“Oh, jeez. Stupid jerk got cum on my shirt.” Sandy pulled her shirt off and under it she wore a leopard print bra. She had big tits. Bigger than Mama’s and Dee’s together. Looking at myself in the mirror, I put my hands on my chest. I was starting to grow there, but my dress was too loose to see anything.
“It takes time, honey. They don’t grow overnight.” Sandy cupped her hands over her bra. “I didn’t always have these. I had to buy these. So I know a few tricks for how to make it look like you have more than you do. A lot of girls make the mistake of getting a big bra and padding it, but what you need to do is show off what you’ve got. Stay here, just a second.”
Sandy was like Donal. When he got hurt he only cried a little and then he was happy again. She went out of the room and came back with a blue T-shirt that looked like one of Donal’s. Out of the closet she pulled a fluttery blue skirt.
“Here, take off your dress. Your undershirt, too.”
I usually only took off my clothes to wash or swim. Now that I was growing, there was more of me to be naked, but Sandy was smiling, so I knew it was safe, like playing dress up with Leslie and Amy when I was little.
I put on the T-shirt that was too tight and the skirt that was too loose until Sandy cinched it up around my hips. I was going to turn around and look in the mirror, but Sandy said, “No, no, take off the shirt.”
Picking up a pair of scissors, she cut off the collar of Donal’s shirt and made the neck of it go into a V. When I put it back on, it was still tight, but it didn’t feel like it was choking me. Then Sandy let me look in the mirror.
“See?” she said. “You have cute little boobs. And this way guys can tell you have them. I’ll bet Kellen would like it if you wore that for him.”
Except for my hair, I didn’t recognize me. My eyes looked strange with the makeup on, more grown up. I looked older.
I knew Kellen loved me. He bought me a ring, and his bike was only for me, but Sandy was right. The women in his magazines had big tits like her, and it wasn’t just in the magazines. I’d seen how he looked at Sandy in her tight shorts and Dee when she went around the house in her nighty. He might look at me like that if I wore this.
“God, I don’t know about you, but I need a pick-me-up,” Sandy said. At least she didn’t make a mess with the crystal like Mama. She had a little spoon that went into the bottle and up her nose. “No, you better not. You’re definitely not old enough for this.”
6
KELLEN
I knew I ought to leave. For two hours, I’d been lying on Wavy’s bed, watching TV with her. The antennae could only pick up PBS, so we watched that Jimmy Stewart movie with the invisible rabbit. Then it went to something with singing and dancing. Maybe The Lawrence Welk Show, but it was hard to tell through the fuzz. It didn’t matter. The TV was just to say, “We’re watching TV,” when all we were doing was lying next to each other. Sometimes talking, mostly not.
It was foggy that night, not cold yet, but we’d seen the last of September. I really wanted another night in the meadow, but the only stars out were the ones on Wavy’s ceiling.
Downstairs, the night nurse was watching TV, too, and probably wondering when I was going home. I’d tried about half an hour before and that’s when Wavy showed me a crumpled up note from a boy in her Algebra class.
It said:
Dear Wavy,
I like you a lot. Will you go to the 8th grade dance with me? You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. Do you like me even a little?
Jimmy Didier
She’d answered him on his own note, with her fancy handwriting:
Jimmy,
Not even a little. And I think my fiancé would be very angry to find out you’re writing me notes like this. Please don’t do it again.
Miss Wavonna Quinn
It was sad but funny. Sad that the boy got his heart broken, wadded up the note and threw it back at her. Funny how Wavy answered him. Funnier how she showed it to me, not bragging but embarrassed.
“I broke the rule,” she said.
“You know, if there was a boy you liked, you could go to the dance with him. I wouldn’t be mad.” I made myself say it with a smile. To be fair to her, I didn’t have no business keeping her from that kinda thing.
Her answer was to punch me in the chest, hard enough that it stung. Then she patted the place she’d punched. I was the boy she liked. When she held out her hand, I kissed the ring to apologize.
She wore it everywhere, including school, even though we were still working out who could know. Teachers, no way. Cutcheon and Roger, yes. Donal, Dee, and Sandy, and that meant Liam knew. I’d been worried at first, but then I figured if Liam didn’t like it, he could come out and say something instead of pretending Wavy didn’t exist. Val? Who could tell what Val knew?
The only trouble I had was at the lab barracks one night when Butch said, “All I’m gonna say about this wedding ring business is there’s a special place in hell for folks who hurt children.”
“You don’t have to tell me that.” I was mostly thinking of Liam, but I knew what Butch meant.