“You promise not to judge me?”
“I promise.”
She sat on the ground in front of her mother and Ted joined her.
“You know Jackson?”
“You mean Jackson Wells?”
She nodded.
“Well, no. I just know his father is the owner of the local bank and a deacon at church. I hang with him because of his elder brother. Why?”
She didn’t speak immediately. When she tried to speak, the words wouldn’t form well in her mouth. She sighed then she forced the words out.
“I was raped. By him.” She broke down into tears again.
Ted was going to get angry at Jackson and shout but he saw Aaliyah’s need. He shifted closer to her, grimacing as pain mildly shot up his left leg. He put an arm around her.
“It’s okay. Free yourself. Talk to me.”
“It was a year ago. I had only just entered my senior year. They had a game that day,” she said amidst tears. She paused, wiped her eyes, and tried to calm down.
“I was a straight A student. He had to retake calculus and so I tutored him. I don’t know why but I allowed him to get close. My friends tried to warn me but I was blind. And that’s what they say, right? Love is blind. At the close of the football season, we were matched against this other school and we were all scared because they were tough. We only won by a point and everyone got so excited. He asked me to wait for him after the match. When the whole place was empty, he took me behind the bleachers and she took a second to say it: “he raped me. I feel so dirty.” She broke down again and Ted patted her back.
“You’re not dirty. If anyone is dirty, it’s him.”
“No, you don’t understand. I couldn’t bear the shame. Who would have believed me if I told them that the son of the bank manager raped me? I doubt even my parents would. I became so depressed. I couldn’t help it. I lost my family because of him. We didn’t have a relationship anymore. The afternoon they left, you know what happened? My mother had confronted me, asking me why I had become so reclusive. They had planned a family day out in the park but I didn’t want to go. I sparked. I was just tired of life. I was going to kill myself the next day, anyway. My father rebuked me for shouting at my mother but I didn’t care. I told them to go to hell and I ran up to my room.” She smiled ruefully as she shook the hair out of her eyes. “Those were my last words to my parents: ‘go to hell’. How ironic.”
They sat together in silence.
“Your grandma said you learned martial arts. Is that why?”
Aaliyah laughed.
“She’s told you a lot, hasn’t she? Well, yes. At first, I wanted to have revenge but my karate tutor had a no revenge mantra. That’s what saved Jackson. Later on, I just learned it in order to defend myself in the event of future occurrences.”
There was silence. Just when Aaliyah felt the conversation was over, Ted turned to her and said;
“I’m sorry life turned out this way for you.”
She turned to him too. The air was tense.
“Thanks.”
Their faces drew closer to each other, the eyes of each on the other’s lip. Aaliyah closed her eyes, taking in the moment. Their lips had almost locked when Ted turned his face away. Aaliyah opened her eyes, feeling embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, Aaliyah. I can’t do this. I don’t want to take advantage of you in your moment of weakness.”
“Oh,” she said, bowing her head. There was silence again then Aaliyah asked:
“What do you want?”
“What?” Ted asked, confused.
“What do you want? Why do you keep being nice to me when I’m always rude? Then, you have the opportunity to get a kiss and you refuse. I don’t understand. Most guys wouldn’t do that.”
Ted smiled ruefully.