Read Online Bittersweet Dreams by V.C. Andrews - Free Book Online Page B

how I’d had the foresight to call 911 before calling him and how I had performed CPR. He assured them that I knew exactly what to do. He was probably still in shock himself and kept himself from breaking down by bragging about me. I found it interesting how people wanted me to describe what had happened in as much detail as I could. It was as if that made them feel better or they thought it would help me get through it. I knew almost all of them were surprised at the cool explanation of the physical details from someone my age, but I would have had to confess something. Ever since I was a little girl, ever since Fish Face, I enjoyed shocking people and seeing the expressions of amazement on their faces.
    At least I had a sense of humor about something, right?
    Anyway, later on, when my teachers informed Daddy and Julie that I had to be separated from the others more often because I was disruptive, challenging things they said or asking questions that were beyond the subject at hand (at first, they thought I had ADD and was unable to concentrate; later they realized I was merely bored), Julie was embarrassed. She surprised me. She wanted my father to persuade them not to do such a thing. They had the discussion right at the dinner table in front of me, as if I weren’t there.
    For a moment, a small, slight moment, I thought she really cared about how this would affect me. Was she capable of being concerned for me? Then she continued to talk, and that thought died a swift death.
    â€œSeparate her? It sounds like they’re afraid she’ll contaminate the other students. I have many friends with children in this school, Roger. There’ll be talk. It doesn’t make us look too good, and it makes me wonder about her relationship with Allison, whether I should be worried or what?”
    My father didn’t see it that way, but Julie pointed out that Allison was going to grade school at the same school and would eventually have the same teachers I was having.
    â€œYou know how teachers are when they have the younger sisters or brothers of students who gave them trouble. They think it’s a family trait or something.”
    â€œShe’s not really giving them trouble, not in the sense you mean, Julie,” he said patiently.
    â€œIt’s the same result. Your name gets soiled.”
    â€œSoiled?” I said, looking up. “You mean made dirty or disgraced?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œOkay, Mayfair,” my father said quickly.
    â€œBut this is a stupid discussion, Daddy. Allison and I don’t share any genetics. Why would my teachers transfer their feelings about me to her?”
    â€œYou can still have an influence on her,” Julie said quickly.
    â€œThe teachers won’t make that connection so quickly. Allison doesn’t have the same last name. My father hasn’t legally adopted her.”
    â€œHe will someday,” Julie said confidently. “Her father will not oppose it, believe me.”
    I looked at him. Give her our name? It simply hadn’t occurred to me. As long as she had her father’s name, she was still a stranger, sort of a guest, but that would certainly change if she had my last name, too. And what a mean thing to do to her father, I thought.
    â€œYes,” Julie went on. “You think of everything, but you didn’t think of that. You shouldn’t have been so annoying in class. Teachers don’t forget.”
    â€œIt’s not the reason they gave for moving me out of the classroom,” I said. “They know I’m beyond what the class could achieve already. It wasn’t fair to me, and it wasn’t fair to them.”
    She simply smirked. The principal might have done better if he had told her I had bad body odor. Despite what my father said, she took it hard. She made him feel guilty, too. She kept harping on what their friends would say. She had married into this family. Her favorite expression about me at