Page 3 - Pieces of Victory - Add - FlipBuilder.pdf

CHAPTER 1
The Big Betrayal
As I complete my junior year of high school, my parents finally deliver the un- expected news that they will take me to get counseling. I am satisfied and appear a bit calmer at this point, positive that there will be changes. I ponder what influ- enced my parents to make a decision in my best interest. I know they won’t want to be scrutinized by a psychologist’s magnifying glass. Do they fear skeletons rising up from some dark secluded passage? Perhaps they fear burning under that lens as the light of truth shines through it?
It is July nineteen eighty eight. Practicing my normal morning regimen, I open my closet door onto my limited selection of teen clothing. I take note of a long white dress with its white eyelets running throughout the fabric. I feel the soft cot- ton material and recall the way it conforms to my body, ruffling at the bottom. Tak- ing advantage of my employee discount, I purchased this summer fashion state- ment at the clothing store I work for at the Jans Mall in Thousand Oaks, Califor- nia. As I’m getting ready I think about Drake, and my heart begins to pump faster than normal. The adrenaline rush makes me feel as if I were running on a tread- mill. We just celebrated our one year anniversary, and I long to see his bright exu- berant smile. My beautiful sweetheart; his eyes an aqua as deep as the ocean, an ocean whose depth matched the intensity of his soul. His fair skin is soft and sup- ple, inviting my touch and it glows with the radiance of his affection. I’m dressing for him. Just in case we happen to see each other this evening. His spontaneity al- ways keeps me on my toes, always catching me off guard. When he comes to my house unexpectedly it leaves me euphoric, because it indicates that he wants to see me more often than our planned rendezvous.
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