Relenting, he returned his phone to his pocket and dragged me into the walk-
in closet. The same place we shared all our deepest secrets. Triple door barriers contained our private conversations.
Thomas sat down in the middle of the floor and patted the plush carpet. “Tell
me what happened, Cat. You were having so much fun when we left.”
I sat down across from him and grabbed his hands. I retold the events of the
evening. Thomas’ rage turned to pity. When I finished, he blinked away tears and pulled me into his arms.
“I’m sorry I didn’t protect you. I’ll fix this.” Thomas held tight and stroked
my hair. “I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again, Cat. I love you.”
When I had no more tears to cry, we left our sanctuary for the last time. The
secrets I told on that day filled the closet. There would be no more room for more confessions in this once sacred space.
Thomas fulfilled his promise. The roses were gone, and my mother never mentioned Christopher or Prom again. When I asked Thomas how he had
achieved this, he replied, “I told her you caught him making out with another girl at Prom and how he thought he could get away with it.”
How well my friend knew what made my mother click.
Returning to school on Monday, I did my best to avoid Christopher. He didn’t speak to me, but I felt him watching me. When I did dare to look, he grinned and blew me a kiss. Chills ran through me. I wasn’t safe from him.
I made sure I was never alone. I didn’t know if he would grab me and hurt
me again. Every day, I struggled with wanting to report him, and knowing no one would believe me. Anger filled me as I thought about how I had been lured
into his trap.
Christopher was not my only attacker. The boys who lied about me set me up. They should pay for what they did, but who would believe me? What would
the cost be to my life? My mother’s?
With one week left of school, an idea came to mind. It was so crazy I knew I
couldn’t even tell Thomas my plan.
Eight
“Hey, Seth,” I leaned against his locker. “We had such a good time
on our first date. Why haven’t you asked me out again?”
Seth’s eyes shone with excitement. “Because I am stupid,”
he chuckled. “We should go out again. How about —”
“Tonight.” I moved closer to him. His muscles tensed. “It’s Friday night.” I
pressed my mouth close to his ear and breathily whispered, “Our last date ended
too quickly. We have so much more to talk about.”
I kissed his cheek and walked away. I needed to get far away from him before I slapped him across the face and caused a scene.
“Text me,” I called back.
Before I even started my car, Seth texted me.
Seth: Dinner at 6?
Caitlyn: Sounds perfect
I shoved my phone in my pocket just as Thomas got in the passenger seat of
my car. “We should rent a bunch of movies, and pop popcorn tonight. I think I
can convince Hillary to whip us up a batch of her marshmallow kind,” Thomas
suggested.
“Sorry, Seth asked me out and I said yes,” I answered, not looking at him.
“Why would you go out with that asshole? He lied about you, Cat.” I felt his
