That Summer (Part One) by Lauren Crossley Page A

her, scrambling to my feet as I rake
my fingers through my hair.
    “Serena,
I don’t want you to be alone right now.”
    “My
mum is here.” I lie. “She’s downstairs.”
    “Your
mum is never home this early.” Lisa states with confidence.
    She
knows my mum is hardly ever home and that we barely interact with one another
when she is.
    “I
know but she is here tonight. She came home from work about an hour ago.”
    “How
do you know that if you’ve been asleep all this time?” She questions me,
reluctant to believe what I’m saying.
    “Because
I woke up when she came home. I heard the front door when she arrived.”
    There’s
a moment of silence between us whilst she tries to figure out if I’m telling
her the truth or not.
    “Ok,
I believe you but you’re not exactly going to confide in her about any of this,
are you?”
    “Of
course not, you know what my mum is like.” I remind her.
    “Exactly
and that’s what I’m trying to say... I want to be there for you and I can’t do
that from here.”
    “I
know you do and I love you for that but all I want to do right now is grab
something to eat, have a long soak in the bath and go to bed.”
    “Are
you sure?” She asks, appearing doubtful and uncertain about the idea of leaving
me on my own.
    “Yes.”
I conclude decidedly. “I really don’t care what people at school are saying
about me. So long as you and I know the truth.”
    “You’re
right.” She replies sweetly, sounding a little more optimistic.
    “Thanks
for calling, Lisa.”
    “There
is one more thing I have to warn you about… the police might want to talk to
you and I’m sure that the Principal from school will as well. I just want you
to be prepared for that.”
    “Ok.”
I sigh wearily, rubbing the centre of my forehead in an attempt to ease some of
the tension that’s building.
    “Try
and eat something, ok? And I’ll make sure I pick you up in the morning, I don’t
like the idea of you walking into college by yourself.”
    “Thanks,
I’ll see you then.”
    “Goodnight,
Serena.”
    We
both hang up and that’s when the reality of what I’ve just been told finally
hits me. The house is eerily quiet until I start to feel like the silence might
consume me. I start to regret the decision I made about Lisa not coming over
and even consider phoning her back. However, I do realise that my friend can’t
help me more than she already has done and choose to deal with it by myself
instead. I can do this. I really can.
    At
least that’s what I tell myself…
    I
go downstairs in the hopes that I will find something to eat but as soon as I
go into the kitchen to prepare myself some food, the memory of Cole and
spotting him outside my kitchen window comes flooding back to me.
    I
still can’t believe he’s been arrested. He’s actually in jail right now and for
that I am partly responsible. I know I didn’t ask for Jonathan to follow me and
I definitely didn’t ask him to try and hurt me in any way but if I hadn’t sent
that wretched photograph last year then none of this would have happened.
Jonathan and his idiotic friends wouldn’t think so badly of me, they wouldn’t
have made my life a living hell for the past twelve months and they certainly
would not believe that they have some sort of ‘right’ to me because they now
think of me as being easy.
    One
mistake. I made one loathsome mistake and I’m going to end up paying for it
until the day I finally leave this Godforsaken town. That’s the reason why I’m
so anxious to go. No one will let me forget about what happened and they
probably never will. It’s something that people are always going to use against
me and the only solution I can think of is to start again. Once this school
year is over and I complete my final year of college… I will finally be free.
Free from all of the shame, the guilt and the humiliation that comes with being
a young woman who messed up.
    The
double standards that exist between men and