13 Permission.

I drove around to every fast food restaurant in this small town. I went in, asked for an application, and sat down to fill it out and turn it in before leaving. My mom came in with me at the first few places we stopped, but then she just waited in the car for me. I wanted to keep going after the tenth application I filled out, but my mom was getting hungry and suggested that we go ahead and eat dinner and wait to hear back from the one's I already turned it. I conceded.

When we got home, I went straight to my room and texted Ashley.

"Hey, Ashley. My mom said she wants to talk to your mom before she says if I can come over Saturday or not. Can I call you so they can talk now? We just got back from eating dinner."

While I waited for her to reply I got my Math homework out. Even if I couldn't finish it tonight, I wanted to get started. Ding!

"Ok, Elise. My mom is in the bathroom. I'll call you as soon as she gets out."

I walked with my phone to my mom's room where I found her sitting up in bed working a crossword puzzle.

"Hey, mom. Ashley just texted me back. She said she would call when her mom gets out of the bathroom." I climbed up to sit next to her in her queen-size bed. The room was slightly bigger than mine, but her bed took up most of the space. There was an armoire against the opposite wall from her bed that didn't have any doors on it, so you could see her clothes in folded piles stacked up inside it. There was a bedside table with a lamp next to the bed and a full-size oval mirror next to a small dresser with her jewelry boxes on top of it.

I looked over her shoulder to watch her work the crossword. Riiiing!

I sat up a little straighter to answer the phone. "Hello."

"Hey, Elise. My mom is right here. I hope you can come over. Kimber and I finally decided on the perfect first anime for you. Anyway, here's my mom."

As she was presumably handing the phone to her mom, I handed my phone to mine.

"Hello," my mom said, laying her pen in her crossword book and holding it closed on her lap. "Yes, hi, my daughter says she was invited to sleepover?...Ok, well where do you live?...Oh I know where that is, ok...I understand, I'm divorced as well...uh huh...Oh, I see...Alright, I guess it will be alright. This is all a bit sudden, but I am glad she's making more friends."

I had surmised from the bits of conversation I could hear that she was going to let me go. I held my hands up to cover my mouth in excitement. My mom wrapped up the call and handed the phone back to me after she hung up.

"Ok, fine. I'll let you go to this sleepover," I squealed a little as a huge smile stretched under my hands, "but you know what I expect of you." She pointed her finger at me, giving me a stern look.

"I know, Mama. Thank you!" I threw my arms around her, nearly pushing her off the bed.

"Ok, ok," she patted my back. "Now go to bed."

I scrambled to find my phone and hurry back to my room to let Ashley know I could come. As soon as I stood up to head out the door, my mom stopped me, "And about this boy..."

I turned to face her. I tried to stay calm, but I know that fear showed on my face.

"I don't like it. You can work on your project with him until the assignment is over, but if you plan to spend more time with him than that, I want to meet his parents too."

We looked at each other seriously, saying everything with our eyes. Her eyes said, "I want to be sure that he won't be a bad influence on you." Mine said, "I really hope you don't misjudge him."

The panic in me rose, and I could only shakily reply, "Ok, Mama.....thank you," before slowly turning and walking back to my bedroom.

I got ready for bed, and just before I snuggled down under the sheets I texted Ashley and told her I could come over for the sleepover. I also sent a text to Finnegan saying that I would be able to come over Thursday after school to finish the other project. I hesitated to hit SEND because my heart started racing, but I couldn't hold it in. I just wanted to tell him. What if I could be his girlfriend? My first boyfriend! My body buzzed while I laid on my side, with my hands resting under my pillow, clutching my phone between them and my eyes closed, but my mind racing.

Ding! Ding!

Ashley and Finnegan both texted me back. Ashley said, "Yay!" I knew we would be talking about it all day tomorrow. My heart was beating so fast my vision was blurry when I opened Finnegan's text.

"Awesome! That's great! I'll see you tomorrow morning. Good night."

I threw my self flat on my back and clutched my phone to my chest, basking in this feeling.

"He likes me." I breathed in and let out a slow sigh through my nose while my mouth and eyes were closed and smiling.

"Good night." I texted him back. Then I rolled onto my side again, hugging my pillow, and dreamed sweetly.