He tried to release her hand.
And he was trying to cheat her. They were trying to cheat her. She did not know, she did not care. There was something inside of her, and it was desperation.
"Don't leave me, too," she sobbed. "I just want to be loved. I just want somebody to love me." Her arms were suddenly around him, strong and hungry, and the contact with him was electric, but somewhere in the back of her mind, blunted, a small voice moaned. "Please," she whimpered, her mind almost blank and spinning. "Please, Clyde. Like this. Just like this. When you touched me on the elbow this afternoon...."
He tried to draw away; but her arms held him tightly. Suddenly he put both hands against her breasts and pushed brutally. She fell back, stunned.
Clyde jumped to his feet and started to run, terrified.
"Clyde!" she moaned. "Clyde, don't run away! Don't cheat me, Clyde. Don't leave me, Clyde."
The wind was in the trees again, and she put her head on her arm and began to cry softly. "Clyde," she whispered. (Or was it only the wind in the trees?)
She hardly knew why she came to school the next day; her body was leaden with fatigue, and in her mind there was a sense of impending doom. On the way down the soft, green path, she stared at the ground, and when an adult passed, she was afraid to look into his eyes, lest, somehow, he understand.
She should go away; as she crossed the school ground she knew that, but she was too hurt to go away, and nothing seemed to matter greatly.