After the Rain/Catherine Kent
© July 2007, All Rights Reserved

 

― Prologue ―

 

Arlington, Virginia 1979

September

 

The school lunchroom was in chaos. Thirteen year old Lexi Drier hovered in the doorway, nauseous with tension. Her eyes darted over the packed tables, searching for a familiar face. No luck. She hated standing alone, where anyone could see she had no one. She scanned the edges of the room, and hoped she didn’t look as frantic as she felt. At last she spied her best friend Tammy at the far side of the cafeteria…just in time to see her disappear into the student bathroom with two other girls. Lexi had been looking forward to her first day of junior high school all summer, but not one thing had gone as she’d hoped. She hurried to make her way across the crowded space.

Having lived on her grandparents' New England farm since May, she hadn’t seen any of her friends in three months, and she was more than eager to catch her best pal. She pushed open the heavy restroom door.

All three stalls were occupied, and Tammy’s voice sailed over the top of the middle one. “You should have heard this one guy in my English class, Jason, who’s a total fox, going on about her. It was disgusting. I don’t think she’s that pretty, and I bet she’s totally stuck up.”

“What does she look like?”

“What school is she from?”

Two other voices piped up simultaneously from either side of Tammy, and Lexi was relieved to recognize mutual friends, Kerry and Tina.

Tammy replied, “Oh, she’s tall and blond, naturally, no doubt with a brain as small as she is tall. I didn’t get a good look at her face. I only saw her across the commons.”

“Maybe she has acne…” offered Tina hopefully.

Lexi’s curiosity was piqued, but her friends were talking so fast, she had no chance to join in.

Tammy went right on. “Maybe,” she said doubtfully. “But she has boobs and a tiny waist. That’s all guys care about.” She didn’t break for air before answering the second question. “I have no idea which school she came from. Probably York Towne. You know how snooty they are.”

“Tammy, hey! Who are you guys talking about?” Lexi jumped into the conversation at the first available moment.

“Lexi, is that you? Hey, girl! Long time no see! We’re just talking about some dumb blond the guys are all drooling over. I don’t know her name. Do you have B-lunch?” Tammy’s pleasure at hearing her friend’s voice was evident. In the week since Lexi had been home, neither set of parents had been available to drive to get the girls together before school started. The two had made up for it, spending hours talking on the phone.

“Yes! B-lunch. Isn’t that great.” Lexi waited by the sink, breathless with excitement. Finding Tammy was the first good thing that had happened to her all day. “I can’t believe we haven’t got a single class together,” she complained. “How cool that we can at least see each other at lunch,” she added, grinning.

“Totally. Did you ask your mom about Friday?” Tammy shouted to be heard over the flush of the toilet.

“Yes, and the answer is YES,” trilled Lexi.

“You guys having a sleepover?” asked Kerry.

“Oh, yah. You know my mom won’t let me have more than one friend over at a time,” Tammy explained.

“That’s cool. Tina can come to my house, right Tina?” Kerry was not one to be outdone.

“I’ll have to ask my mom.”

Just then the middle door opened and Tammy stepped out, finishing up tucking her shirt into her jeans. She looked up into Lexi’s broad grin and froze.

Lexi’s smile fell. “What?”

Tina and Kerry came out of their stalls and stopped short. All three girls stared speechless at Lexi.

“What? What is it, you guys?” Lexi searched her friends’ faces, her arms flapping clumsily at her sides. She didn’t understand why, but she seemed to be the only one breathing. The buzz of institutional lighting filled the room, sounding loud in the relative silence. Seconds hovered in the still air, until comprehension smacked into Lexi with a force that robbed her of air. “Oh my God.” The words, ripped from her core, were barely audible on her thin breath. “You were talking about me.” Her cry squeezed past the tightness in her throat.

They didn’t deny it.

The room disappeared. Only three pairs of eyes were left, burning into her. The biggest blush Lexi had ever felt rushed up from her toes to the roots of her hair. She thought her legs might give way beneath her. What if she fainted right at their feet? In a panic, she whirled toward the door, yanked it open and ran from the room.

No one came after her.

Blinking back tears, Lexi forced herself to walk, not run, through the crowded halls. She had to find somewhere private. Fast. She wasn’t surprised to catch people staring at her. It had been happening all morning. At first she’d thought it was her imagination, but now she knew with sickening certainty that it was true. People were staring. Even the teachers, men and women, openly watched her as she went by. Another blush crept up her neck and poured into her cheeks. Now her breathing was fast and shallow, and she feared she might be sick.

Lexi had spent most of the past few weeks in front of a mirror, trying to get used to her new looks. She never dreamed people would see her as a freak. She’d always been a little taller than average, but now she was tall. Nearly six feet in height. She grew so much over the summer months that Grandmother Drier had dragged her out twice to shop for jeans. There were other changes, too. In spite of her time spent in the sun, the long, white-blond hair of her childhood had thickened and darkened, becoming honeyed and streaked. The changes in her face were more dramatic. Her individual features evolved, shaping into new angles and curves she hardly recognized as her own. Even the green of her eyes seemed more striking above her now-prominent cheekbones. As for the other development, well…she was like any young girl, happy to finally have breasts. Lexi liked her new woman’s body, or she had.

Until she realized it was a curse.

                      *     *     *

The autumn afternoon was hot. Lexi was standing at the bike rack in the school’s central courtyard after the closing bell, strapping her books onto the back of her bike for the ride home. Her skin felt overheated and sticky in the humid air. Longing for the coolness of her sleeveless knit tank, she peeled off the light cotton pullover she’d layered on top. Right at the point where her arms were over her head and her face was buried in material, a passing group of boys and girls entered the courtyard, whistling and jeering so loudly it echoed from the walls. For an instant she went still, hoping the noise had nothing to do with her. But then she realized the prominence of her breasts in that position, and quickly pulled the sweater free of her head. Sure enough, that’s what the fuss was about.

“Hey, Lexi! Woo hoo! Nice rack there, baby.” A boy she’d barely known in grammar school leered and wagged his eyebrows at her. “Get it? Nice rack…” The others laughed like that was the funniest thing they’d ever heard and Lexi turned her back on them. Fastening her books, she focused her attention on getting out of there as fast as she could.

“Aw, come on sugar-pants, don’t turn away from us,” called out the brashest-looking of the males, who was tall and broad enough to be on the football team. Maybe he was on the football team. The group continued to move toward her. “Although that is a pretty sweet view. Why don’t you bend over and let me give you a little somethin’ hot to go with that sweet?”

Lexi’s pulse rate leapt in alarm at the thought of their crude eyes boring into her backside. She froze in place, not daring to turn around. From the corner of her eye, she saw a rough-looking girl she didn’t know at all let out a catcall, her face contorted and nasty.

Then a third male voice added, “Ooohee, hot-n-sweet. I like the sound of that.”

“Or better yet,” the big guy continued, moving around to stand menacingly in front of her. “Why don’t you drop to your knees and take it.” He grabbed himself through his jeans and grinned crudely, panting. His nostrils flared and his tongue hung obscenely from his mouth.

For the first time Lexi was afraid. She could feel her breath catch at the back of her throat. She knew her face was red all the way to her ears. She was trapped. She hadn’t unfastened the cable lock yet and she’d have to bend over or crouch down to get it done. She had no idea what to do.

Just at that moment Mr. Cummings, the P.E. teacher, stomped into the courtyard. “Walters!” He bellowed, “Get in my office! NOW.” Body rigid with fury, the teacher pointed the way, brooking no argument from Walters, who scrambled to obey. Then he turned to address the others. “The rest of you guys, beat it!” He was still shouting, his face as red as Lexi’s felt. “And don’t ever let me catch you harassing anyone again.” This time the voice echoing off the walls was that of an avenger.

Lexi was so relieved she was shaking.

Mr. Cummings approached her gently. “Are you alright, honey?”

She nodded, but she had to blink back tears that threatened at the sight of his concern. In the three weeks since school had been in session, Lexi’s friends had all deserted her. It hurt, and it completely confused her, too. She was still the same person on the inside, so what difference did it make that her looks had changed?

She’d tried without success to make new friends, with girls from other feeder schools. But she was naturally shy, and they didn’t know that, so they expected her to be someone she wasn’t. They assumed because she was pretty that she’d want to be popular. They pushed and prodded her to be lively and talkative, pressing her to approach boys, and teasing her unmercifully when she refused. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t make her new acquaintances understand she wasn’t like that. Ultimately, they gave up on her.

The boys were just as bad. Half of them embarrassed her horribly with their interest, some even making low growling, or worse, moaning noises when she passed by. They rarely looked her in the eye, preferring to ogle her ample chest or her rounded rear end. Others stole furtive glances at her face as they scurried along, but ducked their heads when they drew near, and never said a word.

Her sudden thrust into the spotlight was overwhelming and unwanted. Never before had she felt so alone.

“What’s your name?” the teacher asked.

She could barely get it past her lips. “Lexi. Lexi Drier.”

“Well, Lexi, don’t you worry. You aren’t going to have any more trouble with that bunch. I’m gonna see to it, you hear? If anyone else gives you a problem at any time, you just let me or Principal Thomas know, okay? I’ll talk to Mr. Thomas about this myself. You understand?”

Lexi nodded. She just wanted to get home. She hunkered down to unlock the cable and Mr. Cummings stepped away to give her space. As she rode off, she glanced over her shoulder and saw him standing there, watching her safely on her way. He raised an arm in farewell and turned back the way he had come, presumably setting out to give big bully Walters a severe comeuppance.