by Linda Nelson
“Hi Neil. Can I sit with you or can we go sit somewhere else so we can talk?” Ashley hugged her books in front of her chest with one arm and her other hand held her lunch bag.
Eyebrows rose around the table and the boy sitting on Neil’s right immediately stood, giving up his seat. He didn’t mind. It wasn’t every day a pretty girl decided to eat lunch at their table.
Ashley took the seat. She eyed the company, “I was hoping to get to talk to you in private. If you know what I mean?”
“Oh…She wants to get private….” One of the boys sitting across from Neil jeered. “Neil you went and got a girlfriend, and you didn’t bother to tell us?”
Neil couldn’t help but defend himself. This girl kept showing up at the most unexpected times, and she was seriously starting to bug him. “We’re not actually, you know. We just started, sort of, I think friends.”
Tears began to well up in Ashley’s eyes. How could he say such a thing? Hadn’t he agreed to go out with her on Friday? How could he deny that she was his girlfriend?
The jeering teen saw the look in Ashley’s eyes. “I think someone is getting into trouble.”
“What?” Neil looked at Ashley. Was she upset because he wouldn’t talk to her in private? “If you need to tell me something, you don’t have to say it in private.”
That did it.
Ashley snatched up her things and scooted off to the bathroom where she could cry her eyes out in private. How could he be so mean to her? How could he be such a jerk? She tossed her lunch into the bathroom trash and locked herself in a stall.
She dabbed at her nose and eyes with fists full of toilet tissue and wondered what she had done to bring that all on herself. He hadn’t seemed to be like that this morning when she briefly spoke to him before homeroom. He had seemed fine and pleasant. What had happened between then and now?
Then it dawned on her. She had embarrassed him at lunch. That had to be it, her tears subsided with her new understanding. Maybe he would talk to her after school before he got on the bus?
The bathroom emptied out just before the bell for the next period rang. Ashley decided to give Neil one more chance to make things right between the two of them. She blotted at her eyes with a cold paper towel, scheming up a way to be with him so he could see she was worthy to be his girlfriend and Not that Karla skank.
Neil stopped at his locker like so many other students at the end of the day. He had not seen Karla since before Homeroom. He hoped she was all right. She may have gone home sick for some reason.
“Hi Neil.” A familiar voice chimed out from behind him. He whirled around to find Ashley looking expectantly at him. What did she want now? He had no idea. She was getting annoying with the way she kept appearing.
“Hi Ashley.”
“So when are we going to spend some time together?” She tried to move in closer to him, hoping to encourage a snuggle or a kiss.
Her eyes lingered on his longer than he liked. “I don’t know, I am pretty busy afterschool with my uncle’s garage.”
“Oh, okay, did you like the lunch I made you the other day?”
“Yes, that was very nice of you, but you didn’t have to.”
“But I wanted to. That’s what girlfriends do for their guys.”
Neil had to flee fast. The bus, he had to get to his bus before he missed his ride. “Look, I have to go. I don’t want to miss my bus. I’ll call you.”
“You will?” Ashley braced herself awaiting a kiss goodbye that didn’t happen. Neil was hurrying away from her slinging his backpack over his shoulder packed full of books and what not.
She couldn’t believe it. He left once again, just like that. Not even a peck on the cheek or a hug. What kind of a boyfriend was he?
Excuses, excuses, she had plenty of them. He probably was too shy to kiss her in public. That had to be what his problem was nothing more, nothing less.
She’d just have to give Maggie a call when she got home. She would know what his problem was; she knew everything there was to getting her guy, especially since she finally was going out officially with Gerry. She told her herself just this morning. He had sent her a long letter telling her how much he loved her. Maggie had made sure that she read that part of the letter out loud to her before handing it over for inspection.
Chapter 10
Neil removed the broken tail pipe and slid it out from under the car. He lay on his back and extended his hand out for his uncle to grab a hold of and pull him out from under the car.
He wiped his hands off on a rag that was handed to him. Finally, he broke the silence. He had been troubling over Ashley ever since she tracked him down after school.
“Uncle Conner, should I break up with that girl who was here on Saturday?”
“Which one was that?”
“The last one – the one who brought me the bag of food.”
“Now why do you want to break up with her? You didn’t like the sandwich she brought you?” Conner jested.
Neil didn’t find him funny. This was a serious matter. Ashley was getting on his nerves with her demands that he speak to her even when he didn’t have the time to do so. “No, her sandwich was all right. It’s just; she keeps bugging me at school. Today she embarrassed me at lunch by stating she wanted to eat lunch with me in private. This is not something that should be said in front of the guys. You know what I mean…”
“Sounds like she’s a difficult young lady. You know, kind of like one of those high maintenance girls. I’ve known her type. Every guy comes across at least one of them during their life time.”
“Is that what you call it? She is turning out to be a pest and not worth the trouble.”
“She is pretty.”
“There is more to a relationship besides looks.”
“You have that right.”
Neil made up his mind on his own. He decided he was going to give her an ultimatum. She had to back off and not be so demanding of him, or he was going to break up with her.
Conner picked up the new tail pipe and slid it under the car. Neil crawled back underneath the car and rolled onto his back so he could begin the process of attaching it to the car.
“She might get upset with you.” Conner said while he handed a new muffler hanger to Neil.
“Not as upset as she is making me. One of my friends I was eating lunch with, he teased me about her for the rest of the day. I don’t need that.”
“You’re upset over his teasing you? Did it ever cross your mind that he did that because he is jealous of you?”
Neil tightened up the last hanger and crawled out from underneath the car, brushing the dirt and grime from his pant legs. Uncle Conner wasn’t being a tremendous help as far as girls went, but he did know a lot about cars.
“Well that’s it for now. Come back tomorrow, and we will take a look at what is under the hood. Hopefully we don’t need to do too much to it to make it pass inspection before you get your license this summer.
And it wouldn’t hurt to give it a decent paint job in the meantime either.”
The week Neil and his family visited his Uncle Conner just before securing the house they were to rent while his dad was stationed in the area, Neil and his Uncle found and purchased a 1967 Baracuda Black on Fast Back with a cherry red interior. It was Neil’s dream car.
His uncle had found the car sitting in a farmer’s field rusting away. He offered the man a thousand dollars to buy the car and get it off his property. It was to be Neil’s motivation to learn to be a mechanic. If he could restore this car, then he would be able to move on to the newer models.
It also gave him a chance to see whether he preferred to be an auto mechanic or a detailer or both. All it came down to was a matter of preference. So far, Neil liked both.
By the time Neil had returned home from the garage, Ashley had already called him, leaving two messages with his mother to call him back. “Neil, that girl that called you the other day, has called here twice looking for you. I told
her you were not available and that you would call her when you got in.”
Neil rolled his eyes. “Thanks Mom.” He picked up the phone off the charger and carried it downstairs with him to the den where he could talk privately to Ashley. His first thoughts were to tell her they were breaking up. But the more he got thinking about it the more he decided he wasn’t being too fair to her. Maybe his uncle was right too. Maybe Martin, the kid who had teased him during lunch was terribly jealous of him like his uncle said. It made sense.
“Hi, is Ashley there?” An older woman, most likely Ashley’s mom answered the phone. She acknowledged that Ashley indeed was home with a yell that just about shattered Neil’s ear drum.
“Ashley – Phone – It’s that boy, I think…”
A brief pause followed with the phone receiver being dropped on the other end and possibly hitting either the wall or floor. It was hard to tell on Neil’s end except for the thud it made after striking whatever the thing was.
“Hello?” Ashley’s voice sounded much nicer in Neil’s ear compared to the scream from the person who had called her to the phone or the phone being struck against an object.
“Ashley? It’s Neil.”
In the background he heard the woman scream again, “Are you going to pick up that phone or what?”
Ashley must have covered the receiver before answering the woman. Neil heard her muffled response and was thankful she had enough smarts to put her hand over the handset. “Aunt Doris, I got it already. You can hang up now.”
A click was heard on Neil’s end as the other phone receiver was hung back on it’s hook.
“Okay, that’s better. Hi Neil… Sorry about my aunt, she is a bit off sometimes.”
Neil was glad it wasn’t her mom. “I got your message that you called. I said I would call you when I got home.”
There was silence on the other end. Neil wasn’t sure if Ashley had hung up or something. “Hello, are you still there?” He asked.
“I’m still here.”
Once again silence. Was he doing something wrong, he wondered? The girl who talked his ear off in person was being unusually quiet. He had to break the silence. It was deafening.
“You know, Ashley… I honestly don’t know a lot about you. I don’t know what you like and don’t like.”
“Well, I love flowers and chocolates. I want to be kissed and for someone to hold my hand, even in public. I like going to the movies and to dances. Plus, I love kittens. Green is my favorite color, and I like swimming in the summer.” Ashley took a breath before continuing. “What I don’t love is being stood up. I also don’t like being brushed off because my boyfriend is too busy for me. And I hate watching sports on TV. I have to see the game in person.”
He had her going now, and there was no telling if she was going to stop anytime soon. Ashley continued, “I like tulips in the spring. And I love watching the snow fall during the winter. I don’t like being ignored, or neglected like you have done to me ever since we started going out.”
Now she wasn’t being fair to him. Neil wanted to protest, but it didn’t seem like the appropriate time for him to speak out. He probably would only get more of an attitude from her. “I’m sorry I have made you feel neglected. It’s just that I made these arrangements with my uncle long before I met you, and I have to fulfill my end of the bargain.”
“That’s still no excuse. You need to make time for me, or we are not going to work out.”
Was she going to break up with him, Neil wondered? He thought he was going to have to be the one to do it instead. If she was the one breaking up, did that mean he wouldn’t have to watch her cry? But did he honestly want to break up with her? He hadn’t actually given her a chance yet.
“I promise to try harder. The thing is I don’t get much time to myself, and I do have to keep up with my homework. How about we go out for ice cream this Saturday night, my treat, and then there’s the dance in a couple of weeks. We can go to that together if you want?”
“Really? You’re asking me to the dance?” Ashley’s voice took on an excited shrill of delight.
“Sure, why not?”
“Oh thank you Neil, I love you. I have to go and pick out my dress. I will call you tomorrow.”
He didn’t have a chance to respond. The phone went silent followed by the sound of the tone one gets before placing a call, before a word was able to come out of his mouth. She certainly was an odd character. Couldn’t the dress wait? She had two weeks to find one. It wasn’t like he was taking her to a prom. Girls…
Maybe she didn’t like ice cream.
Chapter 11
Dinner came around. Carrie made a point to find out what Karla liked to eat. At first Brian wasn’t to forth coming about her likes. He told her don’t go giving into her and spoiling her. How was he supposed to punish her, if she went about trying to find ways to reward her behavior?
“Brian, I don’t think you get it. Don’t you know that teen years are one of the hardest years of your child’s life? I think you are being too hard on her. Maybe you should try listening to her side of the story for once. There is always some truth found in what you might think are lies.”
“She won’t open up to you. She won’t even open up to me.” Brian leaned against the kitchen counter watching Carrie go about making a pizza from scratch, even the crust was homemade.
“That’s because you treat her as if she’s your enemy,” Carrie replied.
“What do you know about raising a teen? You don’t have any kids.”
“I know enough, “Carrie said matter-of-factly. “I have three younger sisters. One of them is a little bit older than Karla. “If you want her to talk to you, you first must give them some slack. They learn by experience. She is expected to mess up. It is part of life. You just need to be there to help steer her back into the right direction without being cruel.”
When the pizza was ready, Brian knocked on Karla’s door. He got no response from her. He was about to yell though her door when he decided to open it instead, but slowly. He made a valid effort to talk to her softly just in case she was sleeping. “Karla,” he whispered. “Supper is ready. We’re having pizza.”
“Go away.” A muffled voice said from underneath a pillow.
“Look, I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. It’s just; I got the call at work and had to leave work early because of the incident at school.” Brian knew Carrie counted on him to convince Karla it was okay to come out of her room. “We’re having pizza, with lots of pepperoni on it. Just the way you like it.”
“Is she still here?” The muffled voice asked.
“Yes she is, and it was her idea to make the pizza for you. She said it might help cheer you up since you had such a crummy day.”
Karla pulled the pillow off her face. Her eyes were red from crying. “I’m not really hungry.”
“Just come out and have one piece. That’s all you have to eat and then you can do, I don’t know, anything but go out.”
So far he hadn’t grounded her as he said he was going to do. “All right…” Karla relented.
The pizza was one of the best Karla had ever tasted. She just about swore up and down it had come from a pizzeria; it was hard to believe that Carrie had made it. By the time she had finished her first piece she was surprised her dad had not said one word about what had happened at school. His silence kind of bothered her. It made her feel weird. She had to make things right. “Dad, I’m sorry about today.”
Brian looked at Carrie. He wasn’t sure what he should say.
“Have you been having a lot of problems with this girl?” Carrie wanted to hear Karla’s side of the story.
“She has been horrible to me since we moved here. And I recently learned she was the one who put that stuff in my drink that time.” Karla said. She was afraid she shouldn’t have said that. Her and her dad hadn’t spoken about that day ever since she was released from jail.
Carrie didn’t know about the date rape. “Put what in
your drink? When was this?” She looked toward Brian waiting for him to elaborate, but he didn’t say a word.
He kept quiet. He was trying to let Karla tell her side of the story as he was instructed. It was hard for him to restrain himself, so he stuffed another bite of pizza in his mouth to keep himself quiet.
“Back at the beginning of the school year, I went to this party, which I wasn’t supposed to go to.” Karla looked to her dad for a reaction and got nothing, so she continued. “There was a guy there that I liked. We went upstairs to do kissing or, so I thought. He had other ideas instead. This girl at my school, the one whom I’m having problems with put this stuff in my drink that made me overdose and almost die.”
Carrie eyed Brian, he should have told her about this. “How do you know it was this girl that drugged you?” Carrie asked Karla.
Karla relaxed. This was the first person since Jan that she was able to talk to about the how rape incident. She took another piece of pizza before continuing, “Because Maggie bragged about it to everyone in school.”
“That girl sounds like a real gem.”
“She is.”
The conversation stopped on that note. But Karla felt more relaxed about having Carrie around. Brian noted this by how Karla had more than two pieces of pizza before announcing she was full.
Karla excused herself to her room saying she had homework to do.
“That went well.” Brian sounded rather surprised.
“How come you never told me she was raped?” Carrie wiped off a plate and put it away.
“It’s something I just don’t feel comfortable talking about. Rape is rape, and when it happens to your own daughter, you feel guilty about it because there is nothing you can do to make it go away.”
“Did she ever see a counselor?”
“No, why?”
“She should. By not talking about it, you make her think she is a bad person, which is why she probably keeps getting into trouble. She expects it. She needs to know she is not a terrible person and hurtful things do happen to decent people.” Carrie put away a green colored glass. “I even have a friend I know, who is a counselor for rape victims. I will go ahead and make an appointment for her to see her. It won’t hurt.”
