Page 138 of Learning Curve

Shit comes at you fast in life, and you’d better be ready for the changes.

“I’m not the bad guy here,” I say with a shake of my head. “She’s the one who’s been lying to you about being sober. She’s the one who hasn’t told you the truth about what she did to me in December. If she’s going to have the audacity to come here, knowing all the shit she’s put me through, she’s going to deal with the consequences.”

“Mom, what’s she talking about?” Wren questions as my dad climbs to his feet.

“What’s going on, Stephanie?”

“It’s nothing,” my mom answers, ignoring every mangled bit of her responsibility again, and it’s enough to push me over the edge.

“It’s nothing?” I exclaim. “It’s fucking everything, and you know it!”

“Scottie, baby, calm down,” my dad comforts as the alarms on my monitors start to get excited.

“Mom?” my sister presses. “What is she talking about?”

Shame and embarrassment fold my mom in on herself, her mouth clamped shut as Wren and my dad look to her for answers. I don’t feel badly for her at all. She did this to the both of us.

I don’t hold back. “If she won’t tell you, I will, Wren. Mom showed up on campus back in December—according to her, looking for me. But you know how college campuses can be, and hah, what do you know? She got lost and went to a party on sorority row instead, got wasted, and had sex with a college student.”

“What?” my father exclaims. “Are you fucking kidding me, Stephanie?”

“Mom?” Wren questions, pain and discomfort and total shock evident in the stark lines of her normally beautiful face.

“I had the horrible pleasure of seeing it happen with my own two eyes, and everyone on campus found out about it when a particularly shitty coed of mine posted it online. I was officially labeled the girl with the alcoholic mom who has sex with college guys, and I lost fifteen pounds I didn’t have to lose, rotting away in my dorm because I was afraid to go outside.”

Wren’s horrified eyes turn to me with concern. My mom has the nerve to start crying.

“I’m so sorry, Scottie. I am so, so sorry,” she says through her tears. “I regret it every day. Every single day, I regret what happened. I regret it so much and I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I swear I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you.”

“I want her out of my room,” I say. “Now.”

My dad doesn’t hesitate to jump into action, stepping forward to gently grip my mom’s arm and guide her to the door. But before she goes willingly, she pulls something out of her purse and sets it on my bedside table.

“I’m sorry, girls. I’m so sorry,” she says one last time, and then, she willingly leaves the room with our dad.

“Scottie,” Wren whispers, emotion in her throat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

When I see her tears, her sadness, it makes it impossible for me to stay strong. I’m an asshole for doing it like this, but I can’t take it back. Tears of my own flood my eyes and flow down my cheeks. “I knew it would hurt you.” I laugh sardonically. “Turned out a whole lot better with you finding out now, huh?”

Scottie

“You come first above our mother,” Wren says. She sits on the edge of my bed, and her hands clutch mine tightly as I finish telling her the whole sordid tale of my freshman year at Dickson. “Always. Don’t ever forget that.”

Dane. Nadine. Finn and fights. It’s a lot to take in, but at the end of it all, Wren is more determined than ever to prove her loyalty to me. I appreciate it greatly, but it doesn’t change the colossal challenges that are left ahead.

“I can’t believe Dane ended up being such a…” She pauses, and I don’t have any problems finishing her sentence for her.

“Asshole?”

“Sis, I don’t even think that’s a strong enough word for him at this point.” She shakes her head. “He ended up being way different than I envisioned when you first started dating him in your junior year.”

“I know.” I sigh. “Trust me, I know.”

“I hate that I’ve been so out of the loop,” she says, and a small frown etches across her mouth. “From here on out, I refuse to go that long without talking, okay? I want to know everything that’s going on with you. All of the college parties and classes and boyfriends,” she says, waggling her brows. “Or maybe boyfriend,” she emphasizes with a laugh. “He hasn’t left your side, and I really like him. Normally the cute ones aren’t this sweet.”

Her words make discomfort wiggle inside my chest, and I look down to where my legs sit on the bed. Her talking about college parties and classes and boyfriends is a stark reminder of what I’ve lost. I’m probably never going to walk again. Definitely never going to cheer again. Everything that’s been my identity for so many years can no longer be a part of my life.

I’m the paralyzed girl now.

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