TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE

31. ACCEPTANCE

Sue didn't want her husband to see her new clothes until she had her new look finished.  That is what led all the ladies to be at our house after our shopping spree.  Yep, even I was able to get a few things.  I am still having a hard time realizing I do not have to shop at the thrift store and still have to wait to make sure someone else doesn't want what I bought.  Even if it was my own money, I had to make sure the spawn of Satan didn't want an article.  The worst was when one of her friends saw a shirt I was wearing and the spawn of Satan insisted I give it to her right then and there.

Luckily, the principal was present and would not allow it to happen.  I did get punished when I got home because I should have just taken it off.  If I didn't have extra clothes, that was my fault.  I figured that she only wanted the shirt to embarrass me.  Especially since it was a flannel shirt.  Fleur could not believe that they expected me to walk around in just my bra.  Sue said that was the way it always was.  She admitted to making sure Jojo had extra clothes in her locker for me.

That went over about as well as ice in hell.  The walking womb was upset because word got out about what happened, and some of her so-called friends looked down on her.  We moved on from my toxic family and enjoyed the rest of the evening.  Now Tim (Jojo's dad) was not happy she didn't take any of the new clothes home, but she wanted him to see the full product, so he was more than willing to let it slide.

SUE'S POV

Accepting the new Joellen is hard.  I keep expecting my father to walk up and make me regret going against his rules.  I will admit now that what my father did to us kids and my mother is what one would call abusive.  Now don't get me wrong, he never hit us, but boy, did that man know how to make us feel small.  Katrina is not someone he would approve of since she encouraged Joellen to dress a little more modern.

I will give her props on not dressing like her mother or step-sister since they did not leave anything to the imagination.  Even though those two women used derogatory terms to describe Katrina as if she had loose morals, I knew differently.  The first time, they used terms, meaning she had had sex with a lot of guys, and she cried on my shoulder.  She was so scared I would believe them she swore to me she was still pure.  

I knew better than to believe that woman.  Even though she a friend, I stopped thinking of her as such once she got remarried.  I saw how she treated Katrina, and listening to her explanations for allowing Katrina to be overlooked drove me crazy.  I did try once to tell her family about them. All that did was have her keep Katrina away from me and Joellen since it was the summer.  The last straw for me was that ridiculous engagement party.  I could not believe she would allow her daughter to be humiliated in that way.

Then, to be mad that everyone there who cared for Katrina walked out was astounding.  She even expected Martin's parents to be on her side.  I could not believe she would expect Katrina's paternal grandparents to side with her.  She called me the next day, all upset that Katrina embarrassed her in front of Lewis's parents.  When I brought up how Katrina felt knowing her mother knew her fiancee was cheating on her with her step-sister, she told me that it was Katrina's job to make her happy.

I don't know where she learned that from because her parents are nothing like that.  They always put the kids' happiness before theirs.  She begged me to meet up with her because she could not believe I would end our friendship over Katrina.  When I reminded her that I promised Martin I would look after Katrina she was livid.  She screamed about how she wished Katrina had never been born and that she had ruined her life.  How Katrina ruined Melody's life because of some video that was posted.

That moment is when things started falling apart for her.  Granted, Melody's life started falling apart the very next day, but the adults didn't know what was going on, and her screaming about the video had several parents asking their kids about the video.  I already knew about it since one I was there and two Joellen admitted to me what she had done.  I was a little upset she would post the video, but once I read the comments showing sympathy for Katrina, I had to let it go.  Plus, Tim talked me down, letting me know that this needed to happen.