Mademoiselle by Suzanne Jenkins

Author:Suzanne Jenkins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: goal setting, vietnam war, bullying, persian gulf war, romance historical, coming of age romance, casualties of war, romance 1980s, fashion magazine, romance and young love

Chapter 6

Senior Prom that year was the game changer for Lynne, who fell head-over-heels in love with Chris Schmidt, and he with her. Looking dashing in a tux, Chris had the kind of confidence any man joining our family would have to have in order to hold together during the scrutiny of five women. Perpetually smiling, Chris devoted each day to doing when he could to make Lynne happy, and that endeared him to us.

Leaving Chris behind while she went off to college wasn’t an issue for Lynne. Staying home for another year was never a consideration. Not only would our mother haunt Lynne until she left just to escape the tyranny, Chris had his own agenda; he wanted to go to the other big school, a rival of the one we would all attend. Saying goodbye wasn’t as difficult as she thought it would be; Chris drove her on move-in day, an act my mother appreciated because she still had the three other girls to move back to their dorms.

The summer before my senior year of high school, the first where I’d be alone, getting through each day became my secondary objective, my primary still hoping to work at the magazine someday. Part of making it a reality was giving the goal credence by sharing my hopes outside of the family. The situation sprung up out of nowhere, in yet another creative writing class.

The first day of senior year began like any other, that is until it was time to leave for school. I woke up to a quiet house, the sounds of the last day of summer filtering in through my window. A neighbor’s dog barked, traffic picking up on Outer Drive, the echoes of a woodpecker going to town. The sound on the periphery of consciousness, I thought my mother was chopping vegetables for a breakfast omelet at first, but when the racket continued for some minutes I knew it was the bird.

Soft foot steps coming up to my room, my mother opened the door a few inches and peeked in.

“Pipi, it’s a school day,” she whispered.

“I know,” I moaned. “Thanks, Mom,”

Although it was early September, I felt the chill of autumn. The temperature would rise later in the day, summer returning for a few, short weeks. I dressed and grabbed my book bag, taking one last look around my room. Leaving it was difficult.

It had been a summer of peace, the last summer we would all live under the same roof, a slightly lonely summer with my sisters all dating, going steady or engaged. I was the only one of us who didn’t have a boyfriend, and the solitude was unusual, but not painful. What I’d missed most was the camaraderie, my sisters and I against the repressive tyranny of our mother, but not so that she’d ever find out. Over the summer, I was forced into cahoots with Mother, wondering what the others were up to.

I already knew what I really wanted in life; one,

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