Gabrielle's Bully (Young Adult Romance) by Doreen Owens Malek Page A

put in a good word?”
    “I’ll think about it.”
    I let it go at that. But I wasn’t happy. When my mother thought about anything, the conclusion she usually came to was that I was wrong and she and my father were right.
    My mother pulled open the silver drawer and started firing forks and spoons into their places. She did it so fast it was almost like a machine was doing it on an assembly line.
    “By the way,” she said, “who is this woman Lois who was with Heath’s father when you went to the country club?”
    I could have kicked myself for bringing up Heath’s father. “I told you that Heath’s mother is dead,” I said. “Lois is someone his father is dating.” This was true enough, but not all of it. If my mother ever got a look at Lois, her opinion of Heath might change. I didn’t care if Heath’s father kept a harem in his basement, but I knew that the obviously mature Mr. Lindsay escorting blonde bombshell Lois would not be a hit with the folks. It wasn’t fair for them to judge Heath by his father’s taste in female companions, but there it was.
    Lois would have to stay in the closet for a while. Hopefully they wouldn’t have occasion to see her until Heath and I were married and had at least three kids. By then, she would have to look older.
    I got down on my knees to stow the Dutch oven in the cupboard under the stove, wishing that my father might have a change of attitude before Saturday night.
    * * *
    I waited until everyone had settled down after dinner, and then went upstairs to call Barbara. I related my most recent conversation with my mother.
    “I don’t know why you insist on telling them everything,” said Barbara, whose most cherished guiding principle was to tell her parents as little as possible. “You could have just said you were going to the movies, and they wouldn’t have known the difference.”
    “Barbara, don’t give me that. You know how my life goes. Remember the time in seventh grade when I forgot to get a permission slip from my mother for the field trip to the planetarium? I forged one instead, and then fell down the steps of the bus and split my lip. I wound up in the nurse’s office filling out an accident report, while the nurse waved the phony note under my mother’s nose, congratulating herself on her efficiency in absolving the school from responsibility. That one made me real popular at home. With my luck, Heath’s car would break down in Middlebury, or something else would happen to give me away, and then my father would ground me until I was collecting social security.”
    “This is true. Well, it’s not the end of the world, is it, if they don’t let you go?”
    “Oh, Barb, I don’t want Heath to think I’m some baby whose parents won’t let her do anything or go anywhere. Guys tend to lose interest under those circumstances pretty fast.”
    She was silent. There was no argument for that. Guys who got a hassle looked elsewhere, and plenty of girls had more permissive parents.
    “No bright ideas?” I prodded. If Barbara couldn’t think of anything, I was really in trouble.
    “Hypnotize your father?” she suggested.
    “Very funny, Barb. Thanks a lot.”
    “It sounds reasonable to me. We could plant that suggestion that you should be allowed to do anything you want.”
    “I was hoping for something of a more practical nature.”
    “Where your father is concerned, I’m fresh out of ideas. I suppose we should be grateful that he lets you date at all.”
    By the time I hung up a few minutes later, I was convinced that I would have to level with Heath. If he really liked me, he would understand. It was a chance I would have to take.
    * * *
    I waited for Heath after Mackley’s class on Wednesday.
    He smiled slightly when he saw me lingering in the hall and said, “Looking for somebody?”
    “Heath, I don’t think my father’s going to let me go to Middlebury with you.” It came out abruptly, as if I were issuing a challenge. That’s it,