Elyse

V

Chapter V

In front of me were my parents, a man who I assumed was Mr. Janson, and a boy.

My mom smiled brightly and said hi to me and my dad chuckled at my face. I must have looked confused.

"Hello Miss Wilder! I am Mr. Janson, the principal here. I hope your day is going well. Come in and sit!" He pointed at a sit between my parents.

The boy sitting next to him looked at me nervously. I had never seen this boy before. He had brown hair, hazel eyes and an athletic build.

"Come on! Sit down. Welcome!" Mr. Janson said to me with a big smile. My parents looked between me and the chair.

I drifted over to the chair and sat down.

"Wow! Look at your scrubs honey! They look just like mine did." My mom giggled and rubbed her belly.

Mr. Janson cleared his throat, "Yes! What nice scrubs, they look lovely. But we can discuss that later, at home, right Mrs. Wilder?" He looked over at my mom.

"Yes of course!" My mother looked down and placed her hands across her stomach.

As I was sitting there, I realized what this was. This was my first meeting. This was a potential courtship in front of me.

"Miss Wilder, this is Ethan. He is fifteen years old, just like you. I would like you two to have your first meeting tonight, if that is possible! The chaperones will come to your house and pick you up to go to a meeting place. Is that alright with you?"

"Yes of course Mr. Janson." I nodded and looked over at the boy. He smiled when I said yes.

"Perfect! Then the chaperones will be at your house at 6PM tonight!"

I glanced over to my mom and dad before speaking, "But my class doesn't end until 6pm?" I looked at Mr. Janson confused.

"You're a nursing student Miss Wilder. You only stay as long as you need. If you would like to leave now, you can." He stated as if I should have known.

"Oh." I looked down and thought about going home for some lunch and a nap.

"Alright! Well thank you for coming down her Mr and Mrs Wilder! I hope everything goes smoothly with your new little one!" He nodded his head to my mothers stomach.

"Thank you!" she said and walked out of the door with my father. I followed them, leaving the boy with Mr. Janson.

"Okay honey, go get changed! We will wait here." My mom said and held my dads hand.

I walked out and down the hallway quickly to change. Shortly after I met back up with my parents.

Our drive home was filled with my parents asking me all sorts of questions about my day. They were so excited to hear about it and it made me laugh to listen to their stories of back when they were in career school.

Too soon we pulled up into our driveway. My father got out of the car and came around to open the door for my mom. She stood up out of the car and walked into the house. I quietly followed after them.

When they opened the front door I saw lots of purple balloons and a little sign with a cow on it.

"Happy birthday!" They both exclaimed and my mom walked up to me with a small birthday cake that had a little cow on it. I blew out the candles and watched my mom go cut us some slices.

After we finished eating the cake, my dad walked into one of the rooms down the hallway and came out with a large box. My mom smiled at him and watched him bring it over to me. He handed me the box, it was heavy.

I looked at them confused and lifted open the box. There inside the box was the smallest little black and white kitten. It meowed as soon as I opened the box. Its little blue eyes stared at me. It was so cute. I had never seen such a cute kitten.

My dad spoke up, "I know it isn't a cow... but we tried. It is black and white!" He laughed.

I pulled the little kitten out of the box and held it to my chest. It was so sweet. As soon as I held it, it began to purr.

"It's a little girl by the way," my mom said and reached over to pet the kitten, "you can name it whatever you would like."

I put the little kitten down on the floor and hugged both of my parents. This was one of the best birthday presents I have ever received.

I watched as the kitten walked around the floor. My dad went down the hallway again and brought out a purple collar, two purple bowls and a bag of cat food and litter.

I looked at the kitten again and thought of the perfect name.

"I want to name her Annabelle." I watched her paw at a string on the carpet of our living room.

"Thats a lovely name!" my mom said and watched the kitten play on the floor.

"Annabelle it is then." My dad declared.

Later that night I watched as Annabelle fell asleep on my bed. She looked so cozy. All this excitement made me forget that 6 o'clock was just around the corner.

I put on a floral dress with some light make up. I wandered back down the stairs with Annabelle following after me. It was already 5:45, so the chaperones should be here any minute.

Seconds later, I heard a knock at the door. I rushed over to the door to open it. I was greeted with two women who looked like they were exhausted.

"Hi we are here to be your chaperones. Are your parents home?" One of them said and looked around behind me.

"Oh, yes they're in their room. I can get them?"

The other lady spoke up, "No need, just let them know you are leaving. You will be back at 8pm."

I walked to their room and let them know I was leaving. My mom said good luck and my dad said to have good time.

I walked back into the living room where the two women stood.

"Are you ready?" The one asked and I nodded my head.

We walked outside to a small sedan car. I looked into the back seat of the car. There was Ethan. He smiled and waved at me. I waved back.

The one lady sat back with him and the other motioned for me to sit up in the front with her. I sat down and buckled my seat belt. The lady in the drivers seat pulled out of my driveway and drove down the road.

It was complete silence until we pulled into a small parking lot with a building. It looked like a restaurant but I wasn't sure. My mom always told me that we had our courting dates at a building where they had a small restaurant and tables for us to talk.

The women got out of the car and I quickly followed after them with Ethan right behind me. They pulled open a door and stepped inside. We followed them to a small table and the one lady started to speak.

"You may both sit here on opposite sides of the table. We will be at the table across the room. You may not touch. Keep all conversations appropriate."

Both of the women walked away and I sat down on the one bench and Ethan sat down on the other.

A few moments of silence passed til Ethan cleared his throat, "well this is kind of awkward isn't it?"

I nodded, "yeah it really is."

"Well I am Ethan, it's nice to meet you. I'm sorry we have to do this, it's kind of weird if I am being honest. My parents don't really care if I bother with these but Mr. Janson told me I had to."

I listened and waited a moment, "it's okay! My parents were so excited for me to do this. I on the other hand, not to be mean, I was just not exactly excited for this." I laughed a bit.

The boy in front of me chuckled and spoke again, "I completely understand. Want to know a secret?"