TEENAGE FEVER

19

My mom, Uriah, Jenny, Aisha and Jaden all sat at the dining room table, their eyes on me as I sat at the head of the table. This felt wrong but my mom had insisted I sat there, seeing as I had requested their presence. She had smiled when I'd finally emerged from my room this morning, glad that I was able to do anything. I immediately felt guilty.

"Well, Jaden told me he didn't tell the three of you and I appreciate that but that won't make any of this easier," I said to Aisha, Jenny and Uriah. They nodded, staring at me worriedly. "I was almost sexually assaulted last year by a man named Arch-"

The name refused to come out. I swallowed, staring at my hands on the table. My mom comfortingly rubbed my back and I looked up at her, giving her a small smile. I continued, looking at her so that I wouldn't see the look of horror on the others' faces. "Archer Diggins. He drugged my drink and tried to assault me in the bathroom of a club but my friends saved me," I finally looked at them. They did look shocked but luckily there was only a hint of pity on their faces. I smiled so that they could see that I was okay. Or at least pretending to be. "I thought I was okay. But to this day, I still think about how close he got to doing it. For so long, I've lived in fear of people like him, afraid that they would be everywhere I turn and I've realised that I need to let go of it."

"How do you just let go of something like that though?" Jenny asked, clearly angry, just like I had expected. I knew the anger wasn't directed towards me. She was angry with the man that had done this to me. "He almost violated you Maddie. What? You're going to send him mail?"

Uriah placed a hand over hers to calm her down. My eyes turned to my mother. There was a calculating look on her face and I saw when she realised what I was trying to say. She slid my hand into hers and gave me a questioning look. Jaden was second to catch on. His face fell slightly.

"Are you sure about this Maddie?" He asked. I nodded. I was sure. I had already called my dad and told him to book the ticket.

"I'm sure," I told him, turning to face my mother. "You understand that I need to do this, right mom?"

"I do. But I don't like it."

Jenny was the one to actually say it out loud. Her voice was soft, softer than I had ever heard it as she spoke. "You're going to New York aren't you?" She asked. "You're going to see him?"

"I have to do this," I said to her. "I need to let it go."

Aisha spoke up then. "Are you sure you want to do this alone? What if seeing him breaks you?"

"I won't be alone," I told them, "I'll have my dad with me."

The room was silent for a moment as everyone let the news sink in. I knew I was doing the right thing but being away from them would still be hard. I reached for Jaden's hand underneath the table, afraid that he was upset with my decision and would ignore me but as soon as he felt my hand he held on.

"Mom," I said, looking at my mother, "I called Grandma and Grandpa. They're preparing a room for you at the farm."

Her eyes widened in shock. I had called my grandparents that morning and explained the situation to them. They were the only grandparents I had and I was their only granddaughter. They had been there for me when Archer had struck. It was only best that they were there for me now that I was ready to put the past behind me.

"Dad's paying," I told her. We stared at each other for a moment, long enough that she got the message. He missed her. She gave me a small smile, nodding slowly. I looked around at everyone who was watching us and smiled. This was my family. I knew that. And I would never forget.

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"I think you have guts," Jenny said as we sat in my room, looking up from her books. She ran a hand through her hair. I looked up from my history book, eyebrow raised at her in confusion. She sat up fully, shrugging. "I mean, this guy tried to rape you Maddie. It's a wonder how you'd stand to be in the same room as him."

"Well, technically, I won't be in the same room as him," I reminded her. She blushed, waving her hand at me chidingly.

"Yeah, well, you know what I mean. How are you so calm?"

"To be honest, I'm not calm," I explained to her, "Im terrified of going back there and facing him. I guess I just seem okay because I know it's something I have to do."

Her face grew sad and her unspoken question loomed in the air. What if it didn't work?

"It's going to work,"

We were silent for a moment as she contemplated what I said before she changed the subject. I was glad that she did. This entire scenario was giving me a headache.

"My family and Uriah's family are spending Christmas together," she told me. My eyes widened in excitement and she laughed. "Yeah. My parents heard about Jaden's dad while they were in the city and my mom went to go talk to Aisha as soon as she came back into town."

"Did you get to talk to her?" I asked.

She grimaced slightly, "It's all a work in progress."

Afraid that I had ruined the otherwise light mood, I got up from where I sat and approached her. "Look," I told her, sitting on my bed, "It may not be full progress but it is progress. Something tells me that everything will work out in the end."

"Besides," she said, shrugging slightly, "I have my family right here as well."

Rolling my eyes at her cheesiness, I threw one of my pillows at her and jumped away from the bed as soon as it hit her. She huffed, laughing. "Childish!"

"I'm in my prime," I retorted, "Let me enjoy my youth."

She threw the pillow at me, laughing at me as I did an awkward dance to dodge it. "Maddie Clearwell you are toxic trash," she said, a huge smile on her face. I winked at her and jumped onto the bed again, putting the pillow under my belly. I was about to open my mouth to talk when there was a knock on the door.

My mom walked in, her forehead creased in concern.

"What's up Mom?" I asked, frowning at her.

"Someone's here for you," the statement was directed towards Jenny who sat up, an eyebrow raised. My mom stepped back, signalling that she wasn't going to say anymore which just made us more curious. The two of us silently left my room. The person was standing at the foot of the stairs.

I saw her first. She had dark hair with red streaks running through her bangs and she wore a floral loose dress. Her skin was the same tanned shade as Jenny-paler, though, as she had spent less time in this relaxing beach town tanning and had been God knows where.

Despite the fact that I'd never seen her before, I knew who this was. Elizabeth, Jenny's sister. She was everything I had imagined her to be. Except, I obviously hadn't imagined the baby bump.

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Lots of love
Musawa