"You look surprised," I said after we finally slowed down to catch our breath.
"Yeah…"
"Why?"
"Why do you think?"
"Don't know. That's why I asked, dumb fuck."
Earlier, that would have probably earned me a black eye. Now, I could say anything I wanted and he didn't dare net mad.
I had learned a very important lesson. I wasn't sure what it was, exactly… I mean, I hadn't exactly put it into words… but I knew that it might be useful.
Unfortunately, I also had a lot more to learn… all of it about Johnny.
And I learned it too. Very rapidly.
PART TWO
But of course, I couldn't have told Mary Beth that. No one knew. No body had any idea that Johnny had raped me on our first date… and that I'd come so hard that I made him fuck me again that night before taking me back… and that I'd tried to suck him off as we drove home that night but his cock wouldn't get hard after coming twice in less than an hour.
I'd spent the rest of that night in a kind of dream world. I couldn't believe what had happened.
I couldn't believe I'd acted the way I had.
But… like Mary Beth is always fond of saying… truth is truth, and you can't have opinions about truth.
It had happened… but so had many other things since then.
And it was those things that Mary Beth was talking about when she told me that I was a fool to stay with Johnny.
"Tommy Allen wants to take you to the spring dance, Junella, and I think you'd be a fool to turn him down."
"Mary Beth, Tommy Allen's a nice boy. I like him. We have a lot of fun in study hall. Why ever would I do something mean to him like go to the dance with him?"
"I don't get it."
"Mary Beth… if I told Tommy Allen that I was going to the dance with him, are you saying that Johnny wouldn't find out? Don't be silly. And if Johnny finds out, are you saying he wouldn't beat Tommy so bad he'd never be able to walk or talk right again? Don't be even sillier. It wouldn't be fair to Tommy. Besides, if I try to break up with Johnny, you know what he'll do to me… and I don't need that, thank you."