Tryst Six Venom by Penelope Douglas

fist as I hear paper crinkle.
I look at my hand, seeing a ball of paper inside that I didn’t realize I’d
grabbed hold of from my school bag.
I open my fist, recognizing the lined paper and black handwriting. It’s her
note. I don’t remember reaching into my school bag for it on the way home.
She wants to be free of me. Yesterday, she was mine.
I bend the other knee up and rest my elbows on them, burying my head in
my hands.
Fuck her.
Fuck Clay Collins, piece of shit Saint with her money and hair and…
But I can’t stop sobbing, nearly choking.
My door swings open, and I smell the grease on Macon’s hands as he
squats down next to me.
“Please don’t yell at me,” I beg, not looking at him. “Just let me get past
it, okay? I will. I’ll get past it. I just need tonight.”
My family is good about staying in their lane, but when one if us is upset,
everyone goes on alert. With our mother being clinically depressed, it only
makes sense one or more of us will have inherited her problems.
I’m not depressed. I’m just…shredded.
“Look at me.” He puts his hands on mine. “Livvy.”
I shake my head. Please go away. A lump stretches in my throat so big it
hurts. Just let me get past it.
“You’re going to stand up,” he says.
I shake, a cry in my throat. “I can’t…stand up.” I gasp, fighting for air. “I
can’t breathe.”
He pulls my hands away, and I see him hover over me and take my face
in his hands. “You’re going to stand up,” he tells me, “and you’re gonna do
your homework, and you’re gonna go to prom.” My stomach twists into
knots, and I shake my head. I can’t. “You’re going to be in the same room
with her, Monday thru Friday for the rest of the school year, and you’re not
sacrificing yourself out of fear. You’re going to do all of this, Liv.”
I cry harder, squeezing my eyes shut. I’m not in love with her. She can’t
do this to me. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
“You’re going to go to Dartmouth.” He dips his head down close to mine,
holding my eyes. “And you’re going to join a club and make some friends,
and in a couple of months you’re going to have a life.”
How?