“Lydia.” Leiutenant Baker knocked on his daughter’s
bedroom door. “There’s a boy here to see
you.”
“I’ll be right there, Daddy. Give me two minutes.”
“I’ll tell him five.”
Lydia opened her door and
smiled. “Daddy, I’m your daughter. When I say two minutes I mean two
minutes.” She wagged her finger. “And not a minute more.”
“That’s my girl.”
“Who’s here?”
“Says his name is Jimmy. You’re supposed to help him with some
homework he has.”
“Oh, right. I almost forgot.” She grabbed her book bag and ran down the
stairs. Lt. Baker followed after
her. “And what do you mean who’s
here? Is there more than one boy I
should know about?”
Jimmy was sitting at the kitchen table drawing
circles with his finger on the oak. When
he saw Lt. Baker walk in before Lydia he stood up. Lydia’s face reddened. She knew that Jimmy had heard the
question. She stopped at the bottom of
the stairs and looked at Jimmy. “No, sir.
No one else.” She hoped that
Jimmy got the message that she didn’t want her daddy to know anything about the
football game the other night.
“Okay, sweetheart, just
checking.” He walked by her and kissed
the top of her head. As he walked by
Jimmy, he put his hand on his shoulder.
Jimmy could feel the warning in the Lieutenant’s strong grip.“At ease,
Jimmy. Just because I walk in the room
doesn’t mean you have to stand up.
Although, it is nice to know I still hold that power over some people.”
“Yes, sir.” Jimmy sat back down in the chair. Lydia went to sit the chair across from
him. She’d move after her daddy left the
room. Lt. Baker walked on and headed for the kitchen counter.
“Daddy, be nice.”
“What? I was.”
He reached on the counter for a can of Coke and popped the top. “I’ll let you two get to whatever it is
you’re doing.”
“Homework, Daddy. Just homework.”
Lt. Baker raised his eyebrows and
looked over at Jimmy. The tips of
Jimmy’s ears reddened. “Mmhmm.” He looked back to Lydia. “You know the rules, Lydia. Gone by ten.”
“Yes, sir.”
“ And not a minute more.”
Lydia stood on her tip toes and
kissed her dad on the cheek. “I know,
Daddy.” Lt. Baker walked out of the room
and Lydia moved into the seat next to Jimmy.
“So, you’re a daddy’s girl,
aren’t you?”
“You’d be, too, if you met my
mother.”
“Um, I don’t think I’d ever be a
daddy’s girl. I have the wrong
equipment.”
Lydia burst out laughing.
“My gosh, you’re so pretty when
you smile.” He forgot to keep that
comment in his head. Lydia looked down
at the table and grabbed something out of her book bag.
“Friends, Jimmy.”
“C’mon, Lyddie, let me take you
on a date.”
“Geometry, Jimmy. That’s the deal.”
“Screw geometry. I work on cars and play football. I don’t
need geometry. I need a date with you!”
He pounded his fist on the table and Lydia jumped. Lydia’s cheeks turned
bright red. Jimmy rubbed his
forehead. He was totally out of line and
he knew it. Lydia wouldn’t go for his
straight forwardness. “I’m sorry,
Lyddie. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“My daddy would have a heart
attack if he heard you talk like that to me,” Lydia remarked.
“Don’t tell him I said that,
then. I want to stay on his good
side.” He put a hand on top of
Lydia’s. “Yours, too.” He winked.
“Geometry, Jimmy.” She shoved her book towards him while
slipping her hand out from underneath his.
“Yes, the wonderful world of
geometry,” Jimmy grumbled.
“Pythagoreas and his theorem are
waiting.”
Jimmy rubbed his hands
together. “We should all be so lucky,”
he said not hiding the sarcasm from his voice.
“Give it a chance,” Lydia
remarked.
“When you give me a chance, I will.”
“You sure are hanging out a lot
with Jimmy Brown,” Jenni noted as they walked to the sidelines of the football
field. “You dating, yet?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re just friends.”
“Not from what I’ve heard.” Lydia looked over at Jenni. She knew that Jenni didn’t hear anything, she
said what other people heard. Jimmy told
her that Jenni liked spreading rumors and making others look bad. Lydia didn’t believe him at first, but the
more she was at school, the more she noticed people whispering behind her
back. She hoped the rumors from her old
school hadn’t followed her to the new one.
Those rumors were horrible
rumors. She went to school on a Marine
base and most of the students at the school were boys. The boys all wanted something from
Lydia. She’d gone on several dates with
some of them, but the boys always tried something with her. She wouldn’t go for it. First, her parents would kill her if she did
anything to disgrace their family. Her
family held morals and high values. If
Lydia did anything unacceptable, she would be in big trouble. Second, she wasn’t ready to do anything with
boys. She just wanted to have fun and
hang out. Those boys tried everything
they could to get her to do something with them. When she refused, her dates made her out to
be cold hearted or even worse, told lies that she did do something with
them. Because she had been on several
dates with several different guys, the rumor was she couldn’t say no and she
was easy. She hoped that rumor stayed
where it started and never made it to Riley.
She wanted to just be the new girl without any baggage with her.
Of course, there were still some
things that were hidden from Jenni, like what happened on the football field
the other night. Lydia watched the football players line up on the field for
warm ups. She still kept her eyes peeled
for anyone suspicous. When she didn’t
see anyone, she excused herself and ran to the nearest bathroom. This kept happening every home football game. Before, she would make it to the game, she’d
think about what happened a few weeks before which only made her angry. When she was angry, she ate. Her size eight figure couldn’t take all the
food she would eat. When she got to the
football field and looked at the football players, she would go nauseous from
all the food she ate and the nerves tightened her stomach and she would have to find the nearest bathroom so she could
throw up. When she got done, she walked
back to the sidelines.
“Are you sick, Lydia?” Jenni asked.
Lydia shook her head.
“Oh, I get it. That’s why you had to move.” Jenni filled her cheeks with air and made a
rounded motion with her hands over her belly.
“No! Never!”
“Don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.” Jenni winked.
“I’m not-“
“Shh! If Coach Jones finds out, she’ll kick you off
the squad.”
“But, there’s no reason to. I’m not having-“
“Ladies, we’re supposed to be
cheering, not chatting.”
Jenni smiled. “Sorry, Coach. We’ll get back to it.”
“Good.” The coach turned back to talk to one of the
parents sitting in the bleachers.
“Are you going to keep it?”
“Jenni, stop. I’m not pregnant.”
“Well, you’ve been throwing up
every week. What else could it be?”
“I don’t know. Just leave me alone, okay. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Wow, way to show your team
spirit,” Jenni mumbled.
“Yep, that’s me. Go, fight win. Rah, rah, rah,” Lydia remarked
sarcastically. She shook one of her pom
poms in the air weakly. The football
coach gave orders for the team to get on the sidelines. Lydia turned around and saw Jimmy come up
next to her.
“Hey, QB1. Gonna win tonight?” She smiled waiting for his answer.
“That’s the plan.” He smiled back.
“Good luck.” She reached up and gave Jimmy a friendly hug
from the side.
“Thanks.”
Coach Grayson blew his whistle to
get the team huddled up before the game.
“Gotta go, but one more
thing.” Jimmy’s eyes twinkled.
“What?”
“Got my geometry test back
yesterday.”
“Oh, yeah?”
He walked backward towards the
team. “Miracles happen, Lyddie.” He raised his hands to the side. “That’s all I’m saying.”
Lydia shook her head. “Hopeless, Jimmy Brown. Hopeless.”
“We’ll talk after the game,” he
yelled at her as he turned around and got into the middle of the huddle.
The game went into OT that
night. They were playing cross town
rivals and it was always a close game.
The game didn’t end until nine o’clock.
Lydia was walking in the dark by herself. She knew she shouldn’t do that after what
happened the last time, but she didn’t really feel like talking to anyone. Jenni was still hung up on Nick Stokes and
she told Lydia she was going to make her move on him tonight. Lydia said she’d find a ride home and left
Jenni to do whatever it was she was planning.
She was on her way to the fieldhouse to get her cell phone to call her
dad, when she felt a hand slip around her waist and pull her into the darkness.
“Don’t scream.” A voice she recognized from the other night
warned her. “You thought you could get your friend, Jimmy to get me kicked off
the team didn’t you? Well, I’ve got news
for you little girl. Your plans didn’t
work.”
The football player turned her
around. She was face to face with him
now. He had her backed up against the
wall and his hands tightly gripped her arms so she couldn’t get out of them.
“Let me go! You’re hurting me!” she
yelled.
“Now, we’re going to finish what
we started the other night.”
“No! You let me go.” Lydia tried to wriggle her arms out of the
football player’s grip, but didn’t have any luck. “Please,” she pleaded. The football player squeezed tighter around
her arms so she couldn’t move. “Let me
go.” Her voice faded. She felt like giving up. He was too strong for her. She couldn’t give up, though. She forced herself to try to think of
something that would get the jerk of a football player to leave her alone. What was it those Marines had told her? Her thoughts jumbled in her head and she was
having a hard time remembering anything.
She closed her eyes, so she wouldn’t have to look at the face in front
of her. Maybe that would help her to
remember.
He leaned in closer and whispered
in her ear. “I like it when you play
hard to get, Lydia. Tell me no
again.” He shoved her to the ground and
hovered on top of her. “C’mon, girl,
open those legs up for business.” He
slid his hand down between her legs and tried to pull them apart. She kept her legs squeezed tightly together. She reached down to push his hands away, but
he grabbed her wrists again. “This is my
show now, Lydia. You do what I say and
it’ll be over before you know it. It’ll
only hurt, if you make it hurt.”
“Stop it!” Lydia pleaded.
“Please, stop.” Tears slipped from the
corner of her eyes and ran down the side of her face. Boys had never forced
themselves on her like this. She didn’t
know what to do. They were jerks all the
time, but never like this. She had to
think of a way to get away from the guy. Twist
your arms down to get out his grip. She finally remembered something, but
the football player held tight. She
couldn’t get her wrists out of his hands.
She was frustrated. She just
wanted to go home. Tears welled up in
her eyes.
The football player looked at her
and rubbed away the tears with his thumb.
“Ah, don’t cry,” he said in a sweet tone and then just as quickly turned
into an evil tone, “it ruins your pretty
face.”
“Don’t do this.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to do this.”
The football player ran his hands
along the side of her body. She
shuddered. “I wouldn’t have to if you
would’ve kept your mouth shut.” His hand
slid underneath her uniform and she whimpered.
Why couldn’t she remember all the things her daddy had taught her?
“Don’t worry. It’ll be over in a few minutes.”
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed.
“No one gets to touch me like that, you jerk!
Get your hands off me!” She felt
the back of her attackers hand across her face.
Her cheek stung.
“Shut up! Just stop
talking!” He leaned closer and she felt
the hairs on her neck stand on end at the warmth of his breath close to
her. “No one can hear you now anyway. They’re all gone.” He tugged at her uniform to get it off. He looked back into Lydia’s eyes and grinned
an evil grin. “Where’s your precious
friend Jimmy now, Lydia?”
“I want to go home,” she
whimpered. At home, her daddy would be
there. At home her daddy would protect
her from anyone or anything that even tried to hurt her. She remembered now. The
elbow is the strongest part of your body.
Use it. Of course! She took her elbow and rammed it into her
attacker’s face. When he was hunched
over on top of her, she brought her knee up and made contact with his groin. He fell over to his side and she ran until
she reached the girl’s locker room. She
pulled on the door until she got it to open and hurried inside after locking
the door. When she found a mirror, she
looked at herself and bit her lip. Her
face was smeared with mascara, her clothes were torn, and there was a red
handprint where he had hit her. She looked
around and made sure no one was in the room with her and headed for the
shower. She had to get the feel of his
hands off her. She turned the shower on as hot as it would
go and sudsed up until her skin felt raw.
She couldn’t tell where the tears ended and the shower began at some
points. When she was finished, she
grabbed her cell phone out of her duffle bag and dialed the only person she
trusted besides her daddy.
“Jimmy?” her voice was quiet and she was still
crying. She could hear music playing and
talking in the background.
“Lyddie?” She knew it was hard for him to hear. He probably had to cover one ear, so he could
hear her.
“I need-“ she swallowed back the sobs. “I need you to take me home.”
“Where are you?”
“At the fieldhouse. Please hurry.”
“What’s wrong, Lyddie?”
“Not now. Just please come get me. Please.”
“All right. I’ll be there in five minutes.” Jimmy hung up the phone, found Stokes to tell
him to find a ride home, and sped back to the fieldhouse. He found Lydia hugging her knees to her chest
sitting beside the water fountain. He
knelt down in front of her.
“Are you all right?”
Lydia shook her head. “You’re too late, Jimmy. You’re too late.”
He cupped his hand around her arm. A friendly gesture, he thought. She was upset and he just wanted to see her
smile. “What happened?”
“Don’t touch me! I just spent an hour scrubbing his hands off
me. Don’t touch me!”
Jimmy pulled his hand away from
her arm. “Who, Lyddie?”
Lydia turned her head to the side
so she wasn’t looking at Jimmy. She
couldn’t let him see how weak she was.
She was angry with herself for letting it happen and she didn’t want
Jimmy to look at her. “He did it again.”
Jimmy scrunched his face up.
“Who? Tell me what happened.”
Lydia bit her lip. “Just take me home, please. I want to go home.”
“Okay.” Jimmy stood up and offered his hand to her to
help her up. She wouldn’t take it. She stood up on her own and walked over to
his truck. She didn’t wait for him to
open the door for her, but got in and slammed the door. Jimmy grabbed the letter jacket sitting next
to him and handed it to her. “Heat’s not fixed, yet.”
“Thanks.” She wrapped herself up in the coat and stared
out the window while Jimmy drove. Every
once in awhile, he heard a muffled sob Lydia was trying to swallow. He wanted to reach over and hold her hand,
but he knew that wouldn’t help her at all.
Those sobs ripped through his body and tore his heart into pieces. He never wanted to hear her cry like
that. He banged his fist on the steering
wheel before pulling in the driveway to her house. Whoever or whatever did this to Lydia wasn’t
going to get away with it easily. Jimmy walked
over to open Lydia’s door to let her out. She didn’t move.
“Lyddie, we’re here.”
“I can’t go in there. My mama won’t listen to me and she’ll tell my
daddy that-“
Jimmy leaned on the doorframe of
the truck. “What are you talking about,
Lyddie?”
Lydia peeked around Jimmy and saw
her mom coming towards them.
“Nevermind.” Jimmy turned around
and took a deep breath. Staring back at
him was what Lydia would look like in twenty years. Her mom was beautiful. Black hair hung down to to just passed her
shoulders. Her high cheekbones accented
her deepset brown eyes. He could see why
Lydia looked so striking.
“Mrs. Baker?”
“Yes.”
“She won’t get out of the
truck.” He stepped aside and let Mrs.
Baker try to talk her daughter out of the vehicle. Lydia wouldn’t say anything to her.
“Where’s Daddy?” she asked.
“He’s in the garage building
something or changing the oil. I don’t
know exactly what.”
“You’re fighting again, aren’t
you?” Lydia crossed her arms and stared
out the front window.
“No, sweetheart, we’re not
fighting.”
Lydia narrowed her eyes and
looked at her mama. “Not talking is the
same thing, Mama! Why won’t you talk to
him?”
Jimmy looked over at the garage
and saw a disgruntled Lt. Baker coming towards the truck while wiping his hands
with a shop rag. He furrowed his
eyebrows and looked at Jimmy, then Lydia.
“What’s going on?” he growled.
Lydia jumped out of the truck and
ran to her dad. She wrapped her arms
around him. “Daddy, he hurt me.”
Lt. Baker looked at Jimmy. Lydia saw the look of dismay on her dad’s
face. “Not, Jimmy, Daddy. Somebody else. He was big and strong, and he had an ugly
face. I don’t even know his name.”
Jimmy smirked for a moment. She had just described the entire defensive
line of the Riley Warriors football team.
His smirk turned into a frown quickly when he looked up and saw Lydia
holding onto her dad for dear life. “What did he do?” Jimmy asked.
Lydia buried her face in her
dad’s chest. “I don’t want to go
back. Don’t make me go back there.”
Lt. Baker put a hand on either
side of his daughter’s face and looked her in the eyes. “Sweetheart, tell Daddy what happened.”
“He grabbed me and pushed me down
on the ground and then he-“
“I don’t wan t to hear this,”
Mrs. Baker interrupted.
“Then, don’t listen, Shelly,” Lt.
Baker snapped. “You’re getting really
good at not listening. It should be a
piece of cake for you to just walk away and not listen to anything.” Mrs. Baker threw her hands in the air and
turned to walk away.
“What else, baby girl?” Lt. Baker
asked.
“He put his hands on me.” Lydia closed her eyes and bit her lip. She couldn’t find the words to tell her daddy
what happened. She didn’t want him to
know how far the boy had got before she stopped it. That would disappoint him and she knew it.
Jimmy’s face twitched and the
muscles in his jaw flexed. “Like the
other night, Lyddie?”
“What other night?” Lt. Baker asked. No one answered his question.
“Worse, Jimmy.”
Jimmy pounded his fist on the bed
of his truck and cursed. “I told them to
leave you alone, Lyddie. I swear I
did. I even told Coach. I know you told me not to, but I couldn’t let
them do that to you.”
“Lydia, what happened the other
night?” Lt. Baker asked.
“I don’t want to stay here,
Daddy! Don’t make me stay here!” She pounded on his chest with both of her
fists and then ran inside.
Jimmy didn’t move. He kept his eyes straight ahead and spoke. “A few of the guys from the football team
haven’t been very nice to her.”
Lt. Baker bore his eyes into
Jimmy and poked his finger into his chest.
“I want their names, I want their positions, I want their parents’
names.” He slammed his hand against the
doorframe of the truck. “Nobody hurts my
little girl and gets away with it.
Nobody. Do you hear me?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want you to find the guy who did this and bring him here.” He cracked his knuckles, but what from what
Jimmy saw, Lt. Baker didn’t even know he was doing it. “ I don’t care what time it is or how you
have to do it. I’d like to have a nice little chat with him.”
Jimmy stared at the door Lydia
had ran into. “You can have what’s left
of him when I’m done, sir.” He got in
the truck and sped off before Lt. Baker could respond.
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