The Lord’s Plan

By: kf6tac (Brian) and Jamie Sommers

Rated: PG-13

Synopsis: This story is about Landon and Jamie’s budding relationship. They’ve had their first date; Landon has told her he loves her, now they have to face their friends, their family and their own fears. Written from both Landon (written in bold print by kf6tac/Brian) and Jamie’s (written in italic print by Jamie Sommers) POV.

Chapter 2: Absence of Class

He apologized to me, and then he kissed me again. It was just a soft little peck, but it shot straight down to my toes. My heart felt like it was ready to explode. I still couldn't believe this was happening to me. Every time he kissed me...he touched me, I felt like something inside of me was exploding. He made me feel so incredible, so special and all of this from just a simple kiss and the touch of his hand.

"10 Minutes," I sighed. "That's all?"

"Yep." He leaned his forehead against mine and smiled into my eyes. "Come on," he said. "Let's take a walk."

He was still holding my hand, then we turned and saw Dean and Belinda walking towards us. 'Lord,' I prayed, 'please don't let anything happen. Please.'

They just walked by, but the look they gave me... You know that saying, if looks could kill? Well, I would've been dead on contact.

I was quite relieved that Jamie wasn’t upset with me for nearly getting caught in a fight in the middle of science class. I was really amazed too, that even though I had brought us so close to getting in trouble she didn’t even show any signs of getting angry.

We headed down the hall for our break, and as we walked toward the door we both saw Dean and Belinda walking in our direction. I could feel my breathing speed up a bit, since I wasn’t sure if Dean would want to finish the confrontation he had started earlier. He definitely looked angry. I kind of held my breath as they walked by, and when I was pretty sure they had passed us I let it out. ‘That was a close one,’ I thought to myself. I had seen the way they looked at Jamie though, and I was pretty sure the tension between them and us wasn’t over – not by a long shot.

Jamie and I just walked outside for most of our break, enjoying the weather. The sun was shining, and it wasn’t too hot out since we were still a ways off from the summer. I made some jokes here and there, but for the most part we just held hands and walked. It was like we didn’t really need to say anything to each other, like we were reading each other’s minds… for real this time. It was a very welcome feeling. Suffice it to say that I was pretty disappointed when the bell rang for us to get back to class. We had history together though, so I guess it wouldn’t be too bad at all.

I've known Landon Carter my whole life and in all that time I never knew that just being with him could be so...wonderful. We just walked. We didn't really talk much; we just enjoyed each other's company. We didn't need to talk. I loved the feeling of his hand in mine. I loved the way he tries to make me laugh...the way he smiles...the way he looks at me. But...is this really love? Why would God do this? Why would he show me love like this before...

"Hey. Bell. We better get to history class."

"Oh, sure."

When we got into history class, I looked around the room. None of Dean’s crowd was in that class, so things would be a lot less stressful. Mrs. Lansing, the teacher, was pretty laid back about the seating. We pretty much got to pick our seats every day, although the class had sort of settled into its own arrangement earlier in the year. Jamie usually sat next to Eddie Zimmerhoff, who was already there. Jamie sat down next to Eddie.

“Hey Eddie,” I said to him. “Would you, uh, mind switching seats with me?”

Eddie looked up at me and replied, almost instantly, “No problem. Just give me a second here to get my things together.”

“Thanks man.”

After Eddie moved to a different seat, I sat down next to Jamie. Mrs. Lansing gave me a funny look and said to me, “Well, what a surprise to see you up here in the front row, Mr. Carter. Taking an interest in history are we?”

“Oh yes, Mrs. Lansing. I need my daily fix of New Deal policy,” I replied, jokingly.

Jamie and Mrs. Lansing both started laughing at my joke. I smiled to myself. This was going to be a good day in history class.

We left History then Landon insisted on walking me to Gym class even though it was on the opposite side of the school grounds from where he needed to be.

"It's not like I'm gonna get sent to the office for being late to study hall ya know?"

He pecked me on the cheek at the entryway to the girl’s locker room and said, "See ya at lunch."

I wasn't too worried about Gym today, even though Belinda and Tracy had the same class; they were hardly ever there. They always seemed to have a note from their "mother" saying that they weren't well--excusing them from participating--Miss. Fort, the P.E. teacher would always send them to the library...to study hall. Today however, it seemed that they were feeling just fine and were already standing in the locker room, dressed in their gym clothes, when I got there.

I glanced at them when I walked in, and then went straight to my locker--it was right next to Sally's.

When she saw me she said all in one breath, "Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you today...where have you been, I haven't seen you at all today and when I asked Robin if she had seen you she said no, but she said Eddie saw you and that there was talk going around school about you and Landon and then when I asked Eddie if he had seen you he said that I should ask YOU where you've been, so...where have you been???"

I wasn't quite sure what to tell her, to be honest she wasn't really that big a fan of Landon's. She thought he was cocky and full of himself. The day after the play she called me and spent about an hour talking about the unrehearsed kiss he gave me after I sang.

"Landon Carter thinks he's 'God's Gift' to women and that he can do whatever he wants, with whoever he wants, whenever he wants. If I were you Jamie, I would press sexual harassment charges against him."

Sally had a great heart; it just got a little misplaced every now and then. That's when someone slammed my locker closed. I jumped and saw exactly who it was.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

Now normally I wouldn't really let this type of thing bother me. Let's face it...being the Reverend's daughter, you get used to putting up with bullies, but Tracy...Tracy had this tone in her voice that could intimidate anyone.

"No. No problem. Why would you think that?"

"Because you...you slammed my locker shut." I stuttered. I kept telling myself to calm down. Same day, different bully.

"So the Virgin Mary wants to be one of us?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about." I tried to turn around and open my locker up but Tracy reached out and slammed it shut again.

"So what the hell is going on???" Belinda chimed in. "You think you're going to take my boyfriend away?" They kept getting closer to me. A crowd was forming around us and Sally had this shocked look on her face like she didn't know what to do. "Is that what you think? You think you can just take Landon from me?"

"I thought you said you were through." Don't ask me where this courage, I suddenly developed, was coming from. I think it was from her calling Landon 'HER boyfriend.'

"Well maybe we're not through...maybe..."

We all turned our heads when we heard, "What the hell is going on in here??"

Everyone parted as Miss. Fort walked through the crowd and stood in front of Belinda, Tracy and me. "Is someone going to answer me?" She asked.

Belinda and Tracy just stepped back and Tracy said, "There's nothing going on is there Jamie?"

I wasn't sure what to do. Should I tell Miss. Fort the truth or should I just turn the other cheek? "No Miss. Fort. There's nothing going on."

"Fine. Then let's get out on the field. Sullivan," she looked at me, "get dressed."

She turned to walk away and I knew there was no way I could make it through gym class, let alone the locker room afterwards. "Miss. Fort? Would it be okay if I went to the nurse’s office? I don't feel so well."

Miss. Fort was one of the few teachers that knew the truth about my health. I had asked her not to tell anyone--I didn't want anyone to be weird around me--but there were days when I just couldn't comply with the demands of P.E. so it was important for her to know the truth. Since then she never questioned me if I told her that I wasn't feeling well. Today she gave me this look that said, 'don't be afraid of these two, Sullivan’ but agreed to let me go.

I watched everyone go out onto the field then collapsed on the bench. Being Landon Carter's girlfriend was NOT going to be easy. I don't know when the tears started or even why, I just knew I needed to get out of there. I picked up my books and ran across campus to the library...to Landon.

After history, I insisted on walking Jamie to gym class. She probably thought I was a little nuts, since the library isn’t anywhere near the girls’ locker room. But I finally talked her into it, since study hall isn’t all that strict with attendance. I dropper her off at the locker room and started my little trek back to the library. The bell rang when I was about halfway there, but I didn’t mind. Mr. Martin, the librarian who somehow got stuck with the duty of monitoring study hall too, didn’t really check to see who was there. When I first met him at the beginning of the year I could’ve sworn that he was the only person in the world who was more anti-social than Jamie Sullivan. He had serious personality issues. Now I know I told Jamie once that she needed a new personality, but at least she is a friendly person to be around. Mr. Martin… well… I think he has some sort of hatred for the human race. It seems like he’s not exactly a fan of person-to-person interactions. He’s always holed up in his office, reading some old text or another. Or maybe he just doesn’t like the students who sit in the library for study hall.

Today was no exception. There was no one to be found in the main building of the library except for the students. I took a seat at an empty table, and started thumbing through my homework. I didn’t usually do homework during study hall, but I wanted as much time free as I could get to spend with Jamie in the evening. I had second thoughts about the homework though, after realizing that I had to read five chapters out of The Scarlet Letter. I quickly stuck the book back into my bag. ‘I’m sure I’ll get enough of the fire and brimstone speech from Reverend Sullivan tonight anyways,’ I thought to myself. I still got the impression that the man didn’t like me much. Oh well. I decided to do my trig homework instead. Triangles. Yeah, I could do that without much problem. Well – maybe one problem: my trig book wasn’t in my bag. Apparently I left it in my locker. I glanced at the clock. Class had already been going for about fifteen minutes, which meant I would have to get a pass from Mr. Martin. The school is pretty up tight about people in the halls if more than ten minutes had passed since the bell.

Mr. Martin was in his office with the door propped open, so I knocked on the door before walking on in. He looked up from one of his books and sort of stared at me.

“Mr. Martin, I was wondering if I could get a pass to go to my locker. I forgot one of my math books.”

He didn’t really say anything, but he pulled out a pass and filled it out for me. Never once did he stop glaring at me. It was a look that kind of said “Yeah Carter, I know what you’re really up to.”

I took the pass and left. Boy, that guy is creepy. I walked out of the library at a fairly quick pace, so I could get to my locker and back before Mr. Martin thought I was out drinking or something. As I rounded the corner, I ran right into someone going the opposite direction.

I just kept telling myself to stop. 'Stop crying, Jamie.' I didn't want Landon to see me this way, but with every step I took the tears just seemed to pour down my face. I knew it wasn't just because of what happened in the locker room, but what was happening with Landon. I started having this conversation with myself...with God.

'Why are you doing this? You know it'll never lead anywhere. Yes, but he said that he loved me. And do you love him? Yes...yes I do. Then you need to tell him the truth. NO! Not yet. I will...just not yet. Not now. I just want things to be...normal for awhile.'

But I knew the longer I waited to tell him, the harder it was going to be. The tears started again and I picked up my pace. Maybe I should just go to the nurse’s office after all. Maybe this whole Landon thing is a bad idea. Maybe...maybe... *SLAM*

"Hey, I’m sorry… I didn’t know you were coming around – Jamie?!?”

As soon as I realized it was her, I loosened up a lot. Then I noticed she had tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh baby, what’s the matter?” I asked, pulling her to me and wrapping my arms around her. “Why aren’t you in gym?”

She was pretty shaken up though, and I could tell she wasn’t up to answering just yet.

“It’s alright, here – walk with me to my locker and you can come to study hall with me.”

We went to my locker and I grabbed my trig book. When we walked into the library, Mr. Martin was out at the circulation desk checking a book out to a student from another class. When he saw me walk in with one arm around Jamie, he seemed pretty angry. I sat Jamie down at a desk and walked over to my other seat to get my backpack. When I passed Mr. Martin, he said to me, “Carter, in my office.”

He shut the door when we got inside. Yeah, he was angry about something all right.

“Carter, I gave you a note to go get your trig book, not to bring one of your girlfriends into my study hall. Now go back out there and send her to whatever class she came from.”

Wow, Mr. Martin must have been more anti-social than I realized. No adults in their right minds who lived in Beaufort would talk about Jamie that way. I really wasn’t sure what to say to him. I was angry that he could be so heartless to Jamie, but yelling and fighting with him probably wouldn’t do me much good. I decided to try something a little new. I decided to be sincere and humble for once.

“Mr. Martin, I know I was only supposed to go to my locker and back. But I ran into Jamie in the hallway. She’s been having a really rough day; don’t you think you can cut us some slack just this once? Please? She’s really shook up.”

Mr. Martin narrowed his eyes and looked at me suspiciously. I guess there was some glimmer of humanity in him though, because he finally said it was okay and he went back to his book. I walked out of his office, wondering to myself, ‘How much longer until lunch again?’

Landon was so sweet to me. He put his arms around me and took me into study hall with him. I knew he was in trouble, but he wouldn't admit it.

"Landon. I can leave. Why don't I got to the office and..." I started picking up my bags, but he put his hands on mine to stop me.

"No. Don't go. Don't worry about Martin," he looked towards the office he just came from, "he's got a stick up his...ahem..."

The look on Landon's face when he caught himself before making a...very inappropriate comment about Mr. Martin, was priceless. We just started laughing. We couldn't seem to stop. We got a lot of curious looks, but we just ducked our heads down and giggled. We tried to do our homework, but one of us would look up from our book and we'd just start giggling again. Mr. Martin came out to see what was going on, but the bell rang just in time.

Landon held his arm out for me and said, "Miss. Sullivan, would you do me the honor of joining me for lunch?"

I placed my arm through his and said, "I'd love to."

As Jamie and I walked down the hall toward the cafeteria, I tried to plan out the rest of my day. I had English lit, psychology, and gym classes after lunch. I knew Jamie already had psych and gym earlier in the day, which meant I was only going to have English lit. with her after lunch. When I realized this, I had this funny feeling… kind of the way I felt when she told me that day in the cafeteria that I was feeding her a bunch of bull. Well – almost in those words. I guess I was kind of disappointed. I could have sworn that Jamie was in every single one of my classes back when I wanted nothing to do with her. Now though, now when all I wanted to do was be with her, it turns out we only have three actual classes together. ‘I guess I’ll need to work on those counting skills if I’m ever going to get anywhere after high school,’ I thought to myself with a smile. I guess Jamie caught me grinning like a moron at my own lame joke.

“What’s so funny Landon?” she asked, sincerely curious.

“Oh, it’s nothing… just laughing at my own dumb jokes in my head.”

“Maybe you should tell me, so I can laugh too and people won’t think you’re entirely crazy.”

“Why don’t I do that over lunch,” I said to her, opening the door to the cafeteria so she could step inside.