Roselyn and the Hawthorns

Chapter One

*Roselyn*

Although she loved her boyfriend, Roselyn wasn't too fond of his family. Or more accurately, they weren't too fond of her. It wasn't like she hadn't made an effort for them to like her, she had. But it was no use. The Hawthorne family was not moved. Well, all the Hawthorne's except one; and Jack, her boyfriend, loved her very much.

They had gotten together one particularly sunny afternoon after having liked each other for a while, not that Roselyn knew that at the time. They were sort of friends before that, occasionally making an effort to hang out with each other after they met at a drama club meeting one afternoon during her grade 10 year (his grade 11 year). She had liked him and hadn't expected him to like her back, but after a perfectly wonderful afternoon when they went out for ice cream to celebrate the end of exam season at the end of last year, Jack confessed his feelings to her and asked her out and Roselyn said yes, and that she liked him too.

It was wonderfully blissful after that. Well, perfectly blissful until they went to his parents house. When she had brought Jack to her house it wasn't so bad. Everyone was very welcoming and hadn't made strange commentary much to Roselyn's relief. She knew that her family (aka her parents and her three younger siblings) had a problem blurting thoughts one normally keeps to themselves at random intervals of the day and that it wasn't predictable. She could list at least ten times this had happened off the top of her head on any given day. The worst time being the time her family had blurted out the fact that she had broken down crying after her crush at the time had rejected her, to another parent on the night of a concert while the guy involved happened to have been standing right there to witness it right before she was to go on stage play with her band. She was mortified.

But luckily they had been good this time, and had made sure not to say anything they thought would embarrass her. Her mother even made extra sure to clear with her what she should and should not say before hand so it would be extra clear. Roselyn had been very touched that her mother had made the extra effort, and even more touched that the rest of her family had tried their best to include him each in their own awkward way.

Her dad made sure to ask him what his intentions with his daughter was, and made at least three dad jokes. Her mom made sure to ask if he was into basket weaving - her latest interest at the moment. Although every-time her mom realized she was about to ask something potentially embarrassing she would pause whatever she was about to say mid-sentence and say: "Oh whoops I'm not supposed to talk about that haha."  Her siblings each asked him a different question about school and his hobbies, although Gloria, (her four year old sister) did ask if they did the sexy-time only to receive a stern glare from their parents. Roselyn had coughed awkwardly every-time they had said something potentially inappropriate to remind them not to talk about that.

Sure they were clumsy in their attempts, but at least they were trying.

The real problem was when they went over to Jack's house and met his family. The truth was, Roselyn had known his family for years. And hadn't thought much of their behavior at the time. But the second they announced their relationship, everyone got very... icy shall we say.

When discussing this with Jack earlier two weeks before school started, he had told her to ignore them. They had been hanging out at her house reading books, discussing life problems, and generally preparing for school. Jack had been lying down on her bed looking at a magazine and she was at her desk rummaging through her desk drawer trying to find her school supplies. "I know it's difficult, but can't everyone get along?" He had asked. Roselyn had arched an eyebrow and stared at him in disbelief. "I mean is it really that difficult?"

She had glanced over at him and responded; "Honey, I know you have been living with them your entire life and therefore you are used to their... well, snobbishness, but I'm not. I mean it isn't like this was their first time behaving like this towards me, but then again I wasn't dating you at the time."