•✦─Summer, 1953─✦•
Jean, age 16
Jean's sophomore year of high school was spent consumed with books, fashion magazines, her sewing machine, and Ed Whitington—but mostly Ed Whitington.
Jean had started the year hardly knowing the boy, seeing him on occasion in the classes they shared. She didn't see him as anything but a schoolgirl crush until they were paired together for an assignment in English.
As it turns out, not only was he handsome, but he was also funny. And charming. And sweet. And Jean really, really liked him, and he seemed to like her, too.
Eventually, they were smiling at each other as they passed in the hallways, and exchanging pleasantries at their lockers, and then Ed was holding her books and walking her to class.
And it all led up to Ed asking Jean to go steady with him.
It was the most wonderful thing sixteen-year-old Jean had heard in all her life.
Of course, Jean said yes, and they spent the school year holding hands when they could and going out on dates, and—best of all—they kissed. A lot.
It was just like the type of kissing Jean had seen Jory and Maude partaking in behind the barn years before, and Jean loved it. Ed made her feel like she was one of the protagonists in her romance novels.
Jean thought about him a lot, picturing him becoming her husband and the father of her kids one day. They'd be high school sweethearts and would have a lovely little story to tell their offspring and those who asked, she'd decided.
But then Debby Falk from school called one night during summer break.
"Jean, it's for you!" Paulie yelled from the kitchen.
Thinking it was Ed, Jean rushed out of her bedroom. Paulie held out the phone to her, then jerked it away when she tried to grab it. He did it several more times she finally snatched it from him.
"Hello?" she said into the receiver once she had it, playfully glaring at Paulie as he went outside.
"Hey, Jean, it's Debby Falk."
Jean frowned. She had talked to Debby plenty of times in school, but never thought they were close enough to talk outside of school.
"Oh, hey, Debby. How's your summer break goin'?"
"It's good," Debby replied, "but that's not why I'm callin'. I'm callin' 'cause I just saw Ed and Meryl Zimmerman kissin' in the cinema parking lot!"
Jean's heart dropped down to her feet, her stomach turning and face feeling cold.
This couldn't be.
Ed wouldn't do that. He'd told her Meryl was one of his best friends. That they'd known each other since they were little. He wouldn't kiss her. He wouldn't do that to Jean.
He'd said he loved her!
"Are you sure?" Jean asked, her hand shaky as she held the phone.
"Mhm. They were in Ed's Chrysler. I saw them clear as day when I was walkin' with my sister to her car. We were parked right next to them."
Jean stared at the flowered kitchen wallpaper in disbelief, feeling faint. "You're sure it was Ed? And Meryl? And they were actually kissing?"
"I'm sorry, Jean, but that's what I saw."
"But, he has a brother that looks like him—"
"He had that birthmark on his face, Jean. It was him. I know it was."
Jean's skin felt prickly, her clothes suddenly too tight. "Yes, well, um, thank you," she struggled to say. "I should—I should talk to him."
"I'm real sorry, Jean. My heart stopped when I saw them together. I know how much you adore him, but clearly, he doesn't deserve you."
Her words didn't make her feel any better. "Thank you," she said quickly before hanging up and wrapping her arms around her torso.
She felt like she could lose her dinner at any second, walking back towards her room with weak legs and eyes that looked but didn't see. All her energy had gone straight towards her head, trying to figure out what happened, what went wrong, and if it was all real or not.
"Jean, you okay?" Rudy asked as he passed her to move towards the fridge. "You look like you just saw a ghost."
Instead of answering him, she turned around and walked back to the phone, dialing Ed's number.
"Hello?"
"Meryl Zimmerman," Jean said plainly.
". . . Uh, what about her?" Ed's voice sounded funny.
"Did you kiss her?"
"What? No, I didn't! Who told you that?"
"Someone saw you, then told me."
Eleven seconds ticked by before he gathered the courage to speak. "Well, that's just a lie. Whoever said that was lying. I can't believe you'd believe them."
The phone buzzed when he hung up with her.
She dialed him back.
It connected, then buzzed again.
She dialed him back.
It kept buzzing.
He had his receiver off the hook, blocking her calls from coming through.
She felt even more sick, but that feeling was soon covered by anger.
He had kissed Meryl, she realized. She'd heard it in his voice. She felt it in her bones.
It made her angry.
She marched towards the hooks that held all the keys on the wall next to the back door, grabbing the keys to Mr. Mayberry's old pickup that she and Clyde shared before leaving the house.
She barely got a few feet out the door before someone caught her.
It was Paulie.
"Pipsqueak," he called out from where he sat on the back porch, his curly hair poofed and frizzy from the humid, summer night. "Where ya goin', kid? It's gettin' late."
If it had been any one of his brothers, Jean would've made up a lie, but Paulie was different than the others.
He felt the most like a real brother. He never judged or condemned, was always open and honest, and never failed to put a smile on her face when she needed one. Most importantly, however, he wasn't overprotective like the others.
That meant that he wouldn't stop her from doing what she needed to do.
"I just found out Ed kissed Meryl Zimmerman," Jean said to Paulie, her voice sounding hollow. "I'm gonna go to his house."
Paulie pressed his lips together, then sent her a nod. "Alright. You want me to cover for you?" Jean nodded. "Gotcha. Go give 'em hell, Jean."
Jean turned around and stalked toward the truck, slipping into the driver's seat and rumbling down the road and into the suburbs where Ed lived.
His mother answered the door when Jean knocked, and barely got one word in before Jean started speaking.
Jean told her everything, then got to follow her inside and into Ed's room to watch in dark satisfaction as his mother yelled at the wide-eyed, pale-faced boy until he was made to stand before Jean and formally apologize to her.
On the way back home, when the satisfaction had worn off and only pain resided in her chest, Jean began to weep, feeling the cold sting of betrayal hit her in its entirety.
She drove down the road with tears blurring her vision, nearly crashing several times when her sobs got the better of her. Her sobs only grew worse when she pulled up to the ranch house and spotted everyone out on the front porch, watching her park the truck out by the barn with the other cars.
She took a moment to try and gather herself before exiting the truck, blotting at her eyes with the collar of her blouse. She looked a fright when she caught her reflection in the rear-view mirror.
Her mascara was smudged, her face shiny, red hair frizzy, and the makeup she had used to cover the red bumps on her forehead had worn off. She tried to fix her makeup and smooth her hair as best she could but gave up on improving her appearance when it seemed impossible.
Had he kissed Meryl because she was prettier than Jean?
Jean moved to open the door but was surprised when Clyde was the one to beat her to it.
"Where were you?" he interrogated as she stepped out.
Jory and Paulie appeared next.
"Sorry, Jean," Paulie apologized. "Rudy snitched, but I didn't tell them anything when they asked."
"Have you been crying?" Jory asked, eyebrows furrowed. "Why've you been crying? Where did you go?"
She ignored them all, heading towards the porch where Mrs. Mayberry stood with her hands on her hips.
"Sally Jean Ward," she scolded. "You know better than to take off without tellin' nobody! Had me scared half to death! Runnin' off without a word! What on earth has gotten into—"
Jean cut her off with a hug, burying her face into the woman's neck as she sobbed. Mrs. Mayberry quickly returned the embrace, rubbing soothing circles onto Jean's back as she cooed into her ear.
Jean only let herself get a few sobs out before she pulled back to wipe at her cheeks, feeling bashful as she caught the boys eyeing her from where they had gathered around her.
"What happened, sweetheart?" Mrs. Mayberry asked gently. "Where did you go? I won't be mad at you, I promise."
Jean swallowed thickly before looking at her feet. "Ed and I broke up."
Mrs. Mayberry frowned in pity, moving to scoop her up in another embrace. Jean stepped back. She wasn't fond of pity and didn't want to be in its presence.
"No, it's—it's alright. I'm okay. Really, I am," she told the woman, then looked out to the boys. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me."
She quickly took off, heading into her room without a glance over her shoulder. There, with nothing to pity her or try to make her feel better with flimsy words, she allowed herself to truly feel.
And what she felt was absolutely heartbroken.
•✦───✧✦✧───✦•
A few days later, while she was nursing what was left of her battered and bleeding heart, her door swung open to reveal Jory and Clyde.
"Go away," she said immediately, turning her back to them.
"Get up," Jory told her. "We're going somewhere."
"It's almost ten at night. Where would we go?" she asked bitterly.
"Ed's house."
Jean turned around, scowling. "And why would we do that?"
"To get revenge," Clyde said with a grin. "You in?"
Her eyes shifted between the two before settling on Jory. "Really?"
He nodded. "Get dressed in something dark. We'll be waiting outside."
They left Jean with thoughts of revenge, the notion enticing her. Her heart had been swinging like a pendulum ever since the breakup—switching between anger and sadness in an indecisive arc. Perhaps that was what heartbreak truly was, though—anger and sadness fused together in an unforgiving bind.
She held onto her anger when she felt it again, soon donning her darkest pair of pants and shirt to get ready to join the boys.
She pulled her hair back for good measure and dabbed on some powder to cover up the redness on her forehead before slipping outside, Jory, Clyde, Paulie, and Rudy all standing around Jory's white Cadillac.
"What exactly are we doin'?" she asked as she drew near.
Paulie smiled and beat the others opening the passenger door for her. "You'll see, Pipsqueak. Hop in."
•✦───✧✦✧───✦•
The music spilling out of the radio was the only thing to be heard on the drive to Ed's house.
Jean was nervous, but also very excited. Something was incredibly exhilarating about heading out into the night with all the Mayberry boys on a revenge mission.
They parked a block away from Ed's house to avoid suspicion, slinking along the sidewalk in the shadows as they headed toward his house.
"You still haven't told me what we're doing," Jean whispered in the darkness.
"Just wait, Jean," Rudy said from behind her.
"Well, can someone at least tell me what Paulie's got in that bag?"
Paulie turned around to smile back at her, an old burlap sack clutched in his grip. "It's a secret."
"And, Rudy, why do you have that coat hanger?"
"Gotta be patient," Rudy said with a grin.
"Shh, we're here," Jory said, crouching behind a bush as he eyed the Whitington's house. He motioned for the others to lower themselves. "Alright, everyone follow my lead, okay? Clyde, you're at the back and, Sally Jean, behind me.
He slowly crept forward along the driveway, inching closer to the dark house with everyone trailing behind him, coming to a stop next to Ed's '48 Chrysler he had been saving up to buy from his uncle.
"Rudy, you got the door?" Jory asked once they were all grouped together by the driver's side.
Rudy nodded and stood up, straightening out the wire hanger he had been holding to snake it into the car's door and jimmy the lock.
Jean watched with wide eyes as he worked, soon hearing the audible click of the lock.
Rudy smiled triumphantly when the door popped open with one tug of the handle. "You're next, Paulie," he said, crouching down next to Jean.
Paulie moved forward, setting the burlap sack on the ground and pulling out something dark and fluffy.
Jean gasped. "Is that a 'possum?"
Paulie smiled. "A dead one. I found it on the side of the road."
"And you're gonna put it in Ed's car?"
"Yep," Jory said. "We're gonna hide it under the seat. It won't stink at first, but when it does, it'll be hard to get rid of."
"Yeah, 'member when it happened to my Pa?" Clyde asked. "That rat crawled up and died in his engine and his truck stank for ages."
"That's foul," Jean said, though her lips sprang into a smile. "Let's do it."
The group laughed before Paulie climbed into the car, Jean watching from the open door as he slipped into the back and rustled around. The car shifted with his weight as he searched for the perfect spot to hide the creature.
"There we go," he said once it was all said and done, crawling out of the car. "All done." He flashed a grin at Jean.
"Now here comes the tricky part," Jory said to Jean. "We have to shut the door, and it's going to make a loud noise." He looked to the others. "The second I shut it, we run. Ready?"
He hit the lock button and then shut the door as quietly as he could, the sound ringing out into the still night.
They ran as fast as they could, all smiles and hushed laughter as they retraced their steps back to the Cadillac.
"You have fun?" Clyde asked as they slowed to a walk, all slightly winded.
Jean smiled. "I did. By golly, I hope it ruins his car."
"Hey, now," Paulie said, "don't think that that was the best revenge you can get on him. You've still got something else you can do."
"Like what?"
"Show him that you're happy without him," Rudy chimed in.
"Yeah," Jory agreed. "The best way to hurt that sorry excuse of a boy is to show him that you can live happily without him." He smiled softly. "And you can, Sally Jean. I know you can."
•✦───✧✦✧───✦•
2,543 words.
I don't have the energy to think of a question I'm too tired y'all. This last semester of college is kicking my butt!
That's actually a lie, I haven't done any schoolwork this week I've just been using it as an excuse for why I'm low-energy.
PLEASE VOTE AND COMMENT TO MAKE ME SMILE!!!