wait for it

sleep;

April 11, 1967;

Dear diary,
    It is currently 4 o'clock in the morning, and I still can't sleep. I haven't been able to for the past few weeks actually. David left two hours ago since we heard my father come inside the house, late from work as usual. He's a doctor, which takes up a lot of his time, not including the fact that he never gets any days off from work. Anyways, I thought I'd ought to tell you how our relationship sort of works, since I haven't really been able to discuss this much:
Abigail, I call her Abby for short, is the only person who knows about us because she caught David sneaking into the window at night, thinking he was an intruder. She's surprisingly quite supportive of us! Sad thing is, we can't really tell any of our friends, so they have no idea. We don't normally discuss the whole "interracial marriage" topic together, I'm quite positive we actually have never talked about it. David and I have such great friends, I'm only worried that we might lose them after being with them for our whole lives if they don't turn out as supportive as we'd expect.
The worst part is what Abby told me once she found out.She was joyful, really. But she said she doesn't think my father will react the same as she did once he finds out.
Yes, I'm aware this might sound ridiculous as it is, but it's the plain truth. Ever since I was young my father had been trying to convince me to get with someone of the same race as me once I'm "old enough" to date. This probably sounds terrible, but I honestly don't blame him one bit. He went through such heartbreak and loss because of his decision to do exactly what I'm doing. He's just looking out for me, that's all. I love him dearly, deep down I know he would be happy for me if I told him, but I can bet a million stars my gut feeling is nothing but far from the truth and reality, and there's nothing I can do about it except to keep on hoping and praying for all to turn out well.
David is the love of my life. I may not have had a lover before, but I'm somehow able to tell that he is the one. He's been with me through everything, he's been my best friend since we were 7 years young.
What hurts to live with is knowing we have never actually been on a date before, we just can't. We'll look too much   like boyfriend and girlfriend, it'll be way too obvious.
It's so hard to keep on hiding from everyone, I just want to be a normal teenage girl, to be able to proudly introduce David as my boyfriend, to be able to kiss his sweet lips as we walk down the hallway at school for just a split second instead of having to sneak under a staircase, to hold his soft and warm hand as we walk to school together instead of having to avoid physical contact. I just want to be his girlfriend.

"You've been asleep for 12 hours, Elizabeth! It's time to wake up!" I heard Abby say as I let out a loud groan, stretching my arms out.

"What time is it?" I asked, confused about everything since I fell asleep at a weird time. She sighed and checked her watch.

"It is 4:25 in the afternoon on Tuesday, April 11, 1967?  You're lucky I lied to your father and told him you went to a friend's place to sleep over!"

"How do you know what time I went to bed?" I asked, confused once again, squinting my eyes at the bright sunlight she let in the room as she opened my curtains.

"These floors aren't made of soundproof walls, darling." She let out a low laugh and sat on the edge of my bed.

"But you might want to get into your uniform, your father is arriving in thirty minutes since he wants to spend time with you. He thinks you were at school all day instead of sleeping."

"School? Abby, I missed an entire day of school?' I exclaimed loudly at her.

"Yes, you did. Your little lover stopped by around midday to check if you were okay. Such a sweet young man." I could feel my cheeks burning a deep crimson red as she mentioned David.