1. Chloe’s Confessions Part 2


    Date: 10/20/2023, Categories: Teen Author: LakeShoreLimited

    The next Sunday morning, I went through the usual routine of going to Mass and then having lunch with my family. I wished I could call Gina for some encouragement to calm my nerves a bit, but I knew neither of us would have the privacy to talk about what was on our minds.
    
    After eating, I told my family that I was going to meet Gina and Jenny, although I didn’t say that they’d be right on the street in front of my building. I did not explain what we’d be doing that day or where we’d be going.
    
    I think my family was simply grateful that I had found some friends in my own neighborhood. My two years at the Dexter Academy downtown had been lonely ones, and it was not until late in the previous winter that I had met Gina and Jenny who quickly became very close to me.
    
    They also didn’t judge me for getting a scholarship to a private school while they attended the local public high school. In March I had been walking through the park near the river when I passed the two of them sitting on a bench. Socializing with people had never been one of my talents, and I averted my eyes and was about to pass those two girls who were unknown to me. Just as I was alongside them, I heard Gina call out to me. “Hey, honey, how are you doing?”
    
    I stopped and looked at her, but for that moment I was tongue-tied and I was just standing there with my mouth slightly open. New York was not the kind of place where strangers would just randomly hail one another. Gina laughed and said, “We’re not ...
    ... going to bite! What’s your name, anyway? Do you live around here?”
    
    For a second I considered the girl who had addressed me. She was short and she looked young with her dark braided pigtails. I also was aware of her intense dark eyes assessingme. I managed to say, “I’m Chloe and yeah, I live a couple of blocks up that way.”
    
    “Well, I’m Regina Pucci, and this tall drink-of-water is Jenny Weinstein.” Jenny had one of her usual serious expressions, and I could tell in a moment that Gina was the more assertive one, or at least more extroverted.
    
    She had already decided that she wanted more from me beyond just merely saying hello. She continued, “Why don’t you just sit here next to me?” and she patted the bench to her right.
    
    I sat there and we soon found out that we were all sixteen and in the second half of our sophomore years. Gina tended to make quick judgments about people, and she was usually accurate about them. Later on, she said that when she first saw me she could tell that I was on the quiet side but also that she saw something else, something substantial I’d call it. That made her curious to know more about me.
    
    She had said at a much later meeting, “Chloe, you’re not one of those flashy chicks, but that’s what I like about you, I guess. You aren’t one of those phony girls who seem to be all over the place, the ones who are always preening and pouting and stuck up, the ones who will gossip about you and stab you in the back when you least expect it.”
    
    I ...
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