infection; it buzzes around in your head and your
heart. I tossed and turned and fretted through
nightmares for nights after that and I couldn't face the
other girls at school. I knew they were talking about
me, spreading stories, exaggerating, claiming I had
gotten drunk and exposed myself in front of the boys
and embarrassed them. Kelly avoided me and I felt
even worse because of the way some of the other girls
were now looking at me."
r /> "Why would they lie about her like that?" Misty
asked Jade.
"To protect themselves in case she did tell
someone the truth. Right?" Jade asked Star.
"Sounds like it. I would have pulled out their
tongues at that point," Star said.
"It would only make them look right," Jade
asserted.
"Maybe because of the way things were at
school, my nightmares continued. I had no appetite at
dinner, but I had to force myself to eat so my mother wouldn't ask any questions. The hardest thing was she kept asking me about Kelly's parents, the house, things they said, and I had to make up as much as I could. I got away with it because I told my mother I had followed her directions and not asked too many questions. I kept thinking, Soon, soon she's going to realize I'm lying and the whole horrible thing will
come out.
"That gave me even more nightmares. Many
nights I would find myself awake, practically sitting
up, listening to the scream die in my throat. In dreams
I felt spiders crawling over me, dozens and dozens of
them. They covered my breasts and reached as high as
my chin.
"When I was a little girl and I had bad dreams,
my mother would sometimes come to see me, but she
never held me or kissed me. Instead, she tried to teach