Becky looked at the height wall, with the marks showing how tall Molly had been. There she was at 6-- 3 ft 2 inches, then at seven, then at eight…then her eyes went up to Molly at 12, where her growth spurt had started. 5'4, taller than many of the boys in her class. Then, 13 where she was 5'6…and all the way, waayy up to her at 17, a high school student now…and 6'3. She looked down at the letter from school and sighed. She'd hoped they'd see reason, but no such luck. Molly was going to be very, very, unhappy.
"Molly sweetie?" Becky asked, walking into Molly's room. Her daughter was sitting at the desk, working on her homework. Molly would have preferred to be out doing something active, or working with her hands with Wildcat (and she was one of the few individuals on the planet who could understand him and his infernal machines). But the homework had to be done, especially the work from Mr. Wurkle, who had returned it was all kinds of snide comments on the page in red.
"Yes, Mom?" Molly asked, looking over at Becky. Her voice had dropped to a lower pitch from her younger days, but it was still had the same eager sound to it-- Molly was always full of energy. Unfortunately, this letter was likely to make it the wrong sort of energy.
"Um…the school sent a letter."
"Oh…if it was about Jeremy Wilkins, I don't know how he ended up in the locker-- it must have been some of the kids he was stealing lunch money from." Molly said. Becky blinked and filed that away for future reference.
"No honey…the school, well…" she paused and looked at her daughter. Molly had grown much taller, but she'd also grown in other ways. Becky had worried that her looks might get her in trouble, but most of the boys at her school were more than a little intimidated by her. The other girls, well… Rebecca tried to keep a frown off her face, but it was difficult since she'd overheard some of them speaking one day when she'd come to pick up Molly. The idea that just because her daughter was tall and shapely she'd be a sl- well, she'd almost given them a piece of her mind, but had pulled back. That wouldn't do Molly any favors. Now unfortunately, it seemed like the administration was backing those girls up.
"What is it mom." Molly said, running her hand through her hair, done up in twin braids. She looked more than a little concerned.
"They won't let you one the softball team." Rebecca said, then continued in a rush, "and they've decided that advanced math and physics aren't 'appropriate' for you-- they've put in you in home economics." Molly surged to her feet, face reddinging in anger.
"Those…Those…why?" She asked.
"The first? Because you're too big, and pretty, and they'll be afraid that you might cause an 'improper' reaction in the boys. Of course nobody tells them to control themselves." Becky said viciously. Molly paused, and part of her incipient rage cooled-- her mother had also encountered this, sometimes when Molly was around.
"Ok..but…but." Molly took a deep breath. "Why the advanced classes? Mom, I need those classes." She said, in a near wail. Rebecca tried to control her own expression-- Molly was right. Becky didn't have the money to send her to a good college, and advanced classes were the key to student grants and aid.
"They… feel that a 'young lady should not waste time preparing for a career that she will terminate once she is married'" Becky said, casting her eyes down to the ground. "I could have had the same problem, sweetie, but I had just enough money socked away." She paused, and tried to put on a brave face. "But… if things keep going well, we might be able to get enough money to-"
"That's not the point! Who are they to say this. I'm the top in the class. I bet the note wasn't from my teachers, was it?"
"No dear…it was from the administration. The teachers argued in your favor." Molly flopped down on her bed and put her head into her hands.
"Why do they keep changing the rules on me? I work as hard as I can to get into the classes, than now I can't! I audition for the team, and now I'm banned!" She huffed, "It's the way I look. All they see is that I'm over-inflated up here, and I'm tall, and that's it."
"I'm afraid that…didn't help, sweetie." Becky said, sitting by her daughter and putting an arm around Molly's waist. Molly relaxed slightly and put her arm around Becky's shoulder. Mother and daughter sat for a moment, and Molly started talking more quietly.
"It's like the girls. Half of them call me a slut behind my back, because they're afraid of what I might do if they said it to my face. Well, except for a few." Molly said. "And there's nothing to all the juicy rumors, because not a guy wants anything to do with me!" She said viciously. "They're too…intimidated. All they want to do is brush up in the hallway and get a feel or a pinch."
"And that's why you knocked Tommy out with a right cross." Rebecca said, a grin on her face.
"Oh, you heard?" Molly said, reddening.
"They had me sign the detention form…"
"Then why didn't you…"
"Because I would have given him a right cross. You're just big enough to knock the putz out." Molly laughed. Then, she stopped and sat silently for a moment.
"Mom…what do I do?" Becky looked at her and spoke.
"You get A's in the class, no matter how much you hate it, because if you don't it'll hurt your chances for college even more. In your spare time, you study the advanced subjects. Mr. Wurkle has agreed to tutor you." Molly blinked.
"Mr. Wurkle hates me. Every time I did something, he found fault with it." She said. Becky smiled at that.
"Mr. Wurkle thinks very highly of you. He's so hard on you because he thinks you have great potential-- how many other kids got so much attention from him?" Molly blinked at that. Becky continued, "In fact, he was your main supporter at the meeting-- I heard he stormed out when the decision was made." A ghost of a smile appeared on Molly's lips, and then she stood up.
"Mom… I want to go for a walk."
"OK honey, be home by dinner." Rebecca said, as Molly went to the door. When it closed behind her daughter, Becky flopped back on the couch and put her head in her hands.
"Oh Molly, I'm so sorry." She said softly.
Molly stalked along the street. Her mother had taken the dangerous edge off of her anger, but she was still furious. The occasional whistle and catcall she got didn't help much either. Finally, some obnoxious rodent made a very direct, and open comment about her body, and Molly whipped around, grabbed him by the throat and hoisted him up to her eye level.
"I'm not in a good mood." She said.
"Ghak…"
"And Bears who are in a bad mood, eat little rodents." She growled. "You understand?" A frantic nod came her way, and Molly dropped the runt to the laughter of the crowd. Of course, that also led to people working to not look at her, which was also difficult in its way.
"Sigh." She said.
"Hey lady!" A man called, "Your mom wants to talk to you!" Molly turned and looked at him, as he pointed down an alley. What was Mom doing there? Molly trotted into the alley, and turned a corner to where it dead ended into a blank wall, out of sight of the street.
"There's nobody he-" She felt a sudden, sharp, sting in her shoulder and whipped around to see the man stepping back, a syringe in his hand. Molly tried to slug him, but the world was turning up and down and every which way and she fell to the ground. She heard the sound of other feet.
"Hurry up! Get her in the bag!" As a large burlap bag was put down on the ground and she was pushed and pulled into it, she heard someone on the radio. A whiney voice that she'd heard once before.
"I got her cap'n…what do you want us to do now?" Another voice also familiar even through the static, came to her ears.
"I want you to take her home and give her to her mother…what do you think I want you brainless morons? Bring her back! NOW, or I will hang you by your pinkies!"
"Yes sir…" Was the last thing Molly heard before darkness over took her.
