“Shut up!” Ricky screamed. “You’re worse than Al. Do you know that?”
“I—”
“You want me to fetch coffee for a bunch of cranky old jerks who look at me like I’m a child?” Ricky demanded. “I need a journalism degree, Emily. No one will respect me if I’m just the errand girl. I have to have an education.”
Emily didn’t know what journalism schools taught, but she couldn’t see that it was a bad idea to have some experience at an actual newspaper. “But you could work your way up to—”
“Work my way up?” Ricky’s voice was shrill. “My parents died, Emily! They were killed because some fucking charter service broke the law.”
“I know that, Ricky, but—”
“There’s no but about it!” Ricky screamed. “Jesus Christ, Em. They didn’t die so that I would be forced to choose between taking shit from old farts and taking shit from tourists.”
“But you’ll take shit no matter what!” Emily was surprised to find herself screaming. “They won’t respect you either way, Ricky. They just won’t.”
Ricky had been shocked into silence.
“No one will respect you.” Emily heard her mother’s sanguine warning echoing in her head. “You’re a townie from a beach resort with okay grades and a big pair of breasts. None of those things command respect.”
Ricky’s shock did not abate. She looked at Emily as if she’d turned into a stranger. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”
“I’m your friend,” Emily tried. “I’m just saying that you can get through this. It’s going to take hard work, but—”
“Hard work?” Ricky laughed in her face. “Like the hard work you do, judge’s daughter? Is that silver spoon gagging you?”
“I’m not—”
“Spoiled fucking bitch, that’s what you are.” Ricky had her arms crossed. “Everything comes so fucking easy for you. You don’t know a damn thing about living in the real world.”
Emily felt her throat work. “I’m pregnant.”
Ricky’s mouth dropped open but, for once, she was silent.
“I’m not going to college, either. I’ll be lucky if I’m able to finish my senior year.” Emily had thought the words before, but hearing them out loud, even in her own voice, sounded like a death sentence. “I won’t be able to get a congressional internship. I probably won’t be able to find a job because I’ll be home changing diapers and taking care of a baby. And even when the baby is old enough to go to school, who’s going to hire an unmarried mother?”
Ricky’s mouth closed, then opened again.
“Do you remember The Party last month?” Emily asked. “Someone did something to me. Took advantage of me. And now I’m going to pay for it for the rest of my life.”
Ricky’s head started shaking back and forth. She was having the same initial reaction as Emily. “The boys wouldn’t do that. You’re lying.”
“Then who was it?” Emily asked. “Honestly, Ricky, tell me who else it could be.”
Ricky kept shaking her head. “Not the boys.”
Emily could only repeat herself. “Then who else?”
“Who else?” Ricky’s head stopped shaking. She looked Emily in the eye. “Anybody, Em. It could literally be anybody.”
Now it was Emily’s turn to be without words.
“You don’t know that you got pregnant at The Party.” Ricky’s hands went to her hips. “You’re just saying that because you want to trap one of them.”
Emily was stunned that Ricky would even think such a thing, let alone say it out loud. “I never—”
“You talk to other guys all the time,” Ricky said. “You and your broken toys. You went to band camp with Melody two summers in a row. Debate club. Art shows. You disappeared all day yesterday. You could be screwing half the town for all I know. I saw you with Cheese this morning and he ran off like a scared rat.”
“You think Cheese and I—”