Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79587 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 398(@200wpm)___ 318(@250wpm)___ 265(@300wpm)
“I second that,” Mr. Carmichael said.
“And I agree too!” Judy Owens snapped, trying to get the powdered sugar out of her hair.
“Motion carried,” Mrs. Kranst said, slapping the table which caused another white puff of powdered sugar to rise into the air. “Amanda Hutchinson, you are never welcome at this event again. I am hereby instituting a lifetime ban against you.”
“You…you old bitch!” Amanda spat at her. “You can’t get away with this! My uncle’s bank holds the mortgages of half the people in this town. You’re all going to be sorry!”
Grabbing the half-full bag of powdered sugar out of Mr. Carmichael’s hand she waved it in the judges faces, dousing them in the sticky white powder all over again. She emptied the bag, balled it up, and threw it on the table.
Mattie was sure she must be done by now, but she was wrong. As the judges were choking and coughing, Amanda rounded on her.
“And you!” she snarled. “You don’t deserve to win! We all know what happened on Prom night all those years ago, you little slut! I know because I told Luke Hartsford to do it! You—”
Mattie couldn’t take it anymore—she slapped the other woman hard across the face.
“I’ve had enough of your bullying,” she said, her voice shaking. “You’ve had it out for me since high school but guess what, Amanda? We’re not in high school anymore. Being the head cheerleader ten years ago doesn’t matter now and you can’t cheat and bully your way through life!”
Amanda’s hand went to her cheek and her eyes widened.
“Assault!” she screeched. “You all saw it! She assaulted me!”
“Actually, I believe what you did to us could be considered assault, Ms. Hutchinson.” Mrs. Kranst now looked like a very stern snowman—or snow woman, Mattie supposed, considering her large bosom, which was also thickly coated in powdered sugar. “Do we have any security in the building who can put Ms. Hutchinson out of the Civic Center?” she asked, raising her voice.
“Er…over here, I s’pose.” It was Gus, the defacto security guard for the Civic Center ever since Mattie could remember. He must be nearing seventy-five now and his gray uniform with its wide black belt held a flashlight instead of a gun. But he came ambling up to the stage and stopped in front of it, his hands on his bony hips and a stern frown on his face. “Are you gonna come peaceful-like, Missy, or do I have to come up there and get you?” he asked, squinting at Amanda.
“Oh, you…you’re all crazy! I should be the winner—I’m the winner and all of you are losers. Big, fat losers!” Amanda shouted to the room at large.
She stormed down the steps of the stage, her Gucci bag coated in powdered sugar, hooked over one arm, and pushed through the crowds. There was some murmuring but the people let her pass, even though Mattie saw Grath giving her an extremely dark look as she shoved past him. The doors banged shut behind her and she was gone.
Then everyone started talking at once.
TWENTY-THREE
MATTIE
“Mattie, honey, what was that awful Hutchinson girl talking about?” Mattie’s mom had her by the arm as she came down off the stage. “When she said that about Luke Hartsford—what did she mean?”
“Nothing Mom, honestly!” Mattie’s heart was suddenly in her throat. “She was just being nasty—she, uh spread a lot of awful rumors about me back in high school but that’s all they were—just rumors.”
“Oh…” Her mother looked cautiously relieved. “That’s good. But you know, if something happened, you could have told me or your father…”
Mattie felt her heart clench even harder. Maybe she should have tried to tell her parents about the attempted rape. Or Anna. But at the time, being so completely dismissed by the principal of her school had made her think that no one—not even her own family—would believe her! Then the victim shaming she’d been through afterwards had scarred her and made her doubt herself for years.
She wanted to cry but she knew she couldn’t let herself. So she tried to smile at her mom and Grath and the rest of her family as they surrounded her.
“Well—you won!” Grath proclaimed, neatly changing the subject, much to Mattie’s relief. “Your balls were victorious and you triumphed over your tormentor. I knew you could do it, baby!”
“Yes—you finally won!” Anna exclaimed, picking up the thread. “Mattie won!” she shouted to the rest of the family.
And suddenly Mattie found herself in the middle of a big family hug with her mom and dad on one side and her grandma and sister on the other. And then Grath stepped in and nearly encircled all of them with his long, muscular arms.
“I’m so proud of you, sweetie!” her dad was saying.
“You did good and that nasty Hutchinson girl got what she deserved!” Grandma Thelma proclaimed. “But I still say that stuff looked like cocaine!”