I overheard Sam and Sally talking about some big party coming up over the weekend. I think they wanted me to hear about it because I wasn’t invited.
It was my weekend to work at the store. I hadn’t said a word to Jake since he came over when I was babysitting. I got to the store at ten o’clock. Jake was already there. I planned on working in the soda fountain all day and paying no attention to Jake or his friends for that matter. I went into the backroom to get my apron. I walked over to the soda fountain. Jake stood by the counter, waiting.
“Colette, I have to talk to you,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I feel so bad about what happened.” Jake tried to look really sincere. I wasn’t buying it.
“I’m sure,” I said. I took strawberries and pineapple topping out of the small refrigerator and filled the metal containers halfway.
Jake hadn’t moved.
“Aren’t you busy?” I asked. I couldn’t believe I said that to him but the last two weeks had been awful. My parents didn’t trust me, Uncle Mike didn’t want me babysitting, and I was really sick of helping with dinner. Plus, I hadn’t been practicing so I wouldn’t be ready for the big game.
He leaned over the counter. “I just wanted to thank you for not telling on me. I really appreciate it.” He rapped on the counter and walked away.
The day went by quickly with many customers in the soda fountain. My mom switched places with me when my hands got too cold or I needed a break. It was a welcome change.
I was almost done with my work for the day. I still had to put away anything that needed to be in the refrigerator. I had to clean the containers and wipe them dry. I would call Suzy as soon as I got home.
“Colette, can you watch the register for a minute?” My mom said.
“Sure.”
Jake came over to the register. “One more thing,” he said.
“I’m not checking out any cigarettes for you, if that’s what you want.”
“I don’t have any cigarettes. I just wanted to tell you that I’m having an end of the year party tonight if you want to come.”
“I have plans already.”
“Sam invited some of her friends too. Just letting you know. It starts at eight.”
This was the party Sam and Sally were talking about all week in school. “No thanks. Not tonight.”
At dinner that night, my mom and dad went on and on about Jake. He was such a good worker, he was so polite and pleasant, he was just great. It really bugged me. “He’s far from perfect,” I said.
“I thought you liked him, Colette,” my dad said.
“You act like he’s perfect. I work hard too.”
“You do work hard and we love having you work with us,”
my mom said.
“The customers love Colette,” Gramps said.
“Thanks, Gramps. Anyway, I’m going over to Suzy’s for a couple of hours.” I got up from the table. “I’ll do the dishes now.” I couldn’t wait to get out of the house.
“Do you want a ride?” My mom asked.
“No, I’ll take my bike. I’ll be home at nine or nine thirty.” Suzy lived about four blocks away from me. I rode my bike, thinking that I never wanted to be grounded again.
“C’mon in, Colette.” Suzy opened the door.
“Hi, Colette,” Mrs. Malone said. “Good to see you again.”
“Let’s go to my room,” Suzy said.
She told me all about practice and how the team couldn’twait for me to come back. “Nobody can play third base like you do. The coach tried a couple different girls. They couldn’t make the throw to first. He’ll be happy since the championship game is next Saturday.”
“I really have to practice.” I thought of something else. “Have you ever gone to Lake Itasca?”
“We went last summer.”
“Did you like it?”
“I liked it and I didn’t like it.”
“Tell me what you liked.”
“Well, it was really cool walking across the beginning of the Mississippi River. That was great. And it’s pretty too. We camped so I was in a tent with my whole family. That’s what I didn’t like. It was hard to sleep so my mom and dad were really crabby by the time we got home. Matt and Jim complained about the heat, the mosquitoes, their sleeping bags, and everything else. They didn’t want to hike or look at the beautiful wild flowers. They didn’t like the food my mom brought.”
“What did your parents do about all their complaining?”
“At one point my dad told them to shut up, which he never does. He said they were very spoiled.”
“Did they stop?”
“Not completely, but it was better. I guess we were all happy to get home. I mean, how many wild orchids can you look at?”
I was so relaxed sitting in Suzy’s room that I thought I could tell her about why I was grounded. “If I tell you something, do you promise not to tell anyone?”
“I promise.”
“I mean even your parents.”
“I don’t tell my parents everything.”
“Good. This has to stay between you and me.” I told her why I was grounded. She couldn’t believe that Jake came over to Aunt Florence’s when I was babysitting. She thought that was really strange. She was open-mouthed when I told her about him stealing some of my uncle’s whiskey and then filling it with water. I told her that I couldn’t tell on him because he works at the store.
“So what, Colette. You don’t owe him anything.”
“I’m not a tattletale.”
“I know you aren’t. But you should tell your parents.”
“The grounding is over now so I’m going to forget it.”
“That would be hard for me to do. Your uncle thinks you stole some of his whiskey.”
“I know. He doesn’t want me babysitting.”
“Do you like Jake?”
“I used to, but not anymore.” I told her about how my parents raved about him.
“That would bug me too. Especially since we both know what a jerk he is.”
“I agree.”
“He swaggers around school, smiling at all the girls. He’s conceited.”
If I told her about telling my dad to hire him at the store, she would have thought I was really dumb.
“I’m not completely surprised by the whiskey deal,” Suzy said. Jake and his friends go down by the river a lot. I bet they drink down there.”
“Maybe.”
“There’s a big party tonight at O’Malley’s.”
“I heard about it too. Jake talked about it at the store.” I didn’t say that he had invited me.
“Sam asked me to come.”
“She did?”
“She just mentioned it to some of the girls on the team. She said the whole boy’s baseball team was going too. You weren’t there so that’s why she didn’t invite you.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Sam said her parents are gone overnight. She was really excited about it.”
“Did you want to go?”
“No, not really. I’m sure they’ll be drinking.”
“You’re not supposed to if you’re on the school teams.”
“I don’t think that’s going to stop them.”
I looked at my watch. It was after eight. I don’t know why I kept thinking about the party. I couldn’t get it off my mind. Maybe because Jake invited me but Sam didn’t and she even invited Suzy. I wondered if Sally was there and what she told her parents. They would never let her go to a party if they knew the parents were gone. Well, there was nothing I could do about it.
“What if I make a big error?” Suzy asked.
“What?” I had no idea what Suzy was talking about.
“I was just talking about the game next Saturday. I know you’re not nervous but I am.”
We had won six of our eight games during the season, the same as Lake City. It was not going to be an easy game. “I’m nervous too. I have to practice hard this week.” We
had practices the rest of the week. I looked at my watch again. It was eight thirty. I just didn’t feel comfortable anymore so I started fidgeting in the chair.
“Something wrong?”
“No, no. Nothing’s wrong. I just have to go home now.” I stood up.
“Already?”
“I told my mom I’d be home by nine at the latest. So I better go.” I couldn’t tell if she was upset. I walked to the front door. “I had a great time. I’ll see you on Monday.”
“See you Monday.”
I hoped I didn’t hurt Suzy’s feelings, specially since she had made a place for me at the lunch table and never pushed me to tell her anything. But for some reason, I felt that I had to go. I guess it was all the talk about drinking. Sally never drank alcohol and I had to make sure that she wasn’t in trouble.
Chapter Twenty Four
Jake’s Party
Instead of going home, I rode my bike over to Jake’s house. I didn’t know how I was going to walk into the house since Sam hadn’t invited me. I figured I had almost an hour to make sure Sally was okay and still get home by nine thirty.
I turned the corner onto Jake’s street. There was no place to park on the street; all the parking places were filled with cars. There were kids hanging around on the front lawn and a few bikes next to the front steps. I leaned my bike against the front steps.
I took in a deep breath and walked into the house. The living room was filled with probably forty or fifty kids dancing and singing along to The Beach Boys. It really was wall to wall kids. I couldn’t move.
Where was Sally? I looked around. I didn’t see her but, to tell you the truth, it was hard to see anyone because there was only one light on. I bumped into a girl I didn’t know. “Excuse me. Sorry.”
“Watch where you’re going,” the girl said as she flipped her blonde hair around to her back. She turned away from me.
I looked around for Sam or anybody from my softball team. Most of the kids were juniors and seniors. I saw John, Sally’s brother, sitting on a couch next to a girl. Maybe Sally wasn’t here. I could barely move. “Excuse me,” I said as walked into the kitchen. If she wasn’t there I was going home. Jake was in the kitchen with several girls surrounding him. The girl he went to prom with was right next to him, hanging on him and his every word.
“Sport, c’mon in,” Jake said. “We work together,” he told the group around him. “Her parents own Rossini and McGiver’s.”
“I hate to interrupt, but is Sally here?”
“Yep. She’s here.”
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know. There are some kids in the back yard.” He took a big drink out of the plastic glass in his hand. “By the way, help yourself. There’s punch in the dining room.”
“Thanks.” I walked into the dining room. Sally and Sam and a couple other girls from the softball team stood next to the dining room table. There was a big bowl of punch in the center of the table.
“Oh my Gawd,” Sally said. “Look who’s here. Sam, did you invite her?” Sally took a big gulp from her glass.
“No. No, I didn’t,” Sam said. She went to fill her glass from the punch bowl. “Anyone?”
Sally handed over her glass. Sam filled it. “Are you crashing the party, Colette?” She took another big gulp.
Maybe this was a really bad idea. Why was I so worried about Sally anyway? She didn’t worry about me, believe me. “I was invited.”
“Really? Who invited you?” Sam asked.
“Your brother.”
“Jake? I don’t think so,” Sam said. “You know what. I’m going to ask him.”
Sam walked out to the kitchen. Sally shifted her weight back and forth. “I thought you were grounded, Colette.”
“Not anymore.”
“That’s good, I suppose.”
“Yeah, it’s good.” It was the weirdest thing but Sally and I used to talk for hours. We never ran out of conversation. Now, the two of us were reduced to a couple of uncomfortable words. I looked at my watch. It was almost nine thirty.
“Have to be home?”
“No, I mean, yeah, I have to be home.”
“I’m staying overnight so I don’t have to worry.”
Sam came back into the dining room. “Jake said he invited her. Have some punch. It’s good, isn’t it, Sally?”
Sam handed me a glass of punch. I took a drink. It was terrible. “What’s in the punch?” I asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
There were a couple other girls from the softball team standing around. “I better get going,” I said. I had never known Sally to even drink a beer but I couldn’t do a thing about the whole situation.
“Bye,” Sally said. She looked in the kitchen. I looked too. Jake and his old girlfriend were hugging and kissing. Maybe she was his girlfriend again since the prom. Sally took a big gulp from her glass. “Fill ‘er up,” she said to Sam.
“Sal, how many glasses have you had? I asked. I wondered how many people were staying overnight.
“None of your business.”
“I think you should leave,” I said.
“Why?”
“You’ve had too much to drink.” Sally still liked Jake, that was obvious. I had to get her out of there.
“Why don’t you leave? Right now,” Sam said. She stood in front of me. “I said go.”
The phone rang. Jake picked it up, listened, and then hung up. “Everybody out,” he said. “The neighbor said if people don’t leave, he’s calling the police.” He turned on the lights in the living room, turned off the music, and yelled, “Out. Everyone out.” Then he went into the back yard and yelled, “The party’s over. Go home.”
“Sally’s staying over,” Sam said.
“No, she’s not. I said everyone.”
“We’ve had parties before. What’s she supposed to do?”
“Go home.”
Sally looked stunned. “I can’t go home like this,” she said. “My mom will kill me.”
“I’ve got an idea. Sally, come with me,” I said. We walked out of the house into the front yard.
I grabbed my bike and started walking with Sally on the sidewalk. It was after ten o’clock and so my parents were probably wondering where I was. I bet my mom called Suzy’s house when I didn’t get home by nine thirty. Suzy would have told her that I left a long time ago. I bet my dad wished he hadn’t agreed to change my grounding. Sally and I went to the end of the block, turned the corner, and there we were in front of Aunt Florence’s house.
Chapter Twenty Five
Aunt Florence to the Rescue
I knocked on the door, hoping that Uncle Mike wouldn’t answer it. I had told Sally that Aunt Florence would know what to do. Uncle Mike opened the door and stood in disbelief. “Colette, what the heck?”
“Can we come in?”
“I guess so. Florence, we have visitors,” he said.
Aunt Florence was in the living room watching the news. She stood up and came over to the two of us. “Are you in trouble, Colette? What happened?”
“Aunt Florence, will you call my parents? I was supposed to be home about an hour ago.”
“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
“Can we sit?”
“Sure, sit down.”
“There was a big party tonight at O’Malley’s. A neighbor called and said he was going to call the police if people didn’t leave. So we left.”
“Have you been drinking?”
“No.
Aunt Florence looked at Sally. “Sally, have you been drinking?”
Sally looked down at the floor. “Yes.”
“She didn’t know the punch was spiked,” I said.
“Okay. I’ll have to call her parents too.”
Sally groaned. “My parents are going to be really mad.”
“I’ll explain. It could have been a lot worse if the police had come. Excuse me,” Aunt Florence said. She walked out to the kitchen where her phone
hung on the wall.
Uncle Mike stood with his arms crossed. He made me really uncomfortable. I didn’t know what to say and obviously he didn’t either because neither of us said a word. I suppose he thought I wasn’t being totally truthful again. “Uncle Mike, would you get us some water? We’re both really thirsty,” I said
When Uncle Mike left the room, Sally leaned into me. “I can’t thank you enough for telling your aunt that I had no idea about the punch,” she said. “I owe you one.”
Uncle Mike came back with the water for us. “Was O’Malley the one who took my whiskey?”
I took in a deep breath and said, “Yes.”
“Why was he here when you were babysitting?”
“He came over. I didn’t ask him. I don’t even like him.”
Sally had been staring at me. I hoped she didn’t think that I was chasing Jake. I know she wondered why he invited me to the party and to tell you the truth, I did too. Maybe he was afraid I would tell my parents about the whiskey or Musolf’s.
Aunt Florence came into the living room. “Okay, here’s what’s going on. I talked to both your parents. I’m going to drive both of you home.”
“Are my parents mad?” Sally asked.
“They’re a little mad. John was home so he told them the party had broken up,” Aunt Florence said. “Your mom called O’Malley’s to see if you were still staying over and Sam had no idea where you were.”
“Oh, I bet they were worried,” Sally said. She looked like she was going to cry.
“They were worried. They wanted to know if you’d been drinking. I assured them that you didn’t know the punch was spiked.”
Aunt Florence seemed to know what to do. I suppose that came from her years as a nursing supervisor. She sure was organized.
“Now, Colette. Your parents were worried too. They had called Suzy’s and she had no idea where you were.”
“I suppose I’m grounded again.”
“I will be too,” Sally said.
“Okay, let’s go. The car is in the garage,” Aunt Florence said. “Mike, I’ll drop them off and come right home.”
“Just a minute, Florence,” Uncle Mike said. “Can I talk to you in the kitchen?”
It Starts With a Lie Page 10