For Good

Chapter 12 - Sour

AN: This chapter contains the spanking of a preteen, you have been warned, etc.

The sour feeling Skie had felt in Mrs. Thompson's office hung on for a few days. As she rolled out of bed on Tuesday morning, she felt tired and stressed and hoped that today would be better than the last few.

First, there had been the argument she'd gotten in with Madi on Thursday night. Madi had wanted to know why Skie left class early, but Skie, still feeling quite sore over the questioning, had preferred not to answer. By the time Hannah came in and gotten them to separate and calm down, both girls were nearly shouting. Madi came in to apologize later, to her credit, but Skie still felt a bit shaken up by it. 

I should have just told her. It's not going to do any good to put off telling them.

But Skie really didn't want to tell them, and part of that was because of the second thing that had happened: she and Raven had gone home for the weekend. Skie let out a sigh and thought about her conversation with Raven as they drove.

"So remember, you don't tell Dad about me and Hazel, and I won't mention that you're getting tested for anxiety, right?" Raven's voice sounded a little strained.

Skie put her hand on her chin and stared out the window. "Lucky me, he'll find out. The school has to send the results home."

"Maybe Mom won't tell him."

Skie snorted. "Are you kidding? He walks all over her."

"Don't be snippy at me. I don't like it any better than you do." Raven huffed.

The rest of their drive had been silent.

Skie felt bad about snapping at Raven, but just as she'd suspected, the weekend had been awful. It was exhausting to keep up the appearance of being perfect for her dad, and despite being an expert at hiding things from him, he still managed to find small ways to put her down and belittle her. But better to be fake than to have him yelling at me nonstop like first year. Not like he won't start again when he finds out I got tested behind his back.

Monday had been an all around stressful day, with a large project and two papers assigned, both to be due in the next week. Needless to say, Skie was ready for a break, and it was only Tuesday.

"Are you okay?"

Skie glanced over at Dani. "Yeah, why?" She spoke automatically

Danielle pushed her hair behind her ear and studied her roommate. "You've only been up for 5 minutes and you've already been sighing a lot."

Skie shrugged. "I'm ok. Just tired. And lots of homework this week."

Dani didn't look like she entirely believed Skie, but she nodded. "Me too."

"Good luck," Skie offered as she mentally reminded herself again to stop showing her emotions so much. Put on a mask, like Lil said. They're busy enough, they don't need to worry about me.

"You too. Hopefully today is a better day." Dani pulled Skie into a quick hug, and Skie blushed slightly at the sudden contact. Fortunately, Hannah and Madi walked in and Danielle didn't notice.

"Ready, girls?" Hannah tightened the elastic holding back her red hair.

"We're ready." Skie grabbed her backpack and hurried off with her friends, hoping that none of them would have any more questions that she didn't want to answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Skie's morning went pretty well, and by lunchtime she felt a bit more optimistic. She waved to Madi, who had a table saved, then hurried through the lunch line and sat down next to her friend.