“To the infirmary. Let’s get your insides checked out.” I put my arm around her.
When the health care center came into view, Genie stopped and squeezed my arm. “Will you come in with me while I’m examined?” She looked so young, innocent, and frightened in her boxer shorts, hoodie, and Ugg boots.
“If you want, I’ll even hold your hand.”
“Promise me you won’t call my mother?”
“You’re eighteen. I legally can’t call your mother.”
“I’m not eighteen until the end of the month.”
“I still won’t call your mother.”
“Thank you.”
I thought back to my first encounter with Genie and how she’d walked away from me when I offered her my assistance.Her coming to me for help was huge—for both of us. I put my hands on her shoulders. “Come on, let’s do this.”
Dr. Jenny held the tick in her tweezers. She dropped it into a Ziploc bag and used a red Sharpie to draw a circle around it.
“Are you giving that to Genie as a souvenir?” I asked.
“No!” Dr. Jenny said. “I’ll hang this up so everyone can see how tiny they are. These little buggers can cause so much damage.”
“Eww, it gives me the shivers thinking that was inside me.” Genie hugged herself. “Mother Nature really screwed with me . . . well, Mother Nature and Connor.”
38Vices
Iwas pouring myself a cup of dirty-water coffee when Abby asked, “Lori, where do you go every night?”
“What do you mean?”
“Come on Lori, I’m not an idiot. I hear the whistles before you leave the cabin after we get back from Mindy’s. Where do you go?”
Maggie and Roger were closely examining the cream in their mugs.Tread carefully, I thought. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was keeping you awake.”
“I’m a very light sleeper.”
The three of them were staring intently at me. All I could think was, the jig is up.
“I go out for a smoke.”
“I didn’t know you smoked,” Maggie said.
“I did when I was in high school. I’ve taken up two nasty habits since I’ve been here, gin and nicotine.” I held up my thermos. “Caffeine’s year-round.”
“Who’s the whistler?” Abby asked.
I was doing my best to sound casual. “Ted.”
“Aha!” Roger spun his finger in the air. “Everyone over on boys’ side is trying to figure out who Ted’s been seeing, and it seems like he’s been seeing you.”
“Wait. No. It’s nothing like that. We smoke, unwind, and commiserate about our days.”
It had been naïve of us to think we could keep our secret. I knew Abby well enough to suspect that her questioning me like that was her way of letting me know people were gossiping.
“All I’m saying is, Bob and the DLs have been teasing Ted. Seems like he went from being a sad sack to being one happy camper,” Roger said.
“We’ve been smoking together since orientation. I don’t know what’s happened recently to have made him less grumpy.”
