Saying I was uncomfortable would be an understatement, especially with Jasmine and Adam keeping tabs on Amanda. Amanda and I were inseparable. She stuck by my side, making me feel like I had a girlfriend, even for one night. Jasmine wasn’t thrilled with keeping secrets from her best friend’s boyfriend, even less so because she knew Amanda would blame her if Adam said anything to Trevor.

“Are you sure he’ll be okay with us hanging out? Doesn’t it feel wrong to you?” Truth be told, I couldn’t care less about her boyfriend. Amanda gave me an impression of Trevor, who was controlling and abusive. But what the hell did I know about abuse? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

“That’s not your concern. I can take care of myself.”

“Right, but that’s not what I asked.”

“Ooh! Skee-Ball!” Grabbing my hand, she led me to the one machine without a kid standing in front of it, bowling the round wooden ball up the ramp. The goal was to score the most points with twelve balls. Think of bowling, except instead of bowling the balls down an alley to hit nine pins, you bowled the ball up a ramp, trying to land the ball inside the different point-value hoops, like a dart board. The four center hoops are marked from 10 to 50, with each ring getting smaller and the point value increasing. On the left and right-side corners are the highest point value hoops worth 100 points. I didn’t have any cash. Amanda knew that, so she dropped a quarter into the machine, waiting for the balls to roll to the bottom. Picking up the first wooden ball, she winked at me. “This right here? This is my game.” Tossing the ball up the slight incline, the ball dropped straight into the 100-loop, ejecting a long string of tickets. “Mom was a pro bowler on the PBA tour. She taught me how to beat this game. I’ve never lost.” She picked up the second ball, winked at me, and tossed it up the ramp. She hit the 100-mark for the second time, with more tickets coming out of the machine. “It’s unfair that I know how to win this game.” She handed me the third ball. “Go ahead. It’s your turn.”

“I don’t think so.” I tried to hand it back to her. She smiled, putting both hands behind her back.

“Nope! You get to go.”

I rolled my eyes, wondering how I ended up here with Amanda. That, and I kept wondering about her boyfriend. Was he a big guy? Would he hurt me if he knew about us? I didn’t want to think about it, so I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and did my best, throwing the ball as hard as I could up that ramp. A net at the top stopped the ball from going through the roof, bouncing back into the 50-point hole.

“See? You CAN do this!” she squealed. “You’re a natural.” She punched my arm, but not hard enough to hurt. I still didn’t know if she was having fun with me or just having fun. Neither would surprise me, but it would’ve been nice to know.

Her next three throws netted her 250 points and more tickets than I’d seen one person score in a Skee-Ball game. Amanda let me bowl the next three, which gave us another 30 points. I missed each of the highest holes, the ball rolling back into the 10-point slot. She wasn’t disappointed. Amanda was smiling, happy to stand beside me, hanging out with me and not her boyfriend.

I wish I could say that night ended with another kiss from Amanda, but it didn’t. After the Skee-Ball game, she took me home and dropped me off at Bev’s apartment a little after 10:30 p.m., thirty minutes past curfew. Beverly, my biological Mother, was in bed when I opened the door. Is being ignored better than getting hit? I don’t know. But at least I was safe for one night.

After that night, I never saw Amanda again. Bev slapped me for the last time the next day. Dad made sure I returned to Idaho, but that’s another story.