BrookLyn's Journey (9 page)

BrookLyn
didn’t answer
. She just
imagin
ed
her
self trying to climb out
her
bedroom window hoping
not to
get caught.

Gabriella leaned in close
r,
smiling wide
.
“Do you trust me?”

Gabriella was the first person to speak to
BrookLyn
when she had
joined the church choir. She was nice from the start.
BrookLyn
used to catch her staring
.
She
didn’t get it then
,
but
she did
now.
When she
look
ed
in
Gabriella’s
eyes
, she saw that
she was a good person
,
or
at least
appeared to be. So
she
decided to tell her the truth.

“Yes, I do. I don’t know you that well
...
but I feel like I should.”

“You’ll get to know me better, I promise. I really like you
, BrookLyn, not just because you’re beautiful.
I want us to be together forever
.
”

“No one has ever told me that I was pretty
,
let alone beautiful. You don’t mean that.”

“You have no idea how much I mean that
.
”

BrookLyn
looked toward the floor
.

“Don’t be embarrassed, BrookLyn. You’re a beautiful young girl who will grow into an even more beautiful woman.
”

BrookLyn
felt as if
,
at that exact moment
,
her
heart almost stopped.
How many beats can a heart skip before you’re dead?
She
held her
breath
,
trying not to pass out from all of
the
excitement.

“
M
y
beautiful woman,” she whispered in
her
ear, “I shall love you forever and beyond.”

BrookLyn
had no idea
about
forever
, although
today
she
was happy
,
at least
she was
until
she
got
home.

“I have to go. I don’t want to but I have to
.
”
If BrookLyn had her way she wouldn’t ever go back to her house.

“Let me call Max again and see if he’s close. Then I’ll get the house together for tonight, okay?”

“Okay
, Gabriella
.”
BrookLyn
leaned in and kissed
her
on the lips.
“Thanks.”

“You know everyone calls me Gabby, right?
So, you should too.
”

“Okay
...
Gabby.”
BrookLyn felt the intimate sound of it as it fell off her tongue. She liked it.

***

Max pulled up in front of the house and
leaned on the horn
, beckoning the girls outside
.
Back to reality.

BrookLyn
didn’t say anything
as they drove. She just silently took in the moment of closeness with
Gabby
. She would soon be back in hell and dealing with her
parents
.

Outside the
window the clear blue sky h
ung
over Scotchtown
,
and BrookLyn
wish
ed
this
feeling
could last forever
. The
n the
y made the
turn onto Patio Road
and she shivered
.
She started chewing on her lip after surveying the damage she
’d already
caused her nails.
It was time.

Gab
by
squeezed
BrookLyn
’s hand.
“I’ll see you tonight.”

BrookLyn
moved
to
ward the car door.
“So you say.”
She
smiled.

S
cared
about now
,
but
excited about later
, BrookLyn struggled with saying goodbye. Her parents were probably watching out the window and she didn’t want to give them any more reasons to criticize her, so she
jumped out of the car.

“Thanks Max.
”

“No problem,” he replied. Max turned his attention to the radio, likely to give her and
Gabby
a little privacy. He
couldn’t
know her parents would not give her that,
making
the gesture pointless.

BrookLyn
offered a secret look to
her,
one she hoped would convey her feelings. “
See ya
,
Gab
by
.”

She
shut the door and strode toward the house
with a
hint of a
different swagger than
she’d
had yesterday. As
she
trotted up the steps,
her
mother
stood there,
waiting impatiently
,
hands on her hips and eyebrows drawing close together
.

To BrookLyn,
the blue sky had
suddenly
given way to gray clouds
that seemed to
hover over
her
house only
,
confirm
ing that she
was in big trouble.
She
walked toward her
mother,
feeling a range of emotions
. F
ear
was at the forefront, but
mingled with
excitement
, so
BrookLyn tried to use her anticipation
about seeing Gabby
later to temper that dread.

“So, what took you so long?”

“Well, I had to wait for M
a—
umm Tiffany’s dad, to come and give me a ride. He was working and had to leave his job to bring me home.”
It startled her that the lies were becoming effortless
, because that one
came out pretty quick.

“Wait until your father comes home.”

“I already know I’m grounded.
” BrookLyn thought of Gabby
and stood a little taller.
“
I tried to get in but you
wouldn’t
let me in. How is that my fault?”

She just looked at
BrookLyn as her
stance shifted from side to side.
“Don’t question me,
chile
.
” She pointed a stern finger toward the house.
“
Now go to your room.”

BrookLyn
knew
she
was already in a world of trouble.
She
stared at her
mother
and
then
walked away.

Getting a whipping was imminent
.
S
he
saw that in her
mother’s
smirk.
BrookLyn
hoped
Gabby
would come
—she
needed to be away from here
,
if only for a moment.

As
she
walked
toward
her bedroom door
,
BrookLyn
heard a phone ringing.
Where is that coming from?
She
didn’t have a phone in
her
room since privacy was not allowed here
,
didn’t have a computer
,
or lock on
the
door either.
Her mother
strode past
the staircase
, pulling
the
cordless phone
out of her apron
then she
walked away
talk
ing
on the phone
.

BrookLyn continued to hear a
soft
chirping sound.
She scanned the room
,
but quickly
realized the noise was coming out of
her
jacket pocket.
She pulled out a small cell phone,
glad
her mother was distracted talking on the house phone
. She didn’t hear BrookLyn’s pocket ringing
.
She
rush
ed
to
close her bedroom door
,
and answered in a hushed tone.
“Hello?”

“Hey
.
Why do you sound so
confused
?”

“Well, it isn’t everyday that I find a phone in my pocket.”

“Oh yeah, I put that in there for you,”
Gabby
said.

“Thanks
,
but why?”
BrookLyn
edged the door open and
peeked out the door
to
mak
e
sure
her
mother
wasn’t
lurking out there.
The coast was clear
,
so
BrookLyn
slowly closed
the
door then sat on
her
bed.

“I want to be able to talk without your parents knowing. Plus, I figured that
if
you
were grounded, you
wouldn’t be allowed to use the house phone.
Now
you can call me too.”

“Thanks
,
Gabby
, but you know I don’t have any money for the bill, right?”

She laughed
.
“I wouldn’t give you a phone and ask you to pay for it. I got it.”

“I guess you
are
good at this
.
”

“Uh, yes I am
.
”
She giggled
.

How
much practice has she had? How
many women were there?
BrookLyn
felt a twinge of
jealous
y
.
“
So, y
ou’ve done this before?”

“Are you jealous?”

“No, I’m not jealous. Well maybe a little
.
”
BrookLyn
admitted.

“
Well,
I haven’t done anything on this level before
,
but I’ve never felt this kind of love either. I’m ready to be with you no matter what anyone does to keep us apart. I’m trying to make it easy for us. You ready for that?”

“I’m as ready as I can be
.
”
BrookLyn
wanted to be with
Gabby
right
now
,
instead of where
she was
.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror above her dresser.
Who are you, BrookLyn?
She
pushed her hand into the pit of her stomach, trying to tame the insane turmoil she felt.

“Well, get
yourself
together.
I want to sneak you out tonight.
They’ll never know that you’re gone. I’ll take care of everything.”

“You don’t know my parents, Gabby.
I don’t sneak out of the house like regular kids do. They’d
kill me.”
BrookLyn
wanted to go
,
but not without permission.
But maybe it was worth the risk.
She started biting her nails,
but quickly drew back her finger in pain.
I have to stop doing this.
T
hen
she began to
pace
.