Chapter 27 - Peyton’s ChoiceEvelyn’s legal case dominated local news for months.
Peyton became the subject of whispers.
Some students mocked her.
Others suddenly avoided her.
One afternoon Lila found Peyton crying in a bathroom stall.
For a second, memory returned.
Lila on the dining-room floor.
Peyton standing over her.
She could have walked away.
Instead she said:
“Peyton?”
Silence.
“I know you’re in there.”
The door opened.
Peyton wiped her face.
“Everyone thinks I’m like her.”
“Are you?”
“No.”
“Then decide what you are.”
Peyton looked at her.
“How?”
“One thing at a time.”
Peyton laughed weakly.
“You sound forty.”
“My dad says Mom was like that.”
They sat on the floor.
Peyton asked:
“Why are you helping me?”
Lila thought.
“Because you were horrible to me.”
Peyton blinked.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does.”
Lila continued:
“I know what it feels like when everyone thinks your worst moment is the whole person.”
Peyton began crying again.
“I’m sorry.”
This time Lila believed her.
“Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“I forgive you.”
Peyton looked shocked.
“That’s it?”
“No.”
Lila smiled.
“You still owe me like thirty lunches.”
Peyton laughed through tears.
“Deal.”
Forgiveness did not make them instantly best friends.
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But they became something more honest.
Two girls learning they did not have to inherit the moral failures of their parents.
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