“Holy- Paula, you should really be less sneaky.” Arthur said with a laugh.

“Sorry, Art. I didn’t mean to.” Paula said as she set the soda on the counter and sat in the chair at the kitchen table. She picked up the pile of mail that was carelessly tossed to the table top. She filed through it looking at who it was addressed to, then who it was from.

Arthur stared for a little while, just watching his wife be in a good mood. As he scanned her back, he noticed a reddened mark on her neck. Considering he was looking from the backside, he could just barely see it. He adjusted his body just right to get a better view, soon noticing the mark for what it was. A hickey.

Paula stood, throwing the pile of mail back onto the table. “Never anything interesting.” She said simply as she turned to see her husbands look of dismay. “What?” She asked.  She knew he knew. She just didn’t know how.

“Ben.” Was all that Arthur forced out before he choked on his own words.

“Arthur I can-” Arthur through his hands into the air silencing her.

“I just want to know. Is it Ben?”  Arthur asked. He glared at his wife’s silence and took it as the simple answer he already knew. He felt his eyes sting a bit as his heart fell to the floor. He gave up. He walked towards the kitchen door knowing that nothing she could say could fix this.

Paula heard the sound of feet going up the stairs and then a slam of a door. She jumped a bit surprised at his anger. She sighed. There was no way to fix this. You can’t go back in time to un-do anything, and apologizing is no good. So she admitted defeat and sat back into the chair once again. This time, just watching the walls close in on her.

If a stranger had walked into Kelly’s house at that moment, they would have thought that world war three and four was happening in her living room. There was a lot of screaming and apologizing, and the same things being said over and over again.

Both girls standing up, Amanda with her back arched over as she forced out her screams. “So you told them we slept together?!? WHY!” There were no longer any questions, but demands. After what Kelly did, Amanda deserved an explanation.

“IM SORRY OKAY? I have a reputation and it’s what people expect of me! I’m really sorry though. I’ll even go to school tomorrow and tell everyone that heard about it that I was lying. Just please? I really like you and I don’t want to lose you.” Kelly was now a bit calmer and she was begging for forgiveness.

It wasn’t that Kelly liked having that certain reputation. It was the fact that it was what she was known for and it described her. She made mistakes and had to live with them. Once you get into a certain group, it’s hard to get out of it. Then you get used to it and don’t want to leave that group because it’s where you’re most comfortable.

Amanda grabbed her purse and stormed out the front door, slamming it behind her. The worst part about leaving is knowing you won’t come after me. She leaned against the door and slid down it clenching her purse to her chest as she began to cry. Realizing she had no ride, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the first number she could think of.

“Hello?” a deep voice asked from the other end.

“Hey Aiden. Are you busy?”

“What’s wrong?” Aiden asked concerned about his friend.

“I need a ride home from Kelly’s house.” Amanda let out two small sobs into the receiver. “I can’t call Spencer or Ashley because they’re probably busy and I just didn’t know who else to call.”

“Shhh, it’s okay. I’ll be right there to pick you up. Okay?”

“Alright. Thank you, Aiden.”

“You bet.” Aiden and Amanda hung up as she walked out to the curb to await the arrival of her friend.

TBC