Fourth grade…
“Why weren’t you at school today?” Reed asks as he comes barging through my front door.
“I have a cold,” I say and look away from him, trying to hide my embarrassment.
“You don’t look sick.” He closes the door and follows me as I go to the small living area.
“I’m okay now,” I say, staring at the television and pretending he’s not there.
“So, what, it was like a six-hour cold? I don’t understand.”
“Your mom is going to start hollering for you.”
“No, I told her I was coming over to check on you and bring you your homework.” He puts my bookbag on the couch and then sits down next to it. “Mrs. Merritt said we have to read four chapters tonight and I thought maybe we could do it together so it would be less boring.”
He pulls out the school-issued copy of Bridge to Terabithia and begins to flip through it.
“I’ll read it later,” I say as I get frustrated and walk back to the front door. “Maybe you should go.”
He looks at me and his eyes narrow. “Cami, what’s going on?”
He’s always been able to see everything, but can’t this just be the one thing that he doesn’t notice?
“Nothing,” I say as I wring my hands together.
“Cami, if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I swear I’ll call the cops.”
“The cops? Are you crazy? If your dad found out he would ground you for a month.”
“If you don’t tell me what’s wrong I’ll assume the worst.” He stands up and comes over to me, and I hate I that I’m upsetting but I don’t know what to do.
“I just…” I shake my head and then look into his eyes in desperation and finally mumble the words I’m embarrassed to say. “I got my period this morning, okay?”
His face goes completely blank and it takes him a long second before he blinks and then he nods. He doesn’t say a word as he opens the front door and then walks right out, leaving me standing there in complete mortification.
I woke up this morning and I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t tell my dad and even if I did, what could he do? The only thing I could think of was to pretend to be sick so that I could stay home. I thought maybe I could try to go in tomorrow and talk to the school nurse, but she’s only there two days a week.
Hot tears sting my eyes and I start to cry, but just as I wipe them away the door comes back open and Reed is standing there with his mom.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” he says and runs back out the door.
As soon as the door closes behind him, Kathy steps forward and wraps me in a mom hug. I start to cry harder and she makes soothing sounds as she rubs my back and tells me it’s going to be okay. I’ve never wanted her to be my real mother more in my life. Having her here when I need it the most is all because of Reed. He knew what to do even when I felt like it was hopeless.
Kathy ends up taking me to the store and buys me what I need. Then she helps me figure out how to use the stuff and take care of myself. Afterwards she takes me out to dinner, just the two of us, and tells me stories that make me feel better. I ask her questions and she answers all of them, and when she brings me back home that night I’m not scared anymore.
It’s late when I’m in bed, but I hear a knock on my window. I go over to it and see Reed standing outside and I open it up and whisper to him.
“What are you doing?”
“I just wanted to see if you were okay and you didn’t come back until after dark.”
“You better get back home before your parents see you’ve snuck out again.” Kathy was so good to me today that I don’t want to make her mad.
“It’s okay. I just wanted to check on you.” He looks away like he’s just as embarrassed as I am, but the fact that he came back to make sure I’m okay says a lot about him. “My mom wouldn’t tell me what you guys talked about.”
I laugh and shake my head. “It’s girl stuff.” I shrug, but he doesn’t seem happy with that answer.
“We don’t have secrets,” he says, but he doesn’t push it. “I brought you this.” He holds out a little bag and I take it from him. “My dad said it’s what he gets my mom when it’s that, um, time of the month.”
I look inside the bag and see a bunch of huge chocolate bars and I smile up at him. “Thank you.”
He looks anywhere but at me and then clears his throat. “You’re welcome,” he says as he pulls something out of his pocket. “I also brought you this.” He holds out the diamond ring and I smile at him. He gave it to me last week, too, when I fell and skinned my knee at the park.
“Your mom was so nice to me tonight. I don’t want her to get mad,” I say, and I hesitate to take it.
“She left it on the kitchen counter. I think she knew I was going to take it,” he says and shrugs.
“Okay,” I say as I slip it on my finger. It always makes me feel better when he gives it to me.
“Anyway, I’ll see you in the morning, right?” He smiles, and all the clouds from before when he was worried about me are gone.
“Yeah,” I say, and he waves as he runs off through the field back to his house.