~
I drop her off at her friends house and pull into my own driveway. My mom had sent a text to both of us while I was headed to Stacy’s house telling us that they just made it to the airport.
I turn off the car and unlock my phone, opening up my messages.
-Hey, Riley. I wanna throw that party tonight.
-Really? Are you serious?
-Yeah. Parents just left.
I unlock my door and I get that tingling feeling again.
-Sweet. What time?
-Eight maybe?
-Okay. Can’t promise it won’t be earlier or later or nothin.
-K. Who you gonna invite?
-Everyone.
-Okay. I will too. You think Charlie will come?
-And miss an opportunity to drink? Nah.
-Good point lol
I hate it when he drinks, but I can’t stop him. It’s his life to live and if he wants to ruin his body, I’m going to let him. I’m not his mother or anything; I can’t tell him what to do.
-Well ok then. C you @ 8.
-Alrighty.
I clear off the counter, sticking things in places so that they can’t be seen. The glass objects around the house, I put them in my parents closet, careful to lock their bedroom door with the key that came with it. My parents really like that because it makes them feel special or something.
I hide everything that could be stolen or moved like TV remotes and little figurines above the fireplace. I stick those in their closet too.
The tingling comes back as I walk in my room.
There’s still no one here… I tell myself.
But I can’t seem to shake it.
-My brother’s buying the beer.
-Beer?
I’ve never had beer. Never had the opportunity.
-Yeah. What’s a party w/out it?
I lay on my bed and stare at the ceiling. The tingling won’t go away, so I decide to sit back up and straighten up my room. Who knows who will come in here while I’m not looking?
I don’t text Riley back because I don’t know what to say. You don’t have to have beer to have a good time, or at least I don’t. Well, who’s to judge what other people do. Maybe I can try it and see why Charlie likes it so much. Maybe then I can understand why he is the way he is.
I shake my head as I pick up a pair of pants off of my floor. That’s insane to think. No one can understand anyone perfectly, and doing the things that they do won’t help anything. Besides, alcohol is bad for you in so many ways. I almost don’t want to try it.
You know you do.
I shake the thought away. I think I’m just getting too excited for what’s to come. I have at least an hour until it starts.
Going back into the kitchen, I pull out big bowls and chips and pop some popcorn. I set them on the counters and look around. I don’t think there’s anything else I need to hide from the people that’ll be coming. Who knows what they’ll do. I mean, have you seen Mean Girls?
I lock all of the doors to the bedrooms, minus mine. My door is the only one without a lock or a key. All the others have locks that you can easily pick with a screwdriver to unlock from the outside. It’s just my luck to have the one room without one.
The doorbell rings and I open it up to Riley holding two six-packs and wearing a smile on her face. Her brother stands behind her with three more.
“How many people did you invite?” I ask her as she makes her way to the island in the middle of the kitchen.
“I lost count,” She says as she heaves the drinks onto it. “But they’re all excited.”
I shake my head and walk over to her. My stomach feels queasy looking at the bottles.
“How are we going to hide all of these after everyone leaves?” I ask, touching one of the tops. “I mean, I can’t get in trouble for this. No one can know.”
“I know,” She laughs at me, pulling the glass bottles from their containers and placing them on the counters. “We can just shove them all in a bag and wait for the garbage truck.”
“They come every Tuesday.”
“Right. Well. We’ll just throw them in the back of my brother’s truck.”
“Yeah, okay,” He snorts and sits on a stool at the counter.
“Please, Mark? Please?” She begs, giving him puppy dog eyes.
“Do my laundry for a week.”
“Ew, gross.”
He shrugs.
“Fine,” She spits and sticks out her tongue. “Thanks for buying these anyway. It wasn’t gonna be fun without them.”
I shake my head.
“I’m going to go get ready,” I say pushing myself away from the alcohol. “Don’t break anything.”
I go to my room and shut the door behind me. There’s really nothing I can wear that will attract any attention from anybody, especially Charlie. I’ll come up with something, I guess. I have some old blue jeans that I can cut up, just I would never get to wear them again outside of my house.
Well, it’s the only option.
I pull a pair of pants out of my dresser, ones that are tight on me and that I never wear anymore. Grabbing a pair of scissors, I watch myself in the mirror. Where do I want to cut it?
I snip into the fabric and make my way around my leg as evenly as I can. I start on the other leg when I finish, realizing I started too high. So I recut the first leg and try and make it look perfect.
I throw on an orange spaghetti-strapped shirt and readjust myself to look attractive enough. Standing in the mirror, I think I could pass as one of those girls who actually look pretty. Maybe I’ll turn some heads.
I carefully put on some makeup, making sure it looks perfect, and I take my wand and curl the ends of my hair after brushing through it.
Now I definitely could pass as one of those girls. If only my face wasn’t as round as it is, and if my bags didn’t hang as low as they did…
I wipe some cover-up on the dark circles beneath my eyes and on my pimples on my forehead.
There.
Now I look okay.
I put on a pair of heels and practice walking in them for a minute. I think I can manage them for a while. They’ll hurt my feet, of course, but I think I can do it.
I head back into the kitchen, where five people have already gathered around the beers.
Riley slaps one of their hands away.
“Not yet,” She says. “Wait until everyone gets here.”
“Aw, come on,” He says, flirting with her.
I can tell this mesmerizes her, but she shakes her head and smiles playfully.
“Nope. Just another hour or so,” She turns to me. “Wow, you clean up good.”
“Thank you,” I laugh, flipping my hair obnoxiously. We laugh. “Everyone’s on their way?”
She nods.
“Yeah.”
The music is blaring by the time the last of the people show up. Or at least I hope it’s the last of them. There are bodies dancing on and with each other and on the couch and whatnot and I can barely hear myself think. Everyone is sipping from the brown bottles as they laugh and dance and slur their words as they yell over the music at each other. Turns out Riley’s brother had a whole lot more loaded in the back of his truck. He was ready for more people to show up than planned, I guess.
But there’s still no sign of Charlie.
“Hey, Sophia!” I hear Riley slur. Her arm slings over my shoulder and she reeks of alcohol. “Great party! You’re going to be so popular!”
I laugh and peel her off of me. She heads back to the living room to dance and I walk into the kitchen.
“Hey, get out of there!” I say, pulling a guy from the pantry.
I close the door and lean on it, looking over the crowd in the room. Why is it the hosts of these things never have as much fun as everyone else, when it’s their party? It’s so aggravating.
“Hey babe!” I hear as Charlie places a kiss on my cheek. ??
?Heard about your party so I came to check it out!”
“Aw, you’re so sweet,” I tell him, planting one on his lips.
“Wow, you look… hot.” He says.
“You sound surprised,” I laugh.
He gives me a playful smile and kisses me, wrapping his arms around my waist. He lifts me up and then sets me back down.
“Time for you to try a beer, church-girl.” He laughs.
“Don’t call me that,” I scold as he takes my hand and pulls me to the stack of beers in the center of the island.
He picks one up for each of us and pulls the top off with a bottle opener.
“Here,” He says, handing me the one in his right hand and taking a swig with the one in his left.
The stench makes my stomach churn, but I know I’m going to have to try it. I’ll be left out from everyone else because they’re all doing it. I don’t want to be the loser host who didn’t even try the drink.
I look down into the neck of the bottle.
Do it. Don’t be a loser.
I bring it up to my lips. The smell is so repulsive…
It burns my throat as it goes down and I start to cough.
“This is disgusting,” I say to Charlie.
He laughs and tells me to keep drinking it. It gets better, he says. He’s right. It’s like I can’t even taste it as we dance and sing at the top of our lungs.
“Come here,” He says after a while, pulling me aside.
We step into the hall beside the living room and he kisses me deeply and passionately, his hands wandering down my back. He keeps kissing me, and I don’t want him to stop. He picks me up and I wrap my legs around him as he puts my back up against the wall. We stay like that until I slide down to put my feet on the ground, the heels making it easy to reach his face.
He pulls back and we’re both breathing hard.
“Where’s your room?”
I lead him to it, giggling and we stop in the doorway and he kisses me for a long moment. We don’t separate as he walks into the room with me, shutting the door behind us. His hand slips under my shirt and travels up my back. The touch of his fingers sends chills up my body, and I grab at his hair. He picks me up again, and, this time, he sets me on the bed. He starts to unbutton my pants.
“What are you doing?” I ask as his mouth travels down my neck.
“Come on,” He whispers. “You know you want to.”
“No, Charlie I—”
My phone rings.
Saved by the bell!
I leap up to see that it’s my mom calling. The music isn’t as loud in here as it was out there, and she’ll just think I have my radio on. I tell Charlie to shush and that it’s my mom, but he continues to kiss the sides of my neck from behind me.
“Hello?” I ask, trying to step away from Charlie.
“Sophia! Hey, we were just calling to say goodnight! How are you?” My mom says on the phone.
“I’m fine, mom,” I say. “I’m just about to… get in the shower.”
“Oh, okay, great. Well goodnight, sweet dreams. I already called Hannah. She’s having a blast at Stacy’s house. They’re watching a movie right now.”
“Cool mom,” I say rather quickly, trying to hold my shorts up.
“I love you. Goodnight. Don’t forget to say your prayers!”
“I won’t. Love you too. Bye mom.”
“Bye honey.”
The line goes dead as she hangs up, and Charlie starts to let his hands travel to places I don’t want them to go yet.
I back away and open the door. As I’m trying to zip up the zipper, I hear a voice.
“Sophia?”
I look up to see Alex.
“No,” I say, ready for a lecture. “No, this isn’t what it looks like Alex—”
Charlie comes stumbling out, smiling at me drunkenly.
“Come on baby, you know you wanna f—”
“Okay!” Alex says before Charlie can say anything more. “I don’t want to know. I’m going now.”
“No, Alex!” I call as I run after him, buttoning the button on my shorts. “Please don’t hate me. I didn’t do—”
I feel my ankle turn sideways and I’m thrown against the wall. I groan and throw off the shoes, running after my best friend. The guilt is coursing through me now and all I want to do is make it right.
“Alex, I promise—”
“You don’t have to promise me anything,” He says, throwing up a hand and talking over his shoulder.
“But Alex,” I call, following him outside into the hot night.
“Nope,” He says sternly, looking at me finally as he walks away.
“What, no Bible verse to make me think about what I’ve done?” I ask, suddenly angry with him. Why am I so angry?
He stops and turns around
“Well since you want one…” He sighs, rubbing his forehead. “Some people cannot be brought back again to a changed life. They were once in God’s light, and enjoyed heaven’s gift, and shared in the Holy Spirit. They found out how good God’s word is, and they received the powers of this new world. But they fell away from Christ. It is impossible to bring them back to a changed life again, because they are nailing the Son of God to a cross and shaming him in front of others. Hebrews 6:4-6.”
Long quote.
“So, what?” I ask, stepping towards him. “Are you saying I’m killing God or something? Because I’m not.”
“Well you’re definitely not living for him,” He says, turning to walk away.
“Excuse me? I got baptized before you even did, and I brought you to Jesus, thank you very much.”
“Yeah, well right now, you’re not leading anyone to the cross. If anything, you’re driving them away from it.”
“Alex! You son of a—come back here! I thought Christians weren’t supposed to talk to people like that! Alex!”
He gets in his car and turns it on. I make my way to the sidewalk. He rolls the window down as I approach.
“Who do you think you are, Alex?” I shout.
He shakes his head and looks at me with big, sad eyes. “These are the ways of the world: wanting—”
“Stop it with the scripture already!”
“—to please our sinful selves, wanting the sinful things we see, and being to proud of what we have—”
“Alex, I said stop!”
“None of these come from the Father, but all of them come from the world. 1 John 2:16.”
I stand boiling with my arms crossed, glaring at him.
“Are you done?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Of course I f—— heard you!”
“But you didn’t listen.”
“Alex! Of course I—”
He shakes his head and drives away into the darkness.
I return back inside, the party starting to die down. My mood is sour, so what’s the use? I tell everyone to go home and I blow Charlie off, completely ignoring him as I walk through the house. By the time everyone leaves, it’s just Riley, her brother and I left. They help me pick up everything and put stuff back and throw the trash bags in the back of her brother’s truck. I go through every room in the house to make sure nothing is broken or wrong. My room is a mess now, and the toilet has unflushed puke in it. I flush it, holding my breath and spray a ton of Fabreeze into the air it holds between its walls. I unlock my parents bedroom and put everything back, telling Riley and her brother where things go and they wander off to put them there.
I take the keys and unlock each door. When I get to Hannah’s room, I find it’s unlocked.
That’s weird, I think. I locked it before the party…
I step inside and switch the light on, but nothing happens. The light doesn’t turn on.
I hear something in her closet.
“Hey, Riley?” I call.
“Yeah?” She answers from another room.
“Could you come here?”
<
br /> A few moments later, she bounds up the hallway and stands beside me.
“Yeah?”
“Come in here with me. I locked it before the party and it’s unlocked now. On top of that, I heard something,” I whisper to her.
She nods, her eyes serious.
I pull out my phone and switch on the flashlight. Everything is where it needs to be, except for her closet. It’s slightly ajar.
I hear the noise again.
“Did you hear that?” I whisper to Riley and she nods.
Riley steps into the dark room, taking my phone with her. She slowly opens the closet door, and I can feel my heart rate speed up.
Don’t be a baby, I think to myself.
The sound happens again, this time louder.
She opens it up all of the way and the light from my phone falls into the closet.
On the floor is a single purple stuffed animal bunny. Nothing else is out of place or out of the ordinary.
“There’s nothing in here,” Riley says, bending down to touch the stuffed animal. “I wonder if something just fell.”
I nod, knowing that something falling wouldn’t make three thumps at different times, but I’d like to think it at this moment, so my brain accepts it.
Riley picks up the purple bunny.
“Is this your sisters?” She asks, turning it over in her hands.
“I don’t know,” I say, a little rattled. “I’ve never seen it before.”
“Hm. Well maybe it was a birthday present to you. You do really like bunnies. And the color purple,” She laughs, but I can tell she’s scared too.
She sets the animal down on the floor where it was and we walk out of the room. I shut the door behind us and we walk back to the living room to clean up.
The rest coming soon! Keep watching for Face It in Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Kobo, iTunes, iBooks, and other stores.
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