Vein Fire Read Online Free PDF Page B

than anyone knows.”
    Angela sniffled and wiped away her tears, “Really?”
    “Yeah, really. I hurt myself all of the time. It’s not just drinking and what I do with guys.”
    “What do you mean?” Angela looked at Hannah.
    Some things translate better with an image. Hannah couldn’t say it anyway, so she pulled the sleeve up on her shirt and showed Angela the rows of fresh cuts she’d made that week.
    Angela’s eyes widened. “You do that…to yourself?”
    “Yes.” Hannah pulled her sleeve back down as her mother’s car parked alongside the curb. Both girls jumped into the car. Angela politely replied to the motherly inquiry about what the girls did, and the clothes they looked at, but was quiet otherwise. When they pulled into her driveway, Angela bolted from the car yelling, “Thank you!”
    Over the weekend, Angela didn’t answer Hannah’s phone calls, and that Monday at school, she realized why. Exactly twelve minutes into first period, Hannah was called down to the principal’s office. Angela and her mother sat to the left of the principal’s desk and Hannah’s parents sat to the right. The only remaining empty chair was in the middle. Hannah sat in it and let her eyes sway towards the left, then the right. This is a kerfuckle sandwich.
    Lie. Deny. Run. None of the alternatives to telling the truth seemed like viable options. Too many adults in the room.
    The principal spoke first, “Hannah, Angela and her mother are worried about you. Angela told us some disturbing stories about the trip to the mall you two had over the weekend. Would you like to tell us about it?”
    “No.” That was easy.
    He continued, “Angela, why don’t you tell Hannah’s parents what you told me.”
    Hannah narrowed her eyes and looked at Angela. She wouldn’t. She’d not tell them. It would be too embarrassing.
    Angela cleared her throat, looked at her mom, and then focused her eyes on Hannah. “Mrs. Simmons dropped us off at the mall and the first thing Hannah did was take me into a dressing room to drink bottles of vodka and orange juice. I didn’t drink any, so Hannah drank both bottles.”
    Liar! She did drink some. Well, just a sip.
    “Then we went to Time-Out and Hannah went into the back with one of the workers and had sex with him.” Bitch! She doesn’t even know that for sure. “When she came out of the back with him, I overheard him telling another worker that he had sex with her and she…she…put her mouth on his penis.”
    Fuck. I thought she’d left. My dad is squirming. Fuck. Why did I have to be sitting next to him?
    “When we went outside to wait for Mrs. Simmons to pick us up, Hannah told me she does that sort of thing all of the time AND she showed me these cuts all over her arms. She said she did it to herself with a knife.”
    That bitch! I never told her that. Besides, I use a razor.
    The silence was a peculiar soundtrack for a nightmare, and that’s how Hannah knew she wasn’t dreaming. She kept her eyes focused on the white paper dots on the floor—refugees from the three-hole punch sitting on the desk.
    The principal sighed. “Hannah, will you please pull your shirt sleeves up?”
    Hannah doubled over. He might as well have punched cramps into her stomach. She inhaled deeply and straightened herself in the seat, but winced because her cunt still hurt. I should tell them THAT. Instead, Hannah slid her sleeves up to her elbows, stretched her arms out, and turned them palm up.
    Hannah’s mother gasped and Angela nodded at the principal.
    Cry. That was the fourth option Hannah hadn’t thought of. It was as good as confirming that everything Angela said was true, but slightly less humiliating. Tears and snot gurgled out of her as Angela and her mother were ushered out of the room. Hannah’s mother pushed tissues into Hannah’s hands and alternated between telling her daughter not to cry and answering the principal’s questions.
    Hannah was taken home and met the first of many