Secrets

Chapter One

�Lis, you have got to go out with this guy I met in London. His name is Ethan Arden.� Elisabeth�s best friend Carissa told her. She had just gotten back from England the day before. She was leaning back into Elisabeth papazon chair, while Elisabeth was sitting in her desk chair.

�Ris! This is worse than when you said I should go out with that guy in California because this Ethan guy doesn�t even live in the country!� Elisabeth exclaimed.

�I can�t help it that when I�m boyfriend-hunting for me, I mostly meet guys that would suit you!� Carissa said. �It wouldn�t hurt if you would go boyfriend-hunting for me ever. You�ve been all over Asia and Latin America and do I ever hear about any guys? No! Imagine having an Asian or a Latin boyfriend.�

�Well, I could go for a Latin guy. They are so cute! But I already have a boyfriend, and I�m happy with Jake. Remember?� Elisabeth replied to Carissa�s daydream adding a little bit of reality to it.

�At least email him. I told him you would. Here, let me give you his email address.� Carissa said and pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket.

She handed it to Elisabeth, who took a quick glance at it. �[email protected]?�

�Yeah, he goes to Brooks High For Boys.� Carissa said.

�Yeah, I figured that. What�s this other thing on here? E-T-H-A-N?�

�Oh, that�s his screen name for Instant Messenger.� Carissa said.

�Okay.� Elisabeth said and put it on her desk by her computer.

�All right Ris. You�ve never pushed me so hard. It must be really important. But I already have a boyfriend. Remember that.�

~*~*~*~*~

Elisabeth was checking her email later that night. There was an email from Jake saying that he�d call her later that night.

She looked at her clock and realized that she had time before Jake would be there to get her for the movie they were going to go see. She saw the piece of paper with Ethan�s email address and decided to email him.

She clicked the Compose button and then got into her address book. She entered his information and then click Write.

She got the cursor on the screen and adjusted the font type and size to the one she liked.

She pulled out the drawer that held the keyboard and put her hands on the board and started typing:

Dear Ethan,

Then she stopped. What was she supposed to write? She didn�t know Ethan! All she knew was that her best friend thought that she should go out with him. She considered clearing the email, and just forgetting about it. But she had promised Carissa she�d write to him. And if there was one thing Elisabeth Weston didn�t do, that was break a promise. Especially a promise she made to her father, someone with more authority than hers � excluding Justine, her boyfriend and her best friend.

She sighed and decided to write and send whatever she came up with.

Hi! My name Elisabeth Weston. I�m sure my friend Carissa has told you about me. I�d like to let you know right from the beginning that I have a boyfriend and am not looking for anyone else besides him. Now that I have cleared that up, I�ll tell you a little bit about myself. Like I said already my name Elisabeth Weston. My father is Jack Weston and he�s married to Justine. Justine and my dad have another son whose name is Jackson. Justine�s Dads name is Jack too, so they decided to name Jackson after my dad and her dad. I hope that wasn�t too confusing.

Justine isn�t my mother. My parents split up a long time ago, before I even knew her. I don�t even have a picture of her. I don�t really like Justine. She�s really young and only cares about my dad, herself and Jackson. If it were up to her, I�d either be in boarding school all year long, or we would have found my mother by now and I�d be living with her. But she knows that my father loves me a lot and would never give me up or send me to boarding school, so she hasn�t even suggested it.

I am sixteen-years-old and a Junior at a private school here in town. I go to the same school that Carissa goes too.

I have three dogs. A miniature dachshund named Hunter. A cocker spaniel named Goldilocks and a toy poodle named Swirls. He has curly hair like all poodles and the color is a mix of black and brown.

I also have two cats, a calico named Callie and a Himalayan named Sammy.

I have an aviary with nine parakeets, Mango, Strawberry, Honey, Sally, Jewels, Emmy, Lacey, Tia, and Tweety.

I have two betas. Hera and Athena.

They all stay up on my floor with me. Justine hates animals, another reason she doesn�t like me. But, at least it keeps her out of my space.

Well, that�s probably more than you wanted to know about me, so I guess I�ll get going now.

Sincerely,
Elisabeth Weston

Elisabeth sighed, clicked the sent button and heard purring. She looked on her bed and saw Sammy giving a Callie a bath. She smiled and walked over to lay down by her cats on her bed. Of course, Sammy was the cat that was purring at first, but first Callie gave into the nice feel of the bath and started purring herself.

Sammy was older than Callie was; she was a little kitten. But Sammy quickly became Callie�s older brother when Elisabeth brought her home. Now that Callie was getting older and approaching the big year, the year she turned one, she wanted to belive that she didn�t need her older brother around. Of course, she always gave in and purred happily whenever he did something that she liked. And in time, Callie wouldn�t try so hard to be the independent younger sister. Elisabeth knew this because the same thing happened while she still had Rosco. When she brought Sammy home, Rosco had warmed up to him immediately, and vice versa. As Sammy got older he tried to pull the same thing as Callie, but he always gave in. Soon, Sammy didn�t try to be independent from his older brother.

After Sammy was done giving Callie a bath, both cats crawled into her arms, and Elisabeth fell asleep to the feel of Sammy�s bumpy tongue tickling her cheek.

~*~*~*~*~

Elisabeth woke up to the sound of Hunter, Goldilocks and Swirls barking. There was a sharp wrap and then the yell, �Elisabeth! Jake is here!�

She heard footsteps and then the door to the stairs slamming came after, �Shut up and get away from you little scoundrels!�

Elisabeth rolled her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror of her bathroom, quickly running a brush through her hair.

She gave Callie and Sammy a kiss as they came in to see where their bed had run off too. Then on the way out she kissed Hunter, Goldilocks and Swirls whispering, �Good job guys! Keep barking at her when she comes.�

Elisabeth ran down the steps and heard Justine saying, �I swear, I don�t know what she sees in those things! All they ever do is bark!�

She stifled a giggle when Jake said, �I like them. They never bark at me.�

Justine got out of the chair and started walking to the stairs while yelling, �Elisabeth! Get down here�� she cut off as she saw Elisabeth standing by the door. �Oh! Go! When will you be back?�

�I don�t know.� Elisabeth said.

�In time for supper?� Justine asked as Jake stood behind her.

�No.� Jake spoke up.

Justine smiled. �Good.� She turned around and walked away.

Elisabeth quickly grabbed her coat and she and Jake left the house.

�Gosh! I hate that woman!� Elisabeth said.

�I don�t understand her. How can she not your like pets?� he said and turned to face Elisabeth. Then in a lower tone he continued. �And how can she not like you?�
Elisabeth smiled as Jake bent down to kiss her.

~*~*~*~*~

When Elisabeth got home that night the first thing she did was check her email. For whatever reason, she didn�t know. She didn�t even conciously think about it, she just went into her room, turned on her computer and logged in.

When she got in she found a reply from Ethan.

Dear Elisabeth,

It was very nice to hear from you. I remember Carissa and that she kept talking on and on about you. Don�t worry, I�m not interested in a relationship right now, just a friend. My mother is divorced and my best friend�s girlfriend broke up with him just a couple nights ago. He was going to propose too! I don�t have much faith in relationships, but I hope yours works out.

I have a lot of homework so I�ll write later. Nice to hear from you.

Sincerely,
Ethan

Elisabeth smiled when she was done reading it. He seemed like a nice guy.

She stood up, grabbed her pajamas and headed into her bathroom for a quick shower.