Down the Dirt Road

now instead of limping her way home in the hot Virginia

sun.

  
For her entire life Jennie had worked hard in school,

minded her manners, acted kindly toward others. She

always guarded herself and her actions carefully. No rash,

seat of her pants decision making for her. No Ma’am. That

was Trisha’s style, not Jennie’s.

  
And now she had a broken heart and a bloody foot. No

best friend. No boyfriend.

 
But she had her good decisions and intact morals, right?

And now her best friend had Jennie’s boyfriend. Jennie

couldn’t imagine a way in which life could suck any more

than it did right at that moment.

 
To hell with doing the right thing! She should have

given Michael everything he wanted and then some. Now

she was trapped in this stupid town with no boyfriend and a

senior year full of events that required a date. What about

homecoming? And prom! Oh, God! She wouldn’t have a

date for prom! There was no way she could go now.

Damn you, Michael McKee! They were supposed to be in

love!

And, true love was supposed to last forever, right?

 
Happily ever after and all that sappy crap.

 
Reality check. Life didn’t have happy endings.

 
Show her a fairy tale where the princess got dumped by

Prince Charming, her one true love, so he could do the

hanky- panky with her best friend in the loft of his daddy’s

barn. Now that was real life.

 
Why couldn’t she have been more like her best friend and

less like…well, less like herself. Then maybe Michael

McKee would still be hers and Trisha would be the one all

alone right now.

 
Who was she kidding? Trisha was never alone. There

was always some boy waiting his turn for a chance to be

with her. She had her pick of the town on any given day

with her blue eyes and blonde hair, perky smile and killer

figure that could stop a train on its tracks.

 
No one would ever describe her, Jennie Marshall, that

way. The only thing perky about her was well… nothing.

 
She swiped at a few loose curls, wiped away the sweat

on her brow. It had been a dry, hot summer. Down-right

miserable, in fact. For the first time in weeks, the humid

air hinted at a chance of rain but made the atmosphere

sticky and disgusting. Rivers of sweat ran down her back

soaking the linen tank she wore and left dirty rivers on her

arms and legs. Pictures of her ex best friend and ex love of

her life filled her mind, reminding her of the homecoming

she had not been expecting as she got off the train from her

granddaddy’s house the night before.

 
“It just happened, Jennie! I’m so sorry! We are so

sorry.” Trisha had tears in her eyes as she clung to

Michael’s hand while begging her best friend’s forgiveness.

Trisha had always been quite the actress.

 
“Sex doesn’t just happen, Trisha! You just couldn’t wait

for me to get out of town- get out of your way! You never

thought Michael should have been with me anyway!”

 
“Come on, Jennie! You know that isn’t true! I have

always been super happy for you and Michael.”

“Yeah, real happy. That’s why the second I was out of

the picture, you were all over him.” Jennie fought back the

rush of tears that threatened once again. No sense crying

over those two anymore. They had made their choice. Sex

over love. Sex over best friendship.

 
“Jennie, don’t blame Trisha.” Michael’s deep baritone,

meant to be soothing, instead whipped up a flurry of anger

deep within her belly. She turned on him, that anger

flashing sparks in her green eyes. He had his arm resting

casually over Trisha’s shoulder- the way he had always

done with her.

“I don’t just blame Trisha! You were there too! I

thought… I thought you loved me! What a fool I was.”

  
She had been a fool. Jennie winced as she kicked another

rock with her injured foot. She watched it skitter across the

pot holes and into the ditch that usually held at least a

trickle of water. On that day there was nothing. If it didn’t

rain soon, the whole town just might go up in smoke.

  
Spontaneous combustion.

  
She had learned about that in chemistry class last year.

Bodies combusting unprovoked- just bursting into flames

for no reason at all whatsoever.

  
The whole place… gone just like that. Jennie smiled to

herself at the evilness of her own thoughts. What did she

care? She hated this stupid town anyway.

  
As long as Michael was the first to go; she would have a

party in his honor. Maybe scatter his ashes all over

Trisha’s bed. Then she could sleep with him forever if

that’s what she wanted.

 
Lying, cheating bastard.

 
Slut.

 
They deserved each other.

 
She sighed heavily. Michael and Trisha had broken her

heart. How could he find it so easy to hurt her that way,

after all his promises of love and a future together? She

had only been gone a week. Was a week long enough for

him to fall out of love with her and into love with Trisha

instead?

   
She really was a fool.

    
The only one who had fallen anywhere was her. Unless

you counted the hay bales her boyfriend and best friend had

fallen into, of course. Obviously Michael wasn’t interested

in the fairy tale. He had sure made that clear. She should

have known better. Momma had warned her that boys

were different than girls. They had different expectations.

   
Expectations, indeed. She really should have known.

  
Mic
hael was two years older than she was
, a man who

worked his daddy’s farm, not a school boy anymore. He

was experienced. He wanted a woman, someone who

knew what to do when they were alone. She sure had

proven she didn’t have a clue.

 
Jennie winced at the memory of that night, down by the

lake, before she left for her granddaddy’s ranch. He had

called it making love, said it would be special because they

were meant to be together forever. Still she was so

nervous, the giggling was uncontrollable, the nerves

insurmountable, the voice of her Momma loud in her head

telling her she should wait for someone special, wait until

she was married. Michael knew she was a virgin, he said

he didn’t care, held her close as he told her that it was all

right; he would show her what she needed to know when

she was ready.

  
Of course he had said those things. He would have said

anything to get her to do it.

  
Lying, cheating bastard.

  
Now he didn’t need to make love with her. Trisha had

taken care of that.

  
Jennie was a fool.
A damned fool.

 
All the more reason to get the hell out of this rotten little

town as soon as she could. One more year left and then she

would graduate, move far away from Virginia.

 
Ugh! She wanted to hit something, scream as loud as she

could and kick Michael in both shins. Maybe she would

aim just a bit higher, make sure he and Trisha couldn’t do it

again for a good long time!

   
Instead she kicked another rock down the road, her

injured toe screaming out at her in agony. She wiped her

forehead with the back of her hand, pushing the weight of

her heavy brown curls back from her face. Why was the

walk home so long today?

  
Because she had nothing to look forward to at the end.

   
Jennie cursed out loud at the day she first met Trisha-

way back in kindergarten as they both rode the big yellow

school bus for the first time, away from home and into the

unknown world of school. Jennie was shy, reserved,