"No," the older woman said.

"Mrs. Waters, has Grace ever claimed to have been abused by any of your boyfriends?" Carey watched the woman's eyes flicker away.

"Why, no. She's never mentioned anything like that," Mrs. Waters said. "Has she mentioned anything to you?"

"It would explain her sudden change in behavior." Carey said, avoiding the question.

"I told you, it's her friends," Mrs. Waters said. "She thought her father could do no wrong and has always scrapped with any man that tried to take his place, but nothing has ever happened like you're trying to imply, Miss Carey."

Knowing she would never get through to the woman, Carey made a notation in Grace's folder, then closed it. "Mr. Garvey committed an act of assault against your daughter. Both the instructors and medical staff here are required by the state to report any incidents of suspected child abuse. Your standing by and doing nothing is tantamount to neglect, and as head instructor, it's my job to protect these girls. As such, any future visits by you will be done on a supervised basis, and Mr. Garvey will not be allowed on the property."

"You can't do that," Mrs. Waters protested.

"Oh yes, I can," Carey said. "The state, not you, is Grace's custodial guardian and I am in charge of this facility. If you want to visit, those are the rules."

"Can I see her now?"

"She's waiting for the nurse to come up to examine her," Carey said. "She won't be finished before visiting time is through." Carey rose from her chair. "If you'll come with me, I'll take you back to your boyfriend so he can drive you home."

"Marilyn?" Carey said as the sedan pulled out of the parking lot and the door to her office opened.

"Yes." Donaldson said. "They had a few choice words for you."

"I'm sure," Carey said, making sure the car was out of sight before turning away from the window. "I'm going to head back to my cabin and get Grace a clean shirt."

"Taking the cart?"

"No, I think I need to take a good hard run," Carey said. "And we wonder how these kids get so screwed up."

Carey rapped her knuckles against the doorframe. "I brought you a clean shirt."

"Thanks, ma'am," Grace said, taking the cotton shirt. "Are they gone?"

"Yes," Carey said, stepping into the room and sitting in the chair next to the bed. "We're barring him from coming on the property and she can only see you with supervision."

Grace sat up and pulled the bloody shirt off. "I don't want to see her," she said, reaching for the clean shirt. "Can I make it so she can't come here anymore, ma'am?"

"We can talk about it," Carey said, averting her eyes from the half-clothed teen. "Grace, I have to file an incident report on this."

"Covered," the teen said, allowing Carey to stop looking at the wall. "What good is it going to do?" She crossed her arms. "Ma'am," she added belatedly.

"It allows me to have an order issued keeping him away from you," Carey said.

"That's all I want," Grace said. "I want to be as far away from them as possible, ma'am."

"Relax with the ma'am for now," Carey said, running her finger along the edge of the teen's eyebrow. "Nice lump there. That'll smart for a few days."

"Why did she have to bring him?" Grace said, sounding far younger than she was. "Why is she marrying him?"

"You'd have to ask her that," Carey said. "And if she does marry him, you're going to have to learn to deal with it."

"I'll deal with it, all right," Grace said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'll be eighteen in a few months. I'll get my own place and the hell with her."

"That's one option," Carey said. "But it's expensive to live on your own, especially with not even a high school diploma."

"So I'll get my GED," Grace said. "It's one of my goals anyway, right?"

"It is," Carey agreed. "Your kindergarten class graduates in a month or so. Any time after that you can take the test."

"I want to take it," Grace said firmly, "I'll do whatever it takes so I don't ever have to go back and live there."

"Do you want me to check into the SATs? If you do decide to go to college, you'll need them."

"Sure."

"What happened before Instructor Donaldson entered the room?"

Grace gave a mirthless smile. "I need to spend more time in SD. Obviously I didn't move fast enough. The son of a bitch hit me. Knocked me into the wall."

"Is that how you got the bump above your eye?" Carey asked. Grace nodded. "I'll make sure they do an X-ray just to be on the safe side."

"I don't like being in the infirmary," Grace said. "My nose stopped bleeding. Can't I just go back to the cabin?"

"I wouldn't make you stay for just a bloody nose," Carey said. "But I don't want to take a chance with that bump on the head." She took a quick look around the room. "I don't like infirmaries either," she said. "I spent lots of time in one when I was a kid and it wasn't as nice as this."

"What happened?"

"You really want to know?" At Grace's nod, Carey chuckled. "All right. When I was thirteen I went to summer camp." She held up her index finger. "Just once. My parents refused to send me again."

"What happened?"

"Let's see. On day one I twisted my ankle. Once I was off crutches, I fell off the top bunk and cracked a rib. Then I leaned against the go-kart and accidentally put my hand on the exhaust manifold. I was thrown from a horse, fell out of a tree, tripped over a root during a nature walk, and caught my hair on fire during a bonfire." She was pleased to see her story had the desired effect as Grace laughed. "There were one hundred six tiles on the examination room ceiling."

"Oh that sucked," Grace said through her laughter.

"It did," Carey said. "So I know how boring it can be to sit in a place like this. Do you want me to bring you something to read?"

"You mean homework?"

"I meant a book. I have a few paperbacks at the cabin. Unless of course you'd rather do homework."

"No," Grace said quickly. "I'm caught up on my homework and a book would be nice. What kind?"

"I have a few sci-fi and a couple best sellers. I'll bring a few and you can choose."

"Thanks," Grace said.

"I have some paperwork to get done," Carey said as she stood up. "I'll get the books but then I need to get back to the office." She rolled up the bloody shirt. "I'll toss this in the washer while I'm at the cabin. Don't want the stains to set in."

"Instructor Carey?" Grace looked down at her hands. "Thanks, you know, for getting the shirt and something to read and..." She twisted her fingers together. "And coming to see if I was okay."

"Of course I would come see if you were all right," Carey said. "Grace, I really wish things had gone better for you today. I know how much you were looking forward to seeing your mother."

Grace shrugged. "I should have known better. Nothing ever goes right for me."

"That's not true," Carey said. "You're here, and while I know you think this is a punishment, you can turn it into an opportunity to make your life better." She walked to the doorway. "You've already made some significant changes, even if you can't see them yourself. And asking about the SAT and GED shows you finally care about your future." She lightly tapped the doorframe with her knuckles. "You're making progress, Grace. Don't let this set you back."

Grace took her seat in the loose circle of chairs, finding herself between Christine and Instructor Gage. I knew I should have got here early. "Hey," she said to the overweight teen next to her.

"Hi, Grace."

"All right, girls," Gage said. "Let's settle down and get started. We left off last time talking about how to recognize your buttons. Often it is those closest to us that, whether intentional or not, press the most and the biggest buttons. Waters, who pushes your buttons the most?"

"No one, ma'am."

"Really?" Gage turned her chair so she was facing Grace more than anyone else. "You think no one can push your buttons?"

"Not anymore, ma'am," Grace said, knowing she'd just made a challenge but determined to win.

"You're sure you want to go there, Waters?" Gage asked.

"Yes, ma'am."

"What about your mother? Does she push your buttons?"

"No, ma'am," Grace said, looking down at the deep green carpet.

"She never says anything to upset you?"

"No, ma'am."

"Never does anything to upset you?"

Grace hesitated, sensing where Instructor Gage was going. "Sometimes but it doesn't matter anymore, ma'am."

"Really? Why?"

"Because I'm not going to see her anymore, ma'am."

"You're going to cut your mother out of your life? Must be a good reason."

"Doesn't matter, ma'am." Come on, move on to someone else.

"Obviously your mother did something to push your buttons. What was it?"

"I'd rather not say, ma'am."

"You don't get that choice in here, Waters," Gage said. "What did she do?"

"She decided to marry a jerk, ma'am," Grace said, not wanting to use the real name she had for him and risk earning pushups.

"And why is he a jerk?"

"He...he just is, ma'am."

"Why?"

"Because..." Grace curled her hands into fists. "He lies and she believes him, ma'am."

"Did she believe him over you?"

Grace stared hard at the carpet. "Yes, ma'am."

"And you're feeling anger at her now?"

Grace's nostrils flared. "Yes, ma'am."

"What did he lie about?" Grace shook her head, jaw clenched. "Answer me."

"It's not important, ma'am," she said through gritted teeth.

"It's worth cutting your mother out of your life because she believes a lie he told her about something that's not important?"

"He lied and she believed him," Grace said. "That's all that matters, ma'am."

"Watch that tone with me, young lady," Gage said.

"Sorry, ma'am."

"Parents can make mistakes, believe the wrong person," Gage said as Grace continued to stare at the carpet. "Beneath the anger you're showing there's a little girl who's hurting very badly right now."

Don't listen, don't think about it, don't...Grace flinched when she felt the instructor's hand on her back.

"It's all right to talk about it in here, Grace. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter, ma'am." Don't think, don't feel.

"It does matter."

"No it doesn't!" Grace screamed. "It could have been about anything. I told the truth, he lied, and she believed him. Nothing else matters." She took a deep breath. "Ma'am."

"You think that's going to save you?" Gage asked. "Unclench those fists, relax that jaw and you get yourself calmed down," she said. "You have no reason to blow up at me. You can think about that while you do ten pushups after class."

"Fuck," Grace said under her breath when she saw Gage and Carey talking. "I'm dead."

"What'd you do?" Jan asked.

"Blew up in AM," Grace said. "Bet she's telling Carey all about it."

"That's the problem with staying with them," Jan said. "Gage does a mentoring session on me every friggin' night."

"She's gonna grill me worse than the cops do when they got a murder suspect," Grace said, dropping her fork on her tray. "I'm going to be doing pushups until my arms break." Grace looked down quickly when brown eyes turned in her direction. "What are they doing?" she whispered.

"Coming this way," Jan said. "You're bacon, my friend."

"Thanks," Grace sighed, readying herself for an earful of angry instructor.

"Waters, pick up your tray and come with me," Carey said.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good luck," Jan said.

Grace followed Carey to the trash bin where she dumped the rest of her dinner, then set the tray on top with the others. "You can start talking at any time," Carey said, opening one of the double doors.

The sooner I talk, the sooner you'll drop me for ten or twenty.

"We have three hours until lights out," Carey said.

"I don't have anything to say, ma'am."

"Really? Hmm, sounded like you had a great deal to say in AM today."

I knew Gage would tell her. "Not that much, ma'am."

"What did he lie about?"

"I don't want to talk about it, ma'am."

“You're only making it harder on yourself, Grace. We want to help you but we can't if we don't know what's going on."