" I finally asked her. Her eyes filled with tears. "Oh, sweetheart, it's today! Now! That's what you're getting ready for."

I felt despair crush me, and my eyes welled up, just when I thought they'd been dry.

"Please don't cry," said the woman working on my make-up. "I just did your eyes, and they look spectacular. It'd be a shame to ruin them."

"Oh. Okay." I said, fighting internally to hold back my tears. In the end, I succeeded.

From there, it was a blur. I didn't really understand what was happening to me, and I didn't really care.

I know that at one point, I was ushered inside the unfamiliar car. Well, that explains it, I thought. We drove for about ten minutes, and stopped at a chapel I had never seen before.

I was ushered out of the car, with the three women following. We got inside, and they added the finishing touches to me.

Suddenly, someone threw a veil over my head, and I could barely see. The Wedding March, started playing, and the doors opened widely. I walked in and down the isle, my ears ringing, and my eyes stinging.

For the vows, I just repeated what I had memorized from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. {Author note: Awesome movie! Check it out.}

My veil was pulled back, and a stranger kissed me lightly on the lips. It only lasted for about half a second, so I didn't kiss back.

Then, I was ushered outside and back into the car. Only one thought was really clear to me, and that was: But I always wanted a spring wedding.