Heart of Glass by Lindy Dale Page B

bragging
about Ben James.”
    “ But that’s not true; I
haven’t bragged about anything!”
    “ I know, but Lucy told Liz,
who told me, that she wanted Ben for herself. She asked him out, to
get back at you. Some of the St Peter’s Year 12’s saw them together
at a party. He was really drunk and she was all over him and rumour
is they had sex in the back of his car. Anyway, when she rang him
again, Ben fobbed her off for some bizarre reason, so maybe he does
like you. She didn’t want us to know about it but he told one of
his friends and now everybody knows.”
    “ How could she be such a
bitch?”
    Now I knew the reason for
the odd phone call from Ben a few weeks ago, and the ensuing
silence. He was feeling guilty. Lucy had proven her point. Ben did
only want girls who put out and I was a silly little
twit.
    ***
    Into its epic fourth week,
the feud showed no signs of abating so I decided to get on with my
life without my friends. The pain they had caused ran deep within,
welling up like a volcano waiting to spew out its dangerous
contents but I kept the hurt in check, not letting them see what
they were doing to me. I had plenty I wanted to say and one day the
time would be right. I was strong; I would fight back.
    Unfortunately, for me, Lucy
wanted to fight too. She had whipped off the gloves and was at the
ready, bare fisted. It was amazing how vindictive one girl could
be. She wanted to annihilate me, to pulverise what little dignity I
had left and because she held the power at school other girls
listened to her stories and spiteful remarks. Then they formed
their own conclusions. I was branded a slut; any girl who gave head
on the first date was bad news. (Lucy had heard it straight from
the horse’s mouth, so it must be true). Now nobody wanted to know
me.
    With each day, my misery
grew. I sat alone, reading a book. Even the Wannabe’s left me for
dead, not wanting to be tarred with my dirty brush. I was as
popular as the pageboy haircut Mum had made me get in Year 7 when
everyone else had the Farrah Fawcett Flickback. But worst of all it
seemed that Ben had deserted me too. There had been no phone call
for over a month. I may as well have been dead. The best I could do
was to forget about Ben as he had forgotten about me. After all, he
was the cause of all this trouble.
     
     
     
     

Chapter 7
    IS THIS LOVE?
    I wanna love ya, love and
treat ya right
    I wanna love ya every day
and every night
    Bob Marley
     
    Ben and Paul were standing
at the door of the darkened hall, their eyes squinting against the
throb of the strobe light as they attempted to locate their own
group of friends. School discos were a nightmare. It was impossible
to find the people you were looking for and if you did, you never
let them out of your sight, or they would be forever lost in the
abyss that was known as the dance floor. But saw them a long time
before they noticed me. I saw them and my fickle heart began to
pound.
    The fog machine was doing
its intended job of hiding teenagers from the view of the adults in
charge well. Sweaty bodies moved in the darkness and lights pulsed
over the heads of the throng, changing the colours of their hair
from blue to red and back again. It was no wonder these dances were
highly recommended amongst the ‘cool’ crowd of fifteen to eighteen
year olds, as being the place to be on a Friday or Saturday night.
There was nowhere else so dark and adolescent that you were likely
to score.
    From my spot on the edge of
the dance floor, I watched the boys as they circled the room,
joining a group standing to one side. They spent a few minutes
talking and looking out into the crowd. Then Paul saw Prue and made
a beeline towards her. I smiled seeing them disappear into the mass
of dancers. Their friendship had been developing since the night at
my house and they enjoyed each other’s company. Prue deserved to be
happy even if she was a gutless wonder.
    Lucy was on the dance floor
too, with Dan from the