Chapter 7

Kendall practically ripped the front door off its
hinges running ahead of her parents. Lucy met her in
the hall.

"I have a message for you." Lucy slipped a folded
piece of paper into her hand with a smile.

Kendall knew what it was without even opening it,
"Thanks Lucy." She kissed the elder womans cheek,
turning towards the stairs.

"Kendall explain yourself right this minute." Michael
handed off his coat to Lucy as he yelled to his
daughter.

She slapped the wooden banister, "What now?"

"Your behavior tonight was down right rude."

"I apologized to the McSwains and I apologized to you
in the car. Now if you'll excuse me I'm tired and I
still have homework to do." She gripped the paper in
her hand. She knew her father wouldn't argue with the
fact that she had homework or she thought anyway.

"You've been acting irrational ever since you met that
boy."

"Oh here we go. Now it's Jeff's fault. No you knows
who fault it is? Bobby's. He meddled into my life.
That's why I'm irrational and to top it off, my own
father takes that jerks' word over mine. Goodnight
mother."

"Kendall."

"Michael let her go. You've done enough for tonight."
Caroline touched his shoulder as her daughter ran to
her room.


      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Aggggghhhhhhh!" she slammed the door locking it
behind her as she wiped the tears from her eyes. She
was so mad she could spit nails. She grabbed her satin
pajamas and stormed into her bathroom. She scrubbed
the makeup off her face and chucked her dress into the
hamper.

She spread her books out on her, grabbing the cordless
as she got on the bed. She excitedly dialed the number
that he left, flicking her fingers waiting for him to
pick up.

"Hello?" his voice was low.

"Did I wake you?" she smiled as he laughed into the
phone.

"Yeah. I fell asleep waiting for your call. You okay?"

"I'm fine. Would you like to go back to sleep?" she
laid back onto her mounds of pillows.

"No way. I miss you."

"I miss you too. How's the job going? Still coming
home on Wednesday?"

"Actually I'll be home tomorrow night. We didn't have
as much as we thought. Do you still want to wait until
Wednesday to get together?"

"You're kidding me right? NO! I wanna see you
tomorrow. I'd rather see you right now but that's
impossible so I'll wait. How could you ask such a dumb
question anyway?" she giggled into the phone, picking
at the comforter beneath her.

"Okay, okay I got it. Where do you want to meet or
should I pick you up at your place?"

She felt awful. He wasn't welcome at her house thanks
to her father. "Why don't we meet at the river? I'll
bring dinner; you bring yourself and the blanket. I
have a late class tomorrow. I'll come right after
that."

"Yeah that sounds terrific. I can't wait. What's your
class?"

"Actually, I have to develop some film for my
photography class so technically it's not a class.
That's the only time it was available. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. It's just hearing your voice and being
miles away from you makes me a little sad."

"Ohhhh. Don't be sad. We'll be together tomorrow. I
hate to do this but I need to go. I'm supposed to be
doing my homework. We'll meet at the river tomorrow
say 5:30?" his end fell quiet, "Jeff are you still
there?"

"Yeah I'm here."

"You're making me feel bad."

"I'm sorry. I just don't want to hang up right now."

She bit her lip at the sadness in his voice, "The
sooner you fall asleep, the sooner tomorrow comes. And
you know what tomorrow brings?"

"You." He snickered, "Ok I'll go. But only because I
know I'll see you tomorrow. Bye Kendall."

"Goodnight Jeff." She clicked off the phone, holding
it to her chest, "I'm falling for you very fast Mr.
Hardy."

The phone rang in her hands, scaring her. She laughed
at herself.

"Hello?"

"Cupcake how are you?"

"Granddaddy I'm so glad to hear your voice." She
sighed into the phone.

"What's wrong?"

"Daddy is what's wrong. I met this guy and now daddy
is doing everything in his power to squash it."

"Why?"

"Because he's not suitable enough for me. He's rift
raft. I'm telling ya, he's really getting on my
nerves."

Her grandfather burst out laughing, "Now cupcake. You
know his intentions are good, it's his actions that
suck."

"You're telling me. Hurry up and get down here so you
can knock your way of thinking into him."

"Soon cupcake. Now tell me about this young man you
met and when did you meet him?"

"Jeff." She smiled at the mere mention of his name,
"Oh granddaddy I met him yesterday. You're gonna like
him. He's so sweet and nice. He's polite. He has two
jobs. Well he says one is a job the other is a passion
that gets paid to do. He smart, funny and he makes me
happy."

"That's all that matters. I like him already. We'll
take him out to dinner when I get there."

"If we're still together. Dad is really determined
this time."

"Stick to your guns cupcake. Go after what you want.
You're my grandbaby, I know you have it in you. It's
late and you have classes tomorrow. I just wanted to
speak with you. Goodnight my love."

"Goodnight Gramps. Give my love to Grams. I'll see you
soon."


        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Kendall stood in front of her full length mirror
nervously checking herself. She chose a thin button up
sweater with a short floral skirt, made of chiffon.
She fixed her hair into a ponytail, curling the stray
pieces around her fingers. She wasn't coming home
after school and she had to look great for him. She
smoothed out her skirt, stepping into her slip-ons.
She shoved her purse into her bag as she left her
room.

"Good morning sweetheart." Caroline greeted her
daughter with a hug, "How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine. Granddaddy called me last night. We had a
nice talk." She locked eyes with her father.

"About what exactly?" his tone was flat.

"Me. See granddaddy actually cares about ME and MY
interests. I'm gonna be late."

"Kendall dinner is at five. We're having company."

"I won't be here. The dark room was only available
today at 4:30 and I have some film that needs to be
developed for class. I'll be late. I'll grab a bite
out." She kissed her mother on the cheek and left
before her father could yell at her.

"I could just imagine what she told her grandfather.
She always, always turns to him and he just coddles
and plays right into her hands."

Caroline shook her head, "That should be what you're
doing."

"Don't start Caroline. Not this morning."

Chapter 8
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