Free No One Must Know by Eva Wiseman Page A

crossed, her hands clasped in her lap.
    “What about you, Jean?” Jacob asked. “Did you like the movie?”
    “It was okay,” she mumbled, keeping her gaze fixed on the street outside.
    “What’s the matter with you?” Molly said.
    “Nothing.” She shrugged but wouldn’t look in our direction. Molly rolled her eyes behind her back.
    “Your friend Jean doesn’t like me,” Jacob said as we walked down my street from the bus stop.
    “Sure she does. It can’t have anything to do with you. I’ll talk to her tomorrow and find out what’s wrong. She’s one of my best friends. She’ll tell me what’s bothering her.”
    We walked up the steps to the porch.
    “As long as you like me, I don’t care what anybody else thinks,” Jacob said.
    He was standing close to me, smiling, his breath fanning my cheeks. As I looked up at him to return his smile, his head lowered and our lips met. At that very instant, the front door swung open. I pulled away with a gasp.
    “Get in the house, Alexandra! At once!” Mom cried. Without another word, she was gone, the door slamming behind her with a loud bang.
    “Let me talk to her and explain,” Jacob said.
    “No, you’d better go. I’ll speak to her myself. I’m sorry, but she’s been behaving strangely lately.”
    I watched him turn the corner before I went into the house. Mom was washing dishes at the sink, her back to me. “How dare you disobey us,” she said without turning around.
    “I don’t care what you think,” I answered. “We weren’t doing anything wrong!”
    She finally turned to face me. Two deep lines etched the corners of her mouth and made her look much older than her years. “You will not see that boy again,” she said simply before turning back to her dishes.
    Anger loosened my tongue. “You can’t stop me!” I shouted. “I won’t let you!”
    She didn’t turn around, did not respond, just kept on washing the dishes.

Chapter 10

    I stayed in my room for the rest of the day. When Mom called up that dinner was ready, I yelled back that I wasn’t hungry. I was sorry later on, though; the three pieces of gum that I found in my pocket didn’t stop my stomach from grumbling. I was so hungry that I had trouble falling asleep.
    I woke up early the next morning, and the smell of breakfast drew me downstairs like a magnet. Mom was standing by the stove in the quilted gold robe that Dad and I had given her for her birthday. She heaped food on my plate and sat down beside me at the kitchen table but did not speak. When I stole a glance at her profile, sheseemed absorbed in puffing on one of her interminable cigarettes. I knew I had to tell her how I felt.
    “I’m sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have snuck out behind your back.”
    She flicked her cigarette ash into a crystal ashtray and turned to me. “You
should
be sorry, Alexandra. I’m very surprised at your behavior. I thought I could trust you.”
    “You can, Mom. You can. But you and Dad weren’t fair to me. I just wanted to go to a matinee with Jacob. We weren’t doing anything wrong.”
    She inhaled deeply before speaking. Her hand was shaking so much that the cigarette wobbled. “You must let your father and me judge what’s appropriate for you,” she finally said.
    “Even if you’re wrong?”
    She sighed and took hold of my hand. “Listen, dear, I know what I’m doing. I know what’s best for you. Promise me that you won’t go out with this boy again.”
    “I do promise that I won’t sneak around behind your back ever again. But I can’t promise not to see Jacob, Mom. I like him. And anyway, you don’t even know him.”
    The doorbell rang. “That must be Olga. I’ll let her in.” She stood up and hobbled to the door. “We’ll finish this conversation another time,” she said. “Put a couple of slices of bread into the toaster, please.”
    She was back a minute later with our Ukrainian cleaning lady hot on her heels. Olga had been coming to our house for as long as I