The next day at school, I walk down the hall to my locker with Alex; everyone is staring at me and whispering in their friends’ ear. Jay’s locker was right next to mine, the way it has been since our freshman year. I look at his locker, all decorated in stuff like; we will miss you. We love you Jay. Rest in Peace. Everyone signed his locker, including the teachers and coaches. There is a little space in the middle, just big enough for me to sign it. I sign it; “I’ll miss you and keep you in my heart forever. I love you. Love, Jaymee.” I wipe my tears away and open my locker and grab my Calculus book and head to class. I sit in my seat next to Alex. I look at the empty desk in front of me. I think about all the times me and Jay had in class, when he gave me his notes because I had missed class the day before, his perfect smile every morning when I sat down. My thoughts were interrupted when I heard someone say something to me and then Alex throws a piece of paper at me. I awaken from my daydream and say, “What do you want?” I look at the guy standing in front of me, tall and muscular, his golden hair spiked up, his beautiful blue eyes, and his more than perfect smile. He says, “Hey my name is Xavier. What’s yours?” I look down at my calculus book, a tear running down my face, I mumble, “Jaymee” he says, “I’m sorry. Did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean to make you cry.” Alex looks at me and says, “It wasn’t you, it’s just…her boyfriend used to sit there.” Xavier asks, “Where is her boyfriend?” Before I burst into tears I grabbed my book bag and ran out the door. I threw my stuff on the floor and fell to my knees.

Back in the classroom Xavier asks, “What did I do? Was it something I did? Was it something I said?” Alex says, “No, it wasn’t you or anything you said, her boyfriend was killed in a car accident yesterday morning.” “Oh, I’m so sorry. I can sit somewhere else if you want. I don’t want to make anyone upset or anything,” said Xavier. Alex says running out the door, “No, its fine, she’ll get over it eventually.”

The next day I’m laying in bed staring up at the ceiling, I heard my mom call my name so I get up and go downstairs. I get halfway down the stairs and I see my mom standing next to Xavier smiling. My mom says, “This nice looking boy is very polite, did you know that Jaymee?” “Mom!” I said. Xavier hands me a bouquet of red roses and says, “I’m very sorry for yesterday.” “It’s okay,” I said. My mom looks at me and says, “Jaymee...” I look at Xavier and say, ”Thanks for the roses. They’re very pretty.” He says, “Your welcome.” We go out onto the deck and sit down. I say, “I’m sorry about my mom. She just a little to happy to think I’ve already moved on.” he says, “Its okay.” He smiles at me and adds, “I wasn’t really paying attention. I was looking at your beautiful blue eyes.” I bite my lip, smile and say, “Thank you.” “I actually came to ask you something. Are you doing anything tonight? I know it’s last minute but I really wanna get to know you,” says Xavier. I get up and walk over to the stairs and sit down a tear running down my cheek. He gets up and comes and sits next to me. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I wasn’t meaning to. You don’t have to go out with me tonight. I’ll get over it sooner or later.” Xavier said. I turned and faced him, tears running down my cheek. He reaches up and wipes away my tears and looks into my eyes and smiles. I’m looking into his beautiful blue eyes, so shiny that I can see my own reflection in them. I move my eyes down to his smile. He has a perfect smile. I smile back at him and he removes a strand of hair from my face and tucks it behind my ear. He leans in and kisses me. Without thinking I kiss him back. The whole time I’m thinking about Jay and when he first kissed me. He pulls away and smiles at me again and looks back in my eyes. I bite my lip and stare at his lips. I lean in to kiss him again. This time I’m thinking about his soft lips against mine. I pull away and scoot closer to him. He puts his arms around me and I sit there in his arms. I say, “Yes.” Xavier confused says, “yes?” “Yes. I’ll go out with you tonight.” I said. Smiling Xavier asks, “How does 8:00 sound?” I answer, “sounds great.” sitting there on the stairs in his arms thinking yesterday I was crying because I lost Jay. Today I kiss a guy and sit in his arms. Happy. Smiling.

I kiss him goodbye and run inside to get ready. I take a shower and wrap myself in a towel and call Alex. She comes right over and helps me pick out something to wear for my date with Xavier later tonight. I’m panicking because he’s gonna be here in an hour and I haven’t even done my hair yet. So, while Alex is trying to find something for me to wear I run into the bathroom and plug in my straightener and start blow-drying my hair. Alex calls out, “Jaymee! I think I found something!” I run from the bathroom into my bedroom and she found the cutest outfit, so I put it on and run and do my hair and make-up. Right as I get done putting on my lip gloss, the doorbell rings and my mom calls, “Jaymee! Xavier is here!” I grab my purse and go downstairs. His golden hair is spiked up just like that day at school. He smiles and said, “You look really beautiful,” and hands me a rose. I smile and say, “Thanks, you look great.” He walks me to his truck and opens the door for me. I smile and get in. He goes around to his side and gets in and starts his truck and we drive off.


The next morning I’m lying in my bed thinking about my date with Xavier. He took me out to eat and then to a movie. I had the best time and I want to do it again. It’s Saturday and there is nothing to do, so I call Alex and ask if she wants to hang out. We met up at the beach and we sit there in the sun and watch all the guys walk by, watch them play with their dogs and watch little kids build sand castles. This guy comes up to Alex and says, “Hey my name is Nick. I saw you sitting here sitting in the hot sun and thought you could use a drink.” Suddenly my phone starts ringing and I look to see who it is and its Xavier. I answer it and he says, “Hey do you wanna hang out today? I answer, “Well I’m with Alex, but she looks like she’s busy so I’ll ask if it’ll be okay.” I ask Alex, “Hey is it okay if I go hang out with Xavier? You and Nick look like your kinda busy anyway?” she says, “Yeah sure. Have fun and stay outta trouble love you,” I yell as I’m leaving “Love you too!” I tell Xavier to meet me at the diner in 20 minutes. I run to my car and dig through my purse to find my keys and I start it and pull out of the parking lot and head for the diner. I turn on my stereo and pop in a CD and jam out to some hip-hop music. I come to a stop light and some of my friends pull up beside me so I put down the top on my car and yell, ”Hey guys!” and they look at me and yell, ”Hey!” the light turns green and I speed away. I pull into the parking lot at the diner and find a parking spot. I run inside and Xavier says, “Hey over here!” I look and I walk over to him. He stands up and kisses me and we sit down. A waitress comes over and says, “What would you two want today?” Xavier ordered a chocolate milk shake and asks, “What would you like?” I said, “The same” he then says, “make that 2 milk shakes” and the waitress says, “I’ll be right back with your orders.” He smiles and says, “So, I wanted to ask you something but now isn’t the right time to ask you.” I smile. He adds “how are you today?” “I’m good, how about you?” I reply. He replies with a smile, “Couldn’t be better” “why is that?” I ask. He says, “Well for many reasons. The first one is you’re my girlfriend. The second is because you look very beautiful today. The third reason is I wanna ask you something.” He smiles and then laughs. “What are you laughing at?” I ask. Laughing he says, “Nothing, you just look very beautiful today.” “Thank you,” I reply with a smile.

We sit there in silence for a few minutes then he pulls out an envelope and sets it on the table in between us. I look up at him and ask, “What’s that?” smiling he says, “Open it.” I pick up the envelope and open it. Inside are 2 tickets to prom. I look up at him and, still smiling, he asks, “Will you go to prom with me?” “Yes” I replied with a smile. He leans across the table and presses his lips against mine. He pulls away, takes out his wallet and pulls out a $10 bill and lays it on the table. He gets up and holds out his hand. I hesitate for a moment thinking then I grab his hand and we walk slowly out to my car. He turns and faces me. He takes my hands and wraps them around his neck. He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me close to him then whispers in my ear, “Did you know you look very beautiful today?” He pulls back then leans down and presses his lips against mine. He pulls away, opens my car door and says, “I’ll call you later.” Then gives me another quick kiss and walks to his truck. I get in and shut the door. I sit there for a moment staring out the windshield smiling. I start the car, put my seat belt on, put the car in gear then pull out of the parking lot. While I’m driving I’m thinking about how happy I have been since the moment I looked at Xavier. I have almost completely forgotten about Jay. When I get home I get out my laptop and start to do homework. I look at my calendar and we have a little over 2 more months of school left. Prom is in 2 weeks and graduation is still a long ways away. I look at the letter from the University of Louisiana and remember that Jay and I both got in. Now, I’m not sure if I still want to go or if I want to go to Vanderbilt. They are both great schools. Alex applied to Vanderbilt and got in. I’m still waiting for the letter. We promised each other that if only one of us got in we would still visit each other and keep in contact. Xavier never mentioned if he’s going to college or not. He did mention that he wants to open his own mechanic shop. I was startled when I heard a knock on my door. I ask, “Who is it?” “It’s mom” my mom replied. I get up and open the door and go back to my desk and sit down. She comes in with my dad following behind. She says, “We need to talk.” I look at them with a worried look on my face. My mom starts out, “Jaymee,” I answer, “yeah.” My dad says, “We were gonna tell you sooner but you have a lot you’re dealing with. With the accident, Jay, prom, Xavier, graduation. You just seemed so busy we never got the chance to tell you.” I ask, “Tell me what?” My mom replies, “You’re adopted” I look at them like, ‘you have got to be kidding me’, I say, “you’re kidding right?” My dad answers, “no, we’re not kidding. You’re very much adopted.” With my eyes starting to water I ask, “What happened to my real parents?” My mom says, “When you were born your parents got divorced. After a few months your mother got sick, so she sent you to live with your father. A few months later she died. Your father took care of you as best as he could. About a year after your mom died, your father was diagnosed with cancer. He died 3 months later. No one else in your family would take you in. We saw an ad in the paper about a little girl that was in need of a home. We contacted child services and talked to them about adopting you. When we saw you we knew you were the perfect child for us. We signed papers and took you home with us a couple days later and we raised and loved you like you were our own child.”