The Year of the Great Seventh

by Orts, Teresa

  I knew Dad didn’t mind teaching, but his real passion wasn’t to sit all day in a lecture hall. He wouldn’t admit it, but I knew he craved his old days, adventuring down into the unknown ruins of lost civilizations. However, when I pushed Dad to admit it, he would always say his admiration for Mom outshone any archaeological adventure.

  “The classes at UCLA don’t start for another week. We only had faculty meetings,” Dad replied.

  “By the way, Charles, did you have time to mow the lawn today? I’m glad you grew that hedge around the garden so the neighbors can’t see our messy garden.” Mom complained.

  “No, I didn’t have time, as I spent all day at the university. I’ll try to do it tomorrow.”

  Mom frowned, following Dad with her eyes. The house had a relatively large garden and this was the only friction point between Mom and Dad because neither of them enjoyed gardening. The garden was surrounded by a tall hedge to fence out the house from the street because Dad was paranoid about locals intruding in their neighbors’ lives.

  “Can you believe that old man on TV wanted to rob a bank?” Mom announced.

  Mom had the habit of making comments about the news on TV as though Dad and I didn’t speak the same language as the news anchor.

  “A sixteen-year-old ran over a man because he was drunk driving. This is unbelievable,” Mom continued.

  “Mom, we’re watching it, too.”

  Dad chuckled at my comment and gently kicked my leg under the table for smarting off to Mom.

  “By the way, Sophie,” Mom said, “you should’ve seen the kind of people that showed up for today’s casting. We got some real weird ones. There was this blonde who messed up every single line of the script. I would think that even if someone purposely tried to get every line wrong, it would be impossible.” Mom laughed.

  Mom was a casting director, and like every casting director, when she was a child, she didn’t dream of finding actors who would become Hollywood stars. She dreamed of being a Hollywood star herself. But one day an opportunity came along to help cast a movie, and, tired of waiting tables and living as a struggling actress, she accepted the offer and moved on with her life. The rest is history.

  “Did you find the right person for the lead role?” I asked, pouring some water into my glass.

  Mom turned to look directly at me. “No, not yet. We’ve seen over two hundred actresses, and the director is getting a bit frustrated.” I definitely knew where this conversation was heading. Mom had all but given up her dream of being a successful actress. But it was her dream, not mine.

  “Sophie, why don’t you stop by the casting after class tomorrow? I’m sure you’d be perfect for one of the roles. Come on! You’re so much more beautiful than all the girls I saw today.” Mom begged.

  The anger I was feeling made the blood rush to my face. I couldn’t believe she was bringing this up for the fiftieth time. Trying to control the emotion in my voice, I replied, “Mom, I think we’ve spoken about the whole acting career thing about a million times. I don’t appreciate your emotional blackmail to get me to attend castings.”

  “Okay, you don’t have to come if you don’t want. I was just asking.” Mom was taken aback.

  “Did you get into all the classes you need to fulfill the requirements for your college scholarship?” Dad asked, trying to ease the tension building up between Mom and me.

  With Dad it was a different story. We got along ridiculously well, as I had inherited his passion for history. When I was a child I used to sit in his office and stare at all the antiques. Then I would bombard him with questions to persuade him to tell me a story about his time in Africa. My favorite stories were about ancient Egypt. Dad never lived in Egypt, but he’d visited the country several times for research. I could spend hours listening to his stories, imagining I was one of the brave archaeologists who would go deep down into the pyramids to discover the lost worlds.

  “Yeah, I think I should be fine. I need to get straight A’s though.” I sniffled, thinking about all the hours of study that was going to take.

  This was the perfect time to get permission for Saturday’s party because I wanted to ask Mom and Dad together. Mom, being in the film industry, was aware of Ethan’s parents’ lifestyle, and I was concerned if she connected the dots from William Dulwich to Ethan Dulwich, she would ban me from the party. I decided to leave the “Dulwich” evidence out of the equation. “A student from school, Ethan, is having a party on Saturday. Can I go?”

  Mom picked a piece of chicken from her plate. “Why does the name Ethan ring a bell?”

  Cold sweat ran down my back. She was heading straight for the evidence. I had to act fast and explain. “Maybe I mentioned his name before. Megan, Emma, Chase, and Tyson are going to the party, too.”

  “Okay, if you all go together, I guess that’s fine. Charles, what do you think?”

  “Yes, sounds good to me,” Dad replied without lending it much importance.

  Most likely, my parents thought this was another dull party where the host’s parents would be supervising the events of the night. I was sure Ethan’s parents wouldn’t be home that night, even if they knew about the party.

  I decided to retreat to my bedroom before my parents followed with any further questioning. “I’ll be upstairs if you need me.”

  Mom and Dad were again absorbed by the news and didn’t move their gaze from the TV. “Good night, honey.”

  My bedroom was larger than my parents’ and almost made up a third of the house. I guess that was an advantage of being an only child. It had enough room to contain a king-sized bed, a desk, a large sofa by the window, and my pride and joy, a massive walk-in closet.

  I slid the windows open to let in the breeze and lay on my bed, staring out the window. On rare occasions, Sunset Boulevard was visible from my window, but most of the time, the only thing I could see in the distance was dense L.A. smog.

  That night I couldn’t stop wondering why Nate had been staring at me. Every popular girl would be more than willing to go out with him, but he totally ignored them. Why would he pay attention to me? The only explanation was probably because he disliked me, but how could he do so if we’d never spoken?

  I’d never said this out loud, and probably, I never would. But I’ve had a crush on Nate since the first time I saw him. I’d never said anything to Emma or Megan because if the word got out, it would be really embarrassing. I wasn’t part of the “cool crowd,” and just the mere fact that I even considered I had any possibilities with Nate would make me a joke. I was quite sure every girl at school loved him in silence, so there was no point adding one more to the list.

  The only things we knew about Nate were that he was an only child and his family had moved from Seattle to Los Angeles before his freshman year. Also, Megan was close to someone from Nate’s inner circle, and he’d told her Nate had never invited any of his friends to his house, nor had he introduced them to his family. Nate seemed to be hiding something. And whatever it was, it seemed important enough to keep everyone out of his life.

  CHAPTER II

  ON SATURDAY, THE FIVE of us drove to Malibu together. When we got to the gate of Ethan’s estate, a security guard wrote down Tyson’s plate number and, after speaking through his walkie-talkie, pointed us up the hill with a flashlight to the parking lot right at the top.

  Megan looked stunning with her knee-length, open-back red silk dress and stiletto shoes. Sometimes I envied her beauty and the elegant way she carried herself. Megan could be Mom’s perfect daughter; Mom was absolutely dazzled by Megan’s charm and acting skills.

  Tyson and Chase were grabbing their blazers from the trunk of the car when I caught them looking at each other out the corner of their eyes. Suddenly Chase grinned. “Sophie, you look very nice. Are you expecting to see someone special tonight?”

  I knew he was going to bring up Emma’s comments about Nate, and before he could continue teasing me, I said cuttingly, “I know Nate will be here tonight, but
I’m not interested in him.”

  “Chase, drop it!” Emma interrupted.

  Emma was also wearing high heels, and as it was difficult to walk on the cobblestone road leading to the house, she brought her arm around mine to help her stagger upright. The road wound to the right, and as it came into view from behind the tress, we saw Ethan Dulwich’s mansion shining like a wicked castle.

  The mansion was built from white marble and was two stories high. It had four Roman columns centered in the middle of the façade that reached the white, triangular marble roof, which rested on top of the building. It resembled a grandiose Venetian palazzo. There were ten wooden French windows at each side of the main entrance, and a ten-foot Michelangelo's David stood pensively in the front yard. Through the French doors, we could see people crammed inside. We could hear the music and the roar of the masses.

  “Let’s do this!” Chase yelled, walking through the main doors.

  “We‘ll probably get lost in the crowd, but let’s text each other to touch base,” Tyson added.

  The arched high ceiling in the main living room was covered by a copy of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” fresco, and four baroque crystal chandeliers hung along the room. The cornices featured gold rococo ornaments, and a gray marble column separated each French window from the next. The windows had white embroidered valances and curtains, and two Roman marble sculptures guarded the doors.

  Ethan had done his best to convert this tacky, over-decorated palace into an ‘80s party scene. He’d adorned the room with big disco balls and tinfoil strips that hung from the ceiling, reaching all the way to the floor. The room was completely dark, lit only by the moonlight and a strobe light.

  “Is that the actress who played Cat Woman in Batman?” Chase asked Tyson.

  Their eyes were about to pop out of their heads. Tyson said, “Girls, we’ll find you later,” and before we could react, they’d disappeared into the crowd.

  I knew sooner or later my friends were going to vanish one by one. Emma and Megan knew many people here because they were in the film industry, and Tyson and Chase had made a list of girls they were planning to hit on. They were here on a specific mission. I wasn’t worried about ending up wandering around on my own. I almost preferred it that way. It forced me to meet new people. Anyway, we always ended up reuniting at some point in the night.

  The DJ was playing music on the side of the spiral marble staircase, and the scene of people dancing, laughing, and shifting around in the darkness at the tempo of the strobe light reminded me more of a horror movie than a high school party.

  “Guys, I’m going to see if I can find Jason, the cute guy from our English class. Do you mind?” Emma shouted, pointing toward the garden. Megan and I nodded, and seconds later, she also disappeared.

  The staff, dressed in all white suits, passed around trays with champagne and cocktails, and even though it was early in the night, everyone seemed already inebriated.

  “Megan, is that Alex Giordani from The Night Splendor? You know him, right?” I murmured into Megan’s ear.

  She hesitated for a second and finally said, “It’s okay. I’ll talk to him later.”

  I wasn’t going to ruin Megan’s night. I could surely look after myself. “Go talk to him. I’ll text you if I need anything.” I pushed her playfully toward him.

  Megan smiled at me thankfully and advanced in Alex’s direction.

  People were dancing, screaming, and laughing in chaos, and I couldn’t recognize anyone. Travis Roy, the reason why I’d decided to come to the party, was nowhere to be seen. He was probably still out of town, as two days ago I saw pictures of him on the Internet at the opening of a New York art gallery.

  I decided to go for a stroll and visit a different wing of Ethan’s mansion. Once I left the packed main living room, I got to a deserted corridor. It had antique portraits hanging on each wall, and each one was lit up by a lamp. It made you feel as if the people in the portraits were watching you.

  In the corridor, I passed an open door that led to a dim room with red sofas. There were a few couples making out, but nothing that I hadn’t seen before at other parties. I crossed paths with a blonde coming from the last door and, curious, I continued down to see what was happening in there.

  When I got to the door I stood quietly next to it. I could hear people giggling inside the room, and a guy’s voice yelled, “Just pour all of it on the table. Let’s finish it.”

  A girl’s voice complained. “Ethan, do you know what overdose means?”

  The guy that spoke first said, “Shut up, Jen!” And I heard people laughing aloud.

  The door suddenly opened, and I saw three boys, including Ethan Dulwich, sitting on the floor around a glass coffee table. One of them was kneeling and had his face on top of the table as though he was closely observing his own reflection. A thick cloud of smoke filled the room, and I saw the other boy inhaling from the pipe of a large glass container.

  “Idiots,” mumbled the girl leaving the room, slamming the door behind her.

  I didn’t know what to do as I didn’t want to be involved in Ethan’s drug problems in any way, not even as a witness. The steps of the girl walking down the hallway faded away. I wondered whether anyone had seen me standing outside.

  “Let’s go back to the party,” another boy said. Immediately, I turned around and began tiptoeing toward the other side of the corridor. All I could hear was my heart drumming faster and faster. I wasn’t far from the far end of the corridor when I heard the door cracking open behind me.

  “Who is that?” I heard someone behind me asking when I was finally taking the corner at the end.

  Then another voice said, “Don’t give anything else to this idiot. He’s already hallucinating!”

  When I got back to the main living room, I looked around to see if I could spot any of my friends, but I couldn’t see anyone. I saw Ethan and the two other guys entering the main living room. They were searching around as though they were looking for someone, but soon after, they all dispersed into the crowd. I felt relieved when I finally spotted Emma talking to Jason from our English class.

  “Hi, guys!” I said, making them aware of my presence.

  “Hi,” Jason and Emma replied at the same time, turning to look at me.

  “Here’s the other one who’s always late to English class,” Jason said. “Do you guys do it on purpose?”

  Emma and I burst into a laugh. No matter how hard we tried to make it on time to each of our classes, we always managed to get in late for one reason or another. Megan, Emma, and I would always make our triumphant entrance after the professor had begun the lecture.

  Emma followed, “The sad thing is that we actually try to make it on time.”

  Chemistry sparks were flying between Emma and Jason. He was standing unusually close to her, and even though he was talking to the two of us, he was facing her. I didn’t want to interrupt their moment, and since I was almost certain that Ethan and his gang had already forgotten about the intruder incident, I decided to go out to the garden to get some fresh air. I couldn’t stand the hideous strobe light flashing any longer anyway.

  The back garden had a pool surrounded by chairs and a wide open lawn area fenced by pine trees. The fresh night breeze and the dimness of the garden were relaxing. I sat by the pool for a while, lost in my own thoughts, until my peace was spoiled by the sound of a guy spewing next to me. Then two drunken girls jumped into the pool with their clothes on.

  I walked to the edge of the lawn by the pine trees. I knew no one could see me there, and I could hang out by myself for a bit. I leaned on a tree, facing the house, and closed my eyes, letting the music and the voices move to the back of my mind. I stood there motionless for quite a long time, and when I was about to go back into the house, suddenly I heard, “Hi. What are you doing back here? You don’t look like the sort of girl who enjoys these wild parties, do you?”

  I opened my eyes and almost fainted when I saw who was standin
g in front of me—Nate Werner. What was he doing back here, hiding among the pine trees? He was even more attractive from up close. My face was blushing so intensely that my head felt like it was going to explode. I was really bad at hiding my feelings, and by now, he probably knew I’d been secretly in love with him for the last two years.

  Finally, I forced myself to say, “Why would you think I don’t like wild parties?”

  I was thinking to myself, Shut up… Shut up… You’re making a fool of yourself. If you walk away right now he won’t realize you’re stupid.

  He looked at me, amused, and grinned. “Why are you back here on your own? Did you come by yourself?”

  I wanted to groan. Why would he think I’d come to the party by myself? Did I look that desperate? This was the worst outcome I could have hoped for the night: Nate Werner deciding I’m a loser.

  “Well, I guess that’s none of your business,” I said under my breath as I looked nervously past him into the house. If he was here to humiliate me, he could keep on walking.

  Nate laughed again. He seemed puzzled by my defensive reaction. I didn’t want him to laugh at me, but to be honest, he was so handsome that I was beginning not to mind. In fact, I’d never seen Nate smiling openly before.

  Nate rested his hand on the pine tree. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to sound rude. My name is Nate Werner, and I think I’ve seen you around at school.”

  Why was he talking to me? I’d been invisible to him for the last two years. I mumbled, “I’m Sophie. Yes, I’ve seen you around, too.”

  We both lapsed into silence, but Nate was looking at me curiously as though he expected me to say something. This was all too strange and I knew he was going to vanish at any moment. I had the urge to discover whether the real Nate Werner stood up to the illusion that people had created.

  After much hesitation, I decided to ask, “Are you an aspiring actor, like most people at school?”