Chapter 1
Come on Sage! School is out and so are the hotties!" My best friend Claire squeals. "We just have to go to that party!"
I roll my eyes at her. "I'm not going to a party where everyone is just going to ignore me anyway."
Claire sighs dramatically. She walks over to the mirror and frowns. She takes her nail and pulls a strand of coffee brown hair down. It bounces on the side of her diamond face. She quickly adjusts her form fitting black dress before turning back to me.
"Come on when are you going to pull your lazy butt out of bed and social intract instead of looking at boring college classes?" She whines.
I flop on my bed and exhale.
"Come on." Claire says. She stares at me with her deep green eyes.
"Fiiiiiine." I say. I cross my arms and look away from her like a child. "But I'm NOT wearing a dress."
Claire giggls as she takes my arm. "I'll take what I can get!" She leads me into the bathroom and closes the door.
One layer of lipgloss and a romper later she walks me down the stairs to the front door. I tug at my blond hair wrapped in a french braid.
My mom was making supper and is preoccupied with cutting vegetables.
"She's got a knife! ABORT! I repeat ABORT!" I whisper shout to Claire.
Now it was her who rolls her eyes.
"Relax. I've got this." Claire assures me. She walks up to the counter were mom was chopping.
"Where do you think you two are going?" She asks. She sets one hand on her hips and the other hand rests on the counter with the knife.
"Oh. Mrs.D, I were wondering if Sage could spend the night at my house tonight?"
Claire says sweetly.
Mom looks us over as if her eyes were a human lie detector.
Please say no. I think to myself. Please say I have to go back in my room and look at classes!
"Sure! Just make sure to be home before lunch. We have new neighbors and we invited them over for lunch." Mom says.
"Thanks Mrs.D!" Claire beams.
We walked out the door and into the humid summer night. I sigh.
"Did you really have to lie? I never lie to my parents."
Claire stands there looking at me.
"Sage, if we told them the truth do you really think they would have let you go?" She asks.
I look at the ground. Every fiber in me wanted to defend my parents. Tell her they would understand. But would they? All I was to them was a token they could flash around. I got good grades, got accepted to a good college, and went to mass. I was their perfect angel.
But I wasn't perfect.
I was a teeneger.
And when I'm with Claire I feel like one.
"You're right." I sigh. "Let's go."
Claire chuckled. "Okay."
We get into the car and pull out of the garage.
Neither of us says a word as my house disappears behind us.
You could hear the music several blocks away. Great. I already know this is going to be a waste of time and I can't even see Nick's house yet. I think.
In the drivers seat Claire giggles witn excitement.
I can't believe she's excited about this.
As if she could read my mind she glances at me with a pouty look on her face.
"Seriously!? You're not evena little excited?" She asks.
"Nope. Not even a little bit." I say.
I can finally see the mansion of a house that Nick lives in. Cars are lined up for blocks and people are pouring in to his gigantic lawn. A DJ in a big booth with speakers is in the center getting everybody hyped.
Claire parks the car and walks out in her stilettos. She opens the door for me and I walk out with my tennis shoes.
We walk down the street and I immediately regret it. Half drunk teenegers litter to yard, red cups in hand, couples making out behind every possible solid object, girls who obviously only came to get laid wear pushup bras and dirty danced around their crush, and inside Nick Griffin sits on a white couch while girls stare at him and push their breasts together when they pass by him.
Claire, sensing my uneasiness, quickly reassures me that there was probably no achohol. "People just like to act drunk to seem cool." She says.
We made our way through the crowd and station ourselves by the food stand. My plan is to stay there until 10:00 because Claire promised me that's when we were leaving.
She suddenly taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see her motion to boy dirty blond hair. No doubt a college kid. She bited her lip and leans in to me. "If I'm not done by 10:00 come and get me." She says in a seductive voice I've never heard before. My hands start to shake and my palms get sweaty. What the heck was I getting worked up about? It was the boy she obviously wants. I shake my head and go back to the food stand. I see red punch across the table. I shrug and grab a red cup. The red juice fills it up quickly. I take a sip and set it down. "Not half bad." I say to myself. I refill and down that one too. On my fifth cup, red spots start to cloud my vision. A sense of euphoria washes over me. I smile.
"I don't know what's in this. But I need another one." I say. I can hear my words staring to slur but my body reflexively just fills it up again. Soon everything in the building starts to move in slow motion and walking seems impossible. I see Claire heading upstairs with that college boy from earlier. "Wait. Where are ya goin'? Party just started!" I say loudly. I sludge toward her but a shoe comes out in front of me. I can feel the air swooping and my punch spilling. Suddenly, hand grab me by the arm. They pull me in I can tell whoever it is, is strong. I look up obviously drunk. A boy with darl curly hair holds me with a concered look on his face.
"Are you alright?" He says. His voice is sincere and I can feel myself tense up. He looks around the room and turns his head to look back at me. "Come on. Let's get you cleaned up."
He leads me up a hidden stairwell behind a wall a down a hall. At the end is a big ornate door with intracate carving. I stare drunkenly at him. He chuckles at my star struck face. "You really hit it hard didn't you?" He says.
I wanted to tell him I was fine but all I could muster was a nod. He opens the door and the scent of cologne washes over me. He takes me to a big bathroom and leads me to the toilet.
"Come on. Get it all out of your system." He says.
I reluctantly obey and hand my head over the toilet. I've never been drunk before but I know what to do. Minutes later a rumble comes from my stomach. Then, it happens. It's horrible. I could taste everthung from the last five hours. For what seems like hours later it all comes to and end. He lets go of my hair and sits back. I lean back and take a minute to recooperate. I look and him with releif in my eyes. "Thank you." Is all I can muster. He smiles at me then looks away. His head turned the the bedroom. "Do you want to watch a movie?" He says with a smile on his face. His eyes were so dark you would think they're black. His eyes alone put butterflies in my stomach.
"Yes." I say. I know it was wrong. Going into a strange boy's room. Onto his bed. But I really dodn't want to go back downstairs, so I follow him. I climb on and immediately I shut down. He walks to a mini-fridge and gets two waters. "Here." He soothes. "You're probably dehydrated from everything." He jumps up on the bed and put his arm around my shoulders. I take the water gratefully and drink it in one gulp. I slouch down even further until I'm practically laying on his chest. I can hear his heart beat and the rise and fall of his breathing. I rest my head more. Suddenly his heart speads up. His breath turning faster with each one. He shifts uncomfortably beneath me. I look at him, wondering if anything was wrong. I am about to ask if anything is wrong when me looks me dead in the eye. His eyes dart quickly to my lips and back to me. He leans forward and kisses me. It was sweet, gentle even. I didn't fight. No one had ever wanted to geeky, weird girl. It felt nice. Being wanted. As time passes the kiss become more desperate, more needy. His tounge slides over my lips, asking for entrance. I let him. The sober me inside told me taht thsi was wrong. You had only known him for ten minutes. But I didn't care. I wanted more.
