Chapter Twelve
“How come you don’t date?” Lacey asked that evening, after they’d made and cleaned up after dinner. Not that either of them was very hungry after the huge lunch, including pie, that Roadkill had treated them to.
“Come on, little bit, when do I have time to date?” Jenna tilted her head to one side as she watched her sister. “I’m either working, cleaning, or helping you with whatever’s going on.”
“So it’s my fault you’re lonely.”
“No, Lacey, that’s not true. Where did you get an idea like that? I’m not lonely. I have you. I love you and I love the time we spend together.”
“But you never go out. I can’t remember you going on a single date since Mama died.”
Jenna reached over and took her sister’s hand.
“I’ve been struggling for a while. We both have been.” She waited until Lacey looked up at her before she continued. “It took everything I had to keep us going. But I think we’ve finally gotten our break. This new job is going to change everything for us.”
“Everything? Are you finally going to find someone to date?”
Jenna’s face heated. “Maybe. How would you feel if I started bringing someone around?”
Lacey was quiet for several seconds, then when she spoke, her voice was soft. “I guess that would depend on who you’re bringing around. Personally, I’m hoping for Roadkill. I like him. And he really likes you.”
Jenna frowned. “You just like Roadkill because he buys you pie.”
“Well, yeah, but not just. We talked a little while you were getting a job. He’s not creepy. He seems nice and like he just wants to help.”
“He’s not creepy?” Jenna frowned. “Who is creepy?”
“Mr. Coleman. All the girls keep their distance from him and if we have to go see him, we go in pairs or groups of three.”
Jenna searched her memory. The name Mr. Coleman sounded familiar, and she was sure she’d met all of Jenna’s teachers, but she couldn’t put a fact to the name.
“What does Mr. Coleman teach?”
“Social Studies, why?”
“I’m trying to recall if I’ve met him. What makes Mr. Coleman creepy?”
“It’s mostly little things. He wanders through the room and stops behind girls, looking over their shoulders.
It feels like he’s looking down our shirts.
Several girls have started wearing hoodies to class, all the time.
Then there’s the things he says. Nothing obvious, but nearly all the girls are creeped by him. ”
“What kind of thing does he say?” Jenna frowned. This didn’t sound right. Did she need to schedule a meeting with the principal?
“Like I said, it’s nothing obviously inappropriate, but the things he says feel … dirty.”
“Like what, give me an example.”
“Well,” Lacey was quiet for several seconds, then continued, “a couple of weeks ago we were studying the settling of the west. We talked about the different cultures, the cowboys and the Indians, that kind of thing. It was fine, until he started talking about marriage practices. He stopped in front of Riley, gave her this look up and down and said that if we lived in the old west, we’d likely be married by now, maybe even have a baby or two.
It was gross.” A shudder passed through Lacey’s body.
“Riley swears she heard him say he wouldn’t mind taking one of us as a bride as he walked away. ”
Jenna gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me? That is so inappropriate, not to mention gross.
” She still couldn’t remember this Mr. Coleman, but to be a teacher he had to at least eight to ten years older than these girls, that wouldn’t be bad, if they were all grown, but they were children.
Children! She’d call the principal first thing Monday morning.
“Because it’s our word against his. And they never listen to the kids. Never. So we have a system. All the girls at school. You never go to his class, stay late to talk to him, even go to a meeting with him, alone. Ever.”
Jenna’s heart ached, yet at the same time, she couldn’t help the warmth of pride in her sister that washed through her.
Yes, it sucked that they had to deal with this, but she was also proud that Lacey and her friends had come up with a method to protect each other.
That they were working together to make sure nothing happened to any of them.
She pulled her sister into her arms and hugged her tight.
“Has he made any of these comments to you? Has he ever touched you?”
Lacey shook her head where it was buried against Jenna’s neck.
“I hate that you have to deal with this.” She sighed. “I’ll call the school Monday and schedule an appointment with the principal.”
“Why? They’re not going to do anything.” Lacey pulled away enough to look up at her as she asked.
“We don’t know that. We have to give the school a chance. And we have to assume they don’t know yet. They can’t fix what they don’t know about. So I’ll schedule the meeting with the principal. We’ve only got a few more months before the end of the year, then you’ll be in a different school.”
“Yeah, but if he’s still here, then other kids will have to deal with him. What if they don’t catch on to him the way we did?”
“Hopefully, that won’t be an issue. But just in case, why don’t you and your friends start branching out to the younger girls.
Get the seventh-grade girls involved, and the sixth if you can manage it.
Tell them you’re trying to protect them and that when they’re your age, it will be their job to do the same for the younger girls. ”
She kept hugging her sister, wishing the world were different and these girls didn’t have to worry about someone who was supposed to be there to protect them, but was instead, at least in appearance, one of the predators they had to be on guard from.
It disgusted her that they couldn’t be kids, but had to worry about these things, especially so young.
Jenna hated that she couldn’t swear to her sister that the teacher who creeped out most of the girls in the school, would never bother them again.
But the only way she could make that happen would be to pull her sister from school and stay home to make sure she did the online classes, and right now, she just couldn’t manage that.
She didn’t know if she’d ever be able to do something like that.
Even later with her own kids, if she ever had any.
In order to do that, she’d have to find a man to be their daddy.
To do that, she’d have to date. See? It was looking like she’d never get to either.
She’d come to terms with it. Mostly. But most importantly, she knew this was a choice she’d made.
And one she would make again, even knowing everything she knew now.
Even through these bratty hormonal years that were just starting.
She could remember how she was and she understood now how it could drive some species to eat their young.
“I’m done in,” Jenna said as Lacey pulled away, and she let her go. “I’m going to head to bed. You know the rules. It’s Saturday, so you can stay up late, but I still want you in bed and the TV off by midnight.”
“I won’t be up that late. I’m tired too. I’m going to finish this episode then head to bed myself.”
Jenna nodded, gathered her phone and her insulated cup, which was low, so she refilled it with ice and water then went to bed.
She lay there, staring up into the darkness, unable to keep from thinking about what Lacey had told her.
After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, she did something she couldn’t explain.
She didn’t know why, other than he’d told her that if she needed anything, and he’d emphasized the word anything, then she should let him know.
Jenna picked up her phone and before she could think better of it, she typed out the message and hit send.
Only after she’d hit send and there was no chance of recalling the message did she have second thoughts. Had she just screwed everything up?