“How could you do that to Daddy at breakfast?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Be so selfish. With all that’s happening with Mother, how could you think only of yourself?”
“What did I do?”
“What did you do? Trying to get Daddy to take you to that stupid basketball game? He has no time to do those things now. What if Mother isn’t any better by Friday?”
“He didn’t think she was so sick, Cassie. I asked him, and—”
“I told you,” she said, shaking my arm. “He would never tell you how worried he is. He’ll always try to protect you from bad or sad things.”
“He’s the one who asked me about the game,” I said, rubbing my arm where she had grabbed it. I was sure I had a black-and-blue mark, but if I mentioned it, she would only tell me that was proof I was so fragile. “He was urging me to go, urging us both to go.”
“He was just being … nice. Being Daddy,” she said. “And with all that’s going on here, it’s a wonder he can do that. He’s so strong. Now you can see why he’s so successful in business, and you can certainly see the differences between him and Uncle Perry, can’t you?”
“Well, what should I do?” I asked.
“Nothing. It’s too late to do anything. It doesn’t matter. I’ll take you, but I’m not staying there. If you can’t arrange for a ride home, I’ll have to go back to get you. Next time, think about others before you speak,” she said, and returned to the living room.
“What about Mother? Did you bring her breakfast? Is she awake?” I called after her.
“Just go to school, Semantha,” she replied from inside the living room. “If you miss the bus, you’ll have to hitchhike or walk. I can’t leave now to take you. I have too much to do here, because Mother is too sick to lift a finger. Don’t forget. I predicted it. I predicted everything that’s happening and will happen.”
I looked back at the stairway. I should have gone to see Mother myself, but now I didn’t have enough time. I had to hurry out and down the long driveway to get to the bus stop. Since Cassie had gotten her license and Daddy had bought her a car, we drove to school, but now that she wasn’t going today, I had no choice but to take the bus. If I didn’t get there before it arrived, the driver wouldn’t look for me. He didn’t expect me to be there waiting. I reached the corner just in time.
I sat with some of the girls from my class, and we got into so many conversations I began to regret having to go to school and back with Cassie. She hardly even spoke during the trip, and if she did, it was rarely about anything fun at school. It was usually just one of her many lectures on boys or behavior, lectures full of dire warnings. The way she spoke and described all the dangers and traps in the world, it was a wonder she ever left the house.
The girls were all eager to talk to me. They had lots of questions about my house and the department stores, but their real curiosity was about Kent Pearson and me. Everyone had seen us together in the hallways and at lunch. Almost all of them thought we were a perfect couple, but I could tell that one girl, Meg Stein, was jealous. That didn’t bother me. If anything, it made me prouder.
Kent was very happy to hear that I would be at the basketball game on Friday. At lunch, he asked me if it might be possible for me to go to a party at Eddie Morris’s house, another boy in our class who had gotten permission from his parents to have an after-game party.
“It’s just until midnight, and my father will drive us there. I’m sure he would be happy to drive you home as well,” he said.
I could just imagine how Cassie would react. I wanted very much to go, but I didn’t know how I could manage it. It was very hard to lie to Cassie. She had eyes like X-rays, and, as she always said, my face was an open book. Anyway, it was hard to lie to someone you feared, whether he or she was good at seeing into your heart or not.
“I’m not sure,” I said. “My mother is having a hard time with her pregnancy, and—”
“Your mother is pregnant?” he asked. It sounded as if he was asking if my mother had the plague. I simply nodded. “Wow. How come you never said anything?”
I shrugged. How could I tell him my sister forbade me to tell people, especially my schoolmates?
“Well, anyway, try to come,” he urged, and I promised I would.
It was on my mind the rest of the day. I didn’t think at all about Mother. Did that mean I was as selfish as Cassie accused me of being? She had me feeling guilty about so many things I was afraid to do more than tiptoe around her these days. Her whole personality seemed to have hardened ever since Daddy had announced Mother’s pregnancy.
On the bus ride home, some of the other girls mentioned the after-game party and asked if I was going. I could see Meg Stein was hoping, maybe even praying, I would say no. That would give her an opportunity to steal Kent away from me.
“Of course,” I said bravely. “Kent has already arranged our transportation.”
Meg’s face sank in like a heavy rock in quicksand. I sat back nervously, wondering how I would ever manage getting to this party.
Semantha Heavenstone, you have to develop the courage to stand up to your sister, I told myself. She shouldn’t be able to boss me around like this. Just because socializing wasn’t important to her didn’t mean it couldn’t be to me. She was fond of saying we were different. Okay, fine, so let it be that we were different.
As I walked home and then up the driveway, I kept firming up my courage, imagining how I would ask Daddy and Mother for their permission and then somehow avoid Cassie for two more days. Once she did find out, it would be just like her to find a reason she couldn’t take me to the game, and then I would be stuck. Semantha, if she does that, you’ll ask Kent to have his father come by to pick you up, I told myself defiantly. That would solve the problem. It would really enrage Cassie, but surely she would get over it. It was time I struck an independent note. Other girls my age had a great deal more freedom and wondered why I was still treated as if I were in elementary school.
I was