by Megan Sparks
“Maybe they won’t notice us,” said Annie.
“Too late,” said Sue, motioning with her drink can. “They already have. And they’re coming this way.”
Holly gulped down the mouthful of pizza she’d just taken and turned a glowing smile at the boys.
“Hey,” said Chad, his dark eyes sliding over Holly appreciatively. “It’s the music fans.”
“We just came down for a slice of pepperoni,” said Todd, glancing around the room. “But what’s with all the high school girls? Are we under attack?”
He had directed his question to Annie. She was going to have to think fast.
“Um ... yeah,” she stammered. “I think they’re here for some kind of sports camp.”
Chad surveyed the room. “Cheerleading maybe?”
“No!” snapped Annie. “Definitely not cheerleading.”
“Roller derby,” said Holly. “I, uh, I was talking to one of them when I was in line for pizza.”
Annie braced herself, waiting for the boys to make some negative remark about roller derby, but no such comment was made.
“We were just studying upstairs and came down for a bite,” Eve fibbed. “We were as shocked as you were when we found the whole place crawling with youngsters.”
Annie shot her a look. Youngsters? Really?
But Todd and Chad clearly thought she was making a joke and laughed.
“Well, I’m getting out of here,” said Todd. “High school girls are jail bait.”
Annie had no idea what that meant, but since Chad laughed, she laughed too. So did Holly and the others.
“Hey,” said Chad, moving closer to Holly. “Our frat house is throwing a rager later on tonight.”
Another term with which Annie was unfamiliar. “Rager?” she echoed.
“Yeah, it’s gonna be huge,” Todd informed her. “Live band, big dance floor, twenty kegs, and all the jello shots you can handle.”
“Oh.” Annie stiffened. She did not like the definition of “rager” at all.
“So...” Chad gave Holly a seductive look, then nodded towards Annie. “How about when you and your leggy friend here are finished chaperoning this Brownie meeting, you come on over to Fraternity Row and join us?”
There was something about his voice that made Annie very nervous. She opened her mouth to decline on behalf of the group, but Holly was quicker off the block.
“That sounds awesome!”
“Great,” said Todd, then leaned down to whisper in Annie’s ear. “I’ve never hooked up with an Econ major before. Maybe you and I can fix that tonight.”
Annie couldn’t think of anything she’d rather do less.
But Holly clearly felt differently. “Just let us know what time,” she said as smoothly as if she made plans to party with college guys every day. “We’ll meet you there.”
“Perfect.” Chad told her the name of his fraternity and that she should show up around eleven.
Todd actually winked at Annie before he turned to leave. Wow. This guy could give Tyler lessons in cockiness! She had thought Todd was cute when she met him in the café, but now she realized he was just an older, more arrogant version of the boy she’d recently split up with. She wouldn’t dance with him if he were the last World History major on earth!
“He seems to have a thing for you, Legs,” Luna observed.
“Not interested,” said Annie, then turned to give Holly a hard look. “You’re not serious about attending this frat party, are you?”
“Why not?”
“Well, first of all, the coaches forbade us from even setting foot on Fraternity Row. They said it was dangerous. And second of all, did you hear the party menu? Booze, booze, and more booze.”
“We don’t have to actually drink any of it,” said Holly. “We can just dance and have fun.” She glanced around the group with a hopeful expression. “You guys in?”
There was an awkward silence.
“Technically,” said Sue, “only you and Annie were invited.”
“It’s a frat party, not a cotillion,” Holly laughed. “I don’t think you need a formal invitation.”
Sue shrugged. “It really doesn’t sound like my thing.”
“It totally sounds like my thing,” said Luna, “but I spent half of last semester grounded for sneaking in after midnight. The last thing I need is to get caught at a frat party. My folks’ll hold me prisoner in my room until graduation.”
The others made similar excuses, citing sore muscles, unpacked suitcases and long journeys home in the morning. But Annie saw right through these alibis. They all knew the frat party was a bad idea and they didn’t want any part of it. They were just as scared as she was.
“Well, we’ve got until eleven o’clock to decide,” said Holly breezily, munching her pizza crust. “Let’s make a decision then.”
With that, the girls returned to the business of gathering phone numbers, email addresses, and Twitter names. But Annie was uneasy. She hoped by the time the farewell party was over and eleven o’clock rolled around, Holly would come to her senses and decide to blow off the frat party.
She managed to choke down a couple of sliders and half a piece of veggie pizza, but even the good food didn’t make her feel better.
If Holly was determined to attend that party Annie knew there was no way she was going to stop her.
And that didn’t seem like a good idea at all.
* * *
At ten thirty, the farewell dinner ended and the campers headed back to their dorm. The others went inside, but Holly kept walking in the direction of the frat houses. She paused when she realized Annie was no longer beside her.
Holly turned to eye Annie, who was standing fretfully on the path.
“You’re coming with me to the party, aren’t you?” asked Holly.
Annie glanced back towards the dormitory. “To be honest, I don’t really want to. I think it’s risky. Those boys are strangers. And they don’t know we’re – ...” she bit her lip, trying to remember Todd’s phrase – “jail bait.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “We’ll be fine,” she assured Annie.
“What if we get caught?”
“So what?” said Holly with a shrug. “What are they gonna do? Send us home? Camp’s over. We’re leaving tomorrow anyway.” She backtracked along the path, and took Annie’s hand. “Please, Annie. I really like Chad. I’m never going to meet a boy that cool in Liberty Heights. After all the hard work this week, we deserve to have some fun. I’ll just dance and flirt a little.”
Annie sighed. Holly was making it sound harmless. And didn’t Annie owe it to her to go along? After all, Holly had stood up to Dee on Annie’s behalf. They were teammates, and teammates stuck together, no matter what. Coach Ritter’s words echoed in her head: “If you let your teammate down, you let yourself down.”
“Think of how impressed Lauren and Liz and Sharmila will be when we tell them we actually went to a frat party!” Holly coaxed. “And I’m sure Jesse will think it’s the coolest thing ever.”
Annie did like the idea of Jesse knowing she’d done something slightly wild. After all, what good was listening to all those punk rock anthems she loved so much, if she wasn’t going to go a little crazy when she got the chance?
“One hour,” Annie said at last. “We leave at midnight on the dot.”
“Just like Cinderella,” Holly laughed.
“Right,” grumbled Annie, following along as Holly tugged her down the path towards Fraternity Row. Secretly, though, she had the feeling that if Cinderella had been invited to the ball by a frat boy instead of a charming prince, she would have kicked off her glass slippers and stayed at home!
Chapter Sixteen
Omega Alpha house was easy to find. Every light in the place was on and music blared from the open doors and windows.
Holly quickened her step when she saw it, but Annie wanted to turn and bolt.
“One hour,” Holly reassured her, dragging her onward.
; College kids streamed in and out of the enormous Victorian house. Boys and girls clung to each other, kissing on the front porch or pressed up against tree trunks. Annie could actually smell the beer from the pavement!
What had she got herself into?
Holly seemed to have no such worries. She pulled Annie up the front steps, skipping over a guy who was passed out cold, and into the crowded house.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Holly shouted over the din.
Annie had to admit, the energy was infectious. The band was rocking hard and beautiful people were dancing together under a strobe light. Everyone looked happy and carefree. Maybe if she relaxed a little, she’d actually have fun.
“Let’s find the keg,” Holly suggested. “That’s probably where Chad is.”
Well, that certainly seemed like sound reasoning to Annie. She pushed her way through the crowd behind Holly, tightly grasping her friend’s sleeve. They found the keg in what must have been the dining room of the old house. A girl was doing a handstand on it and her friends were cheering her on.
One of those friends was Chad.
“You made it!” he cried when he spotted them. Annie took some comfort in the fact that he seemed genuinely glad to see them.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Holly replied.
“Need a drink?”
Annie shook her head. She knew the legal drinking age was twenty-one in the US. She’d broken camp rules by coming to the party on Fraternity Row; she didn’t want to tempt fate by breaking the law as well.
But Holly nodded, and accepted the red cup he handed her. She held it under the tap and let him fill it up. Annie was glad about that too – she’d heard about boys slipping drugs into girls’ drinks at parties. As long as she saw the beer coming out of the keg, she could be sure it wasn’t tainted.
Holly raised her cup, then slugged back half of it in one gulp.
“Woah! This girl can party!” said Chad.
Holly beamed and finished the beer. When Chad offered her a refill, Annie expected Holly to decline. But Holly held out the cup and let him fill it up again.
“What are you doing?” Annie whispered frantically.
“Don’t be such a baby,” said Holly. “It’s a party. When I get a buzz, I’ll stop.”
Annie was pretty sure that wasn’t how it worked. She suspected that drunkenness sneaked up on a person – so it was more likely that Holly would be well past “buzzed” before she even realized it. Especially if she kept knocking back drinks in one gulp, like she had with that first one.
And the second.
And the third.
Chad kept pouring and Holly kept drinking.
And Annie kept panicking.
“Sure you don’t want one?” Chad asked, offering Annie an empty cup.
“No thanks,” said Annie, firmly. “And I think Holly should slow down.”
Chad rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” Then he grabbed Holly’s hand and pulled her onto the dance floor, leaving Annie by the keg to stare after them.
“Hey, there, Econ!” came a familiar voice in her ear. “Wanna dance?”
Annie didn’t. Not even a little bit. On the other hand, she’d be better able to keep an eye on Holly if she was on the dance floor too, so she forced a smile and followed Todd into the mass of writhing bodies.
He immediately pulled her close, and began swaying to the music. She could smell alcohol on his breath and he was sweating more than Annie did after a bout.
Gross.
Holly and Chad were grinding together now. Annie was sure Holly wouldn’t be rubbing herself against a stranger if she hadn’t drank so much, so fast.
Annie nearly jumped out of her skin when Todd suddenly pressed his hips to hers and began to rotate them, mimicking Chad and Holly’s movements.
“Stop that!” Annie hissed, pushing away from him.
“Jeez.” Todd gave her a condescending look. “Uptight much?”
In the next second, Annie felt an ice-cold splash on the back of her neck.
She squealed and jumped, swivelling round to see that a girl in a micro-mini had just spilled an entire cup of beer down her back.
“Ohmygodohmygodohmygodsorrysorrysorry,” the girl slurred. “That was totally an ax ... ax...”
“An accident?” Annie supplied tersely.
“Yes. An ax-i-dent!” The girl let out a sloppy laugh, then stumbled off towards the keg to replace her spilled drink.
Annie turned to Todd, who seemed to be trying not to crack up. “I’m going to dry off,” she said, then pushed her way through the dancing couples in search of a towel.
After a few wrong turns she found the frat house kitchen. It was beyond grungy, but there was a roll of paper towels beside the mildewed sink. She gathered up a handful and awkwardly contorted herself as she tried to press them to the back of her shirt.
A girl with an undercut hairstyle and a Muse T-shirt came into the kitchen. “You look like you could use a hand,” she said, chuckling.
Annie gratefully accepted her help. The girl soaked up the liquid from the back of Annie’s shirt and tossed the wet paper towels in an overflowing bin.
“There. You don’t look like a wet T-shirt contestant any more,” she said with a grin. “I’m Sasha, by the way.”
“I’m Annie. This is my first frat party,” Annie admitted. “I think it might also be my last.”
“Frat parties aren’t really my thing either,” Sasha said. “But I promised my friend Mark I’d stop by. Luckily there’s always plenty of other cool stuff happening on campus.” She gave Annie an appraising look. “Are you a foreign exchange student?”
“No,” Annie said. “I’m from London originally but I live here now.”
Sasha sighed enviously. “God, London sounds so cool. I want to do my junior abroad at a university in London.”
Sasha asked Annie loads of questions about London, which Annie was only too happy to answer. She loved talking about the city she’d grown up in, especially to someone so bright and well-informed. Eventually the conversation turned to music. It turned out that they liked loads of the same bands.
“Hey,” said Sasha, “I’m going to check out my friend’s band at Ziggy’s later. Want to come with?”
“I wish I could,” Annie said. “But I’d better get back to my friend. We came here together.”
Annie said goodbye to her new friend and made her way back to the dance floor. Not surprisingly, in her absence Todd had found himself another dance partner. That didn’t bother her, but her stomach flipped over when she realized that Holly and Chad were nowhere to be seen.
Pushing down the swell of panic in her chest, she approached Todd and tapped him on the shoulder.
He turned his bleary eyes to her and gave her a silly grin. “Wanna dance?”
“No, I don’t. I want to find my friend.”
“Oh ... you mean the little redheaded hottie who was mackin’ it with Chad?”
Annie frowned. “Yeah. Her.”
Todd drunkenly nuzzled his dance partner’s ear, then turned back to Annie. “He probably took her upstairs. Knowing Chad, they’re gonna be a while.” He waggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
Annie felt a chill run up her spine. This was not good. Even if Holly had been sober, heading upstairs in a frat house with a boy she barely knew would be a bad idea! The fact that she was wasted made it exponentially worse. A thousand horror stories ran through Annie’s mind.
She shoved Todd out of her way and shouldered through the crowd once again, this time heading for the stairs that led to the fraternity brothers’ bedrooms.
It was the last place in the world she wanted to go.
But it was the only place she needed to be.
Heart racing, Annie made her way up the stairs. Girls snapped at her, assuming she was skipping the queue for the toilet. She ignored them and kept climbing. On the second floor, she found a long hallway of doors – all of them closed!
Damn, she thought. Am I going
to have to knock on all of them? She was furious with Holly even as she feared for her friend’s safety. She knew “Holly Terror” liked to act as though she were a lot more sophisticated than most girls their age, but Annie suspected that underneath the facade she was probably just as naive as the rest of them.
Drunk and alone in a dark room with a frat boy, Holly would be just as vulnerable as Annie herself would be.
She pressed her ear to the first door and heard heavy breathing and the squeaking of bed springs.
“I’m going to be sick,” Annie whispered to herself. She was about to pound on the door when heard a muffled voice calling out the name Emily from the other side.
Annie hurried down the hall to the next door. She mustered her courage and knocked. Two seconds later, a scowling boy flung the door open.
“What?” he demanded. He pulled foam ear plugs out of his ears.
“I-I’m sorry. I was looking for Holly.”
“Holly?” The boy’s eyes flashed with irritation. “I don’t know anyone named Holly. And if you don’t mind, I’m trying to study here, because I have a physics exam on Monday morning!” He slammed the door in her face.
Annie moved to the next door, unsure what to do.
Luckily, at that moment, a boy came out of the bathroom. He had a friendly, open face and wore an Omega Alpha T-shirt.
Annie approached him. “Excuse me...”
“Hi,” he said. “You lost?”
More than you know, Annie thought. She took a deep breath. “Can you tell me which room is Chad’s?”
The boy frowned, momentarily confused. “Chad Davis? Or Chad Bartonelli?” He scratched his chin.
Annie had no idea. Desperately, she tried to recall if he’d ever told them his last name.
“He plays soccer,” said Annie, remembering the jacket he’d had on at the café.
“Davis,” the boy concluded. “Shoulda’ known. Third door on the left.” He gave her a worried look. “Are you sure you want to be up here?”
Ignoring his concerns, Annie ran down the hall, not stopping until she reached Chad’s room.