We dance our way through about three songs before I catch a glimpse of Amy and Steph still sitting in the same spot as if their asses are nailed to the bench. I motion to Keesha I’m leaving the dance floor, and she follows.
“Damn, girl, you were hittin’ it out there,” Keesha shouts over the music, with a giant smile on her face. She takes the hair tie from around her wrist and pulls her braids into a loose pony tail at the back of her head.
“Thanks. It’s freakin’ hot though.” I’m almost out of breath. I pull my damp sweaty hair off the back of my neck, hoping it will cool me down. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long time. Let’s check out Steph and Ames, they look bored.”
Keesha stops suddenly.
“Not so fast, Meggie, Amy looks like she is having a good time now.” I can hear the sarcasm in Keesha’s voice. “Just act normal though, don’t flip out, okay?” She puts her hand on my arm.
The crowd clears my line of sight to Amy and Steph, and I see what Keesh is talking about. Alex is standing next to Amy, close to her, and they’re talking. I hesitate before I go any further. I need time to think, time to soak this all in. Maybe they’re so close because they can’t hear each other over the music. Maybe he is asking about me, or she is talking me up to him. But, the more I see, the more I realize it doesn’t look like that at all. Amy has her flirt face on in full force. I’ve seen it before, the intensity in her eyes, like a mountain lion ready to pounce. She smiles, licks her lips, raises an eyebrow, and whips her hair from her face with a subtle laugh.
What are they saying?
“I’m fine, Keesha.” I begin walking again. This time it feels like we’re moving in slow motion. Everything else around me is a blur. “I’m good, let’s check this shit out.”
“Hey ladies.” Alex’s friend stops us dead in our tracks. “What’s up, I didn’t think you made it in. I caught your other friends by the drinks, but not you two. You diggin’ your first high school party?”
“Uh…yeah,” I mutter, trying to keep my eyes on Amy and Alex.
“Yeah, we were out their gettin’ our swang on.” Keesha saves me from looking like a dumb ass as usual. “You know, that music is sick. Do you dance?”
Alex’s friend smiles. What the hell is his name?
“Hell yeah. Especially after a few of these.” He chuckles, holding up a sixteen ounce red plastic cup. Gee, I wonder what’s in there. “Come on, let me hook you up.”
Keesha nudges me to follow him. She shrugs and smiles as if to say, “It can’t hurt.”
I follow but am still distracted by what I’m leaving behind.
“So you wanna shot or a beer?”
“Whichever line is shorter,” I blurt out rather quickly.
“You’re my kind of girl.”
I can feel the blood rush to my cheeks. I probably look like a cherry tomato.
Keesha lets out a light giggle.
“Good to know,” I shoot back. “Hey, what’s your name? I don’t think you ever told us and my mom says I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.”
“Uh. So you can’t talk to strangers but you can get in a car with them. Now, that doesn’t sound safe, does it?”
“Well, we didn’t get in the car with only you. We know Alex.”
“Yeah, well, he’s a little tied up over there, so I guess I’ll have to do.” He winks.
There is something about him. He’s a little cute. Not, I wanna jump your bones right now sexy hot, but he is cute. And is he flirting? I thought I could be good at this. But I’m just a freshman and I’m totally flustered. I can’t stop blushing. My face is hot and it’s taking me forever to come up with something to say. What the hell is going on here? I look up at him. It’s his eyes…the ocean blues are just sucking me in.
“So, freshmen, wanna hit the dance floor?” he asks.
“Why not?” Keesha slaps me on the back to wake me from my stupor. “Let’s go, Meggie.”
Alex’s friend guides us to the dance floor, with a beer in one hand, and his other on the small of my back. Hmm.
Keesha looks all giddy, beaming like she is at Disneyland. Does she know something I don’t?
We push our way into the crowds of bobbing heads and find a spot near the middle. It’s a struggle, but I can occasionally catch a glimpse of Amy and Alex. He’s leaning against her, talking into her ear, his nose nuzzled in her hair. She looks down smiling, her hand brushes up against his lower arm.
What the hell is going on?
Am I overreacting? I don’t think so.
They look like a couple standing there chatting so cozy. Where is Lydia? Amy is pretty bold to be so close to her man—she can’t be too far away. And Steph is right there too. How can she act like this right in front of Steph? Sure, I want to be Amy right now, but I would never make it so obvious. The guy has a girlfriend for crying out loud.
Oh my gosh. If Lydia doesn’t get to her first, I’m going to kill her.
I gulp a full breath of air. I actually think I forgot to breathe for a minute here.
My face must look distressed because his friend asks me what’s wrong.
“Uh, nothing.” I lie. “This is a whack song. Just waiting for it to change.”
“B.J.” He grins.
“Excuse me,” I sneer, to what I think is a question.
“No, not that.” He laughs. “My name is B.J.. I wasn’t propositioning—you’ve got a dirty mind, little one.”
Keesha can’t stop laughing—at my expense, of course. Can my face get any more red? I want to be invisible. I can’t believe I thought he was asking me something about…you know. Kill me now.
“My bad.”
“Well, if you’re interested.” B.J. winks.
“Don’t even think about it.” I hold up my hand to stop the nonsense. This guy is starting to grow on me.
“What’s up, girls?” Jen yells, joining us. She starts dancing and then shouts, “Dang, looks like my sister isn’t wasting any time with Alex. Shit, he just broke up with Lydia after school and she’s already got her claws in him.”
What? Wait a minute. Did I just hear this correctly? Alex and Lydia broke up? Amy is not wasting time? Amy has her claws in him? Wait. This is not happening.
“Jen, you’re so freakin’ drunk, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” I snap at her.
“Yeah, Amy doesn’t like Alex,” Keesha yells over the music.
“Well, Alex likes her.” B.J. interrupts. “He’s been feelin’ her since we saw you guys at orientation. The guy’s been spittin’ game all night. She’s the reason he got rid of Lydia…but you didn’t hear that from me.”
I think I’m going to faint. The room…no, the sky is spinning. I cannot believe it. I cannot freakin’ believe it. How can she do this to me? Amy knows how much I like Alex. When I get a hold of her, I swear I’m going to…I’m gonna…ugh. I can’t even think of something.
Breathe, breathe, I tell myself.
Keesha, sensing trouble, grabs my hand, and before I know it, we’re in the front yard.
“Look, we don’t know what’s going on, so calm down.”
My face is burning and I can feel the tears coming. I look up into the sky, willing myself not to let them fall. I take deep breaths and suck them back in. I’m not going to cry over a guy who obviously doesn’t know I exist. But I’m hurt, definitely hurt, by my so-called friend. Earlier, she was talking about toasting to me and Alex, and our crazy sex on the fifty yard line. Now it looks like she’s got the ball and she’s gonna do him on the fifty yard line, and in the end zones. Ugh. It’s not like she doesn’t know how I feel about him. What kind of friend talks to a guy she knows you have feelings for? Who does that?
I take a few minutes to make sure my eyes stay dry before I speak. “Thanks, Keesh, I’m all good. Seriously. Let’s go dance.”
“Hey, there you are,” Steph shouts. “Meg, we need to talk. I gotta tell you something.”
“It’s okay, Steph.” I half-smile
and lie. “Jen told us already. I’m good, but how’s Lydia?”
“Oh.” Steph sounds surprised. “Lydia is so gone. I guess you could say she’s drinking her pain away. She probably could’ve cared less anyway, you know how she is. She’ll be all hugged up with someone else by the end of the night.” We all look at each other and nod. We know Lydia.
“She’s so freakin’ wasted right now, it’s embarrassing. Everyone else thinks she’s the life of the party. The last time I saw her, she was dancing on a table. I tried to get her to come down. She chugged some more and told me to eff off. I can’t even find her now. Oh well, I tried. She’s gonna be in trouble later.”
“Oh shit, your parents are gonna kill her.” Keesha laughs.
“We’re gonna go dance, wanna come?” I need to take my mind off of Amy and Alex. Ugh, their names together make me want to puke, or cry.
“Let’s do this,” Steph yelps, as we make our way back to the party. It’s about time she loosens up. It’s only taken her half the freakin’ night.
We’re dancing, hands in the air, feeling the bass pumping from the speakers like a heartbeat. We’re just goofing around. Steph goes old school with the cabbage patch. I start doing booty bumps with Keesh. Steph puts her hands up and we both slap them.
“Hey, I brought you guys a little sumtin’, sumtin’,” B.J.’s voice can be heard through the crowd.
I see the shot glasses in his hand and say, “Cool,” as I take one.
“Oh, hey.” He gestures at Steph. “You can have mine.”
“No, thank you.” Steph shakes her head. “It’s not my thing, so knock yourself out.” She pushes the shot away from her.
Keesha takes one for herself, we clink glasses, and toss them back.
Wow. That is hot. Super hot. My throat is on fire. My intestines are sizzling. I should’ve asked what it was before I drank it. It sure as hell wasn’t tequila, not that tequila would’ve been much better. Remind me to never drink this again. Ugh.
Keesha must be thinking the same thing. “What the hell was that?”
“Aftershock, you’ve never tried it before? Oh, I keep forgetting. You’re just freshmen.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I scoff. “What, because you’re a senior, you’ve sampled every drink there is?”
“Easy killer. I was joking.”
He wraps his free hand around my waist and pulls me closer to him. He seems to be dancing with me, only. Keesha and Steph dance together and when his back is turned, they’re all smiles and giving me the thumbs up. Okay, B.J. is getting cuter by the minute. Alex who? Yeah right. As if I can forget about him.
“Where have you guys been?” Amy is pushing her way through the crowd toward us. “I’ve been looking all over the place for you.”
She avoids looking at me, directing her questions to Steph and Keesha.
“We’ve been dancing right here the whole time.” Keesha raises a brow at her. “I guess you weren’t looking too hard, huh. What have you been doing? Besides looking for us?”
Amy probably senses the attitude in her voice because she ignores Keesha’s question.
“Are you guys ready to go yet? Alex said he’d give us a ride to Steph’s house.”
How cute? We’re all going to get in the car with Amy and Alex. They better keep the PDA to a minimum or I’m going to poke Amy’s eyes out with her fake claws.
“Sounds good.” B.J. grins. “I’ll go with.”
We all change direction to make our way out of the party. B.J. guides me with his hand on my back again. Hmm, interesting.
The ride home is quiet. I sure as hell don’t know what to say. I hate confrontations. Keesh and Steph keep looking at me as if I’m going to flip out or something.
When we get to Steph’s house—her parents aren’t going to be home until late so we all made arrangements to stay the night there—Alex and B.J. get out of the car to let us out on both sides. Alex catches Amy’s hand, pulls her toward him, and kisses her. Yes, I said he kisses her. That was supposed to be my kiss. That is supposed to be me. She doesn’t even shy away from him. It’s like they’ve done this a million times. Can I say…bitch?
We all turn away quickly. And again, Keesh and Steph are watching me, waiting for my reaction.
“Hey, Megan.” B.J. startles me.
“Yeah,” I screech. I can feel a lump in my throat.
“Can I get your digits?”
“Oh. Uh. Sure. I guess,” I say, confused. Can I sound any more stupid?
“Well, you don’t have to. I just thought it would be cool to talk to you some more.”
“Oh, sure. You just caught me off guard. I’d like to talk to you again too.”
We exchange numbers, he gives me a hug. A hug, not a kiss. And then, they leave.
Chapter Six
We’re all asleep in the living room when Steph’s parents come in.
“Stephanie, wake up right now,” Steph’s dad says.
“What? What? What happened?” Steph moans, in a daze.
“Where in the hell is Lydia? She is not in her room. Did you see her tonight?”
Steph sits up and the rest of us stay quiet. I don’t know if the other girls heard him, but he sure as heck startled me out of my sleep. “Uh, yeah. We all went to the same party after the game, but she was with her friends and I was with mine. It’s not like we went together.”
I can tell Steph is trying to leave out the details.
“Where in the hell was this party?”
“It was over on Cypress Street.”
“Get your butt up and put some shoes on. You’re going to take me there.”
“What? No way, Dad, why don’t you call her or some of her friends? You’re going to make me look like an idiot,” Steph cries.
“Don’t you think I tried already? Let’s go, I want to check this out before I have to call the police.”
Steph looks at us embarrassed, and angry. Everyone is definitely up now.
They leave in a hurry and I can’t get back to sleep. Where could Lydia be? It’s already five in the morning. I rustle around in my blankets, trying to relax. But I’m awake now.
Amy is the first to break the silence.
“Hey, Meg. Are you mad at me?” Amy whispers.
We didn’t even talk when we came in last night. Everyone got their PJs on and went to bed. Normally, we would stay up all night talking and laughing about who said what and who did what at the party. I know Keesh wanted to say something, but I asked her not to. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking yet, or what I wanted to say. I think I was afraid to say anything, so we just went to sleep.
“Last night I was. I wanted to rip your hair out, but now, I’m not angry. I’m more sad and disappointed, I guess.”
I don’t look at her. I stare at the ceiling, all bundled up in my blankets, fixated on the faint signs of brush strokes from the last time Steph’s parents painted. I’m sure Keesha is dying, trying to keep her mouth shut. She is a sweet person, but if any of us are hurting, she is there to defend, to the death, like a mother bear protecting her cubs.
“You know, it’s not like I went after him. I didn’t even know he broke up with Lydia. He came to me. He said since the day of Freshmen Orientation, he couldn’t stop thinking of me…”
“Damn, Amy. Would you just shut the hell up?” Keesh practically snarls at her. “You just have to rub it in, don’t you?”
“I’m not trying to rub it in. I’m just telling Meg what happened. He was so nice and I can’t believe he feels this way about me. I figured since he didn’t have feelings for her, she wouldn’t mind if I took a shot with him.”
Un-freakin’-believable.
“Seriously. You don’t even like him.” I could hit her right now. I really could.
“Well, I didn’t. But you never know what’ll happen. I think I like him, now.”
Keesha can’t keep quiet. “You think you like him. So, because you think you like him, you don’t mind stabbing one
of your best friends in the back. You are such a bit…”
Amy doesn’t let her finish but we all know what she was going to say. “Wait a minute, I didn’t stab her in the back. It’s not like I stole him away. She never even had him. Really, Meg, you’ve only talked to him, nothing else. The only one who should be remotely pissed at me is Lydia. But she was so wasted last night, she probably doesn’t even know what happened yet.”
“You’re right, Amy. He was never mine. And sure, I’ve only talked to him, but isn’t that how it’s supposed to start? You knew I had feelings for him. That should count for something. But oh well…hope you guys live happily ever after.” I turn my back to her and try to get warm again.
“Wow, really? Thanks, Meg, I knew you would be okay with this.” Amy gushes, not even recognizing my sarcasm.
“Karma,” I state, gritting my teeth.
“What?” Amy asks, confused.
“Karma. You know, what comes around goes around. You’ll see.”
Or at least, I hope she will.
We hear voices and Steph comes in.
“Did you find her?” Keesha sits up to ask.
“Yeah, we sure did,” Steph snickers.
“Where was she?” I ask, sitting up as well.
“In the bushes.” She laughs.
“What?” I’m confused. “Where?”
“At the party. You know how Corey’s house has those massive bushes all the way around his yard?” We nod. “Well, we found her passed out in the bushes—freakin’ lush.”
I put my hands to my mouth. “Oh my God.”
“Seriously?” Keesha asks, surprised but amused.
“Seriously.” Steph is in tears from laughing. “She is so busted. We won’t be seeing her at any parties any time soon.”
Chapter Seven
I can’t believe I even rolled my ass out of bed to go to school this morning. Even though I’m on my way to first period, I actually contemplated staying home. The thought of dealing with Amy makes my head hurt.
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