Tomika.

oOo

Summer was the type girl who had a presence. She's the kind of chick who the teachers talk about during their little staff plot time meetings. All the teachers knew her face, even the ones she didn't have, and the principals said hello to her in the morning. I might not have showed it then, but I really respected Summer Hathaway, I still do.

To be honest, I was also kinda jealous of Summer. She was smart, polite, pretty and she never took crap from anyone. There was a group of guys terrorizing someone (maybe Marta... or Katie?) and Summer walked right up to them with her hands on her hips. Is something wrong? She had asked. They had said something back and then Summer glared at them. I think those boys just ran away.

She was nice to everyone who deserved it too, even Billy. Unless you out-right insulted someone or something without reason, you were Summer's friend. She had a lot of friends and always knew a little something about them. Even if you felt you were the loneliest sap when your birthday came around, she's find something to give you. She took things in stride too, with an unshakeable smile. Patience was her middle name. I can still remember her walking me through some kind of math... Any teacher would be proud to have her in their class.

For some reason, I don't think she really cares about that anymore. I don't think Summer cares if she's polite, or nice, or if she gets good grades. I don't think she cares about anything now. At band practice, she looked about ready to pass out. Raccoon eyes, was what someone had said at school. Zack was about to hit them, but whoever had said it was gone.

That's how it is in our band. Everything is everybody's business. Deal with it.

We always stick together, like glue. Zack had a detention once, and Larry managed to get him out of it. Freddy didn't do his homework (again) and Marta let him copy it. Things get rocky, but we roll with it. But, this has to be the rockiest of rocks... but we're not rolling this time.

This time, we're gonna pick up our guitars and drum sticks and we're gonna beat the heck out of the jerk who hurt Summer. No, jerk is to kind of a word to describe him. Alicia came up with some pretty nice names for him. Most of which are too foul to ever be repeated.

There are many bad words in the language of humans, and I don't just mean cuss words. Some words can make anyone stop, turn around, and listen for a bit. Dangerous words. Most of them are racist or sexist or plain insulting too.

But, words like drugs, violence, sex, alcohol, and rape, those are the ones that make you pause and lower your voice. Those are the ones that make you stop on the phone, and look around to make sure your parents aren't within hearing distance.

Parents.

How would your parents react if you told them something like that?

"Hi Mom. No, school was fine. I was raped, by the way. Maybe we should stop at the hospital after dinner?"

Hospital. Summer needs to get checked out. That's what you do, right? Go to the doctor. Find out if you're pregnant. Oh God. What if she is? What'll we do? What can we do? Nothing. That's what Dewey said. He said there's not much more you can do than sit back, hope for the best, and eventually offer comfort.

Katie mentioned buying her flowers. Make her a card or something. Still, what can you put on it? Yesterday, we lost it. Nothing more to say than that. Freddy made a big show of kicking Dewey's couch. He didn't stop him though. Freddy gave up after a while; he was crying.

I don't think I can sing anymore. Zack said he tried to play guitar, but couldn't do anything. Lawrence said the same thing about key board. We're falling apart. Without Summer, we're lost in a winter without sound. School's gonna be hell. She'll know that we know.

How long? We can't keep this quiet. Even if I can't sing, I still have a voice. I have a voice, and I plan to use it. I'm not afraid to stand up for my friends, no, FAMILY. I'm not afraid to scream, or make some noise.

Something happened to my sister, and I plan to do something about it. Because that's what you do. Understand?