Brave New Girl by Louisa Luna

Author:Louisa Luna
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: MTV Books
Published: 2001-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

I slip the key into my front door, and the house is pretty quiet and dark. I don’t think I’m too late, especially since we weren’t at the party all that long.

I take off my shoes in the living room so I make the least amount of noise possible, and then Dad comes out of the kitchen in his bathrobe, and he looks all weird to me—all tensed up and too much to drink.

Doreen, it’s late, he says.

I look at the clock on the wall real quick and then I say, I’m not any later than I said I would be.

I’m not prepared to argue with you, Dad says, closing his eyes. You’re fourteen years old, and it’s too late for you to be coming home.

I want to tell him the kind of night I’ve had. I also want to tell him again that I’m really pretty on time, and that he OK’d me being out this late and everything, but when Dad’s in this mood, when he’s “not prepared to argue,” it means he’s not prepared to be wrong.

OK, Dad, I say. I’m sorry.

Then I turn around to go to my room, and he grabs my wrist tight so I can’t move.

Don’t do it again, he whispers, holding one finger up in my face.

I nod, and he drops my wrist, and I walk real quick into my room, and I close the door behind me. Then I stand on the other side of the door real quiet for a few seconds, and I hear him walk down the hall, and I hold my wrist, which is a little red, and then I hear his door open and close.

My heart’s beating deep, and I pull Henry’s postcard out of my pocket and feel it between my fingers for a second, and I shove it in my underwear drawer. Then I take off my jeans and my socks and my bra, and I climb into bed, and I’m suddenly not so exhausted anymore, which is weird, but my head’s all jammed up with everything that happened tonight. I start to get real angry when I think about what those assholes made Ted drink. They probably told him he’d be a pussy or something if he didn’t drink everything real fast. Boys are so fucking stupid.

Then I hear footsteps coming down the hall again, and I close my eyes just as a reflex, because I’m thinking if it’s Dad and he peeks in, I want him to think I’m asleep. Then there’s a light knock on my door, and I just lie there like a sock and don’t do anything. Whenever people pretend they’re sleeping, though, in a movie or something, it always looks so fake.

I hear the door open and close quietly, and then footsteps in my room, and my eyes are still closed, but I probably look real unnatural, the way I’m breathing and everything. I can feel sweat on my back, and I really wish I could kick the

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