You're Not Pretty Enough by Jennifer Tress Read Free Book Online Page B

According to the UT
     Police report, Yarko Kuk, Rocket Patrol supervisor, spotted Smith, notified UT Police and pointed Smith out to Jerry Owens, the arresting officer.
    Owens confronted Smith at the sidewalk, which connects Lot 1-S to Lot 1-N near the Engineering-Science Building and told Smith that he
     resembled the description of a person who recently assaulted a student.
    The three went to Smith’s car because he was not carrying the described book bag or wearing sunglasses. According to Owens, the book bag
     and sunglasses were in the car. Smith agreed to go to the UT Police Station, the report said.
    UT officers then transported the victim from her house to the station and conducted a photo line-up, which consisted of a picture of
     Smith and pictures of six other men. Skonecki said the victim distinctively pointed Smith out.
    ****************
    I woke up like normal: pressed the snooze alarm five times,
     made coffee, smoked a cigarette, and watched TV. I lived in a group home with five other women in a neighborhood that primarily housed college students. I loved those random early mornings when no one else was awake and I didn’t have to talk with anyone. I put on a light green-and-white-striped knee-length
     cotton sundress, packed my schoolwork and books, and stepped off our front porch. I smiled at the early summer weather—bright, but still crisp due to the early hour.
    It was an average school day for me. Three classes, lunch at
     the Student Union, and no tests. I remember feeling settled in those late months of my sophomore year. I had reined in the galloping charge of that first blush of independence and left frequent binge drinking and passive learning
     behind. After my last class, I headed home and passed the large east-parking garage on my right. Two campus police sat inside a security outpost twenty meters away, taking in the afternoon crowd.
    I headed down the path adjacent to the garage while thinking
     my usual post-class thoughts: I only have two days to finish that paper, I need to do laundry, don’t eat three cheeseburgers for dinner…WAIT…Someone is behind me.
    It wasn’t like it alarmed me. I heard the crunch of twigs
     that let me know someone was following down the path, but it was a path commonly followed. What focused me was the quickness of the follower’s pace. My mom had worked for a rape crisis center, so my sister and I were schooled in
     the ways of predators and what to do if someone approached us. Following her advice, when I heard his pace quicken, I turned around as casually as possible to memorize his characteristics. He was tall and thin with reddish blond hair,
     wearing green and purple plaid shorts with a light T-shirt. He wore sunglasses and carried a backpack over his left shoulder. I turned back and tried to speed up my own pace without looking suspicious.
    Woods surrounded us.
    I was steps away from the embankment leading up to a road that was fifteen feet from a busy street. I started to claw my way up when I felt him reach up my dress and pull on my inner thigh. Somehow I maintained my position, but I was in danger of slipping. I looked toward the path and didn’t
     see anyone coming. Another lesson from Mom popped in my head: if he doesn’t have a weapon, fight. So I began to kick and scream. I wasn’t scared yet. I was angry. With his free hand, he slammed my body into the smooth, shale parts of
     the embankment, which momentarily stunned me into passivity. And then he threw off his backpack. He centered himself and stuck his other hand up my skirt and jammed what felt like four fingers up my vagina through my underwear. He
     pressed his thumb on the bottom of my tailbone and started to pull me down. I fought the nausea and the panic and focused on survival. No, no, no, no, I thought. Do not let him drag you into the woods, or he’ll kill you. I screamed louder. “Get the fuck off me!” I yelled, kicking harder until one foot
     landed on his balls and he