Stephanie looked around her bedroom, trying to decide where to start. The fuchsia blankets, a colour she loathed, on her bed were askew and would fail her mother's inspection. She didn't care about straight lines or military precision. Stephanie was neither in the military nor the perfect child like her sister, Saint Valerie. Their mother thought Stephanie lacked the skills to make her the perfect Burg daughter and potential wife. Stephanie couldn't care less. She never wanted to get married and be forced to stay home to raise children. Thinking about becoming a mother made Stephanie cry.
In five short days, everything had changed, and she could no longer live inside her childhood home. It wasn't only the house Stephanie was leaving behind. She was also leaving her friends and family…leaving her father, Frank Plum. Stephanie would love to blame her exile on her mom, Helen Plum, but she couldn't. Blaming Joe Morelli was not logical, either. The truth would always be that Stephanie only had herself to blame. She walked around the room to see how many boxes she'd need. Once she determined only two boxes would work, she left the room to grab them from the hallway.
Pushing the curly locks off her damp brow with a shaking hand, Stephanie sighed and dropped her head to her chest. She didn't want to leave, but everything was too complicated, and she had to do what was best for her sister, Valerie. Correction: Stephanie had to do whatever her mother ordered her to do. Helen didn't want Stephanie living in her house. The scandal would paint Helen as a lousy mother and ruin her precious reputation. Stephanie thought her mother should stuff that attitude up her ass. She felt awful for thinking so poorly of her mother.
Most people would be shocked to learn that Stephanie Michelle Plum had taken responsibility for her actions. Nobody could be more surprised than Stephanie. She shook her head and carried the empty boxes into the bedroom, carelessly tossing half the clothes in her closet into the box labelled for donations. Stephanie neatly folded the rest since she planned to keep them. She only wanted the clothes she felt comfortable wearing, like her jeans, t-shirts, tank tops, shorts and sweat clothes. All her skirts and dresses went into the donations box.
The house phone rang. Stephanie's mother yelled up the stairs that it was for her without mentioning who was calling. Helen sounded annoyed at having to address her embarrassment of a daughter. Stephanie tossed the shirt she held into the donation box and left her room to take the call in her parents' bedroom. "Hello?" Stephanie answered.
"Are you okay?" her father, Frank, asked. His voice usually comforted Stephanie, but since he was moving her to another State, it broke her heart.
Stephanie pinched the bridge of her nose as she fought back the tears. "Not really, but I'll be fine soon. Did you need me to do something for you?" Stephanie wondered. Frank heard the sadness in her voice as it cracked. He wanted to wrap Stephanie in his arms and protect her from everything she would need to endure during the next eight months.
"No, I just wanted to ensure you are okay," he said before hanging up. Frank still loved Stephanie despite everything that had happened to her. She felt sad for disappointing him. Stephanie wiped the tear from her eye and resumed packing. She had until nine that evening to pack her room. The phone rang a second time. She hollered to her mom that she was unavailable unless Hector Reyes was calling.
Hector met Stephanie the night of the incident. Harry, Stephanie's grandfather, picked her up after work. Stephanie noticed three boys picking on a younger boy a block from the Tasty Pastry. When Harry stopped at the light, Stephanie jumped from the car to scare the boys off. Her sudden appearance gave the younger boy the chance to escape. "What's your name?" Stephanie had asked.
"Hector Reyes," the boy replied in a thick accent. Stephanie scribbled her phone number using a black grease pen, shoved it at him on a napkin in her pocket, and ordered him to call the following day. He never called, and Stephanie forgot about him. Stephanie had bigger problems than worrying about a boy who couldn't defend himself.
Helen politely answered the phone, saying, "You have reached the Plums, Helen speaking."
"Hi, I'm uh…Jonathan. Is Stephanie home?" he asked.
"She's unavailable at the moment," Helen replied, glaring at the ceiling as though she could see Stephanie through the ceiling into her bedroom.
"Oh. I'm calling for a date. I heard she tasted sweet, and I wanted to have a lick," he said with laughter.
Frustrated by the tenth call from a young man wanting to have sex with the whore Stephanie, Helen hung up the phone after saying a curt, "Do not call here again."
Helen shook her head as she stirred the marinara sauce on the stove. "Why me?" she groaned. "Why is my daughter a slut?"
"Who's a slut?" Valerie asked as she entered the kitchen, hoping her mother hadn't heard about her indiscretions. "Do you need help?"
"Stephanie. You can make the noodles, Valerie," Helen replied, answering Valerie's questions. Valerie smiled to herself. Her mother was blissfully unaware of her activities.
"I heard the rumours. Is it true?" Valerie grabbed the semolina flour from the pantry cupboard. Valerie measured the flour and then dumped it into the mixing bowl. After she measured and added the salt, she grabbed the room-temperature eggs and cracked them into a smaller bowl. Valerie added a little olive oil to the eggs and quickly whipped them with a fork without making them frothy.
"Unfortunately," Helen snapped, irritated about the rumours spreading around the Burg. "Your father saw the writing on the walls in the sub shop men's washroom. Now your tramp of a sister is pregnant. Why me? How do I explain my bastard grandchild to the neighbours?" Helen looked inside the mixing bowl and smiled. "Thanks, Val. It's perfect."
"No problem, Mom. Unlike Stephanie, I enjoy cooking. Regarding Stephanie, you and Daddy can force them to get married," Valerie said. "Joe's eighteen. The baby won't be a bastard if they get married before it's born."
"That won't work, Val. Joseph left for the Navy. Your father can't contact him," Helen stated, disappointed that Frank couldn't reach Joseph and make him marry Stephanie to make everything right in the Burg. Valerie was surprised. She didn't know Joe left. Joe's older brother, Anthony Morelli, signed up for the Army Reserves. He would only get called into action if the need arose.
Stephanie finished packing her clothes. She couldn't see a viable future and resigned herself to doing the next right thing, which, given the situation, meant moving away from the Burg. After setting the boxes aside, Stephanie went downstairs to help set the table. She stood outside the kitchen doorway to listen to the conversation on the other side of the door. Her mother said, "When he returns in two years, they will get married."
"Over my dead body," Stephanie thought when she heard her mother's statement. Marrying Joe Morelli was not a lifetime goal or desire for Stephanie. She was angry he never mentioned leaving for the Navy. Stephanie was angry he never used a condom while they had sex. He wrote about their activity on the washroom walls of the local sub shop. The boys at school kept asking her to go on dates, hoping to get a taste of what Morelli wrote; "Stephanie Plum is a marshmallow. She is soft and sweet, and when you get her heated up, she goes gooey and delicious like a cupcake." While staking his claim on Stephanie, he painted the scarlet letter on her chest. Joe took her innocence and reputation in one night.
Mary Lou was forbidden to contact Stephanie, who got grounded for the summer; it did not matter because she was moving away. The Molnars didn't want her to associate with a slut. It broke Stephanie's heart. Giving herself to Joe Morelli costs Stephanie more than her freedom. She had lost everything. Nobody in the Burg would forget what Joe had taken from Stephanie because he had broadcasted it in many men's washrooms in the Burg and around Trenton. She would forever get called a slut. However, they would never blame Joe. After all, boys will be boys. Stephanie should have known better.
"I packed all my clothes," Stephanie said, entering the kitchen. She nervously tucked a loose curl behind her ear, then used the sink to wash her hands. Stephanie knew Helen would put her to work.
"Help your sister," Helen snapped, making Stephanie jump from the harshness of her tone. Stephanie cleared a space and tossed flour onto the table. She grabbed the marble rolling pin from the drawer before grabbing a dough ball.
Stephanie grumbled as she rolled out the perfectly made dough of her perfect sister, Saint Valerie. Valerie never used a recipe but memorized how to make the pasta dough. Even following a recipe, Stephanie's dough crumbled.
She rolled the dough until it reached the thickness her mom preferred. Stephanie used the ruler and pizza cutter to trim the lasagna sheet to the correct size. Valerie grabbed the scraps so Stephanie couldn't reuse them. It was a waste. Stephanie repeated the process until she had four perfectly sized lasagna sheets. God forbid if Helen had to explain to the Burg why Stephanie couldn't roll out fresh pasta dough.
"Assemble the lasagna," Helen ordered. She placed the hot pots on the trivets beside the empty lasagna dish. Stephanie scooped some marinara sauce into the bottom of the pan and spread it around. Helen quickly snatched the pot of meatless marinara off the table. "I need the gravy for dinner."
"Marinara sauce," Stephanie mumbled. She didn't understand why her mother called all meatless sauces gravy. As she assembled the lasagna, Stephanie asked, "Mom, what are we telling the school?"
Helen frowned before replying, "You're participating in a student exchange program. Your cousin, Shirley, is coming here. She'll attend the high school." High school wouldn't start for another four weeks, so Stephanie wouldn't miss anything when she moved.
"Will I be living with Uncle Tony?" Stephanie asked. She loved her Uncle Tony, but he ignored his children. That didn't matter to Stephanie because she would keep herself occupied. Her cousin, Shirley, constantly whined about not getting his attention, earning her the nickname Shirley the Whiner.
"No. You're moving to Raleigh, North Carolina, to live with your grandparents," Helen announced. Stephanie loved her Plum grandparents, so she felt this was hardly a punishment for her. However, Helen did not need to know that minor detail. She would never allow Stephanie to live with her grandparents if she knew it wasn't a hardship.
"Okay," Stephanie grimly replied. Inside, she was fist-pumping the air. Her grandmother was a retired teacher. Grandma Plum would ensure Stephanie graduated high school.
Stephanie slid the casserole dish into the oven when her dad got home. He then went to Stephanie's room to grab the boxes. After washing her hands, she followed him upstairs to help.
Helen knitted her brows together when she watched Stephanie follow Frank like a lost puppy. It was reminiscent of when Stephanie was a young child. She followed her father everywhere. As Stephanie placed her right foot on the bottom step, Helen reached for Stephanie's arm to stop her, but Frank gave her a stern look, silently telling her not to interfere. She resented Stephanie for creating a rift between her and Frank. If her marriage suffered for Stephanie's slutty ways, she would disown the whore. Helen scoffed and returned to the kitchen to check the gravy and talk to her perfect daughter.
"We'll drop off the donations after dinner," Frank said, brushing the hair off Stephanie's damp cheek. "I'm sorry, Pumpkin." She wrapped her arms around her father's waist and cried. He rubbed his hands on her back soothingly, comforting her in a way only he could do.
Frank heard the rumours which spread around the Burg because Joe Morelli wrote on bathroom walls about having sex with Stephanie. He was angry that Helen fed into them, but he was thankful that Helen had never mentioned the pregnancy. Given the circumstances, taking Stephanie to his parents' home was the best decision. If the Burg learned Stephanie got pregnant, it would make her life a living hell. "Me too, Daddy. I made a mistake. I embarrassed the family and disappointed you," she whispered.
"We all make mistakes. Nobody in this house is perfect." Stephanie nodded. She knew her sister was sneaking around with Steve Donatello. Stephanie wondered how long it would take for Saint Valerie to get pregnant. She often wished to have Valerie's perfect luck. "I know about Steve, but Valerie's an adult," Frank said, surprising Stephanie. "I don't like the boy, but she has to figure things out for herself."
"Why don't you say something?" Stephanie asked.
"Valerie may come across as the perfect daughter, but she would elope with Steve if I told her to stop dating him. I'll protect her as long as I can. In the meantime, I'll pray he doesn't break her heart like the Morelli boy broke yours," Frank explained.
"I thought he loved me," Stephanie cried, flopping onto her bed and burying her face in the pillow.
"Boys like Morelli are incapable of love," Frank said, sitting on the bed to console his favourite daughter. "They say and do everything possible to coerce a woman into having sex." It was an unpleasant truth that aligned with the Morelli men's reputation.
Frank kissed Stephanie's curls and gently patted her back. The bed squeaked as he stood. Stephanie turned to look at her dad. "Thank you for everything, Daddy," she whispered. Frank smiled lovingly at Stephanie and silently left the room, closing the door behind him. He would miss Stephanie when she left.