Junior Year Box Set

Knowing that Mike took advantage of her didn’t get the image of him having his way with her out of my head. I guess only time would tell, but for right now, I wasn’t interested in being anything other than a friend. I suspected that for the near future, even that would be hard for me. I felt betrayed that Mona wouldn’t fight him off. A simple ‘no’ would have stopped this. That is if she were capable of saying anything at the time.

“I think she did. I need to take her home and talk to her parents,” I said.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Tracy asked, looking concerned.

“You saw her. She’s a mess, and her parents would never forgive me if she hurt herself,” I said, which caused Tracy to flinch.

“Do you want us to go with you?” Pam asked.

“No, after I talk to them, they may never want to see me again. Mona will need you guys to support her.”

“I do have some good news,” Tracy said. “Gina also got a three-day. She kicked Mike in the nuts after you were carted off.”

That brought a small grin to my face.

“I hope Wolf and Jim didn’t get suspended, too,” I said.

“No, just you, Mike, Gina and Cassidy,” Mona said.

“Cassidy? Why did she get suspended?” I asked.

“Why do you think, dumbass? The two of you squared off like you were going to do a cage match, and she took you out,” Pam said with a grin. “If I didn’t like you, I’d have to dump you as a friend because a little girl kicked your butt.”

“Cassidy did make it look easy. If you hadn’t put three varsity football players down before she got to you … well, I would have to agree with Pam,” Tracy piled on.

“Hey, I’m sorry I snapped at you both this morning,” I said.

“We’re good,” Pam said. “We were as shocked as you must have been when we saw the picture.”

“So, we’re still friends?” I asked.

“Of course we are. Mona told us why you were dating her. Tracy and I will make sure you’re safe,” Pam teased.

She was right. I needed some cover to get my head together before getting any closer to Zoe, Halle or Brook. Something told me I didn’t want any of them to be a rebound romance. One of them could be ‘the one.’ I needed to put Tami behind me and move on.

◊◊◊

I took Mona home, and her dad met us at the front door. I caught the look in Mr. Wingman’s eye when he saw his daughter in that state, and that look promised my imminent death. I pushed Mona into his arms, and her mom appeared.

“I need to talk to you,” I said.

Mona clutched her dad, and we went to the living room.

“What did you do to her?” Mr. Wingman asked.

“As you know, Mona was at Tracy’s party at the lake house. There was some drinking, and she had sex with Mike Herndon. It wasn’t consensual, but the alcohol puts everything in a little bit of a gray area,” I said.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mr. Wingman asked.

“I wasn’t there, but Mona normally doesn’t drink. From what I heard, she had a few too many drinks before Mike took her to a room and had his way with her,” I said.

“Is this true?” her mom asked, turning to Mona.

“I remember drinking too much, and at some point being with Mike,” Mona mumbled.

It was plain to see she really didn’t want to talk about it with her parents. I didn’t really blame her. It turned out that the stories of dads with shotguns were true. I discovered the reality of the urban legend when her dad calmly got up, and Mrs. Wingman took over comforting her daughter. A moment later he stood in the door with his gun.

“Where does Mike live?” he asked.

I moved in a flash and took the gun away from him. Thank God Cassidy’s training wasn’t a complete waste. I checked the chamber, and the gun was empty. At least Mr. Wingman wasn’t a total fool. I handed it back to him. I could tell he wasn’t going to do anything stupid tonight.

“You need to take care of your family tonight. Invite the Herndons over for a talk tomorrow,” I suggested. “I should get going.”

I let myself out. It had been a hell of a day.

◊◊◊ Tuesday September 1

Dad woke me up before he and Mom left for Las Vegas.

“Get dressed. I want to talk to you before we leave,” Dad said.

I threw on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and found Greg and Dad in my living room. Greg made us all tea. It looked like Dad wanted to tell his side of the story without my mom present. I looked at Greg and could see the tension in his face. I understood how he felt because we’d been raised to believe that doing something like this was unacceptable. It pained me to see what my father’s indiscretion was doing to our family. The part none of us had addressed yet was Phil. It was one thing if he were an uncle; it was another if he were my brother. I don’t really know why that made so much difference to me, but it did.

“Tell me about your fight,” Dad started off.

“Mike sent me a text with a picture attached of Mona after he had sex with her. I took offense to it and was in the process of kicking his butt when Cassidy put a stop to it,” I said, quickly summing up.

“Is Mona under eighteen?” Greg asked.

“Yeah, why?” I asked.