Chapter 5
Amanda left work in plenty of time to get to school. She couldn't be late. She looked at her schedule and everything seemed easy. She went through every class with ease. Amanda wasn't going to have any academic problems. She should be taking college classes by now, which made her totally frustrated. She hadn't seen Kim all day which was fine with her. She did see Ms. Cabot earlier and thought it was nice that she came to find her to welcome her on her first day. Finally it was her last period and it was gym, the one class she was dreading. She looked at the schedule and saw the teacher's name Casey Novak. When she walked into the gym she saw an office and walked in. "Excuse are you Ms. Novak?" The younger lady turned around, "yes what can I do for you?" Amanda thought she was nice but was looking to get out of gym class. "I'm Amanda Rollins and I'm new here so I don't have a gym uniform. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I can get one. I can just sit on the bleachers or go to the library for study hall." Ms. Novak smiled and said "That's not necessary, Ms. Cabot and I are friends. She told me you would join us and it looks like I have your size right here." Amanda lost all the color in her face. She knew she had bruises from her last night in Georgia. She knew that uniform was not going to cover them and there would be questions. Amanda had to think quick should she say she was feeling sick, should she go somewhere else and just cut class, or she just do as she was told. Her head was spinning. The other girls had changed and were gone. If she didn't make a decision, Ms. Novak was sure to come looking for her. She pulled the shorts out to try them on, maybe they were long enough. She pulled the shorts on and looked at her legs. The bruises were bad and the shorts covered some but not nearly enough. Just as she was getting ready to take them off Ms. Novak walked in. Amanda froze and Ms. Novak walked over looking down at her thighs. "Sweetheart what happened to you. Who gave you those bruises." Amanda said it was nothing and they didn't hurt, but begged Ms. Novak not to say anything. She asked her to just let her sit out until they healed. Ms. Novak put her arm around her shoulder and said "Honey I have to tell someone that you are hurt." Amanda lost it and she couldn't go through this. She pulled away from and yelled at her " Well report whatever the hell you want, but I'm 19 and I don't have to say or do anything. I won't talk to anyone and since I'm 19 social services won't get involved. So do whatever the fuck you want, I'm out of here."
Amanda grabbed her clothes and threw them on as fast as she could. She had to get out of that school. As she saw Ms. Cabot and Ms. Novak come into the locker room, she knew she missed her chance to bolt. Ms. Novak obviously explained what had happened, because when Ms. Cabot approached her she started talking to her from afar, asking if it was okay to approach her, talk to her, and touch her. Amanda felt like the walls were closing in on her and she started having a panic attack. Ms. Cabot said "Amanda it's okay. We will wait for you to calm down. You aren't in any trouble. We just want to help you. Amanda starting feeling bad about how she spoke to Ms. Novak. She looked at her and apologized "I'm sorry for cursing at you and being disrespectful. That's really not me. I just can't report anything. No one is hurting me. I promise. They just shook their heads and Amanda could tell they were just being nice to get her to calm down. Ms. Cabot suggested they move the conversation to her office before the class came back. Amanda could hear them whispering something about SVU, but she didn't know what that meant. As they walked in Ms. Cabot's office, Amanda froze and couldn't move. All Ms. Cabot heard Amanda say was "Fin! Liv! Oh fuck!" Then Amanda fainted.
