The Night I Fell In Love

Chapter 3

Josephine

"You won't believe what my mom hatched for me yesterday," I said as Mari and I walked down the hallway of our school the next day. We were wandering around aimlessly during our free period, enjoying the freedom of no classes for the moment.

Mari grinned, "I can't imagine Mrs. Brendan hatching anything."

I smiled back, "she doesn't look like a chicken, huh. Seriously, Mari, she met this guy, Ben, in the construction site where she and dad are working. Ben's a guy our age who has this ambition to be a hotshot engineer someday and he's always asking dad about engineering stuff. Now both my parents are totally wowed out of their minds by him."

She shrugged, "so what's wrong with that?"

"Well, for starters, mom and dad can't stop talking about this wonder boy and to top it all off, I'm to meet this guy in person tomorrow night. Mom invited him over for dinner."

"Maybe your parents want you to be enthusiastic about engineering or architecture and follow in their footsteps," Mari reasoned.

I shook my head, "I wish it were as simple as that. They're planning a romantic spark in their older daughter's love life, apparently."

Mari burst out laughing, nearly toppling me over, "you're kidding! Your parents are actually playing matchmaker? I can't believe this! Boy, you are in big do-do!"

"Thanks so much for the warning. I kinda figured that all out by myself," I said sarcastically.

She chuckled, "sorry, Josie. I mean, you do realize that this is your mom and dad we're talking about. They're even older than my parents and they're planning a romantic dinner for their daughter."

"Knock it off, Mari," I said sternly, but my mouth was twitching with suppressed laughter.

The bell rang, and we headed for our class. Mari sobered up, "so what are you going to do about it?"

I shrugged, "try convincing them that it just won't work out. I mean, I haven't even met this guy and already I have this uneasy feeling about him. But I have to sit through the dinner tomorrow first and suffer his company."

"Even if you know your parents have designs about you and Ben?"

I nodded, "what else can I do? They're my parents and I can't say no to them."

"You are a pretty obedient girl, Josie," Mari commented seriously.

"Thanks, but it won't hurt to be disobedient for awhile. Let's do something tomorrow night so I can escape early. They can let me off the hook if we have a group study."

"Sure, as long as they don't catch onto your scheme," she grinned.

We entered our classroom and sat on our regular seats. I turned my head to her, "by the way, I spotted a pink slip of paper on the bulletin board when I passed by this morning. Do you know what was written on it?"

"It's about a trivia contest sponsored by Kennedy High and Lincoln High for this Saturday. Scott Elliot is our representing contestant. Care to go and watch this weekend?"

Butterflies filled my stomach at the mere mention of his name. "Of course we have to watch it! I mean, to show support to our school," I added less excitedly. Nobody knew about my secret crush on Scott, not even Mari. "Where is it being held?"

Mari thoughtfully said, "I think it was the mall, in the fifth floor. A lot of people are going so we'd better go early in order to get good seats and not miss out on the action."

The next night I was filled with mixed feelings. I was dreading the start of the dinner and excited for it to end. I didn't feel like spending another minute in Ben Carland's wonderful (note the sarcasm again) company, especially when I knew that mom and dad intended to give us an intimate moment after dinner. I got the impression that Ben was a bit of an apple polisher, the way he managed to creep into my family's life, the Creep.