“Were you talking to Travis?” Diane asked. Ana nodded, screen to screen each phone displayed the same cell number, but Diane’s had his name identified on the contact. “Just wondering why, you would need to talk to Travis on the side of the road?” Diane said as she looked at Andrea and crossed her arms.

  “May I be excused for a minute? I don’t feel well,” Ana said, trying to get away.

  “No,” they both said in unison. Ana didn’t say anything. She just looked at the phones.

  “Anastasia, I thought you were hot. Why are you wearing that sweatshirt and your hair down? You never wear it down after you shower.” her mother said.

  “I was trying to hurry down so you wouldn’t have to wait on me,” Ana said. “Anastasia Danielle, pull your hair back for me,” her mother requested. Ana thought she looked like a prosecutor revealing her secret piece of evidence to win the case.

  Ana felt like slapping the table and refusing. Instead, she asked, “Why?” She was tired of playing their games. Ana laughed sarcastically, put her hands on her face, and leaned forward in her chair, getting agitated. Ana looked down at her wrist, “I don’t have a hair tie, I’ll go get one,” she said. She turned in her seat, trying to act cool and calm.

  “I have one. I’ll put it up for you.” Her mother smiled and batted her dark blue eyes through her navy glasses as she stood up and walked behind Ana. Ana had backed herself into a corner, and she had no choice but to sit there. “Sit up, Ana. What is wrong with you?” Ana moved her chair back from the table and sat up in the chair like she was at the salon. Andrea began to run her fingers through her hair, and Ana felt like she could vomit as her mother pulled her hair into a ponytail. “There,” Andrea said, revealing the red circle on Ana’s neck under her ear. Ana just closed her eyes tight, hoping to make herself invisible. Ana could hear Drake telling her to be honest, but stubborn was a word that would define Ana for years to come. “Why don’t we go upstairs and have a little chat in your room?” her mother suggested as Nellie began to clean off the table. Ana followed them up the stairs, and Diane closed the door. “Ana, come here,” Andrea said. She put her in front of the mirror and stood behind her. “What is that?” Andrea asked as she pointed to the spot on Ana’s neck.

  Ana closed her eyes, “Oh, I got hit by a branch when I was riding.” She instantly realized how stupid that sounded. Andrea couldn’t believe what just came out of her daughter’s mouth.

  “Young lady, that is a lie!” Andrea said and couldn’t help but grin. “Explain that!” Andrea demanded, pointing at Ana’s neck again.

  Ana started to stammer. “Mom, I had no idea that was there, and --.”

  Andrea said, “I am warning you. Do not lie to me, little girl.” She walked away from Ana before she slapped her. Ana turned around and went to sit on her bed, holding a pillow against her stomach.

  “So it seems you’re not going, to tell the truth, so let me give you my version. This is just my hypothesis, mind you. This afternoon, you and your friend, and probably Travis, were drinking at the stables, right?” Diane asked. Ana just looked up. She was not amused.

  “Answer her, Anastasia,” Andrea said sternly.

  “Yes, but it was very little,” Andrea hung her head and rubbed her forehead.

  “So when I arrived, you were around back with Travis doing something that caused that hideous thing on your neck?” Diane said.

  “I don’t want to talk about this,” Ana said to Diane with squinted eyes. She was getting very angry with them, and she wanted to choke Diane for making a display out of her. Diane sat down and started flipping through Ana’s phone. There were no text messages from Travis, but she could see where she had called Drake, probably on her way from the barn.

  “Well, if you really want to know, you can call Drake, Andrea,” Diane said. She opened Ana’s Snapchat and opened a Snap from Travis. It was a chat message that read, I still want you. She showed the message to Ana, and Diane read it out loud, “I still want you.”

  “Anastasia, you better start talking,” Andrea said aggressively.

  “Mom, that is misleading. I am not dating him,” Ana said to her.

  “I want you. What does that mean? Have you had sex with Travis?” Andrea asked her.

  “No, we have not. I promise you we haven’t.” Ana said, desperately wanting to be believed.

  “Anastasia, were you with him the night you missed the exam? Is that why you lied about going to the stables?” Andrea demanded.

  Ana sighed heavily and answered, “Yeah, but we didn’t have sex. That was the first time. Mom, please, believe me, I’m telling the truth.”

  Andrea was pacing the room. She picked up the phone and Facetimed Drake. He answered, “Hello, Mom?” looking very shocked to see her on Ana’s phone.

  “Drake, have you known about this guy your sister has been messing around with?”

  “Ah, ah, kind of, but not really.”

  “Ok, good enough, I will talk to you later.”

  “Mom, don’t hang up. It isn’t as bad as it looks.”

  “Drake, shut up,” Andrea said, and she hung up the phone. She sat down in the rocking chair at the window.

  “Aunt Diane, please, believe me, he has never sent me a message like that. Really, we have only messed around twice, and the last time was for like five minutes. Really, you have to believe me.” Diane just looked at Ana.

  Andrea said, “Start talking and be honest from the beginning.”

  “About Travis?” Ana asked.

  “Yes, about Travis. What else is there?” Diane said.

  “I was just going down there to ride. He was really shy, and we seemed to get along well. I didn’t even really consider him a friend, though, because of his age. But the more we were around each other, the more I kind of noticed him. Anyway, the night of the exam, I was kind of drunk, and I had Brittani drop me there because I wanted to see him. I just wanted to kiss him,” Ana explained. She put her hands in her lap and looked at her feet.

  Her mother shook her head. “Ana, keep talking, and there is no such thing as kind of drunk.”

  “We just messed around, then I came home, and all hell broke loose.”

  “What does ‘messed around’ mean?” Diane asked.

  “I mean, I don’t know how to explain it. We just made out and stuff, but I don’t remember all of it.” Ana was trying to make it sound as benign as possible.

  “If you don’t remember some stuff, then you don’t know,” Andrea said.

  “No, I remember Mom. God, I don’t want to talk about this,” Ana said, clearly agitated.

  “I don’t care if this is embarrassing you. You need to own it. What happened today?” her mother asked.

  “Brittani and I were there, and Travis had to leave. I walked him out. We messed around like before but more involved. Then you arrived, and I just about broke my damn leg trying to get upstairs, and now you're over-reacting,” Ana proclaimed as she stood. Andrea looked at Diane. She could feel the heat rising to her face.

  “Do not speak to her that way. You and I have been down that road before, and it doesn’t go very far,” Diane said as she stood in front of Andrea, blocking her from Ana’s view. Ana didn’t say anything but looked up at Diane and her mother with big eyes. Ana couldn’t lie. Her facial expressions betrayed her every time. “So you’re saying that if I pull the video, it will show you kissing Travis, and that is all?” Diane asked.

  “I’m not sure what you’ll see. I’m not even positive there is a camera,” Ana responded with an arrogant tone.

  “Answer and stop showing your ass,” her mother ordered. Andrea was now standing beside Diane in front of Ana.

  “I don’t know, and why do you care?” Ana said as she sat down on the bed, avoiding her mother’s gaze.

  “Why do I care? Are you kidding me?” her mother asked.

  “Explain Ana, we need to know,” demanded Diane.

  “I don’t know what it will show. He was laying on top of me, we were kissing and stuff,” Ana said. She was so embarrassed; she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against her knees. “I regret it. It was too fast and weird. Mom, I swear!”

  Andrea was emotionally confused and upset. She paced with her hands on her hips. “Ana why were you even messing around with him if you know you can’t date him?” she asked.

  “Because, I don’t know, it felt good.”

  Diane was watching her like she was playing defense. She said, “So, nothing.”

  Ana didn’t understand what she was asking. “What?” Ana asked with her hands up in the air.

  Diane was having difficulty finding the correct words so as not to throw her best friend over the edge. Andrea stood at the opposite side of the bed with her arms crossed. “He didn’t insert his -- there -- right?” Diane finally scrambled together.

  “No, no, oh god, no! He had his hand down my pants, but no, he didn’t put it inside me, we didn’t do that,” Ana said.

  Andrea threw her hands up in the air after hearing that. “Oh no, it’s not a big deal,” Andrea said, mocking her. Ana saw the disappointment on her mother’s face.

  “Mom, I am sorry. Please, I promise we didn’t, please believe me,” Ana pleaded.

  “Give me the phone, I’ll call him, and you can hear it for yourself that we didn’t,” Ana said as she picked up the phone. She dialed Travis and said, “Shhhh, don’t say anything.’ Ana looked at them. Travis answered, and Ana put him on speakerphone.

  “Hey,” Ana said.

  “What's up?” he asked.

  “Mom is pissed at me because she thinks we were having sex at the barn,” Ana said, then put her hand up, signaling her mother to be quiet.

  “She is such a bitch,” he said, sounding drunk. Andrea gave Ana a mean look.

  “I mean, we weren’t even close, right?” Ana asked, kind of laughing. “I mean, you didn’t put it in me, so we didn’t,” Ana asked, worried.

  “Ana, you're such a virgin. You would know if I put my dick in you, I only had my fingers inside. I was getting ready to put in you, though, and fuck you hard, just like you wanted. I’m going to make you scream,” he said. His voice was creepy on the phone. Ana walked to the other side of the room, trying to turn the speakerphone off quickly. Her mother and aunt followed her.

  “Oh my God,” Ana said.

  Andrea jerked the phone out of her hand and said, “No, that isn’t going to happen. You are never going to touch, or see, or speak to her ever again, you low-life.” She hung up the phone. Ana shook her head and covered her eyes with her hands, thinking maybe that hadn’t been a good idea. She sat on her bed and waited. Andrea’s face was red. She was clearly angry. Ana looked at her but didn’t know what to do. “That was a nice conversation. So you didn’t, and I am so glad. But he was going to, ‘Fuck you hard, like you wanted?’ Anastasia, really?” her mother asked, totally irate.

  Ana had tears coming down her face. “Mom, I don’t know why he said that. He sounded drunk. I have never said anything like that to him,” Ana said.

  “Ana, he was planning to take your virginity and make you scream. Do you know what that means?” Andrea asked.

  Ana had tears in her eyes as she said, “No.”

  Andrea exhaled, feeling exhausted. “When you have sex for the first time, it’s usually painful. He was saying he was going to go hard, causing you pain, and you would scream,” she explained.

  “Momma, I’m going to be sick,” Ana said, and went to the bathroom and vomited.

  “That guy is dangerous. Who talks to a seventeen-year-old like that?” Andrea asked Diane.

  “My thoughts exactly. I don’t think Ana knew that would happen.” Diane said.

  Diane looked at Andrea, who was looking down at Ana, who was crying on the bed, hiding her face from her mother. “You say you didn’t, but the truth is, if your aunt hadn’t pulled up, you would have had sex?” her mother said.

  “No, Mom, it hurt. I was going to stop him,” Ana said.

  “Are you bleeding?” her mother asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  Ana then received a text from Drake. Diane was still holding Ana’s phone. She picked it up to read it, “Ana, please call me now, it’s important.” it read out loud.

  “Will you handle that, please?” Andrea asked Diane. Diane didn’t want to leave Andrea, but she did need to take care of this, so she left the room.

  “Anastasia, look up at me. You are seventeen years old, which means two years ago you were fifteen. Two years ago, he was twenty. That’s a huge difference.” Ana heard her mother but was getting frustrated that she didn’t believe her. Ana laid down on the bed, her head buried beneath a pillow.

  “Andrea, you need to hear this,” Diane said as she walked in holding Ana’s phone. Andrea stood up to look at the phone. It was Drake.

  “Hi, Mom. Where is Ana?” Drake asked. Andrea turned her head so he could see Ana lying on the bed, holding a pillow over her face. “Oh god, is she ok?” he asked, sounding concerned.

  “Yes, she’s being dramatic,” Andrea said. “What is it? This is not exactly the perfect time.”

  “I bet, but Mom, I got a message a minute ago from my friend Matt. He heard Travis, at some bar near the University, telling a bunch of guys about him and Ana.”

  Andrea looked at Ana, who had taken the pillow off her face after her mother’s dramatic comment. “What about him and Ana?” Andrea asked unenthusiastically.

  Drake felt uncomfortable saying it, but he did. “That he was in a sexual relationship with Ana.”

  “Imagine that, Ana!” Andrea said.

  “Thank you, Drake. I will need your friend’s information. I will call you back shortly after I talk to your sister, and we figure out what to do.”

  “Wait, Mom, there’s a picture,” he said.

  “What? A picture of what?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” Drake said.

  She hung up the phone and said, “Ana, why are you crying and upset? You should have known this would happen. He’s a guy. They talk, and show, and boast. So, now we have to deal with this and soon.”

  “But Mom, I didn’t have sex with him, and it was Snapchat. I didn’t know he screenshot it,” Ana pleaded.

  “Ana, even if you say you didn’t, I will say it was close. I am so glad your aunt interrupted you, or you would have lost your virginity on video, behind a barn.” Andrea went from disappointment to frustration in a hurry. “You are a virgin, correct?” Andrea asked as she leaned over closer to Ana. Diane was hoping this would not turn into a confrontation that Ana had learned from previous experiences with her mother.

  “Yes, but you don’t believe me, so whatever,” Ana said, getting frustrated herself. Ana sat up on the side of the bed. “Mom, he’s lying, and who knows what was even said.” Ana was in denial that Travis would do this to her.

  “Well, he left that disgusting mark on your neck, that looks terrible. Wake up. He’s a twenty-two-year-old college guy. You don’t think he would brag to his friends about having sex with you, Ana? You have status.”

  “He’s not my boyfriend, god Mom!” Ana stood up, throwing her arm up at her mom, but Diane was faster.

  “Anastasia, sit down,” Diane said with a warning. Ana sat down, taking her aunt's warning seriously.

  “Oh, so if he’s not your boyfriend, what is he?” Andrea fired back at her.

  “We were just messing around. I know we can’t date. He’s too old for me. You're making this a bigger deal than what it actually is,” Ana said.

  “My seventeen-year-old daughter, laying in the seat of a truck with her legs spread for a twenty-two-year-old college guy, is a huge deal. Even if you say you would have stopped him, you probably couldn’t have. He was that close. You are not to see him again, at all,” Andrea said.

  “You can’t control who I’m friends with,” Ana said to her mother.

  “You are my daughter, and I want what is best for you. That doesn’t include people or things that are harmful to you. So yes, I will control who you spend your time with.”

  “Yeah, Mom, I know,” Ana answered sarcastically.

  “Go brush your teeth. It’s time for bed,” her mother told her.

  Ana looked at her like she was stupid for telling her to brush her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Your goal is to make my life suck,” Ana said, heading to the bathroom.

  “No, you’re doing that on your own,” her mother said.

  “That is enough,” Diane said.

  Ana was angry and frustrated. She came out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in her hand and toothpaste in her mouth. “You know, I bet you wouldn’t even be upset if you had caught me with my pants down with some ivy league prick you approved of. Right, mom?” Ana asked, being vindictive.

  Andrea and Diane were both shocked at what Ana had said. “Anastasia, I am warning you,” Andrea warned.

  Ana turned around to rinse her mouth. Diane looked at Andrea. She looked hurt, not just angry. Diane went to the bathroom and closed the door behind her. Ana was not expecting Diane in her space, and she backed away. “You know that’s not true. You are going to walk out there and apologize to your mother right now,” Diane said.

  “Well, what if it is true?”

  “It isn’t, and I do not appreciate how disrespectful you’re being. What is wrong with you?”

  “She doesn’t believe me, and it makes me so mad,” Ana said, being truthful.

  “And how you are behaving is really convincing her you're not lying?” Ana shook her head and crossed her arms. “You’re lucky. If you had said that to me, you would have a handprint across your cheek and toothpaste splattered on the wall, young lady,” Diane warned her.

  “She already slapped me once,” Ana said, looking scorned.

  “And yet you're asking for it again? Now Go,” Diane said, and Ana walked past her into the bedroom. It was empty.

  “She isn’t here,” Ana said.

  “Then go to bed. Goodnight.” Diane shut the door and went downstairs. Diane found Andrea making coffee. “Are you ok?” Diane asked.