There were all sorts of skills classes at Community Promise, too, with an array of tutors, a lot of them teaching them practical things like woodworking or cooking. It was rewarding to help our guests fill out forms or whatever they needed to move to the next level. We’d even had some success with kids ending up getting places at good colleges.
Cady was here, looking teenage-bored and surly, a typical sixteen-year-old pout plastered on her small, oval face that said, The world owes me everything. But there was something adorable about her too—when she smiled, that was. Her skinny frame was clad in equally skinny jeans, and a black baggy T-shirt that dwarfed her. The print was a turtle eating a plastic bag, and, LET’S FIND A SOLUTION TO OCEAN POLLUTION. Cady had dyed, tomato-red, spiky punk rock hair and a few piercings in each ear, with an assortment of different style earrings. Despite the pout, she was pretty, her skin pearly, and so translucent you couldn’t tear your eyes away. And a deer-in-the-headlights gaze, all dark and soulful. She wore slashes of thick black eyeliner that swooped into wings either side of her eyes to give herself a feline look, which didn’t quite work. But she was cute. She told me she had become estranged from her single mom who had moved states. We’d found her a place at Community Promise in one of the dorms until we sorted out a plan for her. Meanwhile, I had enrolled her in the local high school. I remembered what my life had been like after I no longer had parents to call my own.
I gave her a high five. “Hi, Cady, how’s it going? How’s school?”
She sneered. “I don’t know… okay, I guess. Wish I had a mom who gave a shit about me.”
I said carefully, “Well, I’m sure your mother wants the best for you. I’m sure she’d be delighted you’re back at school.”
“Oh yeah? I think she only cares about herself.”
Susan caught our conversation and peered over her glasses. She bustled over to the worktable, where we were sitting. “You want to talk to one of our therapists, Cady?”
“Nuh-uh. It is what it is. I was just telling Mrs. Buchanan here that my mom doesn’t give a shit about me.” She chewed on a pen. “She found a guy and basically just dumped my ass.”
“She was staying with a friend, a girl,” I explained to Susan. “It was Cady’s idea to spend the vacation in New York with her friend—her mom agreed—until she went to live with her mother in her new house and—”
“Yeah, but me and Amy fell out, so it was, like, complicated, even though Amy’s mom was super cool. I think Amy got jealous. Then I had nowhere to go,” Cady said.
“And your mom?” Susan asked.
“She like, bailed on me, basically.” Cady bit her cuticles, her nubby fingers half in her mouth.
Susan asked gently, “Did you try living with your mom and her new partner?”
Cady looked at us tearfully. “I called my mom and she told me I couldn’t live with her until things got settled. What the hell does that mean? ‘Settled.’ She obviously doesn’t want me around.”
“Maybe things might change soon,” I said to her. “Meanwhile, you’re safe here at Community Promise.”
A tear plopped onto the legal pad she was doodling flowers and guns on.
I explained Cady’s situation to Susan. “It was a temporary solution, but then Cady heard about Community Promise from another friend of hers and got on a train and came here.”
“But her mother’s responsible for her until she reaches the age of eighteen!” Susan said. “In every way, especially financially.”
Cady wiped her tears away with the back of her wrist. “I don’t need my mom. I make my own money. I have a drop shipping business and make real good money selling stuff online.”
Susan looked blank.
“You know, like an ecommerce store?” Cady explained. “Without the hassle of keeping goods in stock or owning the inventory?”
“Wow,” said Susan, “that’s very impressive. You’re only sixteen?”
“Yeah. Seventeen in three days.”
I said, “Well, that shows you have a lot of gumption and talent and you’ll go places in the world. You should be proud of yourself that you got this business together. Like Susan says, impressive. Did anyone give you a hand?”
“In the beginning my mom helped me, but now it pretty much runs itself. Like I say, it’s drop shipping so I don’t have to do any packing myself, it’s pretty cool.”
“Can we speak to your mom?” asked Susan. “Maybe if she realizes you’re here she’ll be very worried and want you to come home. Maybe you can work something out with her and her new husband? Or is it boyfriend?”
“Same difference.”
“Well, I can see that you’re a very smart kid,” I said. “Really smart. And I’m so sorry about your situation. We’ll call your mother and work out a solution.”
“I was raped,” Cady suddenly said.
Her words hit me in the gut. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious. You think I’d make something like that up?”
I held her gently by the wrist. It was frail and thin. “What happened, Cady? That’s so awful!”
Susan laid a plump arm around Cady’s shoulder. “Oh, my word! I’m so, so sorry this happened to you, honey. You must be in a state of terrible shock. Would you like to see a doctor?”
After a long while, Cady shook her head. “What can any doctor do? This happened, like, a few months ago. They want a rape kit and all that crap. They wouldn’t believe me anyways. It was like a date rape kind of thing, you know. I knew the guy. We went to a movie and then he… he took me in an alleyway. It was dark. He pushed himself on me and I told him no, but he forced himself. He was real tall and big and there was no way I could get him off me. Anyways, I just… kind of didn’t react. Figured by being like a zombie he’d leave me alone, but he didn’t. He finished what he came to do and strolled away. I don’t think he even got that it was rape, that’s how sick the whole deal was.”
“Oh my God,” I gasped. “Did you report this to the police?”
“Nope.”
I took Cady’s hand again and looked into her eyes.
She shook my hand away, fuming. “Dammit, you think I’m making this shit up?”
“No! I know there’s nothing worse than a woman who isn’t believed.”
Susan said, “We need to report this. This guy cannot get away with this! You have his name and everything? Of course you do, you went to a movie with him. You have any phone calls or text messages we can show for proof?”
“Yeah, I can prove I went out with the guy, but I can’t prove he raped me, can I? It happened so long ago now.”
“When?” Susan and I said in unison.
“Like a few months ago. Look, the guy’s a jerk, it happened, I’ll just have to get over it, right?”
“We’ll help you,” I said. “I promise.”
She looked at me with her teary doe eyes and managed a trembling smile.
My heart felt splintered in two.
Yet why did I get the feeling she was hiding something? Something dark.