The Broken Princess Journals : Sally

1. Trouble

02/03/05

I wasn't looking for love when I met Donny. I was seventeen, fresh out of high school with my entire future ahead of me. I had friends, hobbies, dreams, a boy I thought I loved. I wasn't looking for love, I wasn't looking for trouble, but I found it. I found trouble.

It was a Saturday, we'd just had a youth group meeting at church, my friend Abby and I were about to head home and it seemed like choir practice was just starting. We sat outside chatting, then I heard it, I heard a voice I'd never heard before. A man's voice, sweet and clear belting out one of my favorite songs, "Be magnified". Suddenly I lost my train of thought trying to figure out where that voice was coming from.

"Sally! Earth to Sally!" I heard Abby's voice through my trance.

"Hmm? Abs who is that?" I asked

"Who's, who?" Abby sighed, her voice laced with exasperation.

"The voice, the song," I said getting up to actually go and find the voice.

Abby grabbed her stuff and got up after me. She was used to my obsession with voices. I love to sing and I'm one of those people who know everyone by their voice, be it singing or speaking voice. I prided myself on knowing everyone's voice so the fact that I'd heard a strange voice, Abby knew I would never let it go till I knew who on earth it was singing.

Walking into the church I saw what I would normally expect to see at a Saturday pre-service choir practice. Most of the usual choir members were on the stage around the microphone stands, only today they all stood looking at this one person, a boy about seventeen or eighteen, tall and skinny, belting out that song in this incredible voice for all the world, like he meant every word.

"Whoa who is that?" Abby said nearly bumping into me as I stopped abruptly to examine this stranger.

"That's precisely the question I want an answer to" I said softly.

We stood there as he sang almost hypnotized by the way he sang. I mean sure we had great singers in our choir, but no male voice quite like this. Eventually the boy with the angelic voice stopped singing and the rest of the choir members came to life and began to exclaim how good he was as the choir director got the practice back on track. Abby and I went back outside to wait for our ride home. I'd find out later who that boy was I mean eventually I knew everyone in the church, part of the blessing and the curse of being the Pastor's only child.

Since our ride home was my Dad and he was still in a meeting Abby and I like typical teenage girls sat outside talking about what teenage girls talk about. Clothes, music, boys. Eventually the choir rehearsal came to an end and everyone started heading home. I got the usual greetings and lectures about why I wasn't singing with them and I gave the usual lame excuses about how I was way too busy running the youth group and teaching kids Sunday School to sing which was only slightly true. I had never really liked the attitudes of most of the choir members and I felt like every time I sang they would pick on me and try to put me down which made it impossible for me to look at my singing as ministry. They were like mean girls and jocks and I just didn't have the time to deal. So I gave them all fake smiles, laughed and joked with them. What else could I do, if I ignored them it would be "The pastor's daughter thinks she's too good to talk to us" I could deal with "She thinks she's too good to sing with us". I picked my own poison, thank you very much.

I kept right on smiling and talking, then I saw him. The guy with "the voice". Up close he wasn't too bad looking but he had this swagger to his walk and a slightly cocky smile I thought. "Stop it Sal," I chided myself plastering on my most welcoming grin. I was trying to see the best in people all the time and stop with snap judgments.

"Hi", I said pouring on the charm "I'm Sally"

"Yeah I know," said stranger-boy and there was that smile again, snap judgment or no, there was definitely a good measure of cocky in it.

"I'm Donnie," he said with his hands in his pockets. Yep cocky.

Then a thought hit me at the back of my mind. One of the kids I taught Sunday school, Mickey had told me his older brother Donnie would be coming home for good. I loved Mickey he was one of my favorite students but the kid could talk, a lot. I confess I had only half listened to him go on about how I would love his big brother because we had so much in common, how we both loved music and how we would sound great singing together. But now as I stood in front of this guy I could see how strikingly similar he was to little Mickey, he could be the older, cockier version of Mickey.

"Hey you're Mickey's brother right?" I blurted.

"Yeah Mickey, and Peter, Gertie, Mirabel and Jonathan" He said mentioning his other brothers and sisters who were also in my Sunday school class.

"Wow so you're the famous first born I hear so much about," I said.

"Yes. Yes that's me" he said beaming.

"You have an amazing voice," I complimented.

"Thank you! I hear that you do as well."

I laughed and started to answer when I heard my dad call out "Princess, time to go."

"Coming Dad," I yelled gathering my stuff and tugging Abby. "Guess I'll see you later Donnie" I said over my shoulder. I noticed him wave and flash that cocky grin again. Seemed like an okay guy to me I could use another friend.