Bound by Vijaya Bodach

Author:Vijaya Bodach
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: mental retardation developmenal delays, burn survivors accident hope cope challenges, sisters siblings dead mother controlling father, pregnancy disability keep baby struggle, Asian American international adoption infertility
Publisher: Bodach Books
Published: 2018-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

21—First Day Continues

The more I think about Rothschild, the madder I get. I’ll show him. I’ll show him what I can do in fifty minutes! I slam the gigantic calculus book into my locker and head towards Spanish. Colleen is already in the back, chatting—probably tattling—nonstop with a couple of girls. I glare at her but she’s too busy to notice. I sit up front and thumb through the textbook, not seeing a single word. I’d like to sit next to her so that we could be paired up for the conversational part of the course, but there’s only one thing I want to say to her and it will have to wait until after class.

Mrs. Rodriguez interrupts all conversation with a babble of Spanish. Class has begun. She talks about her summer, and I find it difficult to follow, but get the gist of it: she took a whirlwind trip to Europe in which she covered seven countries in fourteen days. She invites us to share something memorable about our summer in Spanish. The students speak haltingly about vacations, though some who live on farms talk about their animals. I think how much Joy would love to live on a farm with chickens and ducks, a couple of dogs, and a barn full of cats. But when it’s my turn I don’t mention Joy. I only talk about my job at the library, the smell of dusty old books, and buying new books. I neglect to tell them they’re about burn recoveries or that I went to Seattle for my laser treatment. I’m not ready to roll up my sleeves yet and show them how nicely my skin is healing. Not that anybody cares; some are even yawning.

The hour goes by fast and as soon as the bell rings, students begin to leave the classroom. When Colleen passes me, I stop her.

“What’s up?” she asks, as though she’s innocent. “I saw you in the cafeteria this morning but you disappeared so quickly.”

I come right to the point. “Stop talking about Joy.”

“I ...” Colleen is surprised.

“Don’t you deny it because Sheldon told me.”

Colleen rolls her eyes at me. “He asked,” she says, and starts walking away to her locker.

I scramble after her. “Why would he?”

Colleen whirls around. “Look, don’t get all snotty with me. Sheldon cares, so he asked. Why should I lie? Everybody’s going to know eventually. You can’t keep it a secret forever.”

“It’s not your news to tell,” I say. I don’t care that she’s right; I don’t want her talking about Joy.

“What’s the news?” asks Madison. Man, she has radar.

“News?” says Colleen, picking up her brown bag lunch. “Do you have news, Rebecca?”

“Oh, shut up,” I say, wanting to slam both of them against their lockers.

I weave through the throng in the hallway towards my own locker. This time Colleen follows me. I grab my lunch and make my way outside. Colleen, though she has a Mexican dad, takes more after her Irish mother with perfect white skin and she wants to keep it like that so she won’t be venturing outdoors.

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