Lisa stumbled through the rest of her day like a zombie, her mind on everything but her studies. She did her best to pay lip service to her friends, between periods, but it was obvious to anyone that something was wrong. They assumed it was more boy problems of course, which was close enough since the truth was completely impossible. How could she tell anyone that the tall handsome young man she almost gave her cherry and her life to was fucking random sluts during lunch. She would sound like a crazy person. So she just denied whatever they asked and told them everything was fine, and soon enough the day was over, and she was walking home. She saw Chad waiting for her in the parking lot out front of school. It was their usual spot, but there was no way in hell she was going to meet with him and let him try to talk his way out of this. Just the sight of him disgusted her. She doubted that that would ever change. Instead she spun on her heel and went out a side gate to take the long way home. It would help to clear her head. Afterall, it was a nice sunny day, and other than her piece of shit boyfriend, everything was going great.
When she finally got home, she found her mother ironing in the living room watching one of her talk shows. They lived in a nice big two story house, but the only place she ever seemed to be was either ironing in front of the TV or eating on the couch while her dad worked yet another late night at the plant to pay for more things they didn't need. Lisa had long ago decided that he did it more to avoid his wife than because he needed the overtime.
"Has Chad been by," she asked immediately as she set her bookbag down.
"Not yet dear," her mom said, smiling as he looked up at her. "Why, do you guys have another hot date tonight? Don't think I didn't notice how late you were out last night..."
"Ahh, mom," Lisa sighed, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "Nothing happened okay? It's fine."
"Well if nothing happened and you aren't going to see him then why did you think he might have been by?" Her mother asked, setting down the iron to focus her full attention on her. "You're a sweet, innocent thing, and a man like Chad? You remember our conversations about saving yourself for marriage don't you Lisa?
"Jeez mom - I said it's fine." Lisa said, even though it totally was. I just have a headache." she blurted out, changing strategies before her mom kicked into full busy body mode.
"Well, if he's pressuring you sweetie--" her mother tried to reassure.
"He's not mom, it's just complicated. I'm going to go lay down. If anyone calls can you let them know that? Unless it's Chad - then tell him I'm not here." she asked using her best 'I'm coming down with something voice,' "Can you do that for me and we can talk about it later? Please mom?"
"I..." she started, walking towards her daughter before stopping short. "Yeah, I can do that. You rest and we'll talk later." Lisa could tell that her mother had left a lot unsaid.This was only a reprieve - in an hour or two she'd pick back up about what a cute couple they made and how she needed to be careful. Those were two topics she never got tired of.
"Thanks Mom, you're the best," Lisa said, forcing herself to smile when it was the last thing she wanted to do. Then she kissed her on the cheek before walking upstairs, and closing the door to her room behind her.
Once the door was shut though, Lisa's carefully practiced mask of normalcy came off and her eyes welled up with tears. What had she done to deserve this, she wondered. She was a good girl. She went to church, honored her parents, and prayed every night. She got good grades and turned in all her stupid papers on time. She should have had a perfect life with her cute loving boyfriend. She shouldn't have to deal with signs from god, people disappearing into the forest, or her sweet loving boyfriend cheating on her to bang any slut that said yes. It wasn't fucking fair. The tears were cascading down her cheeks now, though she wasn't sobbing, as the raw emotion leaked out. She began to kneel in prayer for guidance, wondering if somehow something might have happened to him that night in the woods.. If he had hit his head or been possessed by a demon or something when she heard a knock downstairs.
"Damn it," she swore to herself. Was he really here already? Couldn't she even have an hour to process this shit and figure out what to do next?
"Excuse me Mrs Mueller," she heard the muffled voice of her boyfriend coming from downstairs, "Is your daughter home?"
"Chad," she responded, "My daughter is very angry at you and whatever you might have done to her, not that she tells me anything these days. I think maybe you ought to go home and come back another day."
"That's not what I asked, Mrs Mueller, is..." Chad tried again.
"You can call me Amy," her mother interrupted, in a tone that bordered on the conspiratorial. It was very strange. She had never once told any of her boyfriends to call her by her first name. "She told me to tell you she's not home... but between the two of us she's upstairs."