Breaking Barriers

“Bryce, are you sure about this?” she whispered into the receiver.

“Yeah,” a deep baritone voice from the other end replied.

“Do you think our parents will be mad?” the girl wondered to Bryce.

“Yeah.” Bryce stated simply.

“So we’re meeting up at twelve?” she asked, trying to finalize the plans.

“Yeah.”

The girl was agitated by now. “Bryce, please stop saying ‘yeah.’”

“Ye- Okay. Sorry Stace, but I don’t know what else I can say.” Bryce responded.

Stacey shook her head. “Bryce?”

“Yeah?”

Stacey sighed. “Never mind.”

“Stacey?” Bryce asked.

“Yeah?”

Bryce laughed, then his voice turned serious. “Stacey, I love you.”

Stacey’s mother beat on her bedroom door, signaling Stacey to get off the phone. Before she clicked it off she whispered, “I love you too.”

Stacey Downing was one of the smartest seniors at Harry Truman High School in Enid, Oklahoma. Bryce Weathersby, on the other hand, was as average as a junior could get.

Stacey was a bottle-blonde cheerleader. She had bright blue eyes and a sparkling smile. Everyone was Stacey's friend, at least until she met Bryce.

Bryce was tall and muscular. He had black hair which he kept short and dark brown eyes. No one knew who Bryce was until he started dating Stacey. And then the prejudice began.

In Enid, people believed that their sons or daughters should marry their friends’ sons or daughters. Enid-raised should marry other Enid-raised. No one should marry outsiders. And no one should even date someone of a different color.

Stacey & Bryce were the first couple to break that mold at Harry Truman High School. And everyone looked down upon them for doing so. Bryce received more awkward stares than before he met Stacey. Stacey lost many friends and her popularity significantly decreased. Color shouldn’t stand in the way of true love, they argued. No one listened.

They met at a football game, Bryce under the bleachers and Stacey cheerleading. Stacey fell ill and ran under the bleachers to get away from the crowd. Imagine her surprise when she noticed Bryce standing there! The two had never talked before, but immediately hit it off. About a month later, they were officially an item. Stacey's friends joked that her and Bryce were a damaged item if anything.

It was now the middle of June, and in one week Stacey would graduate. Bryce had formed a plan for Stacey and him to escape the prejudice. The couple would run away on Stacey’s graduation night, to Oklahoma City.

Bryce had a beaten up Chevy and a couple hundred dollars for an apartment. Stacey contributed money and a week’s supply of food. Both would look for jobs upon reaching the city.

“Bryce, I only have five hours till graduation. We have to hurry!” Stacey panicked.

“Seven eighty-two. That’s how much money we have.” Bryce stated from his bed. He invited Stacey over since his parents were attending a preparatory for the ceremony later that night. Bryce’s older sister, Bianca was graduating that year too.

“Are you sure we should be doing this? My parents are going to kill me when the find us!” Stacey worried some more.

“If they find us,” Bryce corrected.

“Should we leave a note?” Stacey asked.

“That would make it easier for them to find us. If we go now, we can get a head start. It only takes a couple hours to get to the city.” Bryce suggested.

“Well, I suppose,” Stacey said. “That can give us more time to search for a job and an apartment.” Bryce nodded in agreement and put the cash in his suitcase. Everything else was already packed and ready to be moved to Oklahoma City.

Stacey sighed. “We better go before my parents realize I'm not at the ceremony prep.”

Around seven that evening, Bryce and Stacey reached Oklahoma City. Finding no apartment cheap enough for them to afford even a down payment, they were forced to sleep in Bryce’s Chevy. Not even an hour later, the Chevy was ticketed for parking on private property. Neither of them had found a job either.

In the morning, they went apartment-hunting again. Lucky for them a local delicatessen had office space available above it. Though there were no beds, there was a run-down couch for them to sleep on. Now Bryce and Stacey had a temporary home, and minimum wage jobs.

Stacey couldn’t help but wonder if her irrational thinking would pay off in the end. Right now it didn’t seem that her and Bryce would turn into anything at all.

She had given up her dreams of going to college to be an accountant for Bryce. Bryce had given up nothing, except maybe high school. And what if we break up? Stacey thought. Would my parents take me back?

Lying on the couch with Bryce on the floor, Stacey had these questions fresh in her mind when she finally drifted off to sleep.

“It’s not my fault I could only spare five-hundred dollars. You only provided two-hundred of it!” Stacey accused. Already Bryce was slacking off as a boyfriend, and it was their second day on their own.

“Were those designer shoes absolutely necessary?” Bryce demanded.

Stacey heaved a sigh and paced around the living/bedroom. “Those sneakers were only thirty dollars. And what about those tools? There isn’t anything to fix yet!” she shot back.

Bryce forced a laugh. “Look at us, Stace. We’re already having a lover’s quarrel and we’ve only been together one day!” Stacey smiled weakly. Their jobs at the deli wouldn’t start until the next morning. Expenses were high and their income rapidly decreased.

Stacey finally decided to voice her nightly fears. “Bryce, are we going to last?” Bryce scrunched up his face in puzzlement so Stacey continued. “I mean you and me. If we stay here for years and years, are we still going to be us? Will we break up, stay together, or what? I'm so confused right now.”

Bryce smiled and pulled Stacey into a tight hug. “Of course we’ll last. That’s why I have this.” He pulled out a gold ring with a sparkling diamond and gently placed it on Stacey's ring finger.