The Second Covenant

This was not shaping up to be the birthday of my dreams. It was harder than I had thought to meet my parents eyes and tell them the secret I’d been keeping for so long. Peyton took my hand and gently squeezed, tried to start the story, but I stopped him. “This was my idea, I’ll take the responsibility.” He nodded but stayed beside me. I looked at my parents and could see their worry, wondering why I’d risked us all for a prank.

And for a moment I felt bad, but then I remembered why I had done it in the first place. I met my father’s eyes and took a breath. “When I quit the swim team, you asked me why. Why when I had just won State, won the right to be Varsity.” He nodded. “You told me it was enough, you had made your goal and you wanted to take Judo lessons instead.”
“I lied.” He blinked at me and then looked at my mother. In my whole life I had never lied to them, except for that once. “Ask me again why I quit.” My mother covered the hand my father had on her shoulder and looked at me with seriously worried eyes. “Why Cherish?”
I told them.

By the time I finished I was looking at the floor. My dad sank down into a chair and my mother was crying silently. The rest of the uncles and aunts just looked horrified. “Why didn’t you say anything?” My mother breathed, crossing the space between us and hugging me tightly, her hand stroking down my hair. I turned my face into her neck and sighed. “Cherish, my baby.” She whispered. “Oh honey, you should have told us.” I hugged her harder and nodded, feeling the burn of my own tears, of relief. “Who?” The hollow rage in my father’s voice made me look up, into his pitch black eyes.

“Taylor Hodges.” Peyton answered just as quietly. My Aunt Paige hissed. “That kid in your class who was suspected of raping Molly Evers?” I looked at her, at her balled hands and nodded.

My dad leapt out of his chair but I stopped him with the brush of my fingers on his sleeve. “Daddy, we aren’t finished. Please?” He jerked me out of my mom’s arms and crushed me in his own. “Why didn’t you come to me? You know you can always tell me anything, I’m your father, I love you.” His warmth, his strength seeped into me like honey, covering me, filling me up until I was glowing with it. “I know. I was ashamed, I just wanted to forget.”
“What does this have to do with tonight?” My Aunt Paige asked and still in my father’s arms I turned and gave her a slow smile.

I knew it wasn’t pretty. “ Taylor moved back, I saw him in the pharmacy the other day. And for a minute everything came rushing back, I was just so…angry. I decided that I was tired of having nightmares, or being afraid every time some random guy smiled at me in the hallways. His father is a devout Catholic, I figured Taylor was raised knowing the bible word for word.”


My dad still held me while I told them what we’d done, and when I finished, the anger was edged with pride. Even from the mothers. Aunt Paige laughed her ass off and it caught until we were all laughing. I’d left out the part where I’d used the most power, and the guys looked at me with small smiles of thanks, an ego stroke was a good thing.