Telling by Marilyn Reynolds

Author:Marilyn Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sexual abuse;
Publisher: New Wind Publishing
Published: 2017-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

12

I was glad to be at school Monday morning. So much had happened to me in such a short time, I felt all confused. Only four days ago, Thursday night, Fred Sloane had come home early from bowling and cornered me. I hadn’t even figured out how I felt about all of that when I had to try to explain it to Daddy, and then to Mom. It seemed as if what had been a big secret for months had just exploded, and all of a sudden lots of people were involved. Every time I looked at Mom or Daddy now, it was like they were seeing me differently, maybe worrying more, or wondering what other secrets I had. Anyway, at school I could just coast through the day. I was coasting first period when I heard Marlow call my name. Everyone was looking at me. I felt my face get hot.

“Daydreaming, Cassie?” Mr. Marlow asked. “Perhaps you could answer my question now.”

Mandy poked me in the back. “Indirect object,” she whispered.

“Indirect object,” I told Marlow.

“That’s correct, Cassie. Would you explain your answer, please?”

Explain the answer! I didn’t even know what question we were on. My face just got hotter and hotter. Finally Marlow said, “Well, Mandy, how about if you explain Cassie’s answer for her?”

On the way to gym Mandy started talking about what a jerk Marlow was for putting people on the spot like that.

“I guess I just wasn’t listening,” I said.

Mandy laughed. “Weren’t listening? You were not only out to lunch, you were out to breakfast and dinner, too.”

Good old Mandy. I could always depend on her to give me an honest opinion.

“You were real quiet last night at the party, too,” she said.

“I never know what to say. I’m always quiet at parties.”

“Yeah, but not that quiet. It was okay, I guess, because Jason really likes you.” Then she went on and on about how great Eric was ― how cute, how much fun, how he said he’d call her that night.

We walked into the gym and got our graying gym clothes out of our locker. My blouse didn’t smell very good, but nei­ther did Mandy’s.

“You really are kind of quieter than usual. Is everything all right?”

“I guess so,” I said. “It’s just that a lot happened over the weekend.”

“Yeah,” Mandy agreed. “What a weekend! I filled three pages in my diary just last night. Wasn’t it a great party?”

“It was better than I thought it’d be,” I told Mandy.

She looked at me suspiciously. “So what else happened to you over the weekend?”

“Oh, just some stuff with my folks. Come on, we’d better get out on the field before the bell rings.”

We jogged out to the softball diamond. Ms. Strobel wasn’t there yet, so we flopped down on the grass to wait for roll call.

“I don’t mean to be nosy, Cassie, but we are best friends, aren’t we?”

I gave Mandy our secret handshake, invented by us in the third grade, and smiled. She crossed her eyes, pulled on her ears, and stuck out her tongue.

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