Oz, The World Turns

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Max's head rocked back as her mother's backhanded slap connected. She tasted red. She smiled at her mother, blood trickling down her chin. "Mom, how many times do you think you can hit me and still have me care if you hit me or not? Pain does not hurt me anymore. Too familiar I expect. It's the shame you're pushing on me that hurts. I didn't do anything wrong."

Her mother's mouth actually dropped with shock. She went purple and roared, "Nothing wrong? You nasty little slut! You disgusting little witch demon! You Dirty! Sinful! Pervert! You brought shame upon this house and this family. How's Cipka supposed to go back to that school, where everyone knows what her big sister is? How is she supposed to live through the next few years not knowing if you infected her?" Mrs. Puckentine screamed at her daughter.

"It's not contagious Mom." Max said. "I'm not even gay. It was a little adolescent experimentation. It’s perfectly normal."

Her mother went to hit her again. Max spit a mouthful of blood at her feet, and then smiled a big crimson streaked smile. Her mother put her hand down and shouted, "Perfectly normal? Maybe on the seventh level of Hell, maybe even your Satanist friends would say it was normal. Why couldn't it have been one of them instead of Pastor Lamb's daughter? I have to go back to that church you know"

"Oh Mom, I'm sure your little church friends will see you as just as much of a victim as poor Bailey Lamb, the cunt-teasing bitch. Imagine saying I ensorcelled her for one kiss, when her tongue has been up half the snatch on the field hockey team? It's only half because we're only two months into the season, and she wants to give satisfactory service."

This time her mother did slap her again. For profanity, not because she thought Max was lying. "I will not have you using that sort of language in my house. Not on top of everything else."

"We're not in the house, Ma." Max pointed around them, than up to the house. "We're in the driveway; you just couldn't wait to start having this little talk. I'd guess that you've been standing here waiting since you got the call I was suspended." Max was shocked to see her mother blush at that. "Beating your daughter in the driveway, for everyone in the neighborhood to see is no big deal. But waiting in the driveway twenty minutes for the privilege is embarrassing?"

"That is not important." Her mother said, quite seriously. "You say Bailey Lamb is the gay."

"My words sounded much less archaic. And I don’t honestly know if she’s gay. I do know that she has a fetish about being used like a whore, and she has serviced at least a dozen girls I know of. But if I’m not mistaken, being used by people you aren’t sexually attracted to is part of the thrill for some of these types." Even under the circumstances, Max found this a little amusing. She liked making her mother uncomfortable and showing that she was nothing like the daughter she wanted. Even if it was just knowing things her mother thought no 'good girl' would know. Max herself truly believed in the old adage ‘knowledge is power’.

By now, Mrs. Puckentine's 360-degree emotional reverse was in the final turn. "So my daughter is victimized by this perverted predator. Has her reputation ruined and misses valuable education, and there's nothing I can do, just because this monster's father is a minister? Children do not share the sanctity of their parents. You're proof of that."

"Thanks Mom." Max smiled, her split lip opening again unnoticed. "There's no hope of getting my name cleared. I'm openly bi-curious with an acknowledged antagonism toward the school and the church. I’ve been known to experiment with witchcraft. I tell people what I think of them. At the church school, every one of those is enough to cause problems by itself. Bailey is a good little sheep, minister's daughter. Let it go, I'll go to a different school. It doesn't matter. I don't care, I really don't."