the last day
The final bell rang. Immediately, the scraping of chairs to floor sounded as every student up and ran from the hallway of blue lockers. Everyone gathered on the football pitch, laughing and saying their final goodbyes for those who would be swept away to a new state.
I was only there for the afterparty.
“Kay! What a shock to see you here. On campus grounds, no less!” The burly arms of a football player swung around my shoulder. I laughed and wrapped my arms around his abdomen. The muscle under his shirt tensed at my touch.
“Only for you,” I teased, tracing my finger around the well defined outline of his abs. “Now about that afterparty...”
He barked a laugh, calling his teammates over. They each bore grins like a wolf, ready to tear something apart. “Eleven is when everything get wild. You can come then or leave with us. The lot of us are headed to the Pitch to pre.”
Everyone knew that these parties never went according to plan but I had grown used to their constant change in schedule. If a party started at eleven, the party would be starting at eight due to the floods of people hoping that being early would earn them a spot as VIP. I knew to always always pre drink before a party. Especially one like this. The whole school would be there, even the goody two-shoes who’d desperately be trying to change for the next year. For there to be enough alcohol and other substances to supply everyone, about fifty percent of the attendees would have to bring something to contribute. As if.
“Sounds perfect. Give me five to gather my things and I’ll meet you at the car.” I wiggled out of his arms and jogged to the bathroom, waving and flashing smiles to the shocked looks on the teachers’ faces.
As I entered the male bathroom, a few of the men turned and grinned, still urinating. Utter idiots. They should’ve been used to it by now. I simply laughed and marched to the last stall. On top of the rusty toilet was my beautiful black bag, filled with my treasures.
My phone rang.
“Hello?” I balanced the phone on my shoulder as I continued to pack.
“Kay, hurry up. The boys just picked up and are waiting for us to get them.”
“Shit, already?” I zipped the bag up, walking out. “I’ll be there soon.”
“Bye, Kaylee.” One of the boys called. He grinned at me from the urinal. I wrinkled my nose at the smell. “Bye, Daniel.”
I didn’t wait for a reply as I sprinted past the laughing students. By the time I got to the car, I was sweating. “Hey, sorry I’m here.” I opened the door to be blasted by a wave of cool air.
“Oh no way. You’re sweating like a pig. Here.” He tossed me a towel from the truck. “This is my baby, in case you forgot.”
I rolled my eyes. How could I forget. The man never went anywhere without his ‘baby’. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to run through a crowd of people?” I wiped myself down before throwing my sweaty towel in his scowling face.
“Don’t frown you’ll get wrinkles.” I quoted his mother only earning a harder frown.
“Just get in, bitch.” He climbed into the car. I couldn’t stop from laughing.
We began pulling out of the parking lot when he turned to me. “You look disgusting. And you’re sweating on my leather seats.”
“Jesus, I’m sorry, is my body odor distracting you from driving?” I snapped. “You’re the one who leaves a freaking sweat mark on the bed.”
He snorted before blasting the air conditioning. “So,” He started awkwardly. “My brother.”
It was my turn to snort. “Which one?”
“You know.”
“I’m afraid I don’t.” I teased, poking the bear.
“My brother who you’ve been stringing along since the beginning?” He raised an eyebrow to look at me. The vein in his neck twitched. I knew he was bothered by my relationship with his family but I never thought he’d be mad. We were friends. Nothing more. So how could he be saying I was leading him on.
I clenched my jaw. “I”m not ‘stringing him along’.”
He opened his mouth to retaliate when a silver car pulled up next to us. I caught the orange mop of hair at the drivers seat and swore.
“Hey Gray!” One of the boys yelled. I gave him a smile, ready to go back to focusing on the infuriating man beside me.
He tried again, “Yo! See you at the party tonight?” By now, our cars were drifting next to each other, blocking the exit of the parking.
I groaned and turned to him, my smile no longer reaching my eyes. “Yeah, sure.”
That seemed to satisfy him as his Jeep roared with life and sped off. Wanker.
“God he’s so...”
“Annoying? Dickish? A mistake?”
“Yeah, that.” I breathed, crossing my arms and burying deeper into the beautiful leather seats.
He glanced over. “You know that if you wanted to disappear I could keep you in the trunk, right?”
I shot him a look that shut him up. For five minutes. And for those five minutes we silently bopped along to the terrible pop songs that blasted on his radio. It was a miracle he didn’t start belting out the lyrics like he did when we first met.
“Are you sure you aren’t leading on half the student population?” There was the same hint of judgement in his voice hidden behind his handsome smirk. We were cruising at a slow speed now. Barely above the minimum. The cars around us honked and sped around us, giving us the finger as they passed. I flashed them each a smile.
“I’m not!” By now, I was beyond frustrated. Of all the people to accuse me of what happened that night to be my fault as I ‘lead him on’ and ‘gave him the idea’ I never thought it would’ve been my best mate. I scoffed, the feeling of betrayal settling in my heart. “Whatever.”
Noticing my silence, he reached over. “Kay,”
I slightly turned my back on him, tightening my arms around my chest. It was a cruel tactic but it worked. In the side mirror, I watched as his eyes darted to my chest, his pupils dilating a bit. He lost his words momentarily.
“Hey.” I snapped my fingers. “Eyes on the road, mister.”
“Then you should put your boobs away.” He shot.
I gasped. “What I do and where I put my boobs are none of your business. Now if you could concentrate on speeding up and driving properly, maybe we can still make it for the party. It’s not our aim to arrive there tomorrow, you know.”
The engine roared. The needle in the speedometer jumped by thirty. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the wheel. “Your boobs become my business when you end up dragging my brother and friends in the dirt.”
I felt as though someone had stabbed me. “You’re a dick. Just drop me off at the Starbucks. I’ll walk from there.”
“Don’t be crazy, Kaylee. It’s another kilometer.”
“I don’t care. Stop the car.”
He kept driving until we passed the coffee store. I glared at him. “What was that? Stop the damn car!”
Instead he rolled his eyes, pressing on the gas. My heart pounded in my chest. God, why was he so stubborn. I grabbed the wheel, forcing him to stop. The car jerked to the side.
“Are you crazy? You’ve officially lost it, Kaylee!” He growled and yanked the wheel back. Cars around us blared their horns.
“Please, all I’m doing to breaking your brother, right?”
He looked at me, fury burning in his eyes. I’d never seen him like that. There was no humor or love on his face, only hatred and pain. The longer I stared the harder the burn in my chest ached. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a delivery truck barreling towards us. We hadn’t stopped at the stoplight.
I only managed to scream before the impact shook me to the core. The noise was deafening, shards of glass sprayed us like waves at the beach. The last thing I saw was his beautiful bloodied face as he threw himself over me as a shield.
