It felt as if a sheet of ice was sliding from the back of my head down my back, over my stomach, and down my legs to my feet.

“That’s not true,” I said.

“She was so upset that she broke down and confessed about other things. She told us she took you to buy those clothes because you wanted them, and she thought we’d want her to make you happy.”

“What?”

“I knew they weren’t her clothes. They looked new, and they fit you.”

“That’s not true, either. She’s lying. I don’t know why, but she is.”

“She said it was your idea to lie about the play audition.”

“No.”

“Otherwise, why would you go along with it? She says you have a reputation as a big flirt in school, and all the boys were after you, and she was frankly embarrassed about it since we had described you as her cousin. She claims she tried to get you to calm down, but today was the end. You could have had any boy on the boat, but you chose Ricky just because he was her boyfriend. She says that you were plotting and conniving to get your revenge in subtle ways, this being one.”

How could she say these things? I thought. I wasn’t going to let her get away with it.

“No, no, Mrs. March, I didn’t choose Ricky. They did.”

“Who’s ‘they,’ Sasha?”

“The other girls … the VA club,” I said.

She stared for a moment, looked away, and then turned back to me. “Now, what is this supposed to be, the VA club?”

“Virgins Anonymous. That’s what this tattoo is about. It’s calligraphy of the V and the A. All of the girls have a tattoo there.”

“What’s Virgins Anonymous? I don’t understand.”

“All of the girls in the club have given up their virginity to be members, and everyone has sex regularly with any boy. Kiera brought me to be a member, and they approved of me. I swore a vow on a notebook that contains the description of each girl’s first time. We meet regularly at Deidre’s house, because her mother works with her father and she has the house free after school. No one was supposed to talk about it, but Kiera’s lying to you about me. I didn’t ask for new clothes, I didn’t ask for the tattoo, and I didn’t steal her boyfriend. What happened was that I got seasick very quickly on the boat, and Ricky put me in the master stateroom. I wasn’t supposed to get seasick. Kiera said those pills she had given me would prevent it.”

“What pills?”

“The pills to make my periods less severe. Here,” I said, rising quickly and going to the drawer beside my bed. “I’ll show you.”

I opened the drawer and stared down in disbelief. The pills were gone. I looked carefully through the drawer.

“She must have taken them back,” I said under my breath.

“Sasha, Mr. March is very, very upset.”

“It’s not true. None of what she’s saying is true!”

“Get dressed,” she said, rising. “We’re all going to have a talk downstairs in Mr. March’s office. I’m sick to my stomach.”

I started to cry. She looked at me but not with the same compassion and sympathy I used to see in her face.

“Just get dressed. I’m calling Deidre’s mother right now,” she said, and left.

I couldn’t stop sobbing, but I put on some clothes, making sure not to wear anything Kiera had given me. I wanted to confront her first, but she was already downstairs sitting in her father’s office. She had her hands clasped on her lap and looked straight ahead, as though she was the one being accused of everything, as though she was the one so damaged and hurt.

Mr. March sat at his desk. Mrs. March was sitting across from Kiera.

“Just sit anywhere, Sasha,” Mr. March said.

I looked at Kiera, but she wouldn’t look at me. Nevertheless, I sat on the settee, too.

Tags: V.C. Andrews Storms
Source: readsnovelonline.net