The Truth About Kadenburg by T. E. Ridener

point in time when she had a small crush on
him. It was during the spring of 2001 and she was just settling into the
changes puberty had brought. She felt awkward with her new body and she was
way too embarrassed to ask Uncle Arnold for any sort of advice. He was a man,
what would he know about girl things?
    She was a late bloomer and all of her girl classmates
had gone through those changes in the 6 th grade. Not wanting to be
left out or made fun of, Presley had gone along with their bragging and
pretended like she’d gotten her gift from Mother Nature, too. It was the
stupidest thing she’d ever done, among that high list of stupid things, and
when the time finally came for her, she didn’t want to admit she was a fraud.
    It happened right before school ended for the day and
Presley was horrified to discover the bright red spot on her brand new white
shorts. She waited until the rest of her classmates left the room before she
grabbed for her backpack and wrapped the straps around her waist. She was paranoid
of someone seeing the stain. She was afraid of being laughed at.
    She made a quick pit stop to the bathroom to get a
closer look at what was happening to her, and she didn’t have the quarter
required to get what she needed to prevent it from getting worse.
    She walked slowly down the hallway that led to the bus
pick-up because she was fearful that her movements would do more damage than
good. She didn’t know any better. This hadn’t happened to her before! By the
time she got to the bus circle, her bus was gone.
    “Oh no. Oh no!” She squeaked as she put a hand over
her mouth. She could feel the tears stinging her eyes as she looked to the
left and then to the right. The last bus was pulling out onto the road and she
was there by herself. She was alone. Everyone had already gone home! She
covered her face with both hands as the tears began to fall and her shoulders
shook with grief. She’d never missed the bus before. Uncle Arnold was going
to kill her.
    “Presley?”
    She turned on her heels, temporarily
forgetting her bigger-than-the-world problem as she met Lorcan’s concerned
expression. He had gotten taller over the summer. His arm were bigger. She
could see the muscles flexing as he tugged at the straps of his backpack that
rested on his shoulders.
    “Are you okay?” He asked as he tilted his
head to the side.
    “N-no,” she stammered as she wiped at her eyes.
She was embarrassed that he was there to witness her tears. “I m-missed the
bus.”
    “Yeah, I did, too,” he nodded as he moved
closer to her.
    She instinctively turned to face him fully,
not wanting him to see anything. She gripped the straps of her backpack that
were tied around her waist. “Why did you miss the bus?” She asked timidly.
    “Cause you weren’t on it,” he replied with
a small smile. “I came back to look for you.”
    “Y-you did?” She sniffled softly as she
blinked, clearing her vision enough to peer at him. “Why?”
    Lorcan shrugged his shoulders before
lifting a hand to push his long, shaggy hair away from his eyes. “I didn’t
want you to walk home alone.”
    The walk home was quiet and a little
awkward. Presley hoped he didn’t notice the way she was walking funny. She
was too preoccupied with other things to even realize his gaze was on her
nearly the entire time. Once they got to her house, Lorcan stopped and turned
to face her.
    “Are you sure you’re okay, Presley?” He
asked in that deep voice he’d gotten a few summers back.
    “No,” she admitted in a meek voice. “I mean..I
will be, I’m sure. I just, today hasn’t been a good day for me.”
    “I kinda noticed that,” he nodded with a
lopsided grin. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
    Presley’s eyes grew as wide as saucers as
she shook her head. “N-no. I mean..thank you for offering but I..” What was she
supposed to say? She couldn’t tell a boy about her problem! It was
strictly a woman thing, but Presley didn’t have