I rolled my eyes. “Just some stupid boy at school.”
Mom sighed. “I’m familiar with those.”
I paused. “How far do you think a bully would go in order to get a rise out of someone?”
“Why do you ask?”
“I think a bully at my school has gone a little too far with some stuff.”
“Would this be the stupid boy at school?”
I scoffed. “Aren’t all stupid boys eventually bullies?”
She paused. “You have a good point.”
The two of us shared a brief moment of laughter before Mom took my hand.
“Has he hurt you, sweetheart?”
I sighed. “Not physically.”
She nodded. “Okay, good. I mean, not good with the hurt. But—”
My eyes widened. “Oh, no no no. Nothing—nothing like that. Nothing like what you’re thinking.”
“You’d tell me though? If it was?”
“I promise, everything that happened wa—”
Mom raised her eyebrows as I caught what I was about to say.
“I, uh…”
She giggled. “Sweetheart, I was much younger than eighteen when I started having sex with boys.”
“Mom.”
She smiled. “I’m not going to go into that. We had that talk when you were much younger. But let me see if I can piece this together. You fell for the school bully, had some romantic moments together, and now he wants nothing to do with you. Right?”
I paused. “Don’t tell me you’ve experienced something like that, too.”
She shrugged. “It happens sometimes. Maybe not quite like that, but it does happen. And it sucks. And I kind of want to wring his throat.”
I giggled at her words as the pillow slowly slid away from my face.
“What do I do?”
She sighed. “There’s nothing you can do. You can’t change a man. So you can’t let that man change you. Bad boys are just that. Bad. Bad for you. Bad for themselves. Bad for anyone who comes into their lives.”
I nodded slowly. “People at school will know soon enough.”
“And all you can do is stand up to them. Stand your ground and don’t let them beat you into it. High school is relentless. There isn’t a person on this planet—rich or poor—that would do it all over again. I’m here for you, no matter what. And you can talk to me about anything, okay?”
I smiled softly. “Thanks, Mom.”
She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I guess we both have a tendency to go for the wrong men.”
I giggled. “Yeah. Fuck D.J.”