From Yours Truly, Edie

Chapter Eleven: Pretending

May 2000

"And you're absolutely sure?" Hank asked Mel, who'd just told him she's seen Derrick hit Leslie a number of times.

"Yes. They fight a lot especially when they think that I'm sleeping. It keeps me awake a lot." Mel nodded. "I don't like Derrick anymore. I wish he was gone."

"Has he ever hit you?"

"I'm not allowed to tell." Mel frowned, suddenly extremely interested in the dirt on the bottom of her pink shoes.

"He did a couple days ago. She has a bruise on her leg." Edie said, and Mel elbowed her angrily. She'd finally convinced her sister to tell their father what really went on at Leslie's.

"That sack of shit." Hank swore, turning the truck around to go to the police station. He pulled into the parking lot, parking close to the doors. "I need you to tell the police officers everything that Derrick did. Okay?"

"I can't! Mommy will hate me!" Mel shook her head and started to cry.

"They'll make Derrick go away. C'mon, Mel, it'll be ok! Mom won't hate you." Edie reassured, and Hank promised to take them out for ice cream. Just the thought of having ice cream seemed to cheer Mel up and she stopped crying immediately.

"Okay. But I want a banana split with extra sprinkles." Mel unbuckled her seatbelt and hopped out of the truck.

"Can he be arrested, is what I want to know." Hank asked the officers.

"Well, we have your statements and physical evidence so yes. He can be arrested." A female officer replied. "A couple officers will more than likely be sent over within the next six to twelve hours."

"That's fantastic. Thank you very much." Hank shook her hand and lifted Mel up, placing her over his shoulders. "You ready, Edie?"

"Yeah. I'm ready." Edie sighed and waved to the officers as they walked out of the police station. "I'm hungry. Can we go to Ralph's for supper?"

"Yeah, can we? Please, Daddy?" Mel pleaded, and Hank said yes. He was in a strangely good mood; things were looking up for him. He had an appointment with his lawyer on Tuesday that had a lot to do with getting custody of Nolan. He'd been promoted at work. He made enough money to support himself and all three of his kids, and then some. For once in his life he was proud of his accomplishments.

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Edie groaned in annoyance as she looked in her desk and found an apple core, a banana peel, and a handful of dirt. She pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote a note to Ricky, telling him to leave her alone. Crumpling it into a ball she threw it at his head. He read it and grinned at her, shaking his head and mouthing the word 'never.'

"Mrs Dobson! Ricky keeps putting his garbage in my desk." Edie told the teacher, showing her the lovely gifts from her annoying classmate.

He was told to clean it up, and wrote an apology letter. He didn't write the apology letter.

At recess, he pulled her hair and slipped worms down the back of her sweater. She punched him, and they were both sent to the principal's office. Ricky didn't get in trouble for provoking her and his mother was called to pick him up.

Edie, on the other hand, was yelled at for hitting another student. Neither of her parents were called, and she spent the rest of the school day crying in an in-school suspension room.

"You may go back to your classroom and collect the work you missed." The principal snapped as he glared coldly at her. "Stop your crying this instant, you rude and insolent child."

"Yes sir." Edie sniffed and ran back to her classroom. All the other students were outside boarding busses and Edie was glad Jordan never took the bus. Albert always picked them up.

"Mrs Dobson gave me your homework. Scott, Kevin, and Justin are waiting in the car." Jordan handed Edie her Sailor Moon bag, and they walked out of the school holding hands.

"Mrs Halliday told me you were sent to the principal's office for punchin' a boy. Mind tellin' me what happened?" Hank mentioned as soon as they'd finished eating supper that night.

"Ricky pulled my hair and put worms and dirt down my shirt. So I punched him in the face." Edie told her father, leaving out the fact that the principal had yelled at her and locked her in a classroom. "His mom came and picked him up."

"Well I'm proud of you for standing up for yourself but don't go makin' a habit out of this. Understood?" Hank rubbed her back, "It's that principal you've gotta watch out for. He's got a nasty temper; you let me know if he gives you any trouble."

"I will." Edie put on a fake smile, for the first time in her life. For some reason she felt she couldn't tell him what the principal had done. She knew he was busy, really busy, with work and didn't need any distractions. He needed money to pay his lawyer, and to buy them food.

Edie barely slept that night, dreading going to school the next day. Not only that but she would be spending the weekend with her mother. And Derrick hadn't been arrested and thrown in jail. From what she could understand, he paid the police a lot of money and they let him go. It made no sense to her.

He was bad, and bad people were supposed to go to jail.

She wished Bill didn't live so far away so she could talk to him, have an actual conversation. Sure, sending letters was fun, but some things are just easier to say than write. And she knew that someone helped Bill with reading and writing English, so he wasn't the only one reading her letters.

As soon as the sun rose, Edie decided to pretend she was sick. Maybe if she kept the act up she wouldn't have to spend the entire weekend with her mother.

And if there was one thing Edie excelled in, it was definitely pretending.