Elyse

II

Chapter II

My dad smiled when I finished the sentence. He picked up his pen and slowly scribbled down for my career: NURSING.

I was nervous to see the bold words in front of me. I could be a nurse, just like my mother.

The rest of the conversation with my father was filling out the loads of paperwork that was sent to us by my career school. Come tomorrow I would be sitting in a beginner nursing classroom, getting to learn the ins and outs of what my mother does every day.

My mom walked into the kitchen rubbing her stomach slowly, "wow little one, you are really kicking my bladder!"

I watched as she grimaced in pain. My dad stood up and walked over to stand behind her and wrapped his arms around her, his hands slowly rubbing her stomach as she rested into his touch.

It seemed like they had always loved each other, like it really was a harmonic match. They argued very little, and even when they did, they always made up. Unfortunately for me, I could hear it all the way in my bedroom.

I always felt like I would never find that, or maybe I just simply feared I would never find that. I knew deep down I had a secret. A secret I could never tell anyone unless I wanted to get thrown to the trench with the rest of the outcasts.

And while as much fun as that looked, I would never see my mother and father again. I was only 14, well almost 15, and I couldn't do it on my own. I found my eyes lingering on my parents, watching them hug while my father rubbed his hands on my moms back to comfort her.

What felt like hours was only seconds. My mother giggled after my father grasped his hands around her butt, "stop that Arlo!" She scolded and walked away.

"So honey, did you finally finish filling out all the forms?" She looked down at the pile of papers in front of me which were laid out all over the dining table.

"Yes, I think so" I reached out to grab all the papers and started arranging them back into order. Once I place the paperclip around it, I heard a gasp from my mother.

"Wha—?" I was cut off by my mother before I had a chance to finish.

"You're becoming a nurse?" She glanced at me. I couldn't tell if it was a face of disappointment, shame, or pride.

I looked down at the table, "I think so.." I trailed off not sure what she would say.

Her eyes lit up and she wrapped her arms around me. Her stomach pressed into me and I felt a little flutter.

"I am so proud of you! You're going to be the best nurse ever," she shifted away and sat next to me, "do you have any questions?"

I took a deep breath and shook my head, "no I think I am confident in my choice for now." She followed with a soft sigh and stood up.

"Well, it is almost 8pm, you should probably start getting ready for bed. Its a big day tomorrow." She smiled and grabbed my fathers hand from behind her as they wandered into the master bedroom down the hall.

I was left to my own thoughts now. Was this the right choice? I think so, or at least I hope so. I stood up swiftly and put my packet of papers into my bag. I ran up the stairs to my bedroom to go take a shower and get ready for bed.

Shortly after, I stepped out of the shower with steam surrounding me. I had washed my hair and I needed to blow dry it if I didn't want it to look insane tomorrow morning.

As I stood in my robe with my hair sectioned, I dried each section of my hair and threw it into a messy bun. It hadn't felt like it was that late, but I looked down at the clock and saw that it was already 10:32pm. The night had gone by so quick. I had my first day at my career school at 9am. It wasn't much earlier than pre-career school, but I was there all the way until 6pm.

I grabbed some pajama shorts and a tank top. I was just about to crawl into bed when I heard a knock at the door, followed by my father walking into my room.

"Hey kiddo," he waved, "I just wanted to say get some good sleep! I will be up around 7am tomorrow if you would like me to wake you. But of course you can use the clock alarm too. Your mother has the day off tomorrow because she has a doctor appointment so she won't be awake."

I told my father I would wake up on my own. He smiled and told me goodnight again.

As soon as he left, I crawled into bed. I looked over at my alarm clock, which was still from when I was a baby. It had pink butterflies on it, and the numbers were purple. I quickly pressed the button that said "set alarm" and typed in 7:15.

Unlike the years I had been in school, I had to either walk to school, get a ride from a friend or parent, or if I was old enough, I could drive myself. Unluckily for me, I wasn't old enough to drive, which meant I was going to be walking to school.

I couldn't stop thinking about it being my 15th birthday, the new school, and if I would see any of my old friends who used to go to school with me before they were 15. Last I heard, my best friend, who was older than me by three months, had been working to also become a nurse. It may have swayed me a bit to choose that. But she was already three months ahead of me, so who knew if we would have any classes together.

My best friend, Delilah, was a beautiful girl with soft blue eyes and ginger hair. Her smile was contagious, and she had an amazing humor. I always felt safe around her. She was my favorite person.

Of course, since going to her career school three months ago, I hadn't seen her much. It had been maybe two or three visits since then. She was wrapped up in school and I'm sure also wrapped up with her meetings with the potential person for her.

She was a Sagittarius, which was paired with a Libra. I was a Libra. But she was meeting the male Libras. Which was as downfall to our society.

Women always met men, and men always met women. Never two men or two women. We had been taught in school that being a homosexual was wrong and we were going to be thrown to the trenches if we practiced it.

I personally never saw anything wrong with it. Why did it matter who someone wanted? But unfortunately the system wanted to produce more babies. Years ago, they found birth rates declining. The Federal system was failing and the social security system was falling apart. The older generations no longer had the money they used to. Which in return meant the newer generations were...well, fucked for lack of a better word.

I always found myself admiring women. They were kind, and beautiful. While men where always gross. Unlike my father, it seemed like the majority of men were rude and never loved women like my father loved my mother.

Now maybe I wasn't meeting the right boys. After all, they were just that, boys. I never dared to tell anyone the way I felt, except Delilah.

I remember telling her that women were just...better. She agreed with me with a laugh. I'm not sure she really understood what I meant, but I wasn't even sure I understood what I meant. All I knew is I wasn't super interested in trying to talk to boys.

But that would change tomorrow, right?