Hannah shuffled over to Jen’s team, staring at the ground, her white off-brand sneakers kicking up rising clouds of dry dirt. The second to last girl chosen for kickball, right behind Suzanne Henry. She swatted the flies teaming in the ninety-degree heat at Camp Hill Crest before taking a seat on the bench next to her team mates and their hairless swinging legs. The other girls were all doing it, shaving their legs. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t like her, because her legs were hairy. “You can fix that,” Hannah said to herself and smiled as her mom’s favorite phrase came to mind. She dug into her pocket and stroked the red lucky rabbit’s foot her mom gave her.
During her shower time, she “borrowed” Laura’s razor. Shaving couldn’t be that hard. The other week, she watched Heidi shave her legs, and it looked so easy. She didn’t have any shaving cream, so she used soap instead. The hair on her legs helped generate a good lather. She held her breath and moved the razor up her leg. By the time the razor reached the top of her leg, it was fully clogged with hair. That’s when the bleeding started, all down her leg. She must have cut herself, but she just kept going. When she was done, she had several cuts on both her legs that needed Band-Aides. She knew she would get better with practice.
After shower time, the girls lined up to walk to the mess hall for dinner.
“Look who tried to shave her legs! “ Sally pointed to Hannah’s Band-Aides and started giggling.
“Too much hair for your razor to handle, huh?” Jennifer winked at Hannah.
Hannah reached into her pocket and clutched her lucky rabbit’s foot.
*
Hannah couldn’t help but overhear as she sat in her bed, picking at her bleeding over-scratched mosquito bite scab. Jen, the most popular girl in the bunk, was telling the other girls who crowded around her, about her encounter with Ben that happened at the camp social yesterday.
“So we kissed, and then you know, other things happened.” Jen smiled and her eyes glowed in the humid moon-lit dark of the bunk.
“You have to tell us more! Did you get to second base? What about third?” Sari twirled one of her kinky black curls around her ring finger.
“Well, he did put his hand up my shirt. He started touching them.” Jen put her hands to her chest.
The girls giggled. Sari, who was sitting on the outer edge of Jen’s bed noticed Hannah, sitting in the adjacent bed, leaning towards the girls.
“This conversation isn’t for you.” Sari narrowed her eyes at Hannah.
Hannah bowed her head and picked up the book she was reading.
“Should I continue?” Jen readjusted her sitting position, creaking the rickety springs of the bed’s frame.
“Yes!” said Sari.
“What did it feel like?” asked Stephanie.
“It feel like being tickled but just more intense.”
“Tell us more! What happened next?” Stephanie wiggled.
Hannah put the book down and leaned in towards Jen’s bed again to hear more.
“Hannah, do we have to move? We don’t want you listening. Go use the bathroom or something.” Sari glared at Hannah.
Hannah’s mouth hung open and her face turned red.
“She’s harmless Sari. Let her listen in. She’s too immature to understand what we’re saying anyway.” Stephanie squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.
Hannah ran away as tears streamed down her cheek.
*
Hannah was drinking at the water fountain when one of the hottest guys in her age group came up to her.
“Hi there. I’m Devin. What’s your name?”
“Hannah.” she wiped the excess water from her face as she looked him over.
“I’m usually not this forward, but I think you’re really pretty.”
Hannah blushed. Devin was so cool. They spent an hour just talking and walking and discovered they both like playing video games and eating pizza.
“Let’s go somewhere where we can be alone,” said Devin as he grabbed Hannah’s hand.
Hannah smiled and squeezed Devin’s hand.
“This looks like it will work.” Devin opened the door of a small shed.
Hannah stepped inside after Devin and inhaled the scent of manure. The afternoon sun sliced the shed’s dark interior as it filtered in through the cracks of the rattling wood door. Her long hair got in the way of Devin’s searching mouth because she had lost the hair elastic she usually kept around her wrist.
The girls weren’t going to believe her when she told them about this. She was actually making out with a boy! Everyone in her bunk had a make-out story to tell, and this was going to be hers. Devin grabbed the bottom edges of her oversized T-shirt and started pulling it up. Hannah instinctively pushed his hands away.
Devin tried again. Hannah pushed his hands away. “I thought you wanted this,” he said while forcefully lifting her shirt up again. Hannah didn’t resist this time and let him lift her shirt over her head. She started giggling when he dove into her chest and started kneading her breasts like they were dough balls. “You like this don’t you?”
She leaned against the cold wood of the wall. “I think we should go now. Our counselors are going to be wondering where we are.
“Are you kidding? We’re just getting into it.”
“I think we should try to take things slower,” said Hannah between bursts of his tongue-in-mouth action.
Devin kept on going as if he hadn’t heard her. “I mean we barely know each other. Perhaps we should talk a bit more before we go any further.”
“You talk too much, Reddy.”
“What did you call me?”
“Reddy, because you’ve got this amazing Reddy red hair,” said Devin as he combed his fingers through her course hair.
She jumped back when she felt him grab her crotch. “Are you red down there too?”
“We’re done Devin.” Hannah pushed him off of herself and stepped away from him, bumping one of the shelves in the shed and knocking a fertilizer bottle to the ground.
“You’re playing hard to get now, aren’t you? You redheads sure are feisty.” He pulled her towards him and squeezed her crotch hard.
“No!” said Hannah as she pushed him away again.
Devin slapped Hannah hard across the face and pulled her close to him again. Hannah grabbed him in the crotch, squeezed hard. She then scratched his face while he cowered in pain. Devin screamed and Hannah ran out of the shed.
*
The next evening, the girls gathered at Jen’s bed to hear another make out story.
“You know, Jen isn’t the only one with a boy story.” Hannah shined her flashlight, piercing the dark between her bed and Jen’s.
“This is going to be interesting. Are you saying you made out with a boy?” Jen raised her eyebrows and flipped her stick straight hair to the other side of her face.
“Yes, his name is Devin,” Hannah smiled, her green eyes sparkling in the flashlight light’s light.
“Devin Russel?” said Sari.
“Yes.”
“Oh my G-d he’s like so hot. You have to tell us what happened.” Sari walked over to Hannah’s bed and made herself comfortable on her Sonic the Hedgehog comforter.
The other girls joined as Hannah told the story about how she met Devin and made out with him in the shed. “We got to second base. He’s the best kisser ever.” Hannah smiled.
“What happened next? Did you go to third?”
Hannah shifted uncomfortably, her wiggling butt made her bed squeak. “That’s it really. We said goodbye and promised to see each other again.”
“Are you sure nothing else happened?” Jen narrowed her eyes.
“Yes,” Hannah gulped.
*
The next day, when Hannah wasn’t around, Jen voiced her suspicion.
“I think Hannah is lying. About what happened with Devin.”
“No way. Hannah wouldn’t lie to a fly. As much as we don’t like her, she’s really honest,” Sari placed her hands on her hips.
“It’s just a feeling I have. I’m going to figure out what happened. I’ll ask James. He knows Devin well and can tell me what he’s like.”
*
The next day, Jen approached James.
“Can you tell me what you know about Devin and girls?”
“Devin and the ladies. What a subject.”
“I’m serious. What’s he like with girls?”
“Well, he goes for lots of them. Every night he’s got some story about how he made out with so and so.”
“So he’s like a player?”
“You could say that. I don’t think he really cares about having a meaningful relationship.”
“Anything else?”
“Well, he had odd scratches on his face the other day. It really looked like someone had scratched his face. He wouldn’t talk about it. He just said he walked into a wall.”
“Are you saying he may be violent with girls?”
“I’m not saying anything. I just don’t know.” James walked away.
*
Jen confronted Hannah to find out what really happened.
“Hannah, can we talk for a minute?”
Jen, who never gave her the time of day, wanted to talk with her. She couldn’t believe her luck.
“I don’t think you were telling us the entire truth about what happened with Devin,” Jen stared at Hannah in the eye.
“What do you mean?” Hannah stared at the ground.
“I mean you may have left some parts out. Hannah, this is important. Did he hurt you in anyway?”
“I I don’t know,” stuttered Hannah.
“It’s ok. You can tell me.” Jen cocked her head to look Hannah in the eye since she was staring at the ground.
“He…he tried to rape me.” Hannah’s eyes started to water as she told Jenn the real story and ended it with her giving Devin a swift kick in the balls.
“I’m so sorry Hannah. Did you really kick him in the balls?”
“Yes.” Hannah smiled. “He ran out of the shed screaming in pain.”
Jen laughed. “That’s so great! The loser got what he deserved. Why didn’t you tell us the truth earlier?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think you’d believe me and I wanted to tell a make-out story as good as yours. ”
“We didn’t believe you when you lied. And your make-out story is the bomb! I don’t think anyone could beat that one. Excuse the pun! Do you know how to fight, like Karate?”
“Thanks. Yes, I’m a purple belt in Karate,” Hannah lifted her head, smiled, and stroked her rabbit’s foot.
“Wow. I had no idea! Perhaps you can teach me a few moves. We need to tell a counselor. We can’t let that creep get away with what he did to you. He could do it again. I don’t think you’re the first girl he’s hurt.”
“Will you come with me?” Hannah wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Of course.” Jen reached for Hannah’s hand.
BIO: Miriam Manglani lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and three children. She graduated with a degree in English from Brandeis University and works full-time as a Technical Training Manager. Her poems have been published in various magazines and journals including Sparks of Calliope, Red Eft Review, One Art, Glacial Hills Review, and Paterson Literary Review. Her poem, “They’ve Come,” was a finalist for the Beals Prize for Poetry. Her poetry chapbook, Ordinary Wonders, was published by Prolific Press.
