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Authors: Melissa Walker
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they’re both truly upset.
“Yes,” I say, smiling reassuringly. “Ty is a really nice guy. Starla Joy and Dean and I all went to the movies with him last week, and today we went to Ulster Park and talked.”
I figure bringing up my lifelong friends will be a plus and will assure them that I’m not going out with Ty in a romantic sense, and the way I said that could mean that all four of us went to the park today. But I didn’t really lie. Not officially.
“Well,” says Dad, scratching the side of his head vigorously, “that’s certainly nice of you all, seeing as how he’s new in town—”
Then Mom chimes in again. “It’s just that, well, he’s a little …” She hesitates.
“A little what?” I ask, genuinely curious.
This hasn’t happened before. My parents have never been uncomfortable about my friendships. They’re really open and loving, even with people like Geoff Parsons. And Ty is a part of the church community, after all.
“He’s been away for a while,” says Mom, looking at Dad and not me.
“Away?” I ask.
“What your mother means is that Ty has …,” starts Dad. “Well, we’ve heard from his aunt that he’s had some … experiences while he’s been gone.”
Huh?
“What do you mean, experiences?” I ask.
“Well, honey, it’s—” Dad starts.
“It’s nothing,” interrupts Mom. Her left hand goes to one of her new earrings, twisting it around in her nervous way. “Never mind.”
They are acting so weird. I’d press them, but I don’t really want them to press me back and find out I was alone with Ty today, even if we were talking about God and Christianity. Because we also talked about porn. I feel my face heat up just thinking about it.
“Okay,” I say, wanting desperately to go upstairs to the pile of books by my bed. I’m in the middle of a really great one about a girl who can see other people’s dreams. “So is it okay if I go to my room?”
“Yes,” says Mom, and she heads into the kitchen for a final wipe down of the counters, even though she’s probably already done that three times since dinner.
“So what did you guys grab to eat?” asks Dad, ruffling my hair as I stand up to head down the hallway. “Is Dean still on Weight Watchers?”
I laugh, and I almost tell my dad about the picnic spot, and Ty and the Power Bars, but I hesitate. I don’t think he’d approve.
“No,” I say. “We grabbed normal food at Wendy’s.”
My stomach clenches up when I lie, but I’m starting to think Dad won’t understand why I was out with Ty—even though he told me to help Ty come back to God, which is what I was doing.
Dad smiles and leans in, out of Mom’s earshot. “Sneak me home a Frosty next time,” he says.
“I will, Dad,” I say. “I promise.”
Chapter Nine
The next day, Starla Joy, Dean, and I sit a while in our spot in the woods and then we get snacks at Sulley’s Drugstore counter, where they have french fries and fountain soda—the place hasn’t changed since my parents used to come here. Later, we meet up with Tessa. She doesn’t usually hang out with us, but today she says her friends are acting stupid and she wants to be with her little sister. Starla Joy plays it cool, but I can tell she’s happy.
We used to spend a lot of time with Tessa—she’s only seventeen, a year older than we are, after all. She always knew what music we should hear, how to get the perfect mermaid braids into my thin hair, and which makeup colors looked best with each of our skin tones. According to Tessa, I’m a winter, and Starla Joy is a fall. She told Dean he’s a spring, and he even took her advice about trying a blue nail color once, but then he went back to his regular black.
In the past couple of years, though, Tessa’s grown more distant. She’s been dating Jeremy Jackson for the last year and a half, and the two of them together are like a country love song—small-town high school romance personified. He plays basketball
“Yes,” I say, smiling reassuringly. “Ty is a really nice guy. Starla Joy and Dean and I all went to the movies with him last week, and today we went to Ulster Park and talked.”
I figure bringing up my lifelong friends will be a plus and will assure them that I’m not going out with Ty in a romantic sense, and the way I said that could mean that all four of us went to the park today. But I didn’t really lie. Not officially.
“Well,” says Dad, scratching the side of his head vigorously, “that’s certainly nice of you all, seeing as how he’s new in town—”
Then Mom chimes in again. “It’s just that, well, he’s a little …” She hesitates.
“A little what?” I ask, genuinely curious.
This hasn’t happened before. My parents have never been uncomfortable about my friendships. They’re really open and loving, even with people like Geoff Parsons. And Ty is a part of the church community, after all.
“He’s been away for a while,” says Mom, looking at Dad and not me.
“Away?” I ask.
“What your mother means is that Ty has …,” starts Dad. “Well, we’ve heard from his aunt that he’s had some … experiences while he’s been gone.”
Huh?
“What do you mean, experiences?” I ask.
“Well, honey, it’s—” Dad starts.
“It’s nothing,” interrupts Mom. Her left hand goes to one of her new earrings, twisting it around in her nervous way. “Never mind.”
They are acting so weird. I’d press them, but I don’t really want them to press me back and find out I was alone with Ty today, even if we were talking about God and Christianity. Because we also talked about porn. I feel my face heat up just thinking about it.
“Okay,” I say, wanting desperately to go upstairs to the pile of books by my bed. I’m in the middle of a really great one about a girl who can see other people’s dreams. “So is it okay if I go to my room?”
“Yes,” says Mom, and she heads into the kitchen for a final wipe down of the counters, even though she’s probably already done that three times since dinner.
“So what did you guys grab to eat?” asks Dad, ruffling my hair as I stand up to head down the hallway. “Is Dean still on Weight Watchers?”
I laugh, and I almost tell my dad about the picnic spot, and Ty and the Power Bars, but I hesitate. I don’t think he’d approve.
“No,” I say. “We grabbed normal food at Wendy’s.”
My stomach clenches up when I lie, but I’m starting to think Dad won’t understand why I was out with Ty—even though he told me to help Ty come back to God, which is what I was doing.
Dad smiles and leans in, out of Mom’s earshot. “Sneak me home a Frosty next time,” he says.
“I will, Dad,” I say. “I promise.”
Chapter Nine
The next day, Starla Joy, Dean, and I sit a while in our spot in the woods and then we get snacks at Sulley’s Drugstore counter, where they have french fries and fountain soda—the place hasn’t changed since my parents used to come here. Later, we meet up with Tessa. She doesn’t usually hang out with us, but today she says her friends are acting stupid and she wants to be with her little sister. Starla Joy plays it cool, but I can tell she’s happy.
We used to spend a lot of time with Tessa—she’s only seventeen, a year older than we are, after all. She always knew what music we should hear, how to get the perfect mermaid braids into my thin hair, and which makeup colors looked best with each of our skin tones. According to Tessa, I’m a winter, and Starla Joy is a fall. She told Dean he’s a spring, and he even took her advice about trying a blue nail color once, but then he went back to his regular black.
In the past couple of years, though, Tessa’s grown more distant. She’s been dating Jeremy Jackson for the last year and a half, and the two of them together are like a country love song—small-town high school romance personified. He plays basketball
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