Chapter 5

Julie met me at the front door to the school on Thursday morning. She greeted me with a hug and a kiss and gushed, "Oh my God! I can't believe your parents are willing to let us live together. It'll be so great!"

I returned Julie's kiss, mostly to get her to slow down so I could talk too. "Julie, you do understand that my parents are willing to let you live in my house, not to share my bedroom with me?"

"Yes, I understand that, Kyle. I'm just so happy that we won't get separated."

"You're getting ahead of yourself, Julie. My parents don't really expect that your parents will ever agree to this plan. I think that is part of why they said that would take you in. They don't think it will really happen."

"I understand. Your plan is a good start for us. I have been working on something that should help convince my parents to allow me to stay here. I think my plan will complement yours perfectly."

I asked, "What is your plan?"

"I'm still working on it. You'll find out soon. I think it will clinch things for us."

"When do you want to talk to your parents, Julie? Should we talk to them at your birthday dinner next week? I bet they would be in a good mood that night."

"No. I won't be ready yet, Kyle. I'll probably be ready the next week."

"Aren't you waiting awfully long? When does your dad move to Nebraska to start his new job?"

Julie explained, "Daddy will start in ten days. He is going to fly out on Sunday nights, spend the week out there and fly home on Friday nights until the whole family is ready to move in July."

"OK. We can talk to your parents on a weekend. How soon do you think you'll be ready?" I asked.

"I think Saturday, May 19th will work best. Everything should be set by then."

"Dinner with your parents on the 19th. I'll be there," I said. Julie and I kissed. We needed to hurry to get to our lockers and then our homerooms before the late bell rang.

--oooOooo--

Mom helped me buy a birthday gift for Julie. Julie and I had gone to the mall together a few weeks ago. She loved this one sweater. Mom talked to Mrs. Simpson and got Julie's size. She drove me to the store and helped me buy it. When we got home, Mom helped me wrap my present. Mom was a lifesaver. I never was any good at picking out presents.

--oooOooo--

Our high school drama guild was putting on a play called "Mother Goose's Fairy Tales" for the next three Saturday afternoons. On a lark, my friend Penny Edwards decided to audition for the play last month. She thought she might get a small part. She did so well when she tried out, that they made her Mother Goose, the narrator for the play.

Julie and I decided to take her brother W. J. and my sister Lizzie to the opening matinee. It was funny to watch my sister and how she acted around W. J. On the ride to the school, Lizzie slid over a little too close to W. J. for his comfort. I don't know if she did it in imitation of Julie and me. She tried to draw him into conversation, with little success. W. J. sat there, obviously petrified to be beside a girl.

Lizzie was twelve years old and was boy crazy. She knew exactly how to drive the twelve year olds that had been in my patrol last year wild. None of those boys knew what to do about it, but at least they knew girls were something interesting.

W. J. was eleven. He was still at the stage where girls were a mystery, and of absolutely no interest to him. When we found our seats in the auditorium, Lizzie sat down first. W. J. refused to sit beside Lizzie. Julie and I ended up seating between the two of them. W. J. finally relaxed when he had some space between him and this frightening girl.

The play was awesome. Penny was dressed in a goose costume. She had a pair of granny glasses perched on the end of her nose. She introduced each fairy tale. She was on and off stage constantly through the whole play. Penny was great. The curtain closed to thunderous applause when the play ended with Penny's final monologue. I had no idea that my ex-girlfriend had that kind of talent.

--oooOooo--

The following Tuesday Lizzie was sick. Mom took off work and stayed home with her. Since Julie and I had planned to make love that afternoon, we decided to meet at her house instead of mine like we normally did. I rode my bike to Julie's house when I got home from school.

Julie wasn't as cheerful as usual when she greeted me at the door. We headed down the hall to her bedroom. We started undressing between kisses. Julie was down to her panties while I still had my pants on when we started to make out. We locked lips together. My tongue drilled into her mouth, searching for her tongue. Julie wasn't reacting passionately like she normally did.

I pulled away from her, stared into her eyes and asked, "Is something wrong, honey?"

Julie hesitated for a second and then said, "I'm ... I'm having my period."

"That's OK. We always have fun even when we don't have intercourse."

"It's not that, Kyle. I wasn't supposed to ... I mean, I wasn't expecting to have my period this month." Julie said. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Don't cry, sweetie. It's OK. We'll make love next week. This is fine."

"NO! It's not fine. Everything is ruined," Julie said. She started to cry softly. I held her for a couple minutes until she calmed down a little.

"Why is it so terrible that you are having your period? I don't see how that ruins anything. We can make love later. I promise."

"You don't understand! I wanted to be ready for when we talk to my parents on May 19th. I wanted to be able to tell my parents that you and I were going to have a baby. That would have clinched things to allow me to stay here with you."

"But you are on the pill. Why would you think you would get pregnant?"

"I stopped taking them as soon as I found out my parents were planning to move. I want to have your baby, Kyle." Julie explained.

It finally sunk into me what she was telling me. "What??? Why would you do something like that?" I screamed.

Julie looked shocked at my reaction. She tried to answer, "If we have a baby..."

"GOD DAMN IT! HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?!?" I shouted as my anger boiled over. I grabbed my shirt and shoes.

" ... my parents couldn't separate us..." Julie added.

I stomped down the hall to the living room. I paused to put my shirt on. Julie called, "Kyle, please come back."

I stomped out and slammed the door behind me as Julie called my name again. I slipped my shoes on and hopped on my bike. I rode home as fast as I could go.

How could Julie be so stupid? The last thing we needed now was to have a baby. Who was this girl I thought I loved? I was seething. She had no right to do this to me!

I have a bad temper. When I get angry, I really blow up. I usually calm down fairly quickly too. During the ten minute ride home, I went from livid at Julie to remorseful for the bad way I had treated my girlfriend.

I went straight to my bedroom and called Julie when I got home. She answered, "Hello?"

I said "Julie?"

She replied, "What do you want?" coldly.

"I'm sorry, Julie. I shouldn't have yelled at you. Can we get together to talk some more?"

"Not if you're going to yell at me again, Kyle," Julie answered.

"No, I won't. I have a temper. I'm sorry. You shocked me when you told me you stopped taking your birth control pills. I promise I won't yell. We need to talk about this whole thing."

"OK. Are you going to come back to my house, Kyle?"

"It's a quarter to five. It's too late to get together before dinner. Could we meet at the park at 6:30 pm? I think we need some privacy to finish talking about this."

"OK, where do you want to meet in the park?

"You know the new walking trail? I'll meet you at the bench at the beginning of the trail."

"I'll see you at the park at 6:30 tonight."

I thought about what I wanted to say all through dinner. I rode my bike to the park as soon as we finished eating. I arrived ahead of Julie. She arrived a couple minutes later. Even though the walking trail Ed built for his project was only a few weeks old, a lot of people were out using it. Julie and I headed down by the creek so we would have some privacy.

We sat down on the grass. I started, "I'm sorry I called you stupid earlier today, Julie."

"I love you so much. I just want us to be together. I thought you would be happy if we had a baby together. You and I have talked about how you want to have a big family some day. I thought this was the best way for us."

"I love you too, Julie. I have seen what it is like for kids to have a baby at our age. Do you know where Justin and Sherry Baer live?"

"Not exactly," Julie answered.

"They live in a tiny apartment over the garage at Justin's parent's house. It's about the size of my bedroom and Andy's bedroom put together."

"I didn't know that."

"Justin could have had a football scholarship to college. He gave that up when Sherry got pregnant. He should be done with college now, but he is only half done and has to take all his classes in the evenings. What you want is too hard for us."

"If you love me, why won't you do this?" Julie begged.

"I won't do this because I love you. I want you to have the best in life. Having a baby now is a terrible idea. It's the twenty-first century. We need a good education. If we have a baby together, you'll miss cheerleading, track, Venturers. What about college? We are only sixteen. This is all too soon."

Julie asked, "What do we do then? I want to be able to stay with you."

"The only thing I can think of is to convince our parents that we are mature enough to decide something like this. I think we talk to your parents tomorrow night after your birthday dinner. That is our best chance."

"Will it work?"

"I don't know, I think this is our best chance."

"I hope this works, Kyle," Julie declared. The two of us talked for awhile and discussed how we were going to convince Julie's parents.

--oooOooo--

Dad drove me over to Julie's house for the big birthday dinner. I gave Julie my gift when I arrived, but Mrs. Simpson said dinner would be ready in a couple minutes, so presents would wait until after dinner.

Julie chose to have steak for her birthday dinner. I ate nervously, conscious of how important it was for Julie and me that I say what we wanted exactly right. Our future together depended on it.

The meal was excellent. We sang Happy Birthday to Julie. Mrs. Simpson served cake and ice cream to everyone. W. J. excused himself when he was finished with his dessert.

The time had come. I looked to Julie and she nodded, indicating it was time to ask. I explained, "Mr. and Mrs. Simpson, I have been dating your daughter for six months. I have fallen in love with her."

Julie confirmed, "I love Kyle too."

I continued, "The two of us can't stand the idea of breaking up. My parents have agreed that Julie could share my sister Lizzie's room during the school year. Julie could stay with her friends, her cheerleading, track, and the classes and teachers she knows. When school is over, she can come live with you in Nebraska."