Arousing Love, a teen novel (sample)

Chapter 3

Five p.m. but no sign of Joanna. I waited for her outside the store and eventually she showed up, her face flushed, her eyes red. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I need to talk to you.” She glanced towards the store. “Let’s go somewhere else.”

We followed the rough dirt path that led down to the beach. For some time she didn’t speak, then she stopped and faced me.

“My parents know about us. Lizzie told them I wasn’t with her last night. They wanted to know where I was . . . they yelled at me.”

She started to cry. I put my arms around her and she buried her face against my chest. When she looked up at me again, her eyes full of tears, I gently asked, “So what did you tell them?”

“That you’re just a friend, but they freaked out when they asked how old you are.”

I hugged her tight. “It’s okay. We’ll keep a low profile for a while.” 

“I don’t want you to get in trouble because of me.”

“Don’t worry about me.” I gently wiped a tear from her cheek. “I don’t mind getting in trouble for you.”

“I don’t want my parents to be mad at me either. I don’t wanna sneak around behind their backs and have to lie to them.”

“So . . . what then?” 

She didn’t say anything.

“You think we should stop seeing each other?” A small part of me felt relieved at the thought of it ending, it was already so emotionally intense. But the rest of me couldn’t stand the thought of losing her. I started to feel angry. What happened to love finding a way? She just gives up at the first sign of trouble. And I was worried about breaking her heart.

“Zach, do you think you could talk to my parents? I know if they met you they wouldn’t be so freaked about it.”

“You think they’ll let us keep seeing each other?”

“I don’t know,” she lowered her eyes, “I hope so.”

“But if they don’t . . . will you keep seeing me anyway?”

“I don’t wanna disobey my parents, but I don’t wanna lose you either. I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“Alright, let’s go see them then.”

We started walking back up the path. Joanna took my hand, giving it a little squeeze of appreciation.

I was nervous about meeting her parents—I could just imagine some big confrontation with them.  

“What are your parents like?”

“They’re Christians—but don’t worry, they’re not scary or anything. Just don’t mention the times we’ve been alone in your room together.”

“What should we say then?”

“I don’t know . . . just say we were hanging out and talking.” 

I sighed. Is this really worth it—getting a grilling from her parents so I can spend some more time with a girl I’ll probably never see again? But even one minute with Joanna was worth it. I had no choice. 

We entered the campground and she led me through the woods past several campsites. She squeezed my hand again as we neared a campsite with two tents. I could see a middle-aged couple sitting at a table, but they had their backs to us and hadn’t seen us yet.