Breaking Free

Chapter 6

Past

Since learning about Wendy, I wanted to ask Beth but wasn't sure how to broach the subject. It took me three weeks to finally get up enough courage to ask.

We were in her bedroom, getting ready to go out to a party. We had to sneak out the window so her parents wouldn't hear us leaving. It wasn't the first time, and we never got caught, always back in Beth's room before the sun came up.

When we first did it, it took a lot of convincing from Beth to go through with it. I never snuck out in the dead of night to go to a party, so to say it scared me was an understatement. I was absolutely terrified of getting caught.

But after several times of sneaking out the window, it became easier to do. It almost felt natural.

I was sitting in front of her vanity mirror, chewing my left cheek, trying to start the conversation.

She was combing my hair to style it and humming something that strangely sounded like Jingle Bell Rock, even though it was almost May.

"Hey... um... Beth?" I sounded nervous.

"Hmmm...?"

"I was wondering... I mean... During U.S. Government about three weeks ago I heard some people... talking."

"About what?" she mumbled around a clip she had for my hair.

"About Wendy..." I checked the mirror for her reaction.

She immediately stilled the comb she was using and dropped the clip from her mouth. I could see shock and anger creep into her features.

"What about her?" she spat out.

I have never seen Beth so livid before. Not even when she was arguing with Joshua.

I shrugged my shoulder, hoping to ease some tension in the room. "They just mentioned that she stopped coming to school, and I just wanted to know if you knew why?"

I could see the annoyance leave her face, but her eyes still showed irritation.

"She was nobody. She had a thing for Josh, and she tried to tell me one day that he raped her, but I called her bluff. She never showed her ugly face at school again after that because she knew that he didn't, and she realized that nobody would believe her if she told such a lie." She bent down to pick the clip that fell on the floor and put it in my hair.

She smiled, but it was strained. "There we go. All done. Let's go! Josh is waiting for us."

And that was all she said about Wendy.

Would Joshua really have raped Wendy? Or was Wendy lying?

Beth opened her window and climbed out without a backward glance. I followed shortly after her.

We arrived outside to see Joshua's pickup truck blending into the dark, waiting for us across the street from Beth's house. Beth climbed in the front seat while I jumped in the back. Beth leaned over the console of the truck and kissed Joshua on the cheek.

"Hey, babe. You look hot!" I was sure Joshua was saying this to Beth, but then I caught his dark eyes watching me in the mirror.

I looked away, feeling uncomfortable.

Joshua had been doing this a lot lately. I would catch him watching me randomly during lunchtime. I also kept running into him at school, even though his classes were located in D-wing.