The Rumors are...

Once upon a time, in a not so distant land, in a time not so long ago, there was a young girl, only nineteen. She was the loner child, book worm, ugly duckling of McKay Manor. Her name was Kayla.

The time had come again for the young girl to return to the magical kingdom at the base of the Wasatch Mountains where she would fill her brain with all kinds of 'important information.'

Upon arriving at her apartment Kayla found that she was only going to have one roommate and it wasn't long before she realized that she would be doing a lot of things by herself in the coming months. It was this fact that made her force herself to get off her butt and go to the first Ward family home evening of the year.

It was the same bishopric she had the year before and they already loved her so she figured it couldn't be all bad. Plus, there was free food with no clean up so that right there made it worth the drive up Provo Canyon to Timpanogas Park.

When she arrived people were milling about talking and waiting for the food to be served but of course since she had come alone and didn't know anyone but the bishopric she didn't have anyone to talk to so she just sat on a table near the front of the food line waiting for the prayer.

Not one to be shy about food, as soon as the prayer was said our little duckling headed straight for the food and was the first in line to fill up her plate. This of course meant that every table was open which was actually a very good thing because this meant that she was the first to sit down at a table and then the table filled in around her. Awesome! She thought to herself. No awkward moment of wondering who she could possibly sit by, now she only had to hope that others would choose to sit at the same table she chose.

Slowly, people began to sit next to the young girl and they were all male-type people. It was shocking!

Now, this girl left school last year with a crush on a boy named Kyle. He was tall, muscular and in Kayla’s opinion very cute. Well, who would sit down right next to her but Kyle! Ok, this activity just got a heck of a lot better! And to think that at first she didn’t want to come just because she didn’t want to drive up the canyon by herself (she was a little worried she would get lost – she’s not the best with directions and can’t seem to drive anywhere without at least one u-turn).

Well, since she had been crushing on this boy for about a year now she couldn’t possibly talk to him… I mean really, who actually talks to the people they have a crush on? So she sat there, silently happy until a few more people sat down. A nice guy in a blue shirt sat down across from her at the table and started talking to his friend. He was talking loudly and Kayla loves to listen in to the conversations of others (because she has no life of her own, and she’s a little bit of a creeper) so when he started saying funny things she couldn’t help but laugh and join in.

He asked her name and she asked his. Kevin Conrad…that was familiar. He had been roommates with her friend Jacob over the summer and Jacob had told her all about him. He was the nice, pre-Med roommate with a girlfriend that wasn’t around all that often. Hmm…well she already knew the answers to most of the twenty questions people ask when meeting one another – where are you from? How old are you? What are you majoring in (or where do you work?) etc. – but she didn’t want to seem like total creeper so she asked them all anyway.

He and his friend Tyler asked the girl if she played any sports. After all, she was tall and thin – it would seem logical that she would be the athletic type right? Wrong! She quickly corrected them saying that she tried to avoid all physical activity if possible and games with a ball were definitely out because the stupid ball always seemed magnetically attracted to her head. She told them her hobbies included reading, photography, watching TV, basically being lazy.

They wanted to know if she did anything else, anything the least bit physical – so she answered that she actually did like hiking. Apparently Kevin doesn’t have the best hearing, so after her response a perplexed look came across his face and with a quizzical voice he asked, “You like hiding?”

Not one to let an opportunity to be sarcastic pass her by she responded “yes, that is exactly how I like to spend my time. I don’t even need anyone to find me. Just the joy of finding a great hiding place is enough to make my day.” (Now that may not be exactly what was said – but it was certainly something along those lines). Luckily this was a rather sarcastic boy and he took the little jest in the light it was intended, laughed, and asked what she said then.

He may not be able to hear but he was cute and nice and he was willing to talk to the girl trying to stuff a sloppy-joe in her face, so she wasn’t complaining.

Our little homebody walked away from the evening feeling pretty good about herself. She had spent a good 45 min. sitting next to the boy she liked (no talking necessary there) and she had been at a table surrounded by boys and she was actually able to speak with them without looking too incredibly stupid. Nice! Now she just had to keep this trend going.

The following Sunday in church the two boys, Kevin and Tyler, sat behind her in Sunday school and they talked before class started. Can you believe it? She had somehow managed to make friends, with BOYS! (Maybe they weren’t all that terrifying.) Eventually Tyler asked for her number and things finally started to move. The next friday she went to a movie with Tyler, Kevin and a few of their friends. It was great and She had a great time! This was something entirely new to her and she was loving it.

...tune in tomorrow for the next installation in the story