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her veins, making her dizzy and warm inside.
    Just then, Rhonda called out, “Let’s go, Alessa! We need to get home.”
    Alessa said goodbye to Carl, turned and ran toward the place where her friend was waiting for her. On their way home, Rhonda asked, “Carl is pretty cool, huh?”
    “Yeah, I like him. At least, he was willing to talk to me, while you were off with that guy. So what were you doing in the woods with him anyway?”
    Rhonda beamed and turned to Alessa excitedly. “Giving him a blow job. Uh, you know what a blow job is, don’t you?”
    Alessa thought to herself: yeah, I have been giving them since I was eight years old! But instead, she said, “Yeah, I know what it is. You sucked his dick, right?”
    Rhonda laughed at her friend’s candor while Alessa thought to herself, if giving a blow job made Rhonda a slut, maybe she was a slut too.
    On their way home, they talked incessantly with each other. Rhonda had observed there was something different about this girl. Unlike the other girls in her grade, Alessa didn’t seem jealous of her or disgusted with her for going off to have sex in the woods. This girl seemed to understand her. Rhonda liked her and knew instinctively that they would become the best of friends.
    When they got to Alessa’s house, Rhonda said, “I’ll call you tomorrow. There’s another party at the Rope. If you want to come, you can.”
    Relieved that she finally had a person her own age to hang out with, Alessa answered, “That would be great! I had fun tonight—after my ass-beating was over anyway.”
    The two girls giggled and hugged and Alessa headed back into her house of horrors.

Chapter Four

     
    G oing to the Rope became a regular weekend event for Alessa and Rhonda. By summer, they had come to depend on each other. Rhonda was generous with her clothes and make-up. Alessa readily accepted all the help she could get to improve her appearance.
    Meanwhile, things hadn’t changed much for her at home. Uncle Danny was still the pedophile he had always been, except that now, he was meaner, because he resented her growing friendship with Rhonda.
    “That Rhonda is trouble,” he would tell his sister, Caterina. “You shouldn’t let Alessa go out with her.”
    For the first time in Alessa’s life, however, her mother’s ignorance and self-absorption worked in her favor. Caterina couldn’t care less, as long as her daughter stayed out of her hair and didn’t get into trouble. But she did use the opportunity to warn her to behave.
    “Don’t you go doing things with any boys,” Caterina warned.
    “What things, Mom?”
    “Like letting them touch you where they shouldn’t. Don’t you come home and tell me you’re pregnant; if you do, I’ll kill you.”
    The thought of pummeling her mother to death flashed through Alessa’s mind for an instant. It was ironic how worried Caterina professed to be about “boys”, when her own brother had been raping her daughter since she was a child. Alessa loathed her mother for her failure or unwillingness to see the truth and for not only doubting her word, but threatening to beat her, if she made another allegation against her Uncle Danny. And now, the selfish fool, Caterina was suddenly concerned about Alessa’s sex life! Although she was only fourteen, Alessa knew that her mother was a nut job, a self-centered woman who would never be able to help anyone other than herself. However, it didn’t matter quite as much, ever since she had found comfort in her friendship with Rhonda.
    Alessa slept over at Rhonda’s place whenever she could, denying Uncle Danny the opportunity to embark every night on his free sexual adventure. She and Rhonda confided in each other, but kept her relationship with her uncle a deep, dark secret. Noticing that Alessa had grown closer to Carl, Rhonda promised not to “do him”, out of loyalty to her friend. By the end of summer, Alessa and Carl were taking off their clothes and making out in the woods