Part of Me

08

08

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"When a good man is hurt, all who would be called good must suffer with him."
-Euripides

"YOU don't trust my judgement," Mary fired at me once we were away from Cole.

Sighing, I shoved my hands in the pockets of my jacket. I may have overreacted to it all. Just a bit. In my defense, though, she did skip part of school. "It's not your judgement I don't trust, Mary. I don't trust Shawn at all. I've seen him go from one girl to the next and the last girl is always the subject of some rumor that just goes flying around school. Everyone knows they're just rumors, but they mock and ridicule the girl anyway. A couple girls actually had to transfer because it was getting so bad. I don't want to see you get hurt like that. God knows you've been hurt enough." I paused, trying to push my stubbornness out of the way. "I did overreact, though. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you and I shouldn't have spoken for you, but, Mary, you have to understand that he's not a good guy to be your boyfriend, especially your first. You deserve someone who will only have eyes for you, nobody else. You deserve someone who will make you laugh for real and will like the real you. Not some fake persona you put on."

Mary looked at me for a minute before the tears came sliding down her face. "I—I don't know why I did it. He's cute and everything, but I don't know why I lied," she sobbed, hiccuping in the middle of some of her words. "He just assumed that I was picking up my siblings, so I went along with it because he's the first boy to ever pay any attention to me like that."

I put my arm around her and pulled her close to me. "Mary, I can pretty much guarantee that he is not the first boy to ever pay that kind of attention to you. I mean, come on. Look at you! You're gorgeous, you're funny, you're so smart. I think you're even smarter than I am, to be honest. You don't need to lie to get a guy's attention." She smiled sadly at me, bowing her head. "Plus, you have the rest of your life to worry about boys. Despite what Shawn now thinks, you are only fourteen."

She laughed and sniffled. It was so odd to see her that way. She was always so strong, so reserved, so self-assured even when it seemed like the entire world was out to get her. I didn't know how she did it, but then again, she had always been stronger than I was. I saw it right away when she came to the foster home. Even after getting hit so hard she couldn't think, she would crack a joke or wave it off like it didn't matter. But it did matter and I was beginning to see just how big of a toll it was taking on her.

"Thank you, Devyn. I never say it, but thank you. You always have my back no matter what and it makes it all just a bit easier."

"Yeah, well, you have my back, too. We look out for each other. It's what we do."

Mary smiled, wiping her tears away. "Can you do me a favor, though?" I nodded. "Just think about rethinking my whole idea. We need to do something and right now that's all we have. I don't want to grow up like this and I sure as hell don't want Carter and Beatrice to grow up like this. We need help, Dev. We can't do it all on our own. If it crashes and burns, it crashes and burns, but we need to try. Please?"

I bit my lip. She was right, as much as I hated to admit it. I liked to think I had a handle on everything without needing help, but that was so far from the truth. "I'll think about it, but I make no promises, Mar. I meant what I said last night. Cayden's parents might not believe us. Even if they do—"

"I know," she said softly. "But I can't do this anymore. Just accept what's happening to us and act like everything's fine. Everything's not fine. You shouldn't have to take extra beatings to protect Carter and Beatrice. We shouldn't have to take any beatings. We already have too many scars from them that won't heal. We don't need to add more."