Give, a Novel by Erica Carpenter Witsell

Author:Erica Carpenter Witsell [Witsell, Erica Carpenter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Women, Family Life, Siblings, lgbt, lesbian, coming of age
ISBN: 1945448342
Google: hghrDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07GXXYFGG
Publisher: BQB Publishing
Published: 2019-06-01T14:44:42+00:00

That Friday evening at Leah’s house, Jessie reported to her best friend what had happened. They were lying side by side on their backs on the shaggy rug in Leah’s room, staring at the ceiling.

“I just forgot that I was going to leave, you know? But I felt so stupid. Asking Mom if I could run cross country when I won’t even be here.” Jessie was dry-eyed now, nonchalant, but the urge to cry was still lodged in the bottom of her throat, even now, two days later. Oh, she just couldn’t wait for it all to be over. But everything seemed to be moving so slowly. The court date had not been set; weeks passed with no word from the attorney. When Jessie had first told Laurel she wanted to live with her, Laurel had called her every few days for two weeks, full of questions and plans and gratitude. But now weeks might pass with no phone call from Laurel—as if nothing had happened at all, Jessie thought. As if her whole world was not about to change.

No one at home seemed to understand Jessie’s impatience for the suit be resolved. After all, she had made her decision, and her father had said he would not cross her. Next summer Jessie would go to Baymont for good. But what would the judge say about Emma? The question hung over all of them. Jessie had, more than once, overheard her father and Sarah speaking to each other in tense voices, but to Jessie and Emma they said almost nothing.

“I mean,” Jessie said to Leah now, “everything just feels pretty much the same as it always has. Except Mom and Dad . . . I don’t know, they seem different somehow. But they never talk about the court case. I don’t even know what’s happening.”

“I still can’t believe you forgot,” Leah said beside her. “That’s so weird.”

“Yeah,” Jessie agreed. “But how can they blame me? I felt stupid and everything, but I don’t know. Everything just feels so normal that I forgot for a second.”

“Well, technically a lot longer than a second, if you asked your mom to—”

“Come on, Leah. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah.”

Leah had been Jessie’s best friend since they were both five years old, when Jessie had started kindergarten in Bakersfield. They had been together through all six years of elementary school; it was only in retrospect that Jessie understood what a difference that had made. Jessie had never been easy with her peers, but with Leah there—fearless, gregarious, likeable Leah—the other kids had hardly seemed to notice Jessie. Back then, it had only been Leah who had teased her, calling her “Brainy Smurf” good-naturedly whenever the teachers praised her.

“Okay, Smurfette,” Jessie had retaliated. With her perfect blonde hair and her ballet lessons, Leah had always been the kind of girl that Jessie had no wish to emulate, no matter how many times her friend talked her into painting her toenails or curling her hair.

Everything had changed after fifth grade, when Leah’s parents decided to send their only daughter to private school.

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