I Was Saved... by the Jerkface

Blake's Dad

{One Month Later, the end of March}

"Hey Belle, look at this one," Blake called from across the classroom. We were currently in gym, but one of the sports teams had to use the gym for today, so we had moved ourselves to a vacant classroom and the teacher let us do nothing all hour. Blake and I took the free time to grab a laptop from the library and do some research. Since my mom had banned all further contact with him, I had to use this time wisely.

I came over to the desk he was sitting at and leaned over his shoulder to see what he was looking at. "See, this one has a huge master and one and a half baths. Look how big the kitchen is! You won't find that anyplace else," he told me excitedly.

I had to admit, it looked really nice. His excitement was contagious. "Well, you seem to really like it. If that's the one, then I say go for it," I encouraged him, kissing his cheek discreetly from behind. I didn't want to gain the attention of anyone in the classroom, but they were mostly focusing on other things.

Yes, we were looking at apartments. The fact that he liked to include me in this process just made me incredibly giddy. We had spent some time after school the last few days making a plan of how exactly we were going to pull this little stunt off. Well, okay it wasn't exactly little - it was kind of life-changing, but whatever.

So far, we had come up with a plan. Blake and I were currently searching for a small apartment together near his home town of Edmond, Oklahoma, right outside Oklahoma City. I was beyond nervous, but I swallowed my butterflies most of the time so that he wouldn't think I was second-guessing my decision to stick with him. After we found a place and found proof that we were financially able to handle this, we would let our parents know. I for one was nearly peeing my pants at the thought of telling my parents that I was moving out as soon as I turned eighteen...

I had made sure that Blake knew: I had to be able toprove, absolutely prove, that I could handle this big of a change to my parents. I couldn't just walk up and say, "Oh, hey, by the way, I'm leaving home for Oklahoma. Okay, see ya!" That wouldn't go over well at all.

I have had a savings account all my life. Every single bit of money that I had been given for birthdays, Christmas, or anything else, or any that I earned, went into that account. When I turned eighteen, the money would be all mine. My parents trusted me not to blow it all on something stupid, although I didn't know how much they would trust me after I dropped the bomb on them.

Plus, even though it might sound stupid to them, or absolutely crazy, I wasn't going to regret moving across the country with Blake. I would have to go to college anyways, and just because I went to college and lived in a different state didn't mean I wouldn't come back to see them frequently! Even I didn't want to cut myself off completely from my family - I still loved them! I would just have to wait and see if theywanted me to come back.

So, I would most likely attend a university in Oklahoma. I would have to, if we wanted to live there. I had already sent in my applications to many, many colleges across the country, so if I got accepted to one of the ones in Oklahoma, I would just go with that one. Blake had done the same thing, but the only difference was he only applied for colleges in Oklahoma and New York. He didn't want to go anywhere else.

Blake had a savings account, too. My family was a little more well-to-do than his, so of course his dad wouldn't put in as much as my parents did for my account, but he also had a job, whereas I didn't. We had told each other how much we had, and it turned out that they were pretty much even.

We had enough money combined to get by well enough for about two years, if we budgeted correctly. We would also both get jobs once we moved out there, so we wouldn't have to worry about money all the time.