Song of a Sophomore

CHAPTER 32 - I'll Stand by You

Dad, haggard and unshaven, stood up when he saw round the corner. He must have been there for hours, just waiting. I collapsed into his arms.

"I'm so sorry, Daddy," I sobbed. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

I tried to explain everything—Katelyn's pill, Zach's party, how I lost track of time. I didn't even know if I was making any sense. The words came out in heavy sobs. When I had nothing left to say, I looked up at my dad, awaiting judgment. He just nodded. To my amazement, there were no harsh words, no lectures, just relief and a warm hug.

"I'm just glad you're home safe. You don't want to know the kinds of thoughts running through our heads. Go inside and get cleaned up. Your mother will be so happy to see you. She's been up all night."

"Mom..." I thought of Gloria's lips pressed together and tears running down her cheeks and rushed through the door.

She lay asleep on the couch, still in her clothes from the night before, wrapped in a burnt orange afghan Grandma Josephine knitted years ago. Her golden blonde hair stretched around her head like a halo. She looked beautiful, even without any makeup on. I bent down and touched her cheek. Gloria's bright blue eyes popped open and she threw her arms around me.

"Baby, you're home!" She kissed my cheek. "We were so worried about you! I called the sheriff's office, but I couldn't officially report you as a missing person until you were gone for 24 hours, although the officers have your description and are on the lookout for a runaway teen."

"Runaway teen? The police? Oh my, God! I am so sorry."

"I was so scared something terrible happened." Her eyes scanned my tear-stained face, messy hair and filthy dress, and filled with tears. She sat upright with serious eyes, and fear written on her delicate features. "Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?"

"I'm okay, Mom. I promise. No one hurt me. But, Katelyn did dupe me into taking something. Something bad. A drug. She told me it was an aspirin for my ankle."

"What?! That girl is a menace!" she gasped and grabbed me tighter. "Did she just throw you out on the side of the road and leave you for dead or something?"

"No, but I feel like that. We drove to this party. A party on a farm. In a field. It was kind of crazy. Just dancing and drinking—I didn't drink, though. I just woke up wrapped in a blanket on the ground this morning and someone drove me home. I'm so sorry, Mom. I didn't know what was happening."

The emotion flooded back. My shoulders quaked and I had to sit down and let the frustration, embarrassment and guilt flow out of me.

"Sweetheart," she held me for a while and rubbed my back. "It's not your fault. We know you're sorry. We forgive you. Katelyn, well, that's another story."

"Really?" She wasn't yelling at me? She wasn't sending me to my room? I had braced myself for yelling, lecturing and being grounded until my eighteenth birthday, not love and compassion.

"I was a teenager once too," Gloria explained, still wiping my tears with her thumbs as she cradled my face. "I graduated high school in 1971... the hippie era? Free love? Psychedelics? Mary Jane? I'm not saying I did all of those things, but..."

"Wow, Mom." I was a little shocked at her revelation. "I never thought of you like that. You seem so perfect, like you never made a mistake."

"Well, you'd be surprised. I kept your grandma up pacing the floor a couple of times. I was a bit of a hell raiser in high school." She winked.