Chapter 16: Saturday 2

JASON

“Come on Daddy. Let’s go.” Sue said as she stormed off.

“No, Sue. Wait!” I yelled.

It was no use. She even dragged Mary away with her. Everyone was disappearing from the atrium fast.

“I’m sorry, Jay. We need to go.” Mia said as she dragged her sister away too.

“Mia!” her sister shouted to her.

“What Melanie?”

“I want to talk with Jay.”

“You’ve talked too much already, loudmouth!”

That left Mom, Gracie, Nora and I standing in the school hallway alone. I looked Nora straight in the eye.

“DON’T. EVEN. THINKABOUTIT. NORA!”

“Fine.” Nora said throwing her hands up, palms out. “I won’t tell a soul. But you know everyone saw.”

“They’re not like you.”

“Didn’t you see? A lot of those in the cast have brothers and sisters in high school too.”

“Shit.”

“Just don’t blame me when it hits the fan.”

“Wow, Jay. You’ve been busy.” Grace remarked.

“Shut the fuck up, Grace!”

“JAY!” Mom shouted. “Language.” She doesn’t shout often.

“Sorry, Mom.”

“I guess it’s time to leave.” Mom said.

“I guess so.”

“Nora, sweetie, do you have a ride home?” my mother offered.

“I’ll call Mom and she’ll come get me.”

“Nonsense. We’ll give you a ride. I’ll call your mother and tell her we’re bringing you home now.”

“Aw. I was hoping to spend some time with Grace today.”

“That may not be such a good idea right now, Nora.”

“Okay. Hey, Grace, I’ll message you later.”

“Sure. We can still talk on the ride home.”

And boy did they talk. Grace sat up front and Nora and I in the back. Which meant I was in the middle of the conversation and gossip. Oh, joy. May I remind you that Nora was still in The Program? Yes, she was butt naked too, like me, but was wearing shoes. It seems she left home in the nude. No safety net. That was brave of her and I was impressed. Still, I didn’t want to be in the middle of their conversation.

“Mom, why can’t I sit up front?” I asked.

“You know why.”

“Damn!”

“What was that, Jason?”

“I said MAN it’s noisy back here having to listen to these two.”

“You’re lucky I don’t make all three of you sit in the back.”

By the way, since Nora was nude I didn’t put my clothes on either. I was doing it for Nora. Okay? And if you believe that I know this bridge that’s for sale. Such a deal.

“Hey, Nora?”

“What?”

“Who brought you to the play?” I asked.

“Mrs. Brown.”

“Who’s that?”

“Brigid’s mom.”

“Who’s Brigid?”

“That’s the girl that played the fire fairy, Jay.” Grace said. Grace couldn’t stand to be left out of a conversation. I couldn’t either, but I’ve had more practice abstaining, or rather through forced abstention, than Grace had.

“Oh, so that’s the other one. Why didn’t you go home with her, Nora?”

“I was going to come over to your house.”

“I don’t mind if you do.”

“Yay!” Gracie cheered. “See, Mom? It’s okay with Jay if Nora comes over.”

“It’s not okay with me. We’ve already told Nora’s mother we’re bringing her home.”

Grace didn’t look too happy. Neither did Nora.

“Aw, I wanted relief.” Nora whispered to me.

“Sorry.” I told her. “Next time.” I really had no idea when that would ever happen. By then we had reached her house.

Nora and Gracie said their goodbyes and we went home, me still nude. Gracie went to her room and I went to mine when we got home. I wasn’t doing anything in particular when Mom wanted to talk. I knew she’d be coming. I was still naked. It hadn’t even occurred to me to get dressed but when Mom knocked on the door I felt a bit self-conscious.

“Sure, Mom. Let’s get this over. You know I don’t like to put things off.”

Mom came in and shut the door. I guess she didn’t want Grace snooping in. That was probably the right thing to do. Grace didn’t need to know.

“Okay. So, how are you, Jay?”

“I messed up, big time, Mom.”

“I see.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me?”

“Because I let you down.”

“How?”

“I messed up with Sue.”

“And that let’s me down how?”

“I know you like her.”

“I do very much. I respect her too. Maybe you should apologize to her instead.”

“I would, but I don’t think she’ll let me. I don’t blame her either.”

“So tell me about this Mia girl.”

“She’s been so nice to me all week.”

“That’s obvious. So out of kindness you...”

“No, Mom. It just happened. We were in the locker room together and...”

“What were you two doing in the locker room together?”

“Don’t you remember? I have to take showers in the girls locker room.”

“I still can’t wrap my mind around that one.”

“Well, that’s what led to all this. She wanted to give me a parting gift, I suppose.”

“A parting gift?”

“Yesterday was my last day of showering with the girls.”

“Thank the Lord for small miracles.”

“Wait ‘till Gracie does her time in The Program.”

“Yes, I can’t wait.” Mom said with not a small bit of sarcasm.

“Mia took me to a bathroom stall, closed the door and we ... did it.”

“Just like that?”

“I know it was wrong. It was a huge mistake but I couldn’t help myself.”

“Has Mia had her shot?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“Sure?”

“I’m sure.”

“Good. Well, bigger mistakes have been made, Jason.”

“I know it wasn’t assassination of Archduke Ferdinand magnitude, but it was just about the worst thing to ever happen to me.”

“Archduke what?”

“Never mind.”

“Are you talking about world war one?”

“Sorry.”

“Stay on topic. Well, it’s not that big for sure. Still, it doesn’t compare to some of the monumentally stupid things I’ve done, Jason.”

“You?”

“Yes. We all do stupid things.”

“It gets worse, Mom.”

“How much worse?”

“Twice as much.”

“I see you’ve picked out a scale for this.”

“I kind of did the same thing with Emily too.”

“Oh dear Lord. Emily?”

“Yeah. The cheerleader.”

“I remember. You have a crush on her.”

“I wouldn’t call it a crush, technically.”

“Why not?”

“Because she likes me too.”

“And what about Sue? I thought you two had a relationship.”

“I don’t know who I like more. I need to think about it. I’ve been pretty um, naughty, Mom.”

“I’ll say.”

“I just hope Grace doesn’t repeat my mistakes.”

“Yes. About Grace. She’ll be thirteen next week.”

“Friday.”

“Let’s wait until Saturday to celebrate.”

“I know.”

“About her test.”

“What test?”

“The one that Mr. Powell asked about.”

“Oh yeah. I hope she passed. With her scatter-brainedness lately she’d be lucky not to flunk it.”

“Jason! Don’t talk about your sister that way.”

“Sorry.”

“It wasn’t that kind of test.”

“What kind was it?”

“It was ... a paternity test.”

“Oh. A what?”

“Jason, you don’t mention this to anyone, especially your sister. I will tell her when the time comes, probably next week.”

“Okay.”

“Jim Powell is Grace’s father.”

“I thought dad died ... uh, what?”

“Your father and Grace’s father are not the same.”

“But Grace and Dad...” I said. My mind had stopped functioning at that moment.

“Grace is your half-sister, Jason.”

I sat in silence contemplating this.

“So...”

“Yes.” Mom said nodding.

“Then that means ... YOU!”

“Calm down, Jason.”

“YOU CHEATED ON DAD!”

This was not good. Mom? Cheating on Dad? I could feel my stomach churning just then.

“I’m going to be sick.” I said before jumping up. I ran to the door.

Damnit! Mom had locked it. It took a moment but I finally succeeded in unlocking and opening the door, turned the corner and barely made it to the toilet in time.

BLEGGHHH! URGGHH! BLEGGH!

I threw up. Mom cheated! I mean ... just ... how could she?

BLEGGHHH!

It was then that I realized that she did what I did to Sue. How could I have done such a thing? I felt so, so bad. I kept throwing up until I had the dry heaves. I never had them before but there was no mistaking it now. It wasn’t pleasant.

“Uuuuuuuugh.”

I hadn’t been there long but I was drained. Really, what the fuck! My Mom just told me she cheated on Dad. And it was with Sue’s father. And Grace! Oh my God, Grace. Poor Grace. But I promised I wouldn’t speak of it to her. What would it do to Grace when Mom tells her?

This is such a fucked up world!

“Jay?”

I looked up and standing in the bathroom doorway was my sister. With the sunlight behind her in the doorway she looked beautiful. She didn’t just look beautiful, she was truly beautiful inside. I was so lucky to have her as my sister. Er, half-sister. I can’t get used to that. I decided it didn’t matter. We grew up together and shared nearly everything. She was my sister. Period.

“Hey, Gracie.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. You threw up. Are you sick?”

“I’m not sick. I just ate too fast this morning.”

“You’re crying.”

“No, I’m not. It’s just because I threw up so hard.”

“Something’s wrong, Jay. Tell me.”

I walked up to her and gave her a hug. My face was barely above her stomach and I realized for the first time that her boobs were over my head. But she was still my sister. We hugged tight.

“I love you, Gracie.”

“I love you too, Jay. What’s wrong?”

“I told you nothing is wrong.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I promise.”

“You promise?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you Gracie. I want you to know something.”

“What?”

“You’re still my sister and I will always love you, no matter what. Okay?”

“You’re not going to tell me what’s wrong, are you?”

“Nothing is wrong. Trust me, alright?”

“Okay.”

I pushed away and looked up into her eyes. “Where’s Mom?”

“I think she went downstairs.”

“Eh, just as well.”

“Are you and Sue split up now?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You had sex with Emily too, didn’t you?”

“You can see right through me.”

“Anyone else?”

“No. Nobody else.”

“I didn’t know about Mia.”

“I didn’t know about Melanie. She must be a real brat like Mia says.”

“She is not. She’s sweet.”

“Well, not today.”

“You should get to know her better before you say such things.”

“Initial impressions aren’t good so far.”

“What happened with you and Mia?”

“She was the nicest girl I ever met.”

“What about Sue and Emily?”

“Let’s go sit for this. Your room or mine?”

“You never come into my room. Why don’t we go there?”

“Okay, but you realize it’s against the law for a guy to go into his sisters room. Especially if there’s pink in there.”

“I guess we’re going to get arrested then.”

“Fine.”

She was right. It had been a long while since I’d been in her room. Oh, I’d been at her door all the time, but never came inside. It still had lots of pink. A giant pink grapefruit exploded in there at some point in the way past and it’s remnants will remain etched in the walls and in the air forever.

“So.” I said. “About Sue. Where have you been the past six years Gracie?”

“Huh?”

“Think about it.”

“Six years? I guess she wasn’t very nice to you.”

“Ya think? It was more like she ignored me, and that’s not nice, is it?”

“I thought you liked her.”

“I do. Very, very much.”

“Okay.”

“And Emily. You know what she did to me this past Monday?”

“No.”

“She slapped me on the butt.”

“Oh yeah. But it was a playful slap, right?”

“Nope. It was very hard. Her and her friend tricked me into bending over with an RR and that’s when it happened. That’s why Emily was in The Program, because she was being punished.”

“That wasn’t nice.”

“Not at all, Gracie.”

“But you like her too.”

“Yes. She apologized and I accepted her apology and we became great friends. More than great.”

“Lovers?”

“You could say that now. But Mia...”

“Tell me about Mia.”

“Ah Mia. I only met her this week -- Monday.”

“Like Emily?”

“Yep, like Emily, only Mia was very nice to me. She’s never been anything but nice.”