Pick-me-up by Cecilia La France Read Free Book Online

Katelyn knew her dad
couldn’t stay mad at her, at least not for long.
    She decided to let him bring it up and she’d
play the victim. Katelyn leaned back on the four-wheeler’s seat and
let her shoulders slump in a sigh.
    He broke. “Want to give me your version?”
    She didn’t look up at him as she went into
her own defense. “Everyone is so unfair!” She started out with the
special targeting from the English teacher and ended with a
slightly exaggerated version of Gorman grabbing her arm.
    By this time Katelyn had turned her face to
her dad and let the hurt really show. The anger was working her way
back and she felt her face start to flush. She remembered too
clearly how the teacher so easily classified her into a history of
failure. She finished explaining and grew quiet, but her mind went
on with private thoughts. When do I get a chance to be more than
what my family is in this town? If not here, where can I have my
chance? Certainly not at that school, not where my sisters have
already dropped out.
    She looked at her dad. He was partially to
blame. School had its own separate history in her family. But, even
the family name was impossible to escape. Often when people heard
her last name, they instantly followed with “Brian’s kid?” Katelyn
and Brianna were Brian Well’s children. Katelyn’s older sisters,
Jodi and Jenny, were from her mother’s previous marriage and had a
different last name, Hoffman. At least they escaped the association
by name judgments. When people heard Katelyn’s last name, they most
likely were recalling her dad’s latest listing in the crime
reports, the local paper’s most popular feature.
    Suddenly Katelyn wished she wasn’t home.
Every day at school she would watch the clock, waiting for her
freedom so she could go home, but lately there wasn’t much “home”
at her house.
    Her dad squatted and then sat in a perch on
the front steps; he was at her level now, her buddy. “That man had
no right to touch you, Kate,” he said as if he were presiding over
a trial. “I’ll be giving him a call in the morning.”
    Katelyn didn’t reply. The pity act was no
longer needed. She felt truly pathetic.
    “Your mom’s awful upset, though.”
    Katelyn flinched a little.
    “She says you’ve been acting up, too.” He
didn’t stop. Instead, he started listing secondhand accounts of her
grades, her mother’s suspicions, and ended up with an awkward
speech about how much trouble boys are. “Let me tell you, Kate,
they’ve only got one thing on their mind and it ain’t your
feelings.”
    Katelyn had had enough. She now knew her
little sister was a source in this inquisition.
    “Are you done?” she bit at him, looking up to
deliver a glare. How dare he pretend to know so much or care so
much about her or her behavior? “Should we talk about you, Dad?
Should we list what you’ve been up to, or who you’ve been up
to?”
    Her dad stood up suddenly and took a huffed
breath before he pointed at her. “You,” he started, “you shouldn’t
listen to all the lies coming out of you mom’s mouth.” He paced on
the concrete step while he seemed to compose himself. “Jesus,” he
swore.
    A small twinge of fear stirred in Katelyn,
but just as freely as she told Gorman off, she dismissed the
childish reaction. Her dad couldn’t hurt her. She steeled herself
against him.
    “Listen,” he stopped pacing and leaned
forward extending one hand toward her while the other went to his
hip. “You have to start doing better at school, Kate. You have to.”
He shook his hand in the air in front of him as he searched for the
correct words. “You have to act better. You may not think so, but
you’re going to need school in the future. Look at your sisters.”
He stopped, knowing not to go that route. “You have to grow that
brain of yours.” He picked up confidence in this new strategy. His
voice took on a coaching quality.
    “Forget about those teachers and their
opinions. It’s