“It was provoked,” I say, dropping eye contact. “He said I was a slut and he called my group losers.”
“Your principal made us very aware of that,” Mom says. “But since when do you go around tackling people and throwing things at them?”
“Um, one fight doesn’t exactly make me the bad seed,” I say, my fear suddenly replaced with crankiness. I mean, I’ve never given them any issues before. Ever.
“What we’re worried about is that you’ve never resorted to violence,” Dad says sternly.
“Yeah, Mary Ellen,” Mom says. “What kind of person does something like what you pulled today?”
That’s when something in me snaps. “Maybe the kind of person who didn’t want to sleep with her boyfriend! Because that’s where this whole damn mess started in the first place!”
Both my parents’ faces go from stern to OMG, and it would probably be amusing if I wasn’t the one in the hot seat here.
“Or if you want to take it further back, it’s because we had to move here. Because then I never would’ve met Hunter and he never would’ve dumped me for Brynn—”
“He dumped you for Brynn?” Mom says, her voice going up a few octaves. “Why didn’t you tell us that?”
“Because you already didn’t like him and then I would’ve had to tell you I was partially dumped over lack of sex and I really didn’t want to get into that with my parents,” I say.
Dad has a look on his face like, “Yeah, ain’t that the truth,” but Mom frowns sadly, as if she’s hurt. “Well, you could have told us. But how does that lead into you getting in a fight with this Jared boy? That isn’t like you at all, El.”
“I know it’s not like me!” I yell, unable to stop myself. “But when you get dumped for being a frigid bitch or whatever, and then you have to share a class with your ex and his new girlfriend and when you’re finally getting over him, you start liking another guy who turns out to be another liar and then your best friend can’t go to her dream school and she takes it out on you and you tell her off even though you know she’s really hurting,” I gasp for air, “and then you get in another fight with your ex-boyfriend because of all your pent-up anger and his new girlfriend starts accusing you of sleeping with him and you stupidly take all your anger out on your group and that Jared guy overhears and accuses you of being a slut, well, yeah, I kind of had had it.”
I catch my breath and feel a little dizzy, as if getting all that off my chest was like getting thirty vials of blood drawn.
Mom and Dad gape at me, their mouths literally hanging open.
“I felt humiliated by a lot of it and because I know you never liked Hunter and he’s what triggered everything. I guess I didn’t want to get an ‘I Told You So.’”
“Oh, El,” Mom says, and sighs. “I know I wasn’t great with Hunter and I apologize. But never in a million years would I have said ‘I told you so.’”
“Me neither,” Dad says.
“Well, then I’m sorry for assuming,” I say quietly, and sit down on the step next to my dad. We’re silent for a few minutes and I hold my breath waiting for my punishment.
“The boy who turned out to be a liar, is that Luke?” Mom says, her brow furrowed.
I nod sadly.
“What did he lie to you about?” my dad says, clenching his jaw.
I almost burst out laughing at his paternal side getting triggered. “It’s fine, I handled it.”
Mom’s eyes are narrowed like she doesn’t believe me, and I have to clench my own jaw so I don’t melt down over that. It’s not something I want to go into now.
“It sounds like you’ve had a lot on your plate, El. And I’m worried this has a lot to do with what happened to you in middle school, and maybe we didn’t do enough to help you stick up for yourself then, and it’s rearing its ugly head now.”
I sigh deeply. “I hadn’t even thought of that. But it kind of makes sense. I didn’t ever tell off the people who made fun of me, and I think, deep down, I always wish I’d had. I’ve never really gotten over that. But that’s not on you guys.”
Mom tucks my hair behind my ears. “I really want you to know you can talk to us instead of keeping everything bottled up inside.”
I nod, feeling the slightest bit relieved. “I will. I thought I could handle it all, but clearly I reached a breaking point. I won’t let that happen again.”
“Good, I believe you,” Mom says, caressing my cheek. The phone rings then, and Mom goes to answer it. Dad pats my back. “I’ve been dying to know what happened with the Feast-Off. Did you get to do it before the fight?”
I can’t help but laugh.
“What? You were looking forward to this for weeks. I want to know if you brought down all your classmates with that amazing menu you were planning.”
Tears sting my eyes over realizing how that never got to happen. “No, I got us disqualified because of the fight. But I was really flipping out on the guys before that. I took the class competition way too far. I think they hate me.”
“Aw, El,” Dad says. “I bet they’re over it already.”
I can only shake my head regretfully in response.
“Next time?” Dad says, lowering his voice. “You throw raw eggs at a boy who insults you like that. Deviled eggs are too good for him.”
I laugh. “The deviled eggs made a nice mess, too.”
“Well, any boy who makes comments like that deserves what’s coming to him and I’m glad you did it. And I think your friends will forgive it, too.”
My friends. I’d never thought of them as that and yet … it’s
