Choices......Part Six

Lilly got in the house and headed straight up the stairs to the bar. She entered a huge room, known as a bonus or rumpus room back then, which had the bar, pool table and of course the TV and furniture. JoAnn was still asking her what happened.

As JoAnn poured a tequila for herself and Lilly, all Lilly would say was, "He is such an asshole. Said I just laid there." JoAnn decided it would take a couple of shots to get Lilly to spill. She figured she could maintain later.

Lilly began to cry. She told JoAnn what Jim had said and JoAnn tried to comfort Lilly. That was not going to happen. Lilly was not going to get over that kind of comment. JoAnn was pissed as well. She wanted to call Bob and tell him what Jim said. Lilly wouldn't let her and told JoAnn not to speak Jim's name again.

The girls shot some pool, drank more tequila and began laughing. JoAnn was thrilled to see Lilly come back to life. Lilly chose not to think about "him." After a couple of hours, they decided JoAnn should go home, since school was finally over. Lilly went to her room and stayed there until the next morning.

As Lilly showered and got ready for school, she was overcome with embarrassment. What if Jim had told some of their friends about the encounter yesterday? She would be called a slut, but not her face. She knew how it worked though. Now other guys would think she was easy and try to get her into bed. She decided to put that out of her mind. She was good at that.

Lilly met JoAnn at the park. The talked about how Lilly felt, as they walked to school. JoAnn told Lilly that she would be fine. The group of friends they were hanging around, were not like the goodie goodie girls at school. Lilly realized JoAnn was right and felt much better.

When they arrived at school, it was hard to go back to class. Cutting school was fun and Lilly preferred it to class. She decided to go to all her classes though. That was until a friend of hers told her that they were going to her house at lunch. Lilly went with her and JoAnn was already there when the couple arrived. As were about six other kids. They went into the house and turned on the stereo. It was so relaxing and fun. When JoAnn said it was time to go back to school, Lilly told her she was staying at the house. She told JoAnn she would meet her later, to walk home with her. JoAnn tried to get Lilly to go back to school, to no avail.

She felt safe inside the house. Candy got some wine out of her parents cabinet and they drank some. They watched some TV and then put on the stereo to dance. Lilly was having a blast. Candy was fun. So much fun that they were not looking at the clock and when they finally did, it was already a half hour since school ended. Lilly freaked. She hurried back to the school and there was no JoAnn. Lilly walked home alone.

When Lilly arrived at home, JoAnn was there, sitting on her front lawn. She had already gone home and checked in, then headed over to Lilly's. JoAnn wanted to know where she had been. Lilly told JoAnn, that time just got away from them. JoAnn told Lilly that she had to quit cutting school. Lilly acknowledged that she was feeling rather weird about not going back to school after lunch. She felt her whole routine was messed up and told JoAnn that she would quit skipping classes.

When Saturday came, Lilly and her family were going up to LA to visit her grandmother. They listened to the Dodger game all the way up there. It was nice to see her grandmother. They had a nice visit and stayed about four hours. Lilly was so tired on the way home she finally fell asleep. It had been a very long week.

Once they got home, her brothers already out of the car, her father woke her and told her they were home. Lilly got out as well. By the time she got in the house, she remembered it was Saturday and she didn't get the cut slip out of the mail. It was too late. Her mother had already opened it.

Her mother handed the tell all notice to her father. Boy was she in trouble. Lillly felt the blood drain from her face. Luckily, she was old enough that she didn't get whipped any more. Her mother asked why she had been skipping school. Lilly said, "I dunno." Her mother told her she was grounded for a month! A whole month. No going out at all. Lilly was, in a way, happy it was all out in the open now. Her father, who had always trusted her, was furious and asked her where she had been going during school. Lilly lied and said to the park near the school and to the beach. She didn't want to tell him about Candy's house or Candy's mom would surely get a call from Lilly's parents. That would be the end of the world for Lilly!

To be continued............