Jenny
15
Sharp pain starts just below her belly button and radiates throughout her lower abdomen. Closing her much used copy of The Scarlet Letter, Jenny asks her third period Science teacher if she can run to the restroom. Jenny thinks she knows what this is, but is afraid to look. She'd given up hoping; she was sure there was something wrong inside her. Like so many times before, she sends up a silent prayer: please God, just please. In the darkness of the the stall, she tugs at her jeans and slowly pulls down her panties. She can read the upside down words, "Monday's child is fair of face." Jenny laughs, thinking, today is Wednesday. Her eyes scan her panties and there it is: a dark red smudge. She sits down and begins to cry.
16
Jenny returns from summer break with a smile. The excitement of a new year is written across her face. In her hand, she holds her summer reading assignment, The Great Gatsby. The senior girls parade through the hallway wearing homemade crowns and passing out bibs to the reluctant sophomores. A tall, beautiful cheerleader comes up behind Jenny and wraps a bib around Jenny's neck.
"Seniors rule and Slopdogs drool," she says and starts to take off down the hallway.
The cheerleader stops and turns around.
"Is that you, Jenny Sanderson?" she says.
Jenny looks up at the cheerleader and recognizes her, "Yes, Tonya, it's me."
"Oh my god. What happened to you? You've got boobs," Tonya says.
Jenny blushes and crosses her arms across her new pink bodysuit, her favorite piece from her back-to-school wardrobe. That’s why she paired it with a pair of baggy jeans and her chunky mary janes for the first day of high school.
"Don't cover them up. They're great. I haven't seen you since Margot and I were on the Dance Team at Fuller," Tonya says.
Tonya spies a group of sophomores huddled next to the girl's room and rushes off, stalking her prey.
