Two Years From Today

Two

When I got home from church, I felt weird. The fact Johnson had been so open to me was a new thing. No one was like that, at least, not in real life. 

I walked into my kitchen, and my sister was already asleep in her room. My parents were in the basement watching family movies together. I sighed, and found my cat Coco laying on my bed, sound asleep. I walked beside her, and she automatically started purring. I laid beside her, and I drifted off to sleep as well. 

When I woke up, I looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. I stretched, and Coco was already gone. I wasn't surprised, she was a food addict. As was I, and my stomach growled. I crept past Kate's room, careful not to wake her. Once I was in the kitchen, I realized there wasn't a lot to eat. I finally decided to make a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and went back to bed.

The next morning, my mom was in the kitchen, humming quietly to herself as she made pancakes. I came up beside her, and smiled.

"Hi Mom." I said. "Why are you up so early?"

She smiled. "I couldn't sleep. Could you put butter on these?"

I nodded and buttered the pancakes for her. My dad wouldn't be awake for hours, but I was up early for Seminary.

LDS youth are encouraged to take Seminary, a church class before school. Some kids have the option to take in during school hours, but because of the lack of members in my area, we all meet at a church building some time from my house. 

My mom seemed eerily quiet, and I stopped buttering and leaned onto the counter and looked at her suspiciously. 

She looked over at me. "That new boy seemed nice..."

I groaned. "Mom, what am I, fourteen?" I was visibly annoyed.

She smiled mischievously. "I'm just saying, I don't think it's healthy for you to be waiting for Connor."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a pancake to go. I called upstairs. "KATE LET'S GO!" She ran down the stairs, looking usual Kate. Perfect hair. Beautiful clothes. Gorgeous make-up. She was ready to go, and she was typing away on her phone. She gave my mom a "look", and nodded discreetly. then she followed me to the car. 

I got there around six. I walked into the classroom we usually held seminary in, and my eyes immediately found Johnson at the back of the room. He was talking to two other girls that seemed to be drooling over him. 

Johnson was the kind of boy your parents want you to date. A boy who attended early morning Seminary, probably planned to serve a mission, and was intelligent. What was better than that? My mom sure seemed to approve of him. I'm sure Kate wouldn't mind either. But I was waiting for Connor.

I met Connor in sixth grade, when I moved into my current ward. He was a nerdy boy who loved video games, but eventually, we both turned sixteen and we ended up together. LDS teens are encouraged not to have a steady boyfriend or girlfriend, but we were the real thing anyway. I didn't think I regretted it, but I always felt like I was doing something wrong.

Johnson saw me then, waving his hand to a seat he'd saved beside him. Both girls looked at me. I knew them both, of course. Marina and Allie. They were nice, so I wasn't going protest sitting by them. My best friend Jenna walked into the room, already pumped up. She didn't go to my school either, but nevertheless, we were best friends. She saw Johnson talking to me, and walked down the aisle toward him.

"Hello sir," She said, holding her hand out to him. I mentally covered my eyes. "I'm Jenna. I don't know who you are, but I would like to formally prepare you that Reagan has a missionary out in the field and they most likely will be married."

Then, she sat down behind me, leaving the room laughing, including Johnson. He smiled at me. "She's a charmer."

I nodded. "You just gotta love Jenna."

Just then, class started up. Johnson made deep comments, which added to the Spirit of the room. It was the first class I actually remember watching people shed tears. Johnson really added to the atmosphere.

"Nice job newbie," I complimented him after class had ended. "You really made an impression on our teacher, I could tell."

Johnson seemed proud. "Really? That's good."

Juliet and Kate emerged together from their class, and smiled at us and then at each other. I glared at Kate, and she threw her arms in the air, as if she were surrendering.

"Oh, Jules, I forgot my cell phone at home. Do me a favor and call Mom and tell her class ended?" He asked her nicely. She nodded, and I stopped her.

"You don't have a ride to school?" I asked them both.

Juliet nodded with a light smile. "No, before me moved Johnson sold his car for extra money."

Johnson shrugged. "It's alright though, my mom said she'd take us."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "Yeah, right. Get in our car, you can ride with us." 

Kate was automatically on board, but Johnson stopped her and asked politely, "Are you sure it'd be alright?"

I nodded. "Yeah, we're all going to one place."

They both agreed, and Kate and Juliet ran to the car. Johnson and I went a bit slower, and Marina passed by us. 

"Hi Johnson." She said sweetly, waving a little.

He waved back and she turned the corner.

Marina was another one of those "parent approved" kids. She was spiritual, and nice to everyone. Not to mention she was a natural blonde, with gorgeous highlights and low lights. Her eyes were the color of cornflowers. I had a boyfriend, so why did it bother me so much she said hi?

I got over it pretty quickly, and walked out to the car, twirling my keys around my index finger. Johnson got into the passenger seat while Juliet and Kate sat in the back. They compared nail polish colors while Johnson and I compared classes. We had two out of our four classes together.

As we arrived at the school and got out of the car, Kate said, "Jules, are you ready for choir?"

Juliet smiled. "Yeah. Let's get going. Bye Johnson!" She called.

He waved, and we walked into school together. He held the door for me, and a few people glanced. I felt embarrassed, but Johnson seemed unfazed. After all, he was one of the most social people I'd ever met. He smiled at me, and asked me where our first class was, since that was one we had together, which was French IV. French was easy for me--it always had been, and by the looks of it, Johnson was almost fluent.

"My mom's side of the family all are from France. So I picked stuff up here and there." He explained on our way there. I nodded. As I walked past people, girls were definitely staring, with good reason. Johnson was cute, and new cute boys were always the most sought after (which, by the way, I do not support.).

As we entered French, it was the same way. I was his first friend here, which meant he'd be attached to me. It also meant people would be talking about us a lot.