Cassandra Behind Closed Doors. Linda Sorpreso

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СКАЧАТЬ her as she hopped down to the ground.

      She ignored me and started running towards the backyard, screaming for her mum.

      I looked at Tessa. “Did I say something?”

      “No,” she said.

      “Jesus, she doesn’t have to overreact like that, high school’s not that bad,” I said as we jumped off the wall and ran after her. She was with her mum, who was looking at her right hand.

      “What happened Sophie?” I asked.

      “I got stung by a bee,” she said, in between sobs.

      “Ouch,” I said. I had been stung by a bee before, so I understood the pain she was in. I was outside practising my shooting for netball when out of nowhere a bee stung me right underneath my chin. I was so frightened. First by the sudden attack and because I had just recently watched the movie My Girl and was taken back to the scene when Macaulay Culkin’s character died from an allergic reaction to bee stings. I was so afraid I was going to die too but after fifteen minutes, I was up and playing again.

      “Cassie, can you please go get a knife and some ice?” Zia Manuela asked me.

      I ran inside, grabbing the items and gave them to Zia.

      “Sophie, stop shaking,” Zia said as she tried to scrape the stinger from Sophie’s opened palm. After a few minutes and a couple of threats made by Zia, the stinger was out and thrown away.

      “Put the ice on it and keep it there until the swelling goes down,” Zia said and went inside the house.

      “I hate bees,” Sophie mumbled as she held the ice against the lump and sat on the seat. “I hope they all die.”

      “Well, the one that stung you will die in a couple of hours,” I said, sitting next to her.

      “Really? Good, he deserves it.”

      “Totally agree. They say bees are only guarding their nest or attack in defence, but I didn’t hurt the bee that stung me and I’m sure you didn’t do anything either,” I said.

      “How do you know so much about bees?” Tessa asked.

      “The encyclopaedia. After one stung me, I wanted to kill them all. Then I realised my own revenge was knowing they die a nice slow death.”

      “Well it’s good to know they don’t get away with it,” Sophie said. “Hey, did Vinnie call you today?”

      “Nope, he’s probably busy with his family,” I said. “I should call him but I feel kind of awkward calling up.”

      “Why?” Tessa questioned.

      “Are you serious? After what happened last week with his mum, I don’t think so. What if she answers the phone?” I asked. Vinnie’s mum was scary. I saw her three nights ago when I was at Tessa’s and I thought I was doing the polite thing by kissing her hello. I regretted it instantly when she looked at me like I was a freak. I was uncomfortable with her now and a little irritated. Why wouldn’t I kiss her? It wasn’t that unusual. I didn’t kiss her because she was my boyfriend’s mother; I kissed her because it was a sign of respect, something my parents taught me to do. Now, I just wanted to avoid her, even on the phone.

      “So, don’t tell her it’s you. Just say another person’s name,” Tessa said.

      “Maybe…or you or Sophie can call him.”

      “I’ll do it,” Sophie said. She wasn’t embarrassed about doing anything, which was a really good trait. Sometimes I wished I had the same confidence she did.

      “Sophie can do it. She would recognise my voice and I wouldn’t hear the end of it. She’d think I was after Vinnie and probably ring everyone she knew; telling them her son finally got the girl of his dreams. No offence,” Tessa said.

      “None taken,” I replied. Fortunately when you dated someone you had known for ages, you already knew about their past girlfriends and old crushes. That’s why I was surprised when Vinnie asked me out because I knew of his fixation with Tess. We all knew each other’s history, which was a good and bad thing. Vinnie knew about my infatu-ation with his older brother Johnny and how I gave him a plastic ring that I had bought from a toy machine. Then I heard that he trampled the ring underneath his sneaker and threw it into the bin. Back then, I was very upset, but now it had to be the most humiliating experience of my life. I was very young and stupid as well and those two reasons slightly eased the embarrassment. Whenever someone brought it up I still went bright red and it was an incident I’d rather forget.

      “Vinnie’s mum really loves you, doesn’t she Tessa?” I asked.

      “Yes, she’s been trying to set me up with Vinnie for as long as I can remember.”

      “How am I ever supposed to fit in your shoes?” I said, joking around.

      “Shut up! I just hope she never finds out about Johnny or she’ll be trying to get us back together!”

      “Are you going to give him another chance?” I asked. They were the third couple who got together on the night of Tony’s birthday, though Tessa broke up with him a couple of days later because their families have been friends for almost a decade and she felt uncomfortable. Yesterday, Brayden brought over a tape Johnny had made for her and it had On Bended Knee by Boys II Men recorded on it. Brayden and I pissed ourselves laughing and teased Tessa practically the entire night, humming the tune and then Brayden got down on one knee, pretending to be Johnny. That was before we played Spin-the-bottle. Afterwards, we barely spoke, let alone joked around with each other. I felt sorry for Johnny though. He seemed to really care about Tess and the tape proved it, but it was her choice. I couldn’t believe he made a tape though. At least when I gave him the ring, I had only been eight-years-old, he was fifteen!

      “ No, it’s definitely over. I shouldn’t have said ‘yes’ in the first place.”

      “I understand. It’s the way I feel about Vinnie now.”

      “Do you still like him?”

      “I do but not as much as I like Brayden. I know you think I should forget him but I can’t, especially after what happened last night.”

      Last week, when I told Tessa I still liked Brayden, she made it pretty clear I should forget about her cousin. I didn’t know why she was so against it but we almost had a huge fight over it. I didn’t want to feel as if I couldn’t talk to her about this. I needed her and I told her everything — I always had.

      “Well, it’s not like you can do anything about it now. You can’t hurt Lizzie.”

      “Yeah, I know and I won’t,” I snapped. I stared into the distance, trying to calm down. The three of us were silent now and I didn’t know what to say to her. I didn’t want to have a fight; but I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. I felt like screaming out ‘What about me?’ I was feeling like shit and no one was giving me any sympathy. It was all about Lizzie. I knew I couldn’t hurt her. I didn’t want to, that was my biggest problem, and Tessa made it seem as if I intentionally set out to like my best friend’s boyfriend but I hadn’t. If I had, I would do everything possible to break them up. I wasn’t like that and besides, I liked him first and she СКАЧАТЬ