“Ally,” my mother said a few minutes later. “I can’t talk right now. I’m training my replacement and I have all kinds of loose ends to tie up.”
“Mom, this is life or death.” Seeing something that shocking and ugly could kill someone. If I were older, I’d probably have had a heart attack. Or a stroke. As it was, I had post-traumatic stress disorder. “Help me.”
“I can’t believe she’d really just parade around like that, Ally. Surely you’re exaggerating.”
I lay on my back on the twin bed with my pillow over my eyes. “I’m not!”
“I’ll call you as soon as I get off, honey. Right at five. We’ll talk about it then, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come with me to Seattle. You can put up with Diane for a while to stay with your friends and your school. You’re just not thinking clearly.”
I agreed and hung up. How could anyone think clearly after that nightmare? I couldn’t even close my eyes. I kept seeing it. Over and over. This was how I was spending my last few days of summer?
I powered up my laptop and checked my email. Then I slipped out of my bathing suit and put on shorts and a t-shirt. When I heard the front door slam, I figured the coast was clear of naked old people. I went to the kitchen, grabbed a drink and a sandwich, and headed downstairs for the big TV.
Mom called at five. She agreed to let me come home the next day. “Do you want me to talk to Diane?”
“And say what?”
Mom sighed. “I guess that you’re uncomfortable.”
“What good would that do?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Forget it,” I said. “I’ll live.” My heart was broken. My eyes were burning, and my stomach kept threatening to toss back the sandwich.
I called Madison and MC, short for Mary Catherine. Both of them expressed the appropriate degree of horror. They agreed to come hang out with me at my mother’s tomorrow.
When Caroline asked me later why I was leaving early, I told her that my mother missed me. “She didn’t want to waste any more of our time together.”
“Oh,” Caroline said. “That makes sense.”
“I’ll be back next Friday.” We’d both start school by then. “We can catch up on all the back to school stuff.”
The last week of summer went pretty well. I got to hang out with my friends. We went to Madison’s pool a lot. There was no one around but us, so I wasn’t uncomfortable.
I relaxed on a giant hot pink float next to Madison. “This is way better than being at my dad’s.” I inhaled the scent of coconut sunscreen and soaked up the rays.
“Oh, yeah. You never told us about that guy who’s watching your dog. Is he cute?” MC asked from the side of the pool.
“He’s okay.” I didn’t want to get into it. “He’s like everybody else in the world. He has it bad for Caroline.”
“That sucks,” Madison said, running her fingers through the water. “I thought you guys might end up liking each other.”
“At least you’ll get some practice talking to boys,” MC chimed in. She was treading water beside us. MC swam like a fish.
“You know what else she needs practice with,” Madison said.
“Hello? I’m right here.”
“You need practice standing up to your parents,” MC said.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m totally turning over a new leaf. I’m tired of getting kicked around. I’m tired of taking it. When I get back to the house of shriveled saggy naked people, heads are going to roll.” I had actually worked up something of a tirade.
“Good for you, Ally,” Madison said.
Besides hanging with my friends, I slept in my bed, and got to hang out with my mom. I went shopping and spent a fortune on new clothes. When I heard the total at Anthropologie, I was afraid Mom would pass out. But she just whipped out a credit card.
“You’ll need extra,” Mom had said. “To keep up with Caroline on the weekends. She has more clothes than you do since she doesn’t have the uniform.”
Mom was right. I usually had three pairs of jeans I liked and a few tops. Caroline had a much more impressive wardrobe. I’d spent a good part of the last two years green with envy over her outfits.
So now I flipped through the clothes in my closet wishing I could wear something cool for the first day of school. Instead, it would be the green and Navy plaid skirt and white blouse. At St. Mary’s, the girls wore oxford-style shirts like the boys. Only dweebs wore the girl version of the white blouse. Girls and boys were allowed to wear navy blue pants and red, white, or green polo shirts. Madison had it on good authority that it was considered uncool to wear pants. We didn’t want to start high school on the wrong foot. MC’s sisters had been conflicted on the issue. We went with Gina’s opinion. She said pants were fine if you never wanted a date because nobody looked good in the boy-cut uniform pants.
Of course, the new, pleated skirts fresh from the factory looked a little dweebish themselves. We had to wear knee socks year round. I’d gotten in the habit of wearing shorts under my skirt in kindergarten. I wondered if I should keep that up. If someone noticed, would I be ostracized? No way was I flashing my panties. That was so Lindsay Lohan wannabe.
The week should have been great, but instead I felt like a cloud was hanging over me the whole time. This could be the last week of my life as I knew it. And at the very least, I was headed back to the middle-aged nudist colony. Eeew. The ugliness.
Sure, I’d be seeing a lot of Jonathan, but I’d have to watch him leering at my step-sister. Life so was not fair.
The over-starched skirt was already itching me when Mom let me out of the car on the first day of school.
“Have a good day,” she called.
“Thanks,” I mumbled, looking around for my friends in the sea of green plaid.
“Ally,” MC called from behind me. “We’re over here!”
Thank God. I couldn’t begin to imagine facing high school without my best friends. If I moved to Seattle, that’s exactly what I’d be doing. “Hey guys,” I said, joining them near the flagpole in front of the dingy, old brick building.
“Listen, Ally,” MC said, motioning for me to lean in closer. “I’ve been thinking about your stepmother. Do you think she’s a lesbian?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “I think she’s just a freak.”
“Even if she were a lesbian,” Madison chimed in, “she wouldn’t hit on Ally and risk her husband finding out.”
“Okay, then, this plan only works if she’s not a lesbian,” MC said. “If you’re going to have to see her naked anyway, why not do something to make her look better.”
Huh? “Like what?”
“Like buy her a toning video, or some classes or something.”
“Eeww. I don’t care how toned she is! It’s major ick either way.”
MC shrugged. “Just trying to help.”
“Oh, oh!” Madison grabbed my arm. “I know. Give her the video anyway. To insult her. Now that you’ve seen her naked, it would be totally bitchy to do that. But what could she say?”
Now that was a plan I could embrace. To insult her. Call her old and flabby by giving her a workout video. What could she do to
me? And even for a mega bitch like her, it would have to hurt. I grinned. “I would love that!”
“Really?” Madison acted shocked.
“You don’t think I can be obnoxious.”
MC snorted. “We know you can be! But not to an adult. Even your stepmonster.”
“We have to get it right after school, before you back out.” Madison clapped her hands. “This is going to be great!”
“Come on,” MC said. “We’ll be late.”
I followed them through the door of the school. We were supposed to go in the gym for homeroom assignments. We didn’t have our class schedules yet, so who knew if we’d be together at all. “Are your skirts making you itch?”
They answered a firm no, and I started to wonder if mine was infested with some kind of bug. Mom had washed it, hadn’t she? I’d be a big hit if I spent the first day of my freshmen year scratching myself. Hives would be even better. Or swarms of scary insects jumping off my skirt. Okay. I took a deep breath. No way was I giving Diane that video. I could barely cope with life now. A guilty conscience would do me in. Darn Catholic school!
I knew a few kids in my homeroom, but they had us sit in alphabetical order so it didn’t really matter. With my schedule in hand, I headed out to the hall. I popped my lock on my assigned locker outside homeroom. If only I had made plans to meet up with MC and Madison to compare schedules. We’d signed up for most of the same classes. Maybe we’d gotten lucky.
Geometry was my first class, which was good I guess because I’d be a little alert to do the math. I located the classroom and walked in with my fingers crossed. Well, mentally at least. I said hi to a couple of the brainy guys I knew from eighth grade. I grabbed three desks near the back, securing one with my purse and one with my backpack. I plunked my butt down in the third. Then, I waited. Several girls and guys came in who must’ve come from St. Luke.
My three least favorite girls from St. Catherine with the latest Coach bags, matching of course. And finally, MC and Madison. I held in my squeal.