On Saturday, I call Ivy and Nicole to see if they want to go to the lake with me. Nicole has been in summer league sports, but she's off today so she said yes. Ivy said that she's free as well.
I walk first to Ivy's house and then we walk together to Nicole's. It feels so good to be just laughing and talking with them after so long but it feels great, feels like summer. We head to the lake and we're bathing in sun and splashing each other like we were ten.
We do this until noontime. I head home get out of my bathing suit, do some gardening and then call David. He invites me to his house with his friends for burgers.
David: Hey guys this is Melinda.
Guy: wait, aren't you the girl who is pressing chargers against that senior Evans?
David: Xavier! Don't talk about that!
Me: It's okay. Yes, I am.
Xavier: He's lucky it was you he faced and not me. I would have sliced his fly off if I had been alone with him.
Everyone laughs, including me.
Xavier: No, I really wished I had done that. My older sister Jessica admitted to me last night that she too had been raped by Evans.
Me: Really? is she okay?
Xavier: Yeah, she told me it happened the June two months before he raped you. He took her out on a date and raped her in his car.
Another guy: Yeah and she's not the only girl who came forward after you wrote that graffiti in the bathroom. A whole bunch of girls got either raped by him or had to fight him off when he started touching them wrong. Melinda is a hero!
Everyone: All hail super Melinda!
I laugh and blush.
David: come on everyone let's just enjoy the party.
I get home at around 9:00 and mom and dad are waiting for me.
Dad: Mellie, where have you been?
Me: I was out with a friend.
Mom: Oh, and do we know this friend?
Me: No, but I'll bring David over sometime.
Dad: It's a boy?
Me: Yeah he was in my biology and history classes this past year. No dad, he hasn't tried anything.