Date: Wed, 09 Jul 2003 03:27:55 -0500 From: Stephanie Thornhill Subject: To Hell and Back, Chapter 1 What had started as any other ordinary day for most people, was a day that Bethany would never forget. Well, at the time, she didn't think anything was so extraordinary, but looking back, years later, she'd know it. Tomorrow was the day her life would go to hell and then eventually come back to heaven. Today, though, was the day of first day of finals at her college. Sitting up from her bed and slamming her hand down on the blaring alarm clock on her bedside table, Bethany groaned. "Today I've got to take my Spanish final AND my chemistry final. THIS SUCKS!" Hearing a knock on her door brought another groan from Beth. She was sure it was Mandalia. That girl was WAY too hyper WAY too early on. "Just a second. Lemme get dressed," Bethany yelled through the door. Throwing on a nice pair of jeans and a semi-tight t-shirt, Bethany considered herself more or less ready to face the day. She opened the door to the smiling face of Mandalia. "Hi Manda. What's up?" "Well, you know how you said that you weren't wanting to date Jason?" Manda said barely able to keep her grin under control. "Vividly." "So... well, I've found you someone else!" "Manda! You came all the way over here, acting like chipmunk on speed just to tell me that you've found a guy for me?" "Not just any guy. THE guy. You know that really cute guy from your geo class? The one that sits behind that girl with the frizzy red hair?" Bethany thought back to all the people in her geometry class. For the life of her, she couldn't remember a cute guy in the class at all. But then again, most of her time was spent staring at one of the girls a few seats across from her. She didn't have a crush on the girl or anything... she was just pretty and made for a nice way to pass the time in class. "Manda... sweetie, I know you mean well. Honestly, I do. But there's just one little problem with this guy." "What? I mean, it's not like he's got a mole or anything like the last guy I picked." "A mole? Umm... no. That guy had a mole AND hair growing on it." "Well how was I supposed to know? I never paid any attention to his hands." "Besides, the mole. The same thing was wrong with that guy as there is with the guy in my geometry class. THEY'RE GUYS!" "Ugh! When are you just going to admit that you have at least some inkling toward the opposite sex?" "The same day God comes down and tells me that I'm gonna be the rock in an everlasting game of paper-rock-scissors." After a moment of giving Bethany a blank stare, Mandalia finally said, "what the hell are you talking about?" "In other words, I'm a lesbian. That means I like chicks. Not guys. I feel the way about girls that you feel about guys. And besides that, I have a girlfriend." "Okay then, how come I've never seen you get that far away, dreamy look over a girl?" "First off, I don't get that way over anyone. And second, it's way too early to try to teach you about lesbianism again." Shaking her head as if her Bethany would never get it, Mandalia flopped back on the bed to wait for her best friend in the world to finish getting ready for class. ***** "You know," Manda popped out all of a sudden, "you don't technically have a girlfriend." They were walking slowly toward class after they'd finished their breakfast in the campus lunchroom. "Technically, I do. She wants to be with only me, and I want to be with only her. We're dating." "Yeah, but you've never even seen her. I mean, for all you know, it could be a really effeminate guy." "Manda. I know you're worried about me, but you gotta chill. It's not like I'm gonna just pick up and leave one day to move in with her. I just want to be with her. Get to know her better. Then see where things go from there." Inside though, Bethany felt a great deal differently. She was smitten. Badly. She knew it was just a crush at this point, but oh well. ***** Walking back into her room after taking tests all day, the only thing on Bethany's mind was to flop down on her bed and sleep for the rest of the night... or at least pretend to be comatose for a couple of hours. Just as she was about to drift into a peaceful dream, her phone rang. "Damn it," she whispered as she shifted to answer the phone. "Hello?" "Hi!" "Hey baby! What're you doing?" Beth could feel a smile spread across her face at the sound of her long-distance girlfriend's voice. "Not too much. Just sitting around. I have some good news!" "What's that sweetie?" "I'll be there tomorrow!" "Tomorrow? How?" "I bought a plane ticket! I can't wait to see you!" "Wha... well... okay. Where do you want me to meet you?" "Well, my plane gets in at 9:30." "No problem. After I finish dinner, I'll come pick you up." "Not at night. In the morning." "Oh." A long pause filled the static between the lines. "Baby, I'm not finished with finals yet. It'll be two more days till I'm done." "Oh... okay. Well, don't even worry about that. I'll just grab a taxi at the airport and meet you someplace on campus." "Sounds great! How about we meet at the library. It's easy enough to find." "Great! I'll see you then. What time do you get out of class?" "My only final tomorrow ends at 11:00." "Then it's all set. I'll meet you at the library at 11:00 tomorrow!" "I can't wait sweetie! I love you." "I love you, too!" After a few more minutes of talking, Bethany finally hung up the phone and tried to keep calm as images of what tomorrow would be like ran through her mind. Immediately, she ran to Mandalia's room. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. ***** Well, I hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter. The second should be out before too long. If you want to say anything good orbad, you can write me at oceanandsteph@hotmail.com or southern_chyld2000@yahoo.com. I'll write everyone back. It may take a day or two, but I'll write back. Lol. Hope to hear from everyone! And I hope you all enjoyed the story so far!!