* * *
Vanessa and Maggie had just towelled themselves off from a swim in the Rock River and climbed back into their clothing. It had allowed Vanessa to remove from her mind all thoughts of the previous day.
‘That was so nice,’ said Maggie. ‘It’s beautiful out here. And no one around. At least I hope not!’
They sat down beside some clumps of grass and a fallen tree and relaxed.
‘So, is it true?’ Maggie asked. ‘Is your mother really intending on moving?’
‘Yes,’ Vanessa said, feeling heavy hearted again. ‘And I don’t know how I can convince her to stay. I don’t think I could handle moving to another town. And not seeing you guys… and Rex.’
‘I know what you mean. I’ve only known Rex now for about a month, but I couldn’t imagine not having him around every day at school.’
‘I couldn’t bear not having him around. What do I do, Maggs? I’ve got nowhere else I can go. I can’t just leave school unless I have a job, but I want to get qualifications, you know? I don’t want to be a school dropout.’
‘And you have the brains too. Not like me. I’ll probably have to drop out of school, because I can’t do the work.’
‘No, you’ll be fine. Just hang in there.’
‘So, are you going to stop seeing your father?’
‘At the moment, I’m still pissed with him. Especially lying to my mother. He’s going to have to do some serious grovelling to get back in my good books.’
‘Expensive presents?’
‘No!’ Vanessa laughed. ‘I don’t want gifts from him. Gifts are nice, but they don’t prove you care about someone.’
‘No, you’re right. I… shhhh, who’s that?’
Maggie and Vanessa peered through the long grass to see Tucker Pyles arrive beside the river. He placed a framed photograph down on a rock and sat down.
‘That’s a photo of you!’ hissed Maggie.
‘Now we know who stole at least one of them. What’s he saying? Oh my God, he’s praying.’
‘He’s praying to you… goddess Vanessa. Is he for real?’
Vanessa cringed. ‘Oh God, he is too. This is sick and in a really perverted and twisted way.’
They listened in on his prayer, able to overhear every word. They listened to his plea about justice and how Rod had tricked him into going to the rugby game and how it had resulted in him being fired.
Vanessa didn’t know what to say as he rose to his feet, collected his picture and walked away.
‘Whoa, that was just disturbing,’ Vanessa said.
‘Yeah, fancy that guy tricking Tucker into going to a rugby game then stranding him there.’
‘No, I didn’t mean that. I meant the fact that he was praying to a picture of me! That is truly warped.’
‘Oh, I’ve heard that quite a few of the juniors are doing it. Didn’t you know? They’re calling you the Goddess and they’re treating it like some kind of cult. You really didn’t know?’
‘No!’ Vanessa felt like her eyes were about to pop and the whole thought of it simply sickened her down to the bone. ‘You have got to be kidding me!’
‘No. They’re calling themselves Nessanists, or something like that.’
‘That’s severely messed up. I’m no goddess. I’m a flawed human being. Very flawed.’
‘You’re pretty near perfection as far as I’m concerned.’ Maggie smiled.
‘Oh no. Nuh uh, I am way not perfect.’
‘Maybe not on the inside, but definitely on the outside.’
Vanessa cringed again. ‘Will sanity ever prevail in this town?’
‘Doubt it.’