No Strings

CHAPTER 8-- Soul Healing

When I came home all I could feel was the glares of my mother staring me down as if I were an alien and I should be ashamed for my existence. At first she said nothing, even though I already knew I had flunked out. But I didn't want to see her either. I avoided her gaze at all costs, often spending time in my room. I found a way to lock the door.

William was still in the same town and was going to a college nearby.

William greeted me outside my house as I shimmied down the trunk of the maple tree outside of my bedroom window.

"Is she that bad?" he asked as I jumped to the ground.

"She wants to ground me until I agree to go back to college," I said.

I brushed myself off and then saluted. "What's your plan for tonight?"

"You meet my girlfriend and then we can go out for dancing and roller skating."

A small girl with long dark brown hair and vivid eyes greeted me from William's car. She offered me chocolate chip cookies as I got into the car with a smile.

"Why do you have to escape that way?" she asked.

I laughed. "You don't understand the lengths my mother will go to."

"Oh, you must be Bess," she said.

"This is my girlfriend, Miranda," William said, beaming a smile at me.

"How many people are meeting up again?" I asked.

"Five or six, including us," William said. "Don't worry, I'll get you back before your mother notices anything."

He delivered on his promise and took me to a club with a bunch of his friends. I danced my heart out on the dance floor and used the loud music which I normally hated to ignore all of my problems.

Helen was one of William's friends from college. To be exact, a friend of a friend of a friend that he'd become friends with when that friend of a friend dumped her. She was tall and had a fine Greco-Roman features. A beauty in that classical way. She tapped me on the dance floor.

She said into my ear, "We're going to go..."

I couldn't catch the last word, but followed her anyway.

Outside of the club, the group gathered. Tracy was Helen's boyfriend. I was the odd one out, but I didn't particularly mind. Besides, the sixth and seventh people were no shows.

"Rolling rink," William said.

"And then one round of bowling."

"I have to go home after that," I said, looking at my watch. I didn't want my mother catching me.

"We'll take you home," William said. He whispered to me, "I'm sorry the set up didn't work out."

I laughed, "It was Miranda's idea? They must have run away when they saw my picture."

He shook his head. "Some guy out there must find you pretty, Besty."

I shook my head. "You are so encouraging, you know that?"

He grinned at me before we went to roller skating rink.

***

For some reason, roller skating rinks have this fascination with the 1970's, or maybe it was just the ones I've been to. A disco ball descended into the middle, reflecting against the walls and floor multicolored lights.

I clutched to the side of the boards. I'd learned how to skate, but it felt as if I'd forgotten. Tracy skated over.

"Need help?" he asked.