A Girl Between Read Free

t-shirt,
sweatpants and flip flops.  I spaced the comfort days to maybe one or two a
week at the most.  I classify myself as a casual dresser and don’t want to slip
over into total slob territory.  Total slob can easily morph into ugly.  Believe
it or not, I have more pride than that.
    I wish I could stop my mind spin.  I felt bad about not
carrying out our plan yesterday.  Of course, if I had carried it out, I’d be more
of a wreck than I already am.  I was also still worrying about moving out to the
sticks with Frank.  What would happen to us?  How about Aunt Amy?
    For today, I just had to get through school.  The worrying
won’t cease, but I’m good at turning it into a background buzz.  At breakfast, Annie,
Eve and I didn’t say a word to each other.  We just gulped down a drink and ran
out the door before Frank made his appearance.  Seeing Frank before school is
like mentally putting on the dim switch for the day.  I preferred to start the
school day with the mental lights on.  I knew that lots of kids thought of
school as boring, but for me, school was an oasis of calmness.
    This was my second week of school as a sophomore at
Minnetauk Regional High School.  There’s a little over 500 students here.  Since
it’s such a small place, everyone is familiar with everyone else’s business.  That’s
good and bad.  People here are nosey, but once they figure things out, they
tend to leave you alone.  For example, many of the students here know why we don’t
go out much.  They recognize that it’s not due to religious or anti-social
reasons.  They know that it’s only because we live with crazy Frank.  I used to
have girlfriends over on occasion, but Frank got way too grumpy and weird for
them, so I stopped inviting them over.  Since then, I’ve just settled for
school-type friendships.  It’s easier, but it’s lonely.  Consequently, I’ve
felt left out of high school life.
    My first period class today was Spanish.  After I walked in
and sat down, I noticed how noisy the class was.  It’s always like that in here.
 The teacher was perched up at her desk as usual.  She always seemed busy up
there, talking on the phone, looking at the computer, typing, etc.  I’ve never
seen her actually teach the class.   She handed out the work for us to do, and
then sat up there in her little private zone.  Students knew not to bother her
because she didn’t offer any help.  She expected all of us to help each other,
if we had any questions.  Well, she’s the teacher, isn’t she?  What was she there
for?  Anyway, we all just called her ‘Zoneout’.  Just as the school nurse came
in the door, a paper airplane flew right by her.  She walked over to Zoneout
and said something to her.
    Zoneout tore her eyes away from her computer and looked at
me.  “Tessie, can you please go with Mrs. Dyer?”
    “OK,” I mumbled, thinking why didn’t the nurse just have me
called down?
    We walked to the principal’s office without saying a word.  Mrs.
Dyer glanced at me with a concerned look on her face.  That made me anxious.  What’s
going on?  When I got there, the vice principal and my guidance counselor were
seated at a conference table.  The principal, Mr. Kowalski, and a police
officer were in the corner talking.  As soon as I walked in, Mr. Kowalski
cleared his throat and became quiet.  Since I hadn’t participated much in the
way of extracurricular school stuff and hadn’t gotten into trouble, I’m not
that familiar to any of these people.  I wonder if they even recognize me.  The
guidance woman, I forgot her name, motioned for me to sit down next to her.  Suddenly,
Annie and Eve appeared, eyes open wide, looking at me.  They were being escorted
by the school security officer.  I was feeling more freaked out now.  Then, I heard
Mr. Kowalski asking the school secretary when my aunt would be showing up.
    Annie finally spoke up, “What’s going on?  Why are we