Scary Mary by S.A. Hunter

he was mad at her. She
was mad that he’d found out the truth about her and like everyone
else hated her for it. She was mad that she was a freak.
    “ Mary!” he yelled. He wanted an
answer.
    She looked back at him. She wasn’t crying. That
was a small relief.
    “ Do you have anything to say for
yourself?”
    “ I’m sorry,” she repeated and slipped out
the front door.

    Chapter 6
    Dealing

    When she got home, Mary went straight to her
room. Gran was asleep in front of the TV, so it was easy for her to
tiptoe by and not have to explain why she had tear tracks down her
face.
    Gran tapped on her door the next morning. "Are
you feeling all right, dear?" Mary groaned and burrowed deeper into
her covers. It was late in the morning, well past when she usually
got up. She’d been hiding in hope that the day would go by without
having to deal with anything. Gran let herself in and stood at the
end of the bed. Mary blocked her out until the old woman grabbed
the comforter and jerked it off.
    Mary sat up and tried to grab the comforter
back. "I’m not feeling well."
    Gran held onto the bedding with a vice like
grip. "Maybe if you got up, you’d feel better."
    "Nuhuh," she said. She gave up on the tug-of-war
for the comforter and curled up tight in the bed sheet.
    "Get up."
    "Don’t wanna."
    "Get up."
    Mary cracked open one eye and looked down at the
end of her bed. Grand stood there with legs splayed and fists on
hips. Her steel hair was pulled back it a sloppy bun, and she had
her apron on. Sunday was not a day of rest for the Dubont/Hellick
household. Gran did most of her housework on Sunday and expected
Mary to help. Mary just wanted to wallow. She didn’t want to deal
with her grandmother.
    "What time is it?"
    "Eleven o’clock."
    Mary shot out of bed and started scrambling for
clothes. "Oh man, I’m late. I’ve got to go."
    "Go where?" Mary glanced at her. She knew Rachel
was out of town. She had to think of something fast.
    "I have to go to Cy’s. We’re partners on an
English project."
    "I’ll drive you over." She froze with one shoe
halfway on.
    "It’s okay. I can walk."
    "That’ll just make you later. I’ll drive you
over." She risked another look at her grandmother to see if she
knew she was lying, but Gran had turned her back to begin picking
up things around her room. She finished putting her shoe on and
stood up.
    "Okay, thanks." She grabbed her book bag and
stood.
    "I’ll get my keys." Mary nodded and made her way
to the station wagon. This was what happened when she lied to Gran.
She felt awful and got into trouble, even when she wasn’t caught.
The drive over was quiet. She was scrambling for a plan, but
nothing was coming to her. It was going to be bad. All she could do
was brace herself.
    "I’ll walk home," she said as she got out of the
car.
    "Are you sure?"
    She nodded and closed the car door. She waited
for her to pull away, but the car stayed there idling. She was
waiting for her to go up to the house. To see her safely
inside.
    She walked across the yard up to the door. She
felt cold, and she was sweating. This was bad. What had she been
thinking? She went up to the door and knocked. What if Kyle
answered the door? Mary glanced back at the station wagon still at
the curb.
    The door opened while her head was still turned.
"What are you doing here?"
    Mary turned back. "Hi." With a few jaunty beeps,
the station wagon pulled away. Mary turned and waved. She was
smiling, but it was another lie.
    "Was that your grandma?"
    "Yeah, she drove me over."
    "What, to apologize?"
    "No, I told her we had to work on an English
project together."
    "But you’re here to apologize, right?"
    "Not really."
    "Then why are you here?"
    "I wanted to get out of doing chores?" Yes, this
was going well.
    He shook his head. "And you thought you could
just come over here and hide out like last night didn’t
happen?"
    "No, I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t think she’d
insist on driving me over. I wouldn’t be here