Annie's Story by Felicity Nisbet

Author:Felicity Nisbet
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Fiction Works
Published: 2015-05-20T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

After school I went straight to the parking lot but I was too late. His car was gone. Since he’d picked me up that morning, I didn’t have my car so I hitched a ride home with Jill. Luckily she was in a talkative mood and I didn’t have to say much. I just had to listen to her tell me about the new routines she’d helped choreograph. She definitely made a much better head cheerleader than I did.

I didn’t even go in the house. I just jumped in my car and drove straight to the meadow. Not because I expected to find him there, but because I needed to be alone. I needed fresh air, even really cold fresh air.

I sat on a rock overlooking the spot where Matthew and I had spent so many hours talking and staring up at the sky. How could my mother say we were different? I’d never met anyone I had so much in common with, anyone who understood me like he did. I’d never known anyone else who liked to lie on the grass and make imaginary designs out of clouds. Or who believed in nature creatures and angels.

My life had changed so much since Matthew had come into it. He’d supported me and he’d encouraged me to do what I believed in, to be the person I wanted to be. Because he believed in me—even when I didn’t.

Matthew and I weren’t different at all, except maybe because we’d had different experiences and had lived such different lives. But still, Matthew was more like me than anyone else I knew, any of the people I’d grown up with.

Or was my mother talking about something else? Was she talking about him being Jewish and me being Protestant? Did she even know? And if she did, how did she know?

I remembered the conversation I’d had with Marie at the beginning of the semester. Strange, it seemed like months and months ago. She had told me her mother said Matthew and his family were different. Marie had figured it was because so many relatives lived with them, or because they were so well-educated. But now I wondered if it was because they were Jewish.

A cold breeze blew clear through me and I shivered.

“Cold?”

He was standing behind me, staring at our favorite spot. The grass wasn’t so green anymore. It was turning brown and hard to even see with all the fallen leaves covering it.

“I’m sorry, Matthew.”

“I know.” He sat down beside me on the rock.

“I guess I—”

“What?” He stared into my eyes, searching for honesty. I could give him that.

“I’ve never known anyone who was Jewish. I guess I did think they—you looked a certain way or something. It was stupid.”

“True.”

I flashed him a look. “Well, give me a break, would you?”

He laughed. “It was stupid. What can I say?”

At least he’d said it was stupid, not that I was stupid. Somehow that made a difference. “Well, you aren’t exactly open-minded yourself. You have a pretty stereotyped opinion of cheerleaders and rallies.

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