Free Lily of the Springs by Carole Bellacera

night. Had he found some other girl to take my place? Look how quickly Chad had replaced me with Pat-Peaches. Mightn’t Jake do the same thing?
    The thought filled me with despair, and for a moment, I wanted to shove the typewriter to the floor, jump up and run out of this place as fast as my feet could carry me. This secretarial training wasn’t worth losing Jake for, that was for sure.
    But it’s only for a few weeks, the logical part of my brain reminded me. And you’re going to need a good job if you and Jake end up getting married, with him working at the gas station and all .
    Not that Jake had ever said anything about marriage. It was only a matter of time before that happened, of course. All summer long we’d been doing the things married couples do, and Jake knew I’d only do that with the man I’d marry someday. So, it would happen, and once we were married, we’d both have to work if we wanted to live in a place of our own. Why, I’d just die if me and Jake had to live with my parents…or even worse, his parents.
    With that horrible thought spurring me on, I began to type a little faster, casting a glance down to make sure my fingers were still on the right keys. A sudden rapping of a ruler against a desk drew my gaze to the black-haired woman in the front of the class.
    “Okay, Ladies,” called out Miss Lenora Fines, the typing instructor, a tall, sharp-boned woman with Joan Crawford eyebrows and a slash of crimson lipstick on her too-wide mouth. “Let’s take a ten-minute break.”
    The ultimate Old Maid, I thought, every time I looked at her. I’d bet a dime to a donut the poor old thing was still a virgin.
    The other girls were all getting up from their desks, smoothing manicured hands down fashionable pleated wool skirts and chattering to each other as they filed out of the room on stiletto heels. I moved slower, wishing I had the self-confidence the other girls had. Why couldn’t I be the Lily I’d been in high school—the vivacious, fun-loving girl that everyone adored? Why did these girls make me feel so inadequate?
    When I walked into the break room, all the other girls had formed into their own little groups and were already engrossed in conversations. I wandered over to the big stainless steel urn of coffee, not really wanting any, but feeling like I needed to find something to do with my hands so I wouldn’t look like a total idiot. Besides, maybe the hot liquid would feel good on my increasingly sore throat.
    Someone had brought in doughnuts, I noticed, as the dispenser gurgled black, military-strength coffee into my paper cup. They were big and greasy-looking, but I decided to try one, anyway. Maybe a doughnut would get the taste of Mother’s fried apple pies out of my brain. I grabbed one in a napkin and headed over to my favorite spot by the window that looked out over the Ohio River. Munching on the doughnut, I stared at the river, half-listening to the conversation of the nearest group of girls discussing the movies they’d seen the past weekend.
    “You’ve got to go see ‘Monkey Business,’ Susie. Marilyn’s hairstyle is just crazy ! I’ve already made an appointment with my beautician, and I’m taking in her picture from the latest Photoplay . Do you think I should go blonder?”
    I took a sip of bitter coffee. Now, here was the perfect opportunity to go over to those girls and get to know them. Aunt Jenny had taken me to the matinee on Saturday, and we’d seen that very movie. I hadn’t particularly thought Marilyn’s shorter hairstyle was all that attractive, but I could pretend I’d liked it. Making friends here would be worth one little white lie.
    I swallowed the bite of doughnut I’d just taken, resolving to do just that. But just as I took a step toward the girls--all of them beautiful, three of them blonde, one, a redhead--the room began to tilt and shrink in size. My blood pounded in my ears and an unnatural heat ignited deep within my body like a wood