Page 11 of Through the Five-Hole

“Where did you get that dress, Emma?”

I looked down at the dress I was wearing.Momma had bought the sunflower material and had made me the dress as a surprise for my fourteenth birthday a week ago.Sunflowers were my favorite flower, and I’d always wanted a sunflower dress.Momma and I had little, especially after Dad left us, and I knew this material had cost her a pretty penny.I also knew she’d stayed up late many nights working on it after I’d gone to bed.When I opened it, tears had filled my eyes, and I immediately knew I had to wear it for the first week of tenth grade.

I stared at her as she backed me into a corner in the hallway, her evil smile one I would have loved to smack off her face if I wasn’t so afraid of the repercussions.Mom had always told me that violence solved nothing, that you got further by talking.

The moment my back was up against the wall, Heidi grabbed hold of my dress and pulled, and that was when I heard the material rip.

“There, now you’ll have to go get something other than this ugly piece of crap.”She laughed.

I looked down to see that she’d ripped the dress in a place I knew Mom could never fix, and that was when the tears rolled down my cheeks.I feared what Momma would say when she saw the tear in the material.

“Are you really going to stand there and cry about it?”she said, mocking a fake cry and wiping her eyes before she started laughing.

As I looked up at Heidi, at her evil smiling face, trying to figure out how not to cry but get away from her, shock lined her face.Suddenly, she was ripped away from where we stood, and I heard a deep male voice confront her.

“Heidi!How many more times do I need to tell you to stay the fuck away from girls who are new to the school?”

“Ohhh, look, it’s the big hockey player.”Heidi laughed.

It was then I watched his almost six-foot-tall frame get between her and me.He was intimidating at his full height, his shoulders already broadening as he ambled toward her.

“I told you once.I won’t tell you again.Leave the newbies alone, or you’re going to have to deal with me.I’m bigger, I’m stronger and, unlike her, I’m not afraid to hurt you.”

In a moment, Heidi had picked up her bag, laughing as she made her way down the hall, and ran out the door.

It was then he turned those glass-blue eyes on me.“Are you okay?”

“I…I think so,” I said, straightening myself up and fixing my hair.

“She ripped your dress,” he said, his eyes meeting mine.

It was at that moment that tears began streaming down my face.My mother had worked so hard on that dress.Without another word, he grabbed me and pulled me into him, hugging me tight.

That was how I met Colton Fox.

We dated throughout high school,and by the start of his senior year, my friend Chantal came to me to tell me we’d be crowned King and Queen at Spring Prom.

As Spring Prom crept up, so did the pressure of taking our relationship to the next step.So, ten weeks prior to the prom, I’d gone out and got my first tattoo, a present for him and something to remind me of Colton Fox forever.

I lay in bed about eight weeks later, my fingers lightly tracing over my left hip bone.I lay there, agonizing as I tried to figure out how and when to tell Colton about the tattoo.Then, as if I were channeling my mother’s better-late-than-never motto, I’d decided I’d tell him tomorrow.I wanted him to know about it prior to prom night, where we’d planned on going back to his house after the party since his parents would be out of town.

I placed my hands behind my head and stared up at my dark ceiling, wondering how I’d even bring up the subject, what I’d say.Maybe I’d just show him the tattoo.My stomach tingled with nerves as my mind ran through all the scenarios when I heard a tap, tap on my window.

I sat up, hearing it again.I slipped out of the bed and cracked my blinds.Colton stood below and gave a wave when he saw me.

I held my finger up and then tiptoed to my door, cracking it open.The house was dark.Mom’s bedroom door was cracked open, but her light was off, and I could hear her gently snoring.I slipped from my room and down the stairs, avoiding each creaking step, and made my way to the front door, quietly opening it.

The minute I stepped out onto the front porch, Colton was there.

“Hey.”I smiled.“Everything okay?”

It wasn’t odd that he was here.He’d come over many nights, late, and we’d sit up on the roof of the porch and talk, or we’d sneak into my room and mess around.

Tonight was different.Tonight, the look in his eyes was one I’d never seen before.It appeared he’d been crying.

“Hey, I had to come.I hope I didn’t wake your mom,” he whispered.

“No, she worked a double shift, so she’s sound asleep.What’s up?”