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To prove Jenny's thought correct, Holly walked out of the restroom a moment later, drawing Rachael's attention and that of Laura and Colleen from the other side of the room. Upon looking up to see Holly, Colleen noticed that Jenny had awakened. She silently walked over to the bed, but didn't speak yet. She looked up at Rachael as did the others, waiting for the girl to speak.
"Well, I asked around, and they don't serve dinner here, so we will have to find someplace else to eat. There is a pool downstairs, however. I didn't notice anything really interesting other than that," she announced.
"Why don't we go swimming later tonight. It will be a good chance to relax and get our minds off of today's events," Holly suggested.
"That sounds good. I do feel like swimming. After dinner, of course. Where should we eat?" Laura asked.
"How about Bob Evans? I don't feel like a greasy fast food meal right now. Before we go anywhere, though, I plan to hear the explanation about Jenny's actions today. Jennaynay?" Colleen said as she looked down at Jenny. The others hadn't realized the girl was already awake. They came rushing over to comfort her. Even though they didn't know what was going on, they knew something was wrong.
Their commotion stirred Alicia, who mumbled about wanting more sleep. When she finally sat up, she gave a weak smile over in Jenny's direction. It's time, she thought with a sigh.
"You ready, Jennaynay?" Alicia wondered. Jenny just stared from Alicia to the others over and over again. Then she sighed.
"Yes, I suppose I am as ready as I could be," she muttered. Sitting up against the back of the bed, Jenny thought about how exactly she was going to tell her friends about her horrible history. They crowded around her, intent on listening and not forgetting a single word.
"It all started when I was younger. My father had a nasty temper, and by the time I was eight years old, he started lashing out at my mother and me," she took a deep breath and continued, "It wasn't long 'til he was beating us regularly. I was so terrified; I would hide in my closet and under my bed every time he came home. That never helped much, though. If he wasn't hurting me, he was abusing my mother. Her screams rang through the house, and I could hear her pain. I always felt bad for not stopping him by making him punish me instead of her.
"We were lucky that my uncle found out about what was happening, and my father was sent to jail. I let my memories of him go, and tried never to think of him again. I almost did it, too. Then I fell in love. You remember Jake Marshalls?" Her friends nodded, but Jenny didn't notice them. Her mind was too deep in thought to see anything but the images of her past.
"Well, after the Homecoming Dance, he was going to take me home. We never got there. He started kissing me, but I... I didn't want him to. I was so scared. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I shouldn't be doing it. So I tried to push him away. That's when he went crazy, or atleast it seemed like he did. He shoved me out of the car and started kicking and punching me over and over again." Jenny had to stop as tears started to well up in her eyes. Her friends' murmur of pity didn't help.
"I guess he finally felt I was either unconscious or dead, because he got in his car and drove off. When I thought for sure that he was gone, I dragged myself up and just ran and ran. Somehow I got to the road, and thank heaven, Alicia was driving by on her way home from the dance. She saw me and took me home. She made me tell her everything that had happened. The whole evening reminded me of my father, so I decided to tell her about him, too," she finished and slowly lifted her head to see her friend's reactions to her story. She had been looking down into her lap throughout the whole tale, and was now comforted by the love and understanding she saw in their eyes. A weak smile reached her lips.
"Oh, Jen. You didn't have to keep all this inside you. You could have told the rest of us; we would have understood. We sure would have tried to help, too," Rachael whispered through the silence. The others expressed their agreement with slight nods and smiles.
"I wasn't sure if you would really want to know something like this; if you would want to carry this on your shoulders everyday like I had to. I know I should have told, and several times I wanted to. Yet, my guilt of making you live with this was always there, keeping me from telling," she admitted. They all sighed, smiling at the same time.
"It's alright now," Holly stated the obvious. "Cheer up Jennyfur! And so, this afternoon was because of these...experiences?" Jenny blushed at the reminder of what she had done only a few hours ago and nodded. The others laughed.
"Let's go eat now! Bob Evans, here we come!" Alicia shouted amusedly.
"Woohoo! Right on!" Colleen yelled, laughing as she held up her hand for Alicia to give her a high-five. The two giggled and left the room. Laura followed, begging them to finally tell her what the joke with the "right on" was, after she smiled and squeezed Jenny's shoulder to let her know she cared.
Holly smiled mischievously, trying hard not to break down into laughter. "You should have seen all the Boys' faces after you left!"
"Yeah. It took them each a few minutes to understand that a 'fan' had just blown them off! It was SO great!" Rachael added. They both left giggling like Colleen and Alicia had.
Jenny stood up and grabbed her bag. She stared at it for a moment, not really seeing it. In her mind she saw all her friends and thought about how wonderful they all were. Even the ones back home, who hadn't come along on this trip. Her smile widened. With friends like these, I don't have to worry about going through this alone. It truly is going to be all right.
The door locked shut behind her as she joined her friends.
Broken Promises