Chapter One

The next morning, Jessica awakened to the soft glare of sunlight on her face. Opening her eyes lazily, she looked out her window, noticing it was open. Jessica smiled to herself, knowing her mother had come in early to open it. It was Saturday. Her mother was always up bright and early on Saturday for one reason or another. On a hunch, Jessica glanced to the other side of the room, and spied a yellow sticky-note on her bedroom door. Climbing out of her daybed, she walked over to it, picked it up, and began to read:

Jessica smiled again. She knew her mother was estatic to be going to Ohio, and spending the summer with her family. She had also told Jessica that her old college friend was going to be staying too, and ever since then they had been on the phone chatting non-stop. It looked like Jessica wasn’t the only one wanting to get away from city-life.

Jessica placed the note on her dresser and headed for the bathroom to take a shower. Half-way there, she was stopped by the ringing of the telephone. Sighing, she quickly walked to her nightstand to answer it. “Hi Jen!” she cheerfully greeted into the phone. “How’d you know it was me?” asked Jen. “Who else would call me at 10:00 a.m., and still be alive?” she answered. “I do that a lot, huh? Well...ANYWAYS! Guess what?” Jen asked excitingly. Jessica laughed. “So there’s actually a point to this call?” “Haha, very funny, dear! Just for that I won’t tell you who likes you...” Jen started whistling in the background. Jessica rolled her eyes. “Okay, Jen, sorry. So who likes me?” she asked in a bored voice. “Scott!” Jen screamed. Rolling her eyes again, Jessica proceeded to pick out her clothes for her trip. “Scott? Scott Luther? Football player Scott? The one who has dated ALL of the cheerleaders at least once?” she asked, as she pulled her suitcase out from under her bed. “Yup, THE Scott!” Jen answered with forced cheerfulness. Finding it hard to pack and hold the phone at the same time, Jessica pressed the speaker button. “Jen? You still there?” “Yeah, um, what are you doing?” she asked, obviously irritated that her news wasn’t being appreciated. Jessica threw her favorite baby blue shirt into the suitcase. “Packing,” she replied. “Oh, it figures! When the finest guy in the school wants to go out with you, all you can think about it that stupid trip!” Jen practically shouted into the phone. Jessica grinned as she searched for her white platforms. “You like him, don’t you Jen?” she asked her friend. “No...” Jen answered innocently. “I knew it! You do!” Jessica exclaimed. “Well, duh, of course I do! Everybody does!...except you of course,” she added hopefully. “Well, then you won’t have a problem scoring a date with him...cause I’ll be out of your way!” Jessica replied. “Yeah,” said Jen, sadly, “you’ll be in Ohio having fun without me!” “Yeah, right, like Ohio is that big of a difference from Tulsa dear...well, at least for that whole city part.” Jen grumbled for a minute, but then lightened when she remembered her other news. “Hey, girl, guess what?” she asked. “What?” Jessica asked, holding up a green tank top, and then finally adding it to the discard pile. “There’s going to be a huge party at Amber’s tonight, and guess who’s going to miss it?” Jessica gasped sarcastically. “I wonder?” “Well, except for that little fact, I’m still excited about it...I mean, think of all the people who are going...” Jen added. “Are you like asking for my permission to ask Scott out or something?” Jessica asked, knowing her best friend too well. “Well...” Jen started. “Go for it,” cut in Jessica. “Thanks Jess!” Jen said, giggling, “you know, the party won’t be the same without you.” Jessica sighed. Her friend knew parties weren’t her thing anymore, but she still begged her to go to them everytime. “Like I was going to go in the first place,” she muttered, almost feeling Jen’s drop of her cheerfulness. “Jess, how much longer are you going to go on like this? I mean, you really need to have a social life here!” she said. Jessica laughed. “What? You know I don’t like parties anymore, and besides, even if I were to go, don’t you have to have....I don’t know...a date maybe?” “Oh, yeah, right! Like YOU will have a problem finding a date. All the guys at Wilmore practically fall at your feet...wasn’t it just YESTERDAY that the captain of the basketball team asked you out? And TODAY that I told you Scott liked you?” “Yup,” Jessica muttered, trying to stuff her capri pants in her already too-full suitcase. “See what I mean? You turned Dave down, and Scott...well, actually I’m pretty glad you gave him up...but still!” Jen huffed. Jessica quit her packing for a minute and sat down on her bed. “Okay, Jen, listen. There is no possible way on this earth that I will ever go out with a guy unless I know ALL about him first. All I knew about Dave...was that he was on the basketball team! That’s it! And he knows squat about me! Obviously all he wanted me for was my looks. I want something more than that, Jen, okay?” “Okay, Jessie, I hear ya. I guess I want the same things too...I’m just worried about you. I mean ever since last year and your breakup with Brenden you haven’t been the same.” Jessica’s pulse quickened. She wanted to tell her best friend everything but she knew she never could. She couldn’t tell anyone about that night... “Jess? You there?” Jen asked when she got no reply. “Yeah, Jen, I’m here. Listen, my flight leaves in three hours and I’m not even dressed yet. Then I have to finish my packing...” “Jessica, are you okay?” Jen asked, noticing the slight tremble in her voice. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just have to go now,” Jessica replied, gripping her headboard for support. “Okay, girl. Call me when you get to Ohio, okay? I’m really going to miss you, Jess.” “I’m going to miss you too. And I promise I’ll call. Tell Ashley and Samantha I’ll call them too, k?” “Okay, Jess, c-ya,” Jen answered. “Bye, Jen,” Jessica said, and pressed the End button on the phone. Left in silence, she put her head in her hands. “God, please, help me to forget this. I can’t do this without you.” she prayed outloud. Praying was one of Jessica’s windows, something she could always turn to. It was the main reason she had made it through this past year. It always gave Jessica a peace that she wasn’t always alone, and that God would always be there whenever she needed Him.

About two years before, you could possibly say that Jessica was with the “in-crowd.” The crowd in which parties and dating were all that mattered. Jessica had always thought that she got into it because of her looks, because every guy wanted to date her. Back then, this was fine with her. She didn’t really know the meaning of “being used.” But even then, she knew something was missing from her life. Thinking that “the crowd” would somehow show her what that was, she got in deeper. But she came to find out what that something was, one night after a party. Her boyfriend of two months, Brenden, was taking her home, and Jessica was unaware of the fact that he had been drinking, but soon found out when he pulled over on a deserted road. Of course no one could hear her cries for help, but she cried anyway. For the first time in her life, she reached out to God for help. And he helped her, giving her the strength to fight off Brenden in time, and to run the two mile stretch for help. When it was over, Jessica didn’t even know how she got to safety. God was carrying her the whole way, and He still was. Noticing the way her life had turned out to be, she stopped all of her routines of “popular life,” and she finally realized what she was missing. Jessica now saw that night as just one of those obstacles you have to go through. She never told anyone about it, and she wasn’t about to. She believed that she could do it on her own, but with the help on God to guide her through. She hardly even thought about it anymore...except for when she thought about being close to a guy again. Maybe this was one of the reasons Taylor and her got along so well. Being able to not talk face to face was good for Jessica. She could know that a guy would like HER, instead of just her body. Even love her...

Jessica snapped out of her thoughts as she recalled her conversation with Taylor the night before. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten until now. Jumping up from her bed, she pressed the power button on her computer. “He said he loved me” kept popping up in Jessica’s mind. “Okay, Jessie, stop freaking out here!” she told herself forcefully while waiting for the computer to boot up. Sitting down in her desk chair, she nervously tapped her nails on the mouse as she waited for her Yahoo! mail to pop up. She typed in her user name and password, and waited for her INBOX. (author’s note: Don’t you just hate waiting for your mail? I do. I’ll shut up now.) She shut her eyes and pleaded “please be one, please be one.” Upon opening her eyes she saw the No Messages box come up. She sighed heavily and rested her head on the computer screen. “Erg,” she muttered softly.

****I am in no way associated with Hanson or Mercury Records. What you are reading is purely fiction. F-I-C-T-I-O-N.****