What in the world was wrong with their house?
It was a question she carried with her, one that was always in back of every thought. She had still not come up with a satisfactory answer, but it seemed clear to her that whatever plagued their home was far more than just a simple haunting. No ghost or spirit could do all … this.
Her mom seemed in a better mood, too, away from the house. As they walked through the park, she began asking Megan about school. It started in only two weeks, and usually by this time they were going shopping for clothes, had started to pick up supplies and were getting ready. But this year, school didn’t even seem to be on the radar. Even when they weren’t distracted by other things, the subject just never came up, and it felt good to be finally talking about it. Reassuring. She herself had been so focused on events at home that she’d given very little thought to her entry into eighth grade. It was going to be her last year in middle school, and while, ordinarily, that would have made her anxious, excited or something, this summer it had hardly registered.
So it felt great to be talking to her mom in a normal way about normal things.
She realized that it was time to start getting seriously busy. Especially in the clothes department. She’d grown since the spring, and the only pants that didn’t make her look like she was waiting for a flood were the jeans she had on now. All of her shorts still fit, but …
Megan was brought down to earth at the thought of the slashes on her legs.
She couldn’t wear shorts, she realized.
“I noticed The Store was having a back-to-school sale,” her mom was saying. “You’re old enough to expand your wardrobe and not wear T-shirts every day. We should …”
Megan nodded, kept a smile on her face, but she wasn’t really listening, and it wasn’t until they reached Old Main and ran into Julie and her mom in front of the closed thrift store that Megan snapped back into the here and now.
Julie’s mom greeted them with a wide smile and a friendly “Hello,” but Julie’s face reddened and she looked down at the sidewalk, embarrassed. Her family was poor, and it was obvious that she and her mom were waiting for the thrift store to open. Probably to look for clothes.
Megan was embarrassed, too, not because her friend had to buy used clothing but because she was embarrassed about it, and, like Julie, Megan stared awkwardly at the ground and said nothing.
The two mothers had no such qualms, however, and Megan’s mom nodded toward the closed front door of the thrift shop. “Monday morning’s a good time to come here. That’s when Rebecca puts out all her new items. But the first Tuesday of each month, she always has a two-for-one deal. Sometimes it’s jeans, sometimes it’s housewares, sometimes it’s books, but if you keep your eyes open, you can get some real bargains.”
Julie’s mom smiled. “That’s how I got this top. Three dollars. And one for Julie as well.”
Mortified, Julie looked as though she wanted to sink into the ground.
Megan’s mom nodded approvingly. “You know, last winter, I got a Liz Claiborne coat here that someone had given away, and it was in perfect condition. Liz Claiborne! Ten dollars! Someone must have gotten it for a present and didn’t like it, because it looked like it had never been worn.”
Her mom did sometimes buy things from the thrift store, although Megan had never felt comfortable about that. The clothes, she had to admit, were always nice—her mom had good taste—but they didn’t have to shop there, and Megan would have much preferred if her mom bought only things that were new. Now, however, she felt proud of her mother, and she even found herself relenting about the used clothing. She knew that coat, and she thought it was very stylish. It also looked very expensive. She’d been under the impression that her mom had bought it new, and to find out that it had cost only ten dollars was very impressive.
Maybe she could stretch out her own clothing allowance if she bought some of her back-to-school things here rather than at The Store.
Julie no longer seemed so embarrassed, and she and Megan began talking about school and the classes they hoped they’d get. They’d both signed up for the ultrapopular Electronic Publishing as an elective, but neither of them had gotten their schedules yet, so they didn’t know whether they’d make it in.
There was a metallic rattling of key in lock as the door to the thrift shop was opened from the inside.
“Well, I need to get to work.” Megan’s mom smiled and nodded at the elderly woman opening the door. “Good morning, Rebecca.”
“Hello, Claire. Nice day.”
“Yes, it is.” She looked at Megan. “I’m going to my office. If you’d like to stay with Julie and see if you can find anything in Mrs. Fischer’s store, you can.”
Megan smiled, giving her mother a quick hug. She was one of the good ones. “Okay. Thanks, Mom.”
All trace of embarrassment gone, Julie led the way into the thrift shop, and the two of them began searching through the shirts and blouses hanging from a series of racks on the right side of the store.
They looked through everything. Julie picked out an impressively hip outfit that one of Jardine’s richer high schoolers must have recently donated, and even discovered a couple of pretty good CDs in the bargain bin. Megan found a cool top that fit her perfectly, and she told her friend to wait while she rushed over to her mom’s office to get some money.
Julie had always been the most casual member of her trio of BFFs, but Megan had a newfound respect for the girl, and after this morning felt much closer to her. They emerged from the thrift shop to see that the north end of Old Main was being blocked off and vendors were starting to set up for the farmer’s market. Julie’s mom said she was going to go over and check it out.
“I need to go to the library,” Megan told Julie. “Want to come with me?”
Julie looked at her mother, who nodded her approval.
The two girls went to the library, where Megan got her reading program form signed by one of the librarians and received her prize: a “Night at the Movies” pass, which included free entry to the theater, a free small popcorn and a free small drink. “Wow,” Julie said. “I didn’t know they gave out such good prizes. I’m going to do the reading program next year.”
The librarian smiled. “Tell your friends.”
They went on one of the library’s computers, sharing it, and checked out the Facebook pages of some of their frenemies until Julie’s mom found them and told Julie it was time to go.
Megan walked out with them to the parking lot, where Julie’s mom had parked her car. “I had fun,” she said. “We should do this more often.”
Julie smiled. “Yeah.”
They said good-bye, and Megan walked back to her mom’s office. She expected to see a client or two, or find her mother on the phone, but her mom was alone and writing something in longhand on a yellow pad of paper. Megan went to the bathroom, and at the same time checked the cuts on her legs. Once again, there was a vague stirring in the back of her mind, a sense that she had inflicted those wounds upon herself, though she still could not remember doing so and had no idea why she would.
They looked ugly, she thought, and that was good. It made her look ugly. Now maybe whatever had been exhorting her to take off her pants would not want her to do it any longer. In fact, maybe if she cut herself some more, it would provide her with additional insurance and keep that thing away from her.