Cutler 01 - Dawn

heart was pounding.
    "He's considering me, too."
    "That's nice. Good luck," I said and started into the room, but she grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.
    "Don't think you can come here and take over everything, you little charity case!" she cried.
    "I'm not a charity case!"
    Clara Sue inspected me from head to toe, releasing a disdainful sniff. "Stop deluding yourself, Dawn. You don't belong here. You're an outsider. You're not one of us. You never have been and you never will. You're just poor white trash from the wrong side of the tracks. Everyone in school knows that."
    "Yeah," Linda threw in. "You're nothing but poor white trash."
    "Don't you dare say such things to me!" I protested angrily, fighting back the tears I could feel forming in the corners of my eyes.
    "Why not?" Clara Sue asked. "They're true. Can't bear to hear the truth, Dawn? Well, it's about time you did. Who do you think you're fooling with your wide-eyed 'Miss Innocence' act?" she sneered. "If you think my brother is interested in you, you're nuts."
    "Philip likes me. He does!" I declared.
    Clara Sue raised an eyebrow. "I'll bet he does." There was an undertone to her words . . . an undertone I didn't like. "What are you talking about?" "My brother loves girls like you. He turns girls like you into mothers once a month."
    Linda laughed loudly.
    "Really?" I pushed my way to Clara Sue. "Well, I’ll just tell Philip you said so." My words wiped away Clara Sue's smile, and for an instant she looked panicked. Without giving her a chance to retaliate, I left Clara Sue and her hateful words.
    Philip did sit with me and Jimmy at lunch and spent a lot of time convincing Jimmy he should join the intramural basketball program. Jimmy was reluctant, but I could see that reluctance chipping away. I knew he liked basketball.
    "So?" Philip asked me as we started for class. "Have you decided yet?"
    I hesitated and then told him what had happened between Clara Sue and me in the morning. I didn't tell him exactly what she had said, however, just that she warned me against him.
    "That little . . . witch is the only word that fits her. Wait until I get my hands on her."
    "Don't, Philip. She'll just hate me more and try to make more trouble for me."
    "Then come with me for a ride," he said quickly.
    "That sounds like blackmail."
    "Yeah," he said, smiling, "but it's nice blackmail."
    I laughed. "Are you sure you can get me home early?"
    "Absolutely." He raised his hand. "On my honor."
    "All right," I said. "I'll ask my daddy."
    "Great. You won't regret it," Philip assured me. I was so nervous about it, however, that I almost forgot to show Mr. Moore my guitar. I was really walking in a daze when I entered his classroom and took my seat.
    "Is there really a guitar in there or is that just the case?" he asked when I didn't mention it.
    "What? Oh, it's a guitar!" I exclaimed. He laughed and asked me to play. Afterward he said I had done very well for someone without any formal lessons.
    The kind look in his eyes made me reveal my secret hope. "My dream is to learn how to play the piano and have one of my own some day."
    "I'll tell you what," he said, sitting forward and bracing his elbows on his desk so he could rest his chin on his clenched hands. "I need another flute player. If you'll take up the flute for the school orchestra, I'll spend three afternoons a week after school teaching you the piano."
    "You will?" I nearly jumped out of my desk.
    "We'll start tomorrow. Is it a deal?" he said, extending his hand over the desk.
    "Oh, yes," I said and reached out to shake. He laughed and told me I should meet him in the music rooms right after the last class of the day tomorrow.
    I couldn't wait to run down and tell Daddy. When I told Jimmy, I was worried he would be upset that he would have to wait alone for Daddy in Daddy's office those afternoons. He surprised me with an announcement of his own.
    "I've decided to join the intramural basketball program," he said. "One of the boys in my math class needs another guy on his team. And then I might join the cross-country team in the spring."
    "That's wonderful, Jimmy. Maybe we can make friends here; maybe we just met the wrong people yesterday."
    "I didn't say I was making friends," Jimmy replied quickly. "I just figured I could kill some time twice a week."
    Daddy wasn't around, so I asked Jimmy to tell him I had gone for a ride and Philip would take me home.
    "I wish you wouldn't get involved with that guy," Jimmy