Short Fiction: The Tea Leaves

"The girls I knew in high school fed off me like a tick," writes Mitzi Dorton in the opening of her short story. Find out if all is really fair in love and war.

By Mitzi Dorton

The girls I knew in my high school fed off me like a tick. If they saw me with a cute guy, they sauntered up and tried to use me, while professing our friendship. The next thing I knew they would be off on a date with him. The same thing happened with Mama.

Mama didn’t especially like to go down to Ruby Vance’s place. Ruby read tea leaves,…