Schraff Like a Broken Doll

1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-1-63078-247-4
Verlag: Saddleback Educational, Inc.
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 0 - No protection

E-Book, Englisch, 182 Seiten

Reihe: Urban Underground

Written for young adults, the Urban Underground series confronts issues that are of great importance to teens, such as friendship, loyalty, drugs, gangs, abuse, urban blight, bullies, and self-esteem to name a few. More than entertainment, these books can be a powerful learning and coping tool when a struggling reader connects with credible characters and a compelling storyline. The highly readable style and mature topics will appeal to young adult readers of both sexes and encourage them to finish each eBook. Harriet Tubman HS Series - Accusations fly when a string of thefts hit Tubman High School. Suspicion falls on Sereeta Prince, whose family life is unraveling, sending her into a deep depression. Treated like a stranger by her mother, an enemy by her stepfather, and like a thief by her classmates, she retreats to a place where even Jaris is not welcome.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schraff, Anne

Leseproben

CHAPTER TWO
Jaris pulled into the driveway of the Manley house and shut off the motorcycle. Then he turned and took hold of Sereeta’s arm before she got off the bike. “Sereeta, don’t worry about that girl’s missing money. Don’t let it get to you. Anybody who knows you knows you wouldn’t take a dime that wasn’t yours.” He helped Sereeta off, and then he kissed her. “I love you babe,” he whispered to her. “I love you so much that it makes me freakin’ crazy when you’re hurting.” Just then, angry voices floated from the Manley house. Sereeta stiffened at the sound. Perry Manley was shouting. “It’s just that I’d like to think I still have a wife to come home to, that you’re not in that nursery fussing over the baby twenty-four-seven,” “I can’t believe you’re jealous of your own son,” Olivia Manley cried. “Perry, I need to be a mother to our baby!” “We need to get a nanny, Olivia,” Perry demanded. “You’re over the top with this baby deal. There’s no balance. We can’t even sit down to dinner together. I feel like I’m a single guy again, eating by myself.” Sereeta closed her eyes for a moment. She seemed embarrassed. She turned and hurried toward the door. She paused there and waved to Jaris. Then she rushed inside. Jaris headed home, even more worried about Sereeta. It sounded as if her mother’s new marriage had run into stormy waters already. And Sereeta had been through so much already. When she was in middle school her parents divorced, sending her into a deep depression. Then her mother remarried, and she and her new husband were so excited about the baby on the way that Sereeta seemed to cease to exist for them. Now there was even more trouble. When Jaris got home, Chelsea was in the front yard waiting for him. “Hi Jare. Was she there where I said?” she asked. “Yeah, chili pepper, I really appreciate that tip you gave me,” Jaris answered, jumping off his motorcycle and putting it into the garage. Then he came over and kissed Chelsea on the top of her head, in the middle of her reddish brown curls. “I owe you, little sister. I found Sereeta just sitting there in a daze. I took her home.” “Were her parents glad to see her?” Chelsea asked. “No, they were having a fight,” Jaris said. “If we hung out late like that, Mom would be worried sick,” Chelsea commented. “Pop too.” “Yeah. We got good parents, chili pepper. You know, I think Sereeta is in big trouble. She’s like a boat without a rudder, and I don’t know what to do about it.” Chelsea looked down at her jeans, rubbing at a spot on her knee. She seemed to be struggling with herself about something. Finally she looked up at Jaris and told him, “I promised her I’d never tell, but maybe I should.” “Who did you promise not to tell?” Jaris asked. “Sereeta,” the little sister responded. “I promised her I wouldn’t tell anybody, but . . .” Chelsea’s brow was furrowed. “But maybe somebody needs to know.” Jaris took his sister’s hand and led her over to the little stone bench in the garden. They both sat down. “Chelsea,” Jaris said fervently, “you know I care about Sereeta probably more than anybody else in this world does. Her parents just seem so busy with their own stuff that they don’t care. I think Sereeta needs a friend now more than ever, so I need to know what’s going on with her, okay?” Chelsea’s eyes widened. She grasped the seriousness in her brother’s voice. “Okay,” she began, “when me and Jacklyn were biking and we saw her in that field. We saw her before she saw us and . . . she was . . . hurting herself.” Jaris turned cold. “What do you mean?” “She had this knife . . . she cut her arm,” Chelsea explained. “She did it a couple of times. They weren’t big cuts, I mean like gashes or something, but her arm was bleeding. It was really gross. . . . And then she saw us and she quick pulled down her sweater sleeves.” Jaris felt shaky inside, but he kept his voice calm so that Chelsea wouldn’t be scared into thinking she said too much. Jaris had heard about psychologically disturbed girls and young women who cut themselves on purpose. The hurt of the cuts seemed to ease the pain they felt in their minds. “Are you sure that’s what she was doing, Chelsea?” Jaris asked. “Yeah, because you know Jacklyn,” Chelsea asserted. “She’s real bold, and she gets off her bike and goes up to Sereeta and says, ‘Hey, watcha doin’, girl? Don’t it hurt when you cut yourself like that?’” “What did Sereeta say?” Jaris asked. “She acted like she was scared we saw her doing that,” Chelsea said. “She looked at me and goes, ‘Don’t tell Jaris, okay? He wouldn’t understand. He’d get all freaked.’ I told her I wouldn’t tell. Jacklyn did too. Sereeta said she never did it before. She said she just wanted to see what it felt like. She said she saw on the Internet about people doing it and it helped them, and she thought maybe it’d help her too.” “Thanks for telling me, Chelsea,” Jaris said. “You did the right thing.” “You won’t tell her that I told you, will you?” Chelsea pleaded. “I like Sereeta. When I was having trouble with math in fifth grade, she came and tutored me. Remember, Jare? She helped me a lot. I think I woulda flunked if she hadn’t helped me. I’d hate for her to know I didn’t keep my promise not to tell.” “Some promises can’t be kept,” Jaris assured her. “I swear to you, though, that she’ll never know you told me. You did a brave thing telling me, chili pepper. When somebody you care about is in trouble, the people who love that person need to know the truth.” Chelsea went back to her room, but Jaris sat on the bench for a few minutes. Sereeta was in even deeper trouble than Jaris had feared. He wanted desperately to help her, but he didn’t know how. Jaris remembered a song he heard last year at a rap rock concert. It reminded him of Sereeta now.
Like a broken doll, She came apart in my hands, Until I couldn’t find the pieces anymore, In the pieces of my broken heart.
The next day, Tuesday, was very warm. At school, Jaris noticed that Sereeta had been wearing long-sleeved sweatshirts and hoodies, but the weather had been cloudy and cool. Now the clouds lifted and a hot sun beat down on the Tubman campus. And Sereeta was still wearing long sleeves. Alonee ran into Sereeta before Jaris did. “Girl, what’s with the long sleeves?” she asked, laughing. “I’m cooking in a T-shirt!” “Oh, the school rooms are airconditioned,” Sereeta explained, “and they can get cold.” “But aren’t you too warm now?” Alonee insisted. “I’m fine,” Sereeta said. Jaris walked over to Sereeta. “How’s it going?” he asked her. Sereeta shrugged. “I’m sorry you had to hear all that last night,” Sereeta apologized. “They’re arguing more and more. Mom always said that having the baby would bring them together, but it’s tearing them apart. Mom wants to dote on Jake all the time. Now she can’t go partying with my stepfather like he wants. I’m not sure where Mom is coming from. I heard her tell some friends on the phone that she doesn’t think she loves the baby as much as she should. She was wondering if there was something wrong with her. I think she’s spending so much time with the baby just to prove to herself that she loves him enough.” “They’ll probably work it out,” Jaris assured her. Jaris couldn’t help staring at Sereeta’s long sleeves. The cuts probably had not healed yet. “Sereeta, I know you’ve been under a lot of pressure . . . if you ever want to just talk about something, I’d be glad to listen, you know. If it’d help . . .” “Yeah, okay,” Sereeta said, then changed the subject. “Heard anything more about that missing money? She didn’t find it, did she? I was so hoping she’d find it under the bed or something.” “I haven’t heard anything,” Jaris said. Midmorning, in Mr. Goodman’s math class, there was a major commotion before the teacher came in. Alonee, Sereeta, and Jasmine were already seated while other students were walking up to the teacher’s desk to drop off their math homework. Marko and Leticia Hicks had just finished adding their homework to the pile when a junior—Liza Ann Wallace—screamed, “Where’s my wallet?” She leaped to her feet. “I just turned in my homework and my wallet was in my purse right...