Virginia was awake before dawn and running throughout her room, trying to get ready. She turned to look at the clock—5:51 a.m.
She panicked.
Quickly, she ran into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth fast and then jumped to makeup. She fanned her lashes with mascara, outlined her eyes with eyeliner, and carefully touched up her eyelids with a light shadow.
"Virginia," she heard her uncle calling from downstairs. "Your beau is pulling up in the driveway!"
Virginia looked at the clock. 5:58 a.m. Oh no! He is early! …Did Uncle Andrew just call him my 'beau'?
Running down the hallway, she shot into her room and grabbed her backpack. Before she flew out of her room again, she noticed the diary she had placed on her dresser last night. For a brief second, all the rush of life faded away, and it was just her and that leather book.
Could there have been something that I missed?
Optimism and doubt played with her. What should I do?
"Virginia, Charles is at the front door!" sang her uncle from the foyer.
Virginia shook her head and looked at the diary once more. Why not?
She reached out and grabbed it off the desk. Frantically, she opened the flap of her backpack, unloosed its drawstring, and placed the book inside.
"I'm coming!" she called back.
Closing her bag, she slung it over her shoulder and ran downstairs. She reached the foyer and ran to the front door, but she was stopped by her uncle grabbing her backpack from behind.
"Hold on now!" he said. "Aren't you forgetting something?"
Virginia turned around and asked her uncle, "Forgetting? Forgetting what?"
Without speaking, Andrew took a glance at her feet. Virginia followed his gaze and noticed that she had no shoes on.
"Oops!" she stammered.
She dropped her backpack by the front door and ran back up the stairs.
Thrusting her bedroom door open, she frantically searched for her Converse.
Under the bed?
Nope, not there.
Perhaps underneath the desk.
Nothing.
The closet!
She ran and opened her closet door and looked all around its floor. Nothing was there except the shoebox containing the hiking boots her uncle had purchased for her. Complacent and reluctant, she stared at the box, hoping another alternative would come to mind.
"Virginia!" called Andrew. "Shall I tell Charles that you got caught up prettying yourself for him and couldn't make it to school today?"
Those words alone seemed to pull Virginia back from her morning daze. She had no choice. Quickly, she opened the box and pulled out the hiking boots. Grabbing a pair of socks from her dresser, she sat on her bed and put on her new footwear.
Downstairs stood Charles in the foyer, wearing a pair of blue jeans, a burgundy T-shirt, hiking boots, and a black jacket. He looked up at the railing at the top of the stairs and then at Andrew.
"Is she okay?" he asked.
Andrew stood in the middle of the foyer, holding Virginia's backpack.
"Oh, I don't know, Charles!" he replied, deliberately loud enough so Virginia could hear him.
Charles raised one eyebrow. "Are you okay, Andrew?"
"Oh, yes. I'm fine, son." He changed his voice back to a louder pitch. "But I'm not sure if Virginia is going to make it. Last I heard, she was—"
"Putting on her shoes!" interrupted Virginia as she ran down the stairs.
She grabbed her backpack from her uncle and gave him a piercing look in passing, hoping it would silence him from any further jokes. Andrew just smiled at her in his childlike, audacious way.
Virginia walked over to the coat rack and grabbed the brown leather jacket that Charles had given her. Putting it on, she looked up at Charles, who was looking back at her.
"I'm ready," she said with a smile.
"Perfect," he said anxiously. "Let's go."
"Hey!" exclaimed Andrew. "You're wearing your new shoes!"
Virginia rolled her eyes. "Yup. Sure, am."
"Hey, those are really nice!" said Charles.
Virginia's eyes got big. "Really?"
"Oh, nice! They are the same brand as mine, too! Good choice."
Virginia looked at her uncle, who was looking back at her with a wink and a thumbs up. She felt a soft blush fill her cheeks.
"Okay! Well, w-we should get going," she stammered.
Lowering her head, she walked out the front door.
Charles cocked his head and frowned his eyes as he looked at Andrew, annoyed at his jests. Then, without saying a word, he walked out the front door, closing it gently and leaving Andrew alone in the foyer to laugh at his own humor.
"Oh, young love is quite a thing, now, isn't it?" he joshed.
The light was faint over the horizon. A blue and black sky was still overhead, and only a few stars remained. Virginia walked to the driveway where Charles's truck sat idling. She went to the passenger door and reached for its handle.
"Wait!" came Charles's voice.
Virginia turned and saw him approaching. "What is it?"
Charles made it to the passenger door. He reached out and opened the door for her. "There you go."
Virginia stood there staring at Charles for several seconds before breaking free from another daze and slowly climbed into the truck. Once she was inside, Charles closed the door and walked around to the driver's side.
She pulled his jacket over her shoulders, smiling at him as he walked around the front of the truck.
Charles opened his door and got in the driver's seat.
"Okay!" he said enthusiastically. "Are we ready?"
Virginia just nodded her head.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
No! Don't ask me that! Her cheeks blushed, and her lips tightened as she looked straight ahead at nothing, trying to hold back a smile.
She nodded her head again.
"Well, alright then," he said. "And we're off."
With that, he put the shifter into first gear and drove.