Status: not sure if I'll ever finish. I don't have much time anymore, but, never say never.
Because She Would Ask Me Why I Loved Her
My Colorful Life
Franklin, North Carolina is just like your regular small town, but it is in the mountains of North Carolina. It snows in the winter time and sometimes in the summer it is so hot, you want to stay inside all day so you don’t break a sweat walking outside. People waved hello when you saw them on the streets, whether you knew them or not. Even though we had televisions and cable, most of our time was spent outdoors.
Then there were churches in Franklin, Church of Christ, St. Francis Catholic Church, First Baptist Church, Resurrection Lutheran Church, Grace Presbyterian Church, Holly Springs Baptist Church, St. John’s Episcopal Church and you get the idea. My family attended First Presbyterian Church in Franklin and I had yet to miss a service since I was old enough to attend church, which was when I was only a few weeks old.
The only person in my family to miss church was my dad, but since he was a Senator in Washington, he was “excused” from going to First Pres. However, when he was home, he would be in church. Since my dad was a major politician in D.C., I barely saw him.
My best friend, Jackson, even noticed this when we were younger, when my dad picked me up from his 5th birthday party. He asked who the man picking me up was and I responded,
“He’s my father,”
as though it were totally natural.
“Oh,”
he said,
“I didn’t know you had a father.”
So, in order to break away from all the "expectations" my family had, I tried to rebel against my parents as much as I could once my teenage years hit.
Jackson and I had our ears pierced and were seriously thinking about getting tattoos. We listened to loud music and cursed, which made all the mothers in the church say,
“You don’t want to be like those boys.”
Of course, we also had our fair share of women, I was still a virgin but that did not mean I knew what to do. Just before senior year started, I had been dumped by my girlfriend of 2 years, Nikki for another senior, Dean. We were still friends, most of the time.
The pastor of First Presbyterian, Rev. Caedmon Matthew Collins, or Rev. Matt Collins, was an ok guy. He tried to relate to the old people in the church, as well as attempt, key word attempt, to connect with the youth. My guess was he tried because he had a daughter.
Her name was Kadence and she and I were complete opposites, I was the “bad boy” son of a major politician in D.C. and she was the innocent preacher’s daughter. Since only about 3,500 people lived in the town we essentially grew up together. We were in the same classes all throughout elementary, middle and some of high school.
I swear, Kadence lived at the church because every time those doors were open, she was there. She was also very involved in our local humane society and acted in our school plays. Every single time I passed by her in the halls, she was always talking about either
“helping the poor animals”
or
“helping Daddy/Mama at the church”.
I honestly was sickened by it, how could someone spend so much time at the humane society, theatre and the church and still have time to do homework and make straight A’s? I did not volunteer my time anywhere and still struggled to make a B, but granted I did go out on the weekends but still, how did that happen?
Just before my senior year, my guidance counselor had the “brilliant” idea to talk me into taking a drama class first semester. She said, “It will look good on your college transcript and you also need the credit for something ‘artsy’ and this would help you.” So, I agreed but reluctantly.
The Sunday before the first day of school, I was in church, singing along to “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” while looking at Kadence and noticing that she was a little bit paler than usual but threw that thought out the window because she was always pale. For as long as I have known Kadence, which according to my mom has been since she was born, I am only 2 months older than she is, she has had curly brown hair, brown eyes and really pale skin.
She has always worn skirts and when she turned 13, a mysterious ring appeared on her left ring finger. I later learned through the grapevine that it was a “purity ring” and it was to show that she was to be a virgin till she got married. I had to inwardly laugh at that because most of the guys in our class wouldn’t look at Kadence in that way ever.
So, back to church, when we finished singing “Come Thou Fount”, Rev. Collins talked about faith and how we must put our faith in God, especially when hard times come our way. I had no idea what he was talking about and almost fell asleep. When the sermon was over, we sang a new song, “You’re Beautiful” by a singer named Phil Wickham. I am not going to lie, it was a pretty good song and I was happy to get out of the church once it was over.
Kadence stopped me on my way out saying,
“I guess I will see you tomorrow Kellan.”
“Sure, whatever,”
I said.
I did not want to see Kadence tomorrow but knew it was inevitable, since we were in the same honors English and Math class, the same history class and the same science class. There was hope, my drama/theatre class. I really hoped Kadence wouldn’t be in this because she was already a part of the theatre department at Franklin High, so maybe she wouldn’t be in this class.
After picking out my clothes for the next day, I went to bed and woke up the next morning with a horrible dream in my head. I dreamed that Kadence and I got married. I got dressed in my jeans with a red plaid shirt and my leather jacket and then went downstairs to greet my mom, who always made breakfast for me. This morning, she made pancakes and sausage. I quickly ate it and said “goodbye” to Mom before grabbing my book bag and started to walk to my white BMW.
I didn’t even attempt to notice my dad trying to talk to me as I made my way to the car. I knew what he was going to talk to me about and I didn’t want to hear it this morning. I had always planned to go to college either at Clemson University or North Carolina State while majoring in Chemical Engineering, but Dad wants me to major in pre-med. I don’t know why but maybe I should consider it, but not today.
When I got to school, I noticed Kadence’s car already there, even though school wasn’t supposed to start for another 30 minutes. That’s another thing about Kadence; she was always early for things. While this may seem like a good thing, it made me wonder what she did during that time, but when I saw her reading her Bible one day, it made sense. I also saw Jackson’s car in the parking lot but I can tell you we were not going to be reading our Bibles before school.
I kept looking at my watch and at 7:40, I told Jackson I was going inside and he said,
“See you in English man.”
We didn’t have the same homeroom but it was only 30 minutes, so it wasn’t too bad. I found my homeroom and low and behold, guess who was in my homeroom, sitting in the front row? Kadence, oh joy.
Kadence in her black shirt, red skirt and boots, reading her Bible, isn’t that just great? To make matters worse, there was only one seat available and that one seat was beside Kadence. Once I sat down, Kadence starting talking to me and I had to talk because that would be rude if I didn’t.
“Oh Kellan, how are you?”
“I am pretty good, I mean, after all it is the first day of our senior year of high school.”
“How was your summer?”
“It was ok, I got to go to D.C. with my dad for a bit and I took tours of Clemson and NC State.
How was your summer?”
“Oh it was ok; I got to visit my grandparents in New York and helped out at the animal shelter.”
I noticed she didn’t seem as excited as she normally did when talking about her summer but brushed it off immediately.
“So, are you excited about starting Senior year today?”
“Oh yes, I cannot wait to see all that happens and to graduate, I hope.”
What in the world does that even mean? Kadence had one of the highest, if not the highest G.P.A. in our whole class, she was poised for Valedictorian. I decided not to pursue that, just in case I heard her wrong.
Before I could ask her something else, the morning announcements started and once they were over, it was time for 1st block to start, which for me meant Honors English. I knew Kadence was in this class but I didn’t care, Jackson was also in this class, so I was happy.
I got to the classroom to find Jackson already waiting for me in the back of the room, with a seat already saved. I was happy about that; it meant I didn’t have to make small talk with Kadence again at the beginning of this class.
“So man, how was homeroom or should I say bedroom, because I almost fell asleep during mine.”
“It was ok; I talked with Kadence Collins for a little bit.”
“Why?”
“I had nothing better to do, besides, it wasn’t too horrible. She didn’t tell me I was going to hell or anything.”
“I am sure she was thinking it Kellan. But anyway, what elective do you have?”
“Drama/Theatre, oh the joys that will bring me, how about you Jackson, what do you have?”
He started laughing and couldn’t stop until I asked him again then he said,
“Sorry man, the thought of you doing a musical is utterly hilarious, but I am in Music Appreciation and Theory.”
I didn’t get a chance to respond because the teacher started to talk. We got our syllabuses and went over what we were supposed to learn by the end of the year. To make matters worse, we had to go ahead and start reading “Beowulf”. After that, Jackson and I made our ways to American Government, but we had this class with Nikki, Dean and Ashley. Kadence was also in this class but I didn’t notice her too much because I was in the back of the room with my friends.
Then it was lunch time, during which we discussed how we thought our electives at the end of the day would go, surprisingly I was the only one of my friends in Drama/Theatre, the rest of them were in Home Economics (the girls) or Music Appreciation and Theory (Jackson and Dean), but they promised to see me perform, if they could stop laughing about it too much.
Then I had a free period, which I spent in the library, not really doing anything but play solitaire on the computers there. Kadence was there too, but she was reading her Bible as usual. She left about 10 minutes before the elective time started, but I thought nothing of it.
I then made my way to the auditorium to go to Drama class and surprisingly everyone else was there. The teacher, Ms. Rosendale-Watkins said,
“Why thank you Mr. Lutz for joining us, please take your seat next to Ms. Collins.”
Ms. Collins? No, she couldn’t mean her.
“It’s ok Kellan, how many people do you know with the last name Collins?”
I told myself,
“Maybe it’s another Ms. Collins.”
But then I saw the boots and red skirt and knew it was real, Kadence was in my drama class and I was screwed.
♠ ♠ ♠
This story is based on the novel "A Walk to Remember" by Nicholas Sparks, which I do not own. Thank you all for reading this, I hope you enjoy it and if you know of anyone who might, I don't mind if you tell them about it :)Links
The Lutz Family
Kadence and family
Kellan's house
Kellan, Jackson, Dean, Ashley and Nikki
Kellan and Kadence's cars and outfits
better picture of Kellan and Kadence's outfits