Betsy Wickwire's Dirty Secret Read Online Free

sweetie.” “Your friend called, sweetie.” “I wonder who’s calling. Probably for you, sweetie.”
    Mom.
    It had to be Mom who’d put it there. No one else would have had the nerve. I could just imagine her sneaking in while I was pretending to sleep and nonchalantly leaving it on my nightstand, all recharged and ready to go.
    What was the matter with her? I told her I didn’t want to talk to anyone, I didn’t want to see anyone, I wanted to be left alone. After a while, Dad figured that out. He stopped knocking on my door to say that Brianna/Fiona/whoever was here. He stopped delivering the flowers, cards, and candy-grams that kept arriving at our house as if I was dying of some dread disease. He cancelled my tryouts for summer league soccer. He even had a little chat with Nick on our front lawn when he showed one Tuesday evening. (Through my open window and over my poundingheart, I couldn’t actually hear the words Dad used. I could, however, hear how little it took to convince Nick to turn around and leave. My humiliation was total.)
    â€œGive her time,” I heard Dad tell Mom more than once in the hall outside my room. But would she? No. She had to sneak in and put the phone on my bedside table. Let it torment me. I squished my eyes and lips into a tight little knot and choked back a scream.
    Then another text came through and that was that. I lost it. I grabbed my cell.
    Brianna .
    I scrolled through the messages.
    Henry. Tyleisha. Sophie. Carly. Kirsten. Carly. Nick. Carly. Carly. Nick .
    We have to talk .
    We never meant to hurt you .
    We didn’t mean this to happen .
    Call me, Betsy, please .
    Please .
    Please .
    Please .
    Who do they think they are? I glared at the phone, then I slammed it over and over again into the mattress. It just kept droning at me. I considered the nightstand and its nice hard edge, but I could hear Mom, hovering outside my door, all worried again and far too curious.
    I waited until she headed downstairs, then got up and walked into my bathroom. I had to hold the walls to keep them from wobbling. Little sparkles flitted at the edges of my vision and I realized that’s why cartoonists draw birds around someone’s head when they get clobbered. I got clobbered good.
    I turned on the water. I looked at my face while the sink filled up. No wonder he doesn’t love me.
    I turned off the tap, plunged my phone into the water and watched it die.

Chapter 3
    M om pulled over to the curb and said, “Sure you don’t want me to come in with you, sweetie?” Never been more sure of anything in my life, thanks . I didn’t say that.
    â€œToo hard to park,” I said, and jumped out of the car before she could see the van leaving across the street. “I’ll be fine. Really.”
    I checked to make sure no one was watching, then beelined up to the Medical Arts Building. I turned and bent my hand back in a little wave. It meant you can go now , but Mom was pretending she didn’t read sign language. She just kept peering at me through the passenger window with this bizarre smile-like hole in the middle of her face. She wasn’t going to be satisfied until she saw me walk in the building.
    That wasn’t part of my plan, but okay. I didn’t have much choice. I went inside.
    A lady with a double stroller looked up when the door gasped open. People.
    People looking at me.
    My brain screamed, Danger! and I froze, one tiny squirrel in a world full of big, hungry dogs.
    I didn’t have a tree to hide behind or hole to burrow in or whatever it is squirrels do when confronted with predators. I couldn’t just scamper back out and let the big, bad (but well-meaning) wolf get me either. I put my hand over my face and hoped it looked like I was scratching my forehead. Everyone was watching the elevator numbers light up. The lady didn’t seem to recognize me. Maybe no one else had noticed me either.
    The middle