Table of Contents
MELTDOWN: PART I - Thursday, April 17
MELTDOWN: PART II - Thursday, April 17
THE DAY AFTER THE MELTDOWN - Friday, April 18
THE DAY AFTER THE MELTDOWN, CONTINUED - Friday, April 18
PRE-INTERVENTION - Saturday, April 19
INTERVENTION - Saturday, April 19
ANOTHER MARK ON THE TALLY SHEET - Sunday, April 20
FORGET THE BIKINI - Monday, April 21
A MUSEUM VISIT - Saturday, April 26
WORST DAY EVER: PART I - Monday, April 28
WORST DAY EVER: PART II - Monday, April 28
OKAY BUT NOT - Tuesday, April 29
CONFESSION - Wednesday, April 30
ANOTHER CONFESSION - Wednesday, April 30
EMERGENCY ROOM: PART I - Thursday, May 1
EMERGENCY ROOM: PART II - Thursday, May 1
EMERGENCY ROOM: PART III - Thursday, May 1
THE BEST STORM EVER - Sunday, May 4
GOOD TIMES AND SECOND CHANCES - Monday, May 5
WONDERFUL FAMILY - Friday, May 9
CONTRABAND DAYS - Saturday, May 10
INTERVENTION II - Sunday, May 11
INTERVENTION II, CONTINUED - Sunday, May 11
MAKING A DIFFERENCE - Friday, May 16
PREPARING FOR GOOD-BYE - Wednesday, May 21
Also by Jessica Lee Anderson
Border Crossing
Trudy
Circumstances don’t make a person, they reveal him or her.
—Richard Carlson
HOW IT STARTED
A GIRL RUSHES TO THE TALLEST GUY in tenth grade and reaches up to drape her thin, muscular arms around his neck. The girl’s shirt rises up while her baggy khakis slide down over her narrow hips, revealing the strings of her red underwear.
The guy keeps his hands tucked in his pockets as the girl tilts her head slightly. She leans in to kiss him.
She kisses him.
Cherish kisses Dub.
My foster sister, Cherish, kisses my boyfriend, Dub.
Oh. My. God. He’s not stopping her.
My blood feels like crude oil bubbling in a refinery furnace.
Inside me, the crude oil separates into toxic fuel. I want to yell at them to stop, to push each other away, but my words are trapped. My eyes and ears hurt from the pressure of holding back the tears. The hallway is full of students watching me, waiting for my reaction.
Like Cherish told me before, I’m a chicken turd. She thinks I won’t do anything. But she’s wrong.
MELTDOWN: PART I
Thursday, April 17
I’M TOO MUCH OF A MESS to do anything now, so I run. Down the hall. Out of Building A. Past the exhaust of the school buses and past #72, which I should be boarding.
My pace slows once I’m far enough away from school and the line of buses. The long way home is the only option. Too many people have already witnessed the humiliation of Calli Adora Gilbeaux.
I’ll have to face their whispers at school tomorrow.
Did you see Dub’s mouth all over Cherish? Are they together now?