Family Ties



With only 2 weeks before school starting it was difficult to make many friends. The oldest girl was a senior and she only knew 2 people at the school. One was her sister and one was a friend of her sister's. The first few weeks were brutal. A naturally withdrawn girl anyway, it wasn't easy for her to make friends. The one thing she had going for her was that she was very attractive. That also turned out to be a drawback. The boys were attracted to her, and the girls were jealous. In the end not many people approached her. She was either pretty enough that a girlfriend would be threatened, or pretty enough that a boyfriend was afraid his girlfriend would get mad. The one nice surprise for her was that her boyfriend showed up every weekend. He borrowed a car that he could trust for the trip and made sure he was packed and left as soon as he was off work on Friday. He loved the girl, and more importantly he wanted to protect her. She started to realize that this guy might be for real after all.

The younger sister didn't have nearly as much trouble making friends. In all fairness she had an advantage. She was only a freshman, and she was outgoing. She would befriend anybody, just to have someone nearby. This girl cared about appearances and not much else. It was actually sad that a girl so young could be so vain. It turns out that a good portion of that was insecurity. She NEEDED to have attention. Older sister, took it like everything else in stride on the outside, but she was depressed. She found herself looking forward to those weekends, when the one familiar thing would be in her life. She managed to keep in touch with a few people "back home", but only a couple of them had time for writing letters that much. This was before cell phones, so a call was long distance, and you paid a pretty penny to make it. It turns out that not many 16 and 17 year olds have that kind of cash.

Things changed for her one afternoon, when she met a boy at school. He seemed nice and was just trying to be friendly with her. She finally ended up talking to him a bit but, she felt guilty afterwards. She was attracted to this boy. He told her that he understood she had a boyfriend but he wanted to help her make some friends at the new school. She was afraid to tell her boyfriend about this new guy, so she just mentioned him in passing. "Met a boy in school today, finally somebody who isn't so stuck up." She left it at that and hoped not many questions would follow. The boyfriend was happy for her, but he too felt a little tinge of something. Maybe it was jealousy. He realized that this boy would get to spend 5 days a week with his girlfriend and whether she like him or not, that is enough time to develop some feelings. He understood how the mind of a teenage boy works, and he also knew that a pretty girl in a new school is a prime target for some boys. Nothing else was said about it, as he didn't want to upset her. That was the first clue if he would have been paying more attention.

The boyfriend continued to show up every weekend, but something was different. The girl didn't seem to be there all the time. Her mind was wandering somewhere else, and he couldn't figure it out. The other boy didn't come into his mind, because she hadn't mentioned anything else about him. One day while he was getting ready to go visit, he got a phone call. The girl told him that she couldn't see him this weekend, because the family was going to the beach "as a family". She would talk to him when she got home on Sunday. He said ok, and for the first time in months had a free weekend at home. He spent it catching up with his friends, and found that most of them didn't have a whole lot to say about his girlfriend. They almost seemed to be avoiding the subject. Finally a good friend of his told him, "Sounds like maybe she found somebody else." The boy was shocked and angry, but he simply made an excuse and went home. He needed some time to think and couldn't do it around a bunch of loud obnoxious teenage boys. He got home and his mom told him that he had a message from the younger sister. Now why would she want to talk to him, they didn't even get along that well.

The younger sister simply wanted to tell him that there was somebody else in the picture. She did it, not to help out, but to hurt the boy. It worked wonders as all manner of images ran through his mind. Anger and betrayal were the first thoughts, then came sadness and finally, an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. He had thought this was the girl for him. Within hours he had made up his mind. He was going to fight for this girl. One way or another he would get to the botom of this. In the car and down the road. Speed limit signs were a blur. 100 mph through mountain passes that shouldn't be traveled over 50 or 55. He made it to the house in record time. Everybody was there.....Except his girlfriend. The mother was a bit smug as she explained that her daughter was out with a friend and she wasn't sure when they would be back. The father took a more measured approach. He took the boy outside and explained to him, that maybe their time was done. He told the boy that he appreciated how much he had done for his daughter, but some things aren't meant to be. "Just let her decide what she wants to do." That was the last thing the boy heard before he went back to his car. He drove down the street and sat in the convenience store parking lot. He wasn't going anywhere. She was going to answer some questions and they would get to the bottom of this NOW!

A few hours later he saw them drive by. He didn't immediately follow he waited a good ten minutes and then he drove back over. She was in the front yard crying when he pulled up. She came running to the car crying and apologizing. Telling him that nothing happened and they were just friends. She didn't want him to be upset because the only friend she had made was a boy. She loved him, would never cheat on him. He meant everything to her. He heard the words and wanted to believe her, but something down deep inside told him that she lied. She was telling him what she thought he wanted to hear. His better judgement left him when he saw those tears continue to roll down her face. "I understand, and I love you. Whatever makes you happy is all I care about." She had him hook line and sinker. She didn't even realize she had manipulated him. It was something that came so natural to her, that she didn't see it for what it really was. Her father had taught her something after all.

to be continued