Collateral Damage

Chapter Four

As I expected, the school called my parents about me slapping Bernadette. I knew the detention would be nowhere near as bad as whatever my parents had in store for me. All day, I braced myself for the inevitable lecture and punishment that awaited me at home.

Only for once, they went easy on me.

Yes, I did get the "We're very disappointed in this behavior" spiel. But they at least were more understanding than everyone at school.

"I think seeing the guidance counselor will do you some good," my mom said over dinner that night. "It might be nice to have someone to talk to about...everything."

"You need to work on controlling your anger," my dad added in a soft, yet stern tone. "I know it's been a rough couple of months, but acting up in school isn't going to help anything."

"I know," I mumbled, staring at my plate of chicken and rice. By habit, I almost threw a piece of chicken down to Kody...until the bare spot under the table reminded me that he was gone.

Kody died a few weeks ago. I came home on the first day of school to find his stiff body lying at the door. It shouldn't have been that shocking. After all, he was thirteen years old. There were bald patches on his tail and his muzzle had gone completely white. He lived a good, long life for a dog. But the fact that he died right when I needed him the most...it wasn't a great way to kick off the school year.

I cried so much that my parents decided that any reminders of him were too much for me to handle, so they packed away his food bowls, kennel, and toys, and locked them in the attic. Yet having all traces of him removed just made me feel worse. I couldn't walk through the door without remembering how he excited he got whenever I came home from school. He always bounded up to the doorway, his sound of paws raking the floorboards, barking and panting. Once he calmed down, he would look up at me with those big brown eyes and lean his massive body against my legs, starving for some attention.

Even worse were the memories of Kody eagerly jumping up on Matt during his frequent visits. "Hey, it's the Kode-Man!" Matt would laugh. "Calm down, I'm not going anywhere..."

"Wendy?" my dad's voice sounded like it was coming from a million miles away. "Are you listening?"

"Yes," I lied.

"We're just worried about you, honey," my mom said. "You've been so down lately." She paused. "Isn't the Homecoming Dance next weekend?"

"I think so. But I'm not going."

"Why not?"

I just stared at them.

"You don't need to have a date to go," my dad pointed out. "You used to go to dances all the time with Ana and—"

"You always used to go as friends," my mom cut in hurriedly. "And it would be good for you to get out. We could look at some dresses this weekend...or you could wear the dress you bought for prom..."

"No," I said in a sharper voice than I intended.

"Wendy..." my dad began, but stopped when my mom gave him a pointed look. He shrugged and the two of them resumed eating.

Uncomfortable silences were quite common in the house these days. With Kody gone and Sam off at college, there wasn't as much noise as there used to be. But neither of those things had anything to do with the tension lingering between us.

To their credit, my parents hadn't believed Bernadette's accusations—at first. They knew Matt as a little boy, and they didn't have any issues when we started going on. My dad joked that Matt was the kind of boy all parents wished their daughters would date.