Page 3 of In the Danger Zone
“My little sister has a stutter. Nothing to be embarrassed about.” Leena waved a hand at me.
I instantly felt a cool wave of relief run all over my body. “Thanks. A-Are you excited for our first day?” I asked.
Leena winced. “Depends on what you mean by excited. I kinda regret applying, honestly. My parents sort of pushed me into studying. I just wanted to make art, but they said that wasn’t aviablecareer. But I guess this can’t hurt me in the long run, right?”
“M-My parents are the opposite,” I said. “They would have done anything to keep m-me from coming here.” I didn’t exactly blame them. After what happened two years ago – after me nearlydying– they didn’t even want me to leave the house. I understood their fear. And for a long time, I did nothing but stay home, even post recovery. It had taken me a lot to move on from that terror, but I wanted to escape Great Falls and leave it all far, far behind. That didn’t mean the anxiety didn’t still linger.
Leena chuckled softly. “What do your parents do?”
My lips parted but no noise came out. That was sort of a loaded question. My parents were out of work, but that was for a reason. It wasn’t like they weren’t trying. They had been trying for a good two years to get back on their feet after The Incident. Because it wasn’t just me nearly dying that broke them. It was the aftermath.
There were the hospital bills. The physiotherapy. The attempt to get retribution that failed oh so quickly because lawyers were costly and Asher’s family could afford the best ones in Maine. There were the threats from Asher’s family. The “anonymous” letters, phone calls, and emails that screamed pure violence. There was the day Asher came into my family’s bakery with a friend – Parker Bedford, a boy just as cruel as Asher, and he never let me forget that side of him – because they were instigators who liked to see people get hurt.
They only went into the bakery to get in my dad’s face and make a mockery out of what Asher had done to me just a month and a half prior. My assault was a joke to them and the entire town.
That day, Asher got violent again. So did my dad – but only to defend himself, and he was much better at sticking up for himself than I had ever been. A conveniently filmed video of that moment that went viral around Great Falls only showed my father doing his best to defend the honor of his only child that had nearly been killed not that long ago. That didn’t matter, though. No one was going to look at Jim or Donna McClaine the same after that video spread around.
Suddenly my family were the resident violent psychos of Great Falls. No one took them seriously and no one wanted to spend a single dollar at our bakery. It didn’t take long for Asher to cause even more damage. It didn’t take long for the bakery to close down either.
“Daisy?” piped up Leena.
My head shook, trying to force the thoughts of the past away. “I’m sorry. They’re… They’re b-bakers.”
That wasn’t a lie. Not really. Theywerebakers. Professional ones with many, many years of experience. They didn’t own a bakeryanymore.
But not everyone needed to know that, and that was because not everyone reacted nicely to you saying that your parents were unemployed and had been for a while.
Leena seemed nice enough and I didn’t want to lie to a potential friend right off the bat, but it was easier to just avoid the truth. Besides, explainingwhymy parents couldn’t find work was exhausting enough to think about.
“Oh, cool.” Leena smiled. “What’s your favorite cake?”
“Uh, cheesecake.”
“Do they let you eat as much as you want?”
I returned her grin as fond memories filled my heart up. “All the time.”
“My parents banned me from cake unless it was my birthday.” Leena shook her head. “Must be nice to have parents that love you. Theyreallydidn’t want you to come out here for school?”
“Yeah. They’re just v-very… overprotective…” My voice trailed off into nothing.
Overprotective was an understatement. They had every right to be afraid, though, because their daughter often came home with bruises and cuts and wet eyes. School wasn’t just emotionally exhausting. It had taken a huge, physical toll on all of us. They had done their best to try and punish Asher, but it hadn’t been enough, and that wasn’t something I would ever hold against them.
“Maybe we should swap parents for a few months,” Leena offered with a bright smile.
“They could use a b-break from worrying about m-me, actually…” I was hoping Leena couldn’t hear the shame in my voice. Sometimes I felt like a burden to my parents. The bullying I experienced wasn’t easy for them either. Not to mention the hospital bills and them having to turn their lives around to homeschool me…
Before Leena could speak up, a man at the front of the room cleared his throat. He looked all serious until he broke out into a smile. The man got started on introducing himself as our professor before he told us to go around the lecture hall, doing the same thing to the sea of new faces that seemed to go on forever.
I held back a groan as we all stood up. Not everyone was as nice as Leena and I prepared myself for some not so subtle laughs and jabs at my stutter. But I was thankful for Leena who stayed close by as we moved around the hall. She honestly seemed a little nervous too.
I did my best to give people a quick and straight to the point introduction. At the back of my mind, I prepared for laughter and snide remarks. But I got friendly smiles and enthusiastic greetings. I gotkindness. I was beyond thankful for that as me and Leena sat back down after a few minutes went by. She seemed just as thankful as I was for that little ice breaker to come to an end.
My first ever college lesson went on smoothly. We mostly went over our readings for the semester and I made sure to note down any important dates and details. When it came to an end, Leena walked with me as we made our way to the exit.
“I forgot everything he said,” Leena deadpanned.
I laughed softly. “Don’t worry. I can give you m-my notes if you want. I took down a few dates and stuff.”
