Caroline & Michael & Scott

Chapter 6

A month after her birthday, Caroline got back early from a Friday night date, entered her house and slammed the door. Sitting in the living room, Margaret, Caroline's mother, was startled and asked "Is something wrong, dear?"

"Oh, Mom…" Caroline tried to hold back her tears, but broke down and ran to her mother, then started sobbing on her shoulder.

Hugging Caroline and patting her on the back, Margaret sympathetically asked "There, there, dear… What happened on your date to upset you so?"

Caroline tried to be coherent through her sobs "I… Barry… Things started out so well… We had a nice dinner… We were laughing, having fun… afterwards we went to his car… Right away, he wanted to start necking… Our first date…! I told him to stop… but he got all mad… like – like he had the right…! Like he owned me…! When he tried again… I stopped him again… and then he got really angry… for a second, I was afraid he was gonna hit me… But he controlled himself… he shook his head… Then he said "You're a big disappointment… a big tease." He practically raced here and shoved me out the door!"

Margaret just continued to hug Caroline and let her cry for another couple of minutes.

"Oh Mom… This is the third week in a row this has happened… What's going on?"

"I don't know dear… Maybe you've just run into a string of bad luck on your dates."

******

Later the next week, Sally was excited when she joined Caroline for lunch in the school cafeteria.

"Finally! After a week, I finally have some news."

A puzzled Caroline asked "What are you talking about, Sally?"

"Last week, after the second asshole in a row tried to score with you on your first date, I started asking around. I swear, boys!" Sally almost spat the last word out in disgust.

"So…?"

"I swear, it's almost like boys have a code of silence with each other, like they're in the Mafia… Anyway, Betty finally got the dope from her boyfriend and she told me."

"And…?"

"You're not gonna wanna hear this."

"It's better than not knowing what's goin' on."

"It seems you have a rep… for bein' easy."

"What…??!! But I never…! And there's a lotta girls around here who can't say that."

"I know, I know… It seems someone wrote something in one of the stalls in the boy's restroom, about a month ago."

Caroline and Sally looked at each other and simultaneously proclaimed "Michael".

"That creep! What can I do, Sally?"

"Not much Caroline. When people hear two things, some juicy gossip and the truth, 99 per cent of the time, they choose to believe the gossip."

"You believe me, don't you Sally?"

"Of course I do… as for what you can do… I guess the truth will win out over time, after your dates keep going home frustrated."

Just then, big Scott Aldrich lumbered over, an unfortunate victim of bad timing. "Hello ladies. Uh… Caroline, I heard you broke up with Michael. I was sorta wondering… that is… Would you'd like to go out on Friday?"

"Another shark looking for easy prey" thought Caroline. "Go away!"

A hurt Scott quickly retreated.

"Why did you do that, Caroline?"

"Sally, if dates are gonna be like they have been the past three weeks, I don't wanna go out!"

"Caroline! You can't stop dating!"

"Why?"

"First of all, that's not you. Second, you have to keep dating or you'll never get your rep back. And third, if you stop, then Michael has won."

"You're right Sally. I should go find Scott."

"You go, girl."

Caroline scanned the cafeteria and found Scott. "There he is!" Caroline left Sally and started walking towards Scott. "Boys! Hah! I'll show them all… starting with Scott!"

When she reached him, Caroline tapped Scott on the shoulder. With a fake smile, she told him "Scott, I'm sorry, that was very rude of me. I was angry because…. uhh… because of something that just happened in class. If your offer is still open, I would love to go out with you."

"Great! Pick you up at six on Friday?"

"Sounds like a plan."