10. Betsy

Betsy

I couldn't stop staring at Kelly. There was nothing about her that implied she was low income. I held up my hand.

"I have questions."

Kelly scooted back on her bed sideways, leaning against the wall as she drew her knees to her chest. The cardboard creaked beneath her.

"You have nice clothing."

It was literally the lamest thing I could have said, and her expression told me that.

"I need to look put together for my job," she said. "And I learned long ago that people take you more seriously if you look nice. And before you ask, I know all the best thrift shops where the wealthy donate their clothes."

"Why do you live over a hair salon?" I asked.

"It's cheap, and since my job is commission only, if I have a bad month, I can still afford it. And yes," she added, "I need to look for a better job, but it's hard when you're traveling for volleyball games. A lot of employers don't look kindly on people taking time off."

I replayed everything she'd said in my head one more time. "You left home early?"

"I was kicked out early," she corrected, "after my parents came to the realization that they couldn't pray the gay away."

We were both silent for a long moment before she said, "If we're done with this interrogation, I'm going to get ready for bed."

When I didn't answer, she got up and left the room. I sat there staring in space, wondering how I'd been so wrong about Kelly. By making assumptions and judging people by their appearances, that's how. Hearing that her parents were horrible also explained why she'd developed an eating disorder, although she seemed to be okay now. Then again, what did I know? I'd been wrong about everything else.

I dug out my phone and texted my parents.

Me: Hey, how are you guys?

Mom: We're fine honey, how's Paris?

Me: Good, but we haven't left the athlete's village yet. We're just focusing on our games. But after we're done I'll do some sightseeing.

Dad: We saw that you're moving onto the quarterfinals. Congratulations!

Me: Thanks. Hey, I never said this before, but I want to thank you for being cool when I came out as lesbian.

Mom: Why wouldn't we? You're our daughter and we love you.

Me: Not everyone's parents are like that, you know.

Mom: Shame on them.

Me: [ smiley face emoji with heart eyes]

Mom: Isn't it late there?

Me: Yeah, I'm just getting ready to go to bed, but I wanted to tell you that I love you.

Mom: We love you too. Now get some sleep.

When Kelly came back I was in bed with the light off. I waited until she'd gotten settled in her bed before I spoke to her.

"I'm sorry I judged you, Kelly. That was really shitty of me."

"Yeah."

"I won't do it again," I promised.

"You'd better not."

My last thought before I fell asleep was how beautiful she'd looked hovering over me earlier.

The next day was a rest day, and other than a gentle yoga class, the coaches wanted us to relax as much as possible. We all took turns going to the physio room for massages, then a few of us gathered in one of the group areas to watch a movie on someone's laptop.

I was antsy all day, and at first I couldn't figure out what had made me so unsettled. Mid-afternoon it finally dawned on me that not seeing my roommate was making me concerned. We'd walked over to yoga together, but she'd disappeared right after, and I hadn't seen her since. By the time dinner time rolled around, I was getting concerned.

I started to text her but realized that I didn't have her contact information. I was debating going to the coaches when Kelly finally came back to the room, looking like her usual cheerful self.

"Hey roomie," she greeted me.

"Where have you been all day?" I asked with just the tiniest bit of snippiness. "I was getting worried."

She reared back in surprise.

"I was doing something I've wanted to do for a long time. I got my teeth cleaned and had a pap smear."