Ugly Duckling

"Where are you going, hun?"

"A friend's."

Nora Robert's house. Is there a problem?

Awkward silence.

Jesse stopped chomping her gum and stared at me, "You don't have friends."

Mom told her to shut up.

Bill buried himself in his book.

I shot Jesse a glance before replying, "I made a friend. It's not that big a deal."

"It is. Who is it?" That came from Jesse, of course.

I shrugged, gave mom a quick kiss on the cheek, and ran outside with my bag slung over my shoulder.

All I knew then was that if Jesse found out where I was going, she'd kill me.

Kill.

Me.

And that is exactly why she wasn't going to find out.

At least that's what I thought.