Something Girl by Beth Goobie Read Free Book Online Page A

straighten me out .
    Did my dad want to hurt me?
    “No,” I said and closed my eyes.
    It got very quiet again. Then my mom touched my cheek and said, “Maybe it’s time you and I said it’s your dad’s fault, Sophie.”
    My mom had never called me “Sophie” before. Only social workers and teachers andkids at school called me that. But it sounded like me for the first time when I heard it come out of my mom’s mouth.
    After this, Ms. Lee and my mom talked for a long time. They talked about filing a police report. Ms. Lee said something about a “restraining order.” The longer they talked, the more I felt something happening inside me. It was as if some kind of space was growing there, but it wasn’t outer space. It was space inside me for something besides fear — fear and running and trying to figure out how to not get hit. Because my mom was doing that now, with Ms. Lee. They were figuring that out so I didn’t have to.
    And neither did Jujube. I could just see her in the doorway, peeking into the room. For the first time in years, she didn’t look worried. Our eyes met and I grinned at her — a little grin, but it counted.
    She came over to my bed. “You’re not mad at me, are you, Froggy?” she asked.
    “No,” I smiled and took her hand.

Chapter Eleven
    Ms. Lee took my mom to a women’s shelter. Over the next few days, they both visited me. The police came and helped me fill out a report about the assault. Jujube visited in the evenings because she wasn’t allowed to skip any more classes. She was mad about this, but I told her school was good for her. She had her future to think about.
    My mom told me about the shelter. She said the windows were made of bulletproofglass, and the doors had huge locks and chains on them. She said the place was full of women and children, and she had a lot of people to talk to. It surprised her that there were so many other women with the same problem.
    For the first time in my life, I stopped worrying about my mom. I didn’t even have to worry about myself. The hospital wouldn’t let my dad come near me. My mom had a restraining order from the police, which meant he couldn’t come near either of us. He couldn’t even call us on the phone. At first I was surprised people believed what my mom and I said about my dad. He was such a good talker, everyone had always believed him. But Ms. Lee and the police and the hospital just took over and kept my dad away.
    The police showed me some pictures they’d taken the night the ambulance brought me to the hospital. I was still out of it then, so I didn’t know about them. When I saw the bruises in the pictures, it made me think of mydad. I felt as if he was standing right beside me, staring at me with his black eyes.
    One of the cops smiled at me. “Your father has been charged, Sophie. The restraining order means he has to stay away from you and your mother. The trial will be in a few months.”
    For a minute I felt dumb. The cop could tell I was scared, just like a little kid. She must have thought I was stupid. Stupid, no good, nothing girl .
    But the cop didn’t look as if she thought I was stupid. She smiled as if she liked me, and then she went on talking. She said they wanted me to be a witness at the trial. Ms. Lee and a lawyer would help me get ready for it.
    At night, when I was alone, I had nightmares about my dad and woke up crying. But during the day I stopped feeling as if he was waiting around every corner. I think my mom felt safer too. She stood straighter when she came to visit. She didn’t look atthe ground as much, and sometimes she even smiled.
    After a few days, the doctors took the brace off my back. I could sit up and feed myself. This was a relief, because Jujube had started to play games when she fed me. She would say, “The aliens told me to give you this message.” Then she would dribble gravy on my face and start laughing. Sometimes she could be such a pain, but then, she was only