The Night I Fell In Love

Chapter 6

Jeffrey

I rang Krystin's doorbell early Saturday morning. In my hands were a whole bunch of papers about our report in Geography. I briefly wondered if she was home when the door opened and there she was, swathed in nothing but a blue midriff and cut-off jeans.

"Oh, hi, Jeff," she said, smiling her dynamite smile. Luckily by now I was immune to it.

"Hi, Krys. I brought our report. Can you type it up now?"

She nodded, "sure. Come on in."

I entered her house, which was pretty cool and huge. The French windows were wide open, allowing the October air to breeze in. Judging by her outfit, I figured she wasn't affected by the cold brisk wind.

"Why don't you just sit there while I type these? Or you can leave these with me and come back later for the completed copy," she said, turning on her computer in their study room.

I was a stickler for perfection, including my schoolwork. Shaking my head, I said, "I'll wait here. You might not understand some of my handwriting."

"Okay. My parents are in the museum for the day so just keep yourself company. If you don't mind, I can type faster without conversation. You can turn on the TV if you like."

"One more question."

She turned to me in exasperation.

I glanced at her anxiously, "is Cooper coming?"

Krystin shrugged and turned back to my notes, "I don't think so. We had a fight last night and he never drops by after a big fight with me. He usually waits for me to cool myself off so I'll forgive him."

These two lovebirds were so compatible. She typed away, leaving me to inspect her house to my heart's content. I knew what Mike would say to me when he knew what I was doing. He'd probably yell at me for not taking advantage of the situation. I mean, here I was, all alone in a gorgeous girl's house with her, and I was checking out her furniture. Big deal, Larkin.

But I wasn't interested in Krystin. In fact, the only girl I kept thinking about was Josie, the girl I sort of met Thursday. She was the type of girl I could really grow to like. Wonder which school she went to. I'd never seen her or her friend in Lincoln High, so maybe she went to Kennedy High. It was just a few blocks away from Lincoln. I grinned at the thought of seeing her again but this time we wouldn't be fighting. I pictured her smiling at me like I was the only guy in the planet. Man, that would be so cool. I'd ask her out on a date and she'd say yes without hesitation, and we'd talk and kiss...I could even hear wedding bells ringing in the distance...

Hey, wait a minute. Wedding bells? It was too early for me to get married! I snapped out of my daydream and realized it was Krystin's front doorbell ringing. She stood up, musing as she went to open it, "wonder who it is. I'm not expecting anyone and mom and dad are out."

I stood up and followed her out to the hallway and heard the voice I dreaded hearing at this moment saying, "I'm so sorry, Krys. I was so stupid last night." I thought to myself, actually, he was stupid all the time. Last night was probably normal.

Krystin was surprised to see him. I was surprised to see him. But he was here, in broad daylight, standing in the foyer with a puppy-dog look on his face. And he was going to kill me. I had to get out of here fast, but my feet were rooted to the spot, frozen with fear.

"Cooper, I wasn't expecting you...I have company," Krystin said dumbly.

Cooper looked over her shoulder and saw me. You know how an enraged bull looked like when he saw red? That's exactly how his face transformed itself. His eyes widened in rage and jealousy. The next thing I knew, I was doubled over as his fist scored me right in the center of my stomach. Boy, that was going to leave an ugly bruise. I stumbled to the floor, gasping for breath. Krystin grabbed Cooper's shoulders, attempting to pull him off me, shouting, "Cooper! Stop this at once!"