November 17: Samantha

This must be what it is like to be a celebrity. Cameras flashing, people screaming your name and reaching out to touch you. Glorious parties that follow marvelous performances. Mansions that hold hundreds of people who are all there to celebrate you and the gorgeous boy draped around your shoulders. Expensive dresses and cherry red lips; big hair and skinny heels. This feels like a dream, like I am watching myself from a million miles away in the sky. I wonder if this is what it feels like when you are famous, when you are a celebrity.
Who the hell would want to be a celebrity?
The camera flashes are enough to blind me. Purple and green spots float before my eyes with each snap of the next person’s camera. Brian’s long sidewalk is like a red carpet, wet with the rain from earlier today. I walk the cement carpet slowly, with Anderson right next to me. He wraps me close to him and my steps match his in a perfect rhythm. People throw red and white streamers and confetti at us, and I focus my steps so that my feet do not get tangled in the streamers.
“Great game!” People yell at us.
I smile and wave to all of them. The girls run up to me and I let go of Anderson long enough to hug them. Ethan and Tommie make their way down the steps and shake hands with him.
“Let me get a picture of you guys!” Raina from the cheerleading squad pulls her camera out. The girls gather around me and the boys pose in the back. Everyone puts on their best smile while other people take their cameras out for a quick snapshot.
“This party is insane,” I say to Ivy after we are done taking pictures.
“Tell me about it!” She puts her arm through mine and pulls me towards the house. “It’s even better inside!”
“Be careful, babe.” I turn around and see Anderson still standing on the sidewalk with the guys. “I’ll be in there soon.”
“Okay.”
I know that I will not be seeing him very much tonight. He is the star of this show. Everyone wants to talk to him, take pictures with him, and congratulate him on a great game. Everyone with half of a brain knows that Anderson and the rest of the Boomers played an amazing game. We beat North Lincoln seventy-five to thirty-three last night. And now, we have no choice but to celebrate with the rest of Five Points.
I’d rather claw my eyes out.
But instead, I follow the girls through the crowded living room and into the kitchen. We find a corner of empty counter space and mix our drinks. I pour a couple of shots of rum into a plastic bottle and fill the rest of it with pineapple juice.
“Let’s take a shot!” Reece pulls out a set of glasses and sets them on the counter. She pours cherry-flavored vodka into each glass and hands each of us one.
“To us.” She raises her glass in the air. “To being the prettiest girls in school, the best cheerleaders in the state, and having the best senior year ever.”
“And to having a damn good time tonight,” Lena adds. “Let’s go crazy, ladies.”
We clink our glasses together and throw them back. Even Jade takes a shot. The vodka is sweet and goes down easy. I chase it with my drink. The rum mixed with my pineapple juice makes for a delicious drink that is easy on my stomach. Tonight I plan to go crazy. I plan to let go and give in to being the person they all want to be. Just for tonight, I will be a star. I will be Anderson’s prize girlfriend, and I will like it.
We take another shot before going upstairs and stashing our alcohol in one of the bedrooms. One thing Reece and Lena hate is people stealing their expensive alcohol. So we put the bottles in a bag and hide it in a corner under the bed.
“This house is amazing,” I say.
Lena shrugs. “It’s alright. Nothing special.”
I consider pushing her down the stairs. I could blame in on being tipsy, or say that I slipped. Nobody would question me and she is already drunk, so she probably wouldn’t even care. But pushing someone down the stairs means getting doctors involved, possibly police. So I will settle for getting lost in the crowd of people and not seeing her for the rest of the night.
“Samantha!” Someone calls from behind me.
“I’m changing my fucking name,” I mumble to Jade.
But Jeoff Kente comes up to me and a genuine smile spreads across my face. I was not expecting to see him here, but I assume the guys from the basketball team dragged him out. He looks great, dressed in a button-up shirt and jeans.
“Hey Jeoff!” I hug him. “What are you doing here?”
“The team dragged me.” He shrugged. “They said I didn’t have a choice. But I’m not drinking.”
“That’s a shame.” I cluck my tongue. “Well, I’m so glad you’re here. You looked great on the court last week.”
“Thanks, you too.” He smiles.
With playoffs going on, we are all training for both football and basketball. Between the two sports, I barely have time for anything else. But it is always great to see Jeoff on the court. He is a natural.
“It was great seeing you.” I touch his arm. “Let me know if you want to play a game of beer pong with me. I’ll drink for the both of us.”
“Sure thing, Sam.” He laughs and walks away with Jared from the basketball team.
“Come and dance with me!” Ivy grabs my hand and pulls me into the living room. “This music is hot!”
I follow her and Lena trails behind me. We make our way to the center of the dance floor and everybody cheers for us. The song changes and I find a rhythm wedged in between my two girls and all of the bodies around us. After several songs, Lena steps away to make another drink. Seconds later, another body is pressed against mine.
Hands wander over my side, my back, and my legs. Not all of them are female. Ivy’s touch is gentle but sexy. The male hands are aggressive and greedy. I know it is not Anderson behind me. But with each sip of my drink, I care less and less. His hands move over me, grab my butt firmly and slide over my thighs. He wraps his hands around my waist and touches Ivy too. Her eyes flash and she seems okay with it. Eventually a boy makes his way behind her and our hands wander all over each other. She kisses my neck, and so does the boy behind me. Dancing and moving makes the alcohol charge through my system and send me skyrocketing into apathy.
We move in sync against the rest of the people in the dark room. The flashing strobe light makes me dizzy and even more intoxicated. I dance with Ivy until I can’t see straight. Once a song finishes, I stop moving.
“I need another drink,” I tell her.
“I’ll be here,” she yells.
I turn around to thank my dance partner and am mortified at the face of the person standing next to me. He cowers over me, all tall and dark and covered in leather and dark jeans.
“Nice moves,” Riley smirks.
“You fucking asshole,” I push past him.
I make my way through the crowd of moving bodies and out into the foyer. Riley follows me and calls my name. Everyone around me is either too distracted to notice, or too drunk to care.
“Samantha, wait!” He pulls my arm.
“Get off of me!” I hurry up the stairs and nearly trip in my high heels. I stumble up the rest of the staircase without looking back at him.
He chuckles. “Very graceful.”
“Fuck you,” I mumble.
“Well let’s go.” He reaches for my hand.
“Riley!” I drive my fist into his chest. “I have a boyfriend. And he is very big and very mean and very protective of me. Don’t make me scream for him.”
“Go ahead,” he encourages me.
I don’t scream.
He grins. “That’s what I thought. Where is lover boy anyway? Shouldn’t he have been the one dancing behind you? Does he not realize how easy it is for his girlfriend to get scooped up in a place like this?”
“Shut up.” I cross my arms and look away.
“It’s very dangerous.” He runs his fingers across my arm. “He should be paying more attention. And you should be more careful.”
“You should stay away from me.”
“Why would I want to do that?” His smile is incredibly sexy. Too sexy. And I am too drunk to stop looking at it. “Come in here with me.” He puts his hand on one of the doorknobs.
“You’re crazy,” I whisper.
“So are you.”
He opens the door and I follow him inside. He turns the light on and I hurry to the corner by the bed and pull my bag of liquor out.
“I’m only in here to get another drink,” I say without looking at him. “I’m going to pour a drink, and then I’m going to go back downstairs and find my boyfriend. And then I’m going to make out with him. Because he is my boyfriend. And-“
Before I can finish, he is behind me. He slinks his arms around my waist and pulls himself close to me. So close that I can feel him between my dress and his jeans. He pulls my hair back and lowers his mouth to the back of my neck. His breath on my ear sends me over the edge. His smell envelopes me. It is intoxicating, all spicy and sweaty and twisted. It is enough to reel any girl in and leave them flopping on the floor begging for oxygen.
I am hooked.
The bottle of rum slips out of my hand and rolls onto the floor. I try to remember if it was closed or not, but not a single bone in my body cares. They all scream out for Riley to keep touching me. He must hear the screams because he drags his hands up over my breasts, and then down my dress again. When his hands move under the thin fabric of my dress, my heart stops.
“We can’t do this,” I whisper. “It isn’t right.”
“It’s okay to be wrong sometimes,” he assures me. His voice is raspy, inviting. Dangerous.
“Anderson,” I mumble.
“No.”
And with that he turns me around to face him. With one arm, he picks me up and lays me down on the bed. I do not stop him. He climbs over me and pulls his jacket off. His muscles bulge through his shirt and I rub my hands over his arms. His muscles are not like Anderson’s. They were not created from hours spent in a gym. They are hardened and tough from years of work.
Until now, Anderson was the only boy to lay over me like this. He was the only boy to run his hands over my body. He was the only boy to really kiss me. But Riley does all of that- and more. When you have only been with one person, it is impossible to know what else exists. But tonight, Riley shows me what fire and lust are. He teaches me about body on body heat, tongues exploring every inch of the human body, fingers trailing over the most sensitive places. He is an excellent teacher.
And I am a willing student.
He kisses my hands, my arms, my shoulders. When I cannot stand it anymore, I pull his shirt over his head. His body is beautiful. He is thick and perfectly sculpted. I run my hands over his chest and abdomen. He stares into me with dark coffee eyes and smiles. That damn smile.
“Should we stop?” He whispers in husky voice. He lowers himself to kiss my neck. “What do you want me to do?”
I do not know if it is me or the alcohol that answers. Perhaps it is not either one. Perhaps it is the burning fire that is roasting me from the inside out, begging me for something new, something dangerous. And Riley is certainly willing to fuel that fire. When he sits up, still straddling me and waiting for my answer, I do not hesitate. I return his crooked grin and stare into his eyes.
“Turn off the light.”
Riley is amazing. An excellent teacher. My mind doesn’t think about the fact that I am lost in the sheets with him and that anyone could walk in at any minute. When someone opens the door and sends a ray of bright light towards the bed, I am drunk and lost enough to ignore it and keep kissing Riley.
“Gross,” a voice whispers and shuts the door. A few seconds later, he opens the bathroom door and shuts it again.
“Who was that?” Riley asks.
“Who cares?”
And Riley shows me that he doesn’t care either. A little while later, someone else comes into the room. I ignore them, too and focus on Riley moving over me.
“I’m sorry.” This time a female voice. She opens the bathroom door too and I wonder if they are doing the same thing I am. I am banking that whatever is going on in that bathroom, it is not as incredible as this.

When we are done, we lay on opposite sides of the bed, still naked. We do not cuddle, and my head is too heavy to try to sit up and put my clothes on. The scene plays in my head again. I do not know whether to cry or pull Riley on top of me and beg him to do it again. I try to remember how this happened. I just cheated on my boyfriend with the one person that I cannot stand. I am a cheater, one thing I said I would never be.
And yet, Anderson still has not come looking for me. I assume he is still downstairs, getting wasted and playing stupid beer pong. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was dancing with some whore, probably Evelyn.
Wait a minute. I am I allowed to call her a whore anymore? Am I on the same level as Evelyn now? Am I a whore? I would hope that I am at least better at it than she is. Before I can turn to ask Riley, someone busts into the bedroom and turns the light on. I pull the blanket over our heads and pray that it isn’t one of my friends.
“Get out of here,” a male voice says. I am pretty sure it is Brian. “And take the geek with you.”
“Brian, what happened to you?” Ruby St. Clair. I had no idea she was here. “What’s going on?”
I swallow heard and wait for Brian to answer. Riley puts his hand on my bare thigh, but this time it is not with fire. He must hear my breathing quickening. He strokes me softly to soothe my sudden wave of fear.
“The cops are on their way.”

When Brian and Ruby leave a few minutes later, I pull the covers off and sit up. I pull my dress over my legs and run my fingers through my hair.
“Slow down,” Riley says. “Just calm down.”
“I can’t be calm, Riley.” I consider putting my shoes on and decide against it. “Didn’t you hear Brian? The cops are on their way. And we’re drunk.”
“I realize that.” Riley sits up. “But if we just stay here, they’ll never find us. Cops can’t search the house unless they have a reason to. It’s true-“
“I don’t care, Riley.” I stand up. “I have to find Anderson and my friends. I have to get out of here. I know you don’t understand, but I’ve got too much going for me to get in trouble.”
“And I wouldn’t understand that.” He lowers his head.
“That’s not what I meant,” I insist. “I just meant that-”
“I get it.” Riley pulls his shirt over his head. “Just go. Find your boyfriend.”
Rather than stand and argue with him, I hurry out of the room and down the stairs. My friends are standing in the foyer.
“There she is!” Lena points to me as I stumble down the stairs. “Where the hell have you been, Sam?”
“I’m sorry,” I stutter. “I was…”
“She was helping me.”
I turn around and see Gabe leaning over a trash can. He looks at me and I know that he knows. He must have been the other person in the bathroom with Ruby.
“Gabe got sick,” I say. “And I was just taking care of him. Is the party over?”
“Jesus, Samantha.” Ethan rubs his hand over his hair. “Do you have any idea what is going on?”
Before I can say anything, Ethan points towards the living room. When I turn, everything shatters like the glass I realize I am standing on. Reality punches me in the stomach and twists its claws into my chest. I realize that I am not a celebrity. This is not, in fact, just a dream. And I am not on the red carpet. I push Gabe out of the way and shove my head into the trash can.

Everything escapes me.

November 17: Jeoffrey

Basketball season changes everything. It makes everything a little more manageable. With marching band season coming to a close, I need something to keep my mind occupied. Basketball practices mean getting home later every night. They mean not having to ride the bus with my friends in the afternoon. They mean running and lifting weights and feeling some kind of energy. Basketball games mean screaming fans, packed gyms, and feeling like a star. Away games mean getting out for a little while. And getting home even later. It means being away.
Escape.
The only thing I hate about escaping from the suffocation of my house and Cody’s angry fists is leaving Damien to deal with him. Damien gets extra chores, and if something goes wrong, he is the one punished for it. I hardly get to see my mom during basketball season. She works too much to make it to the games. And besides, five dollars for a ticket is not in our budget right now. So I sneak Damien in when I can.
This week we played our first game. We won by over twenty points. With football season running long, half of our team misses some of the practices. But tonight, we are celebrating major wins for both teams. And the guys told me I had no choice but to be there.
“You’ve got to come,” James had said Thursday after practice. “The whole team is going to be there. “
“Support your fellow teammates, right Jeoff?” Anderson threw a towel at me.
“What if you guys don’t win?” I teased.
They all just laughed.
“You can ride with us,” our point guard, Brandon, told me. “I’m driving.”
I really did not have any excuse not to go. I hate the taste of alcohol, but there is no law that says you have to drink if you are at a party. And the truth is I would rather be hanging out with the team than sitting around getting into trouble with Keyan and the guys. And God knows I do not want to be anywhere near Cody for a whole Saturday. So I said yes. And I pray that I do not regret that decision.
Regrets are for those who do not take chances.

Brandon convinces me to drive his fancy black sports car so that he can drink tonight. I barely have a license, but he tells me that he trusts me.
“You break her, you die.” He hands me the keys.
I wind through the streets of the nicest neighborhoods I have ever been in. Every house has lights in the yard that cast shadows on it, showcasing just how huge it is. Brian’s is no different. I park the car carefully across the street and get out before I can break anything.
Brandon and three of our teammates pile out of the tiny car and get their beer out of the trunk. I stuff the keys in my pocket and try to brace myself for what is about to happen. And then I realize where I am. I remember who I am with. With this crowd, anything is possible. And I have been taught to expect the worst.
Anything could happen.

Unlike most of my generation, I can have a good time without drinking. Luckily I am used to all kinds of smoke, because the smell is enough to knock someone down upon entering the house. I follow my teammates inside and shake hands with a few people in the foyer. It is packed with people from various team and cliques.
Several minutes later, the elite show up. James and Anderson walk in carrying cases of beer with Ethan and Tommie behind them.
“It’s about time you guys showed up,” I say.
“Jeoff!” James shakes my hand and slaps me on the back. “I can’t believe you actually came.”
“I told you I’d be here.”
“You won’t regret it,” Anderson assures me. “You want a beer?”
“I’m good.” I shake my head.
“We’re going to play pong outside.” He takes a swig from a can of beer. “You want in on it? I’ll drink for you.”
I shrug. “Sounds good.” I decide that if I have to be here until my friends are ready to leave, I may as well have a good time. I follow James through the kitchen with a bottle of water in my hand.
“You look good, man.” James puts his arm around my shoulders. “I’m digging the tank top.”
I am wearing an old, yellow Nike tank top that I found in Keyan’s closet, a pair of my nicest jeans, and a black “Members Only” jacket that my mom splurged on last Christmas. My snapback Chicago Bulls hat is one I found in the locker room one day after practice. The outfit cost pennies compared to the expensive name brands James is wearing, and he probably knows that. But he does not seem to care, so I take the compliment.
“Thanks, man. You look good, too.”
The deck outside is pretty crazy. There are a bunch of guys from various teams crowded around the table with girls hanging from their arms and spilling red drinks everywhere. James throws his hands up in the air, a beer in each of them.
“I brought a new partner, boys!”
Everyone starts clapping and I cannot help but smile. I have to admit it feels good being wanted. These people, who live on a completely different planet from me, somehow push that aside and accept me. That does not happen very often around here. I thank God for my jump shot and my mother’s good job of raising me.
Mama’s parenting did nothing for my beer pong skills. James teaches me how to find my form and eventually, I become pretty good at it. For every ball the other team makes, James drinks for the both of us. He doesn’t seem to mind.
“You’re so good!” Caroline, from the cheerleading squad, puts her arm around my waist. “I can’t believe you’re sober.”
“Thanks,” I say and inch away from her. I’m not interested in her wandering hands, the gin on her breath, or the cleavage tumbling out of her shirt.
The next team up is a kid from the soccer team. I cannot believe it when Audrey Oliver steps up beside of him with a cup in her hand. She chugs half of the cup before we even start the game. The guy pours more alcohol into her cup and smiles to his friends.
“What’s she doing here?” I ask James.
“Who cares?” He shrugs and dunks his ball into a cup of water. “All that matters is that we beat her!”
Against my better judgment, I play against Audrey and her guy. Every time I sink a ball into one of their cups, she guzzles alcohol. This cannot be normal. Am I the only one noticing that Audrey Oliver, the biggest geek in school, is standing at the end of the table drinking rum like it is apple juice? There is something weird in the air- chance. Everyone is taking entirely too many chances tonight.
When does chance become risk? And when does a risk become a hazard?
After several undefeated games, Ethan and Anderson beat us. I leave the table and my teammates and head back into the kitchen. The party is getting wild, with people in every inch of space. I make my way through the kitchen and into the living room where the music is pulsing and a hundred bodies move with it.
“Dance with me!” Caroline pulls my arm and drags me into the middle of the floor. She moves in front of me and sways her hips to the music.
Across from me, Samantha is dancing with someone. It is dark, except for the flashing strobe light. But from what I can see, it is Riley moving behind her. People are definitely taking too many chances tonight. But I decide to forget about it and press my body against Caroline’s. You only live once, right?

When the smoke and body heat becomes too much, I work my way through the house to get outside. In the foyer, I see Riley follow Samantha upstairs. They are shouting at each other. Investigating would be too tiring; and I’m already exhausted.
“What’s up, Jeoff?” Crash Law stands on the front porch with a beer in his hand and a cigar in his mouth. “How’s it going?”
“Good, man.”
“Didn’t think I’d see you tonight.” He takes a puff from the cigar and offers it to me. To both of our surprise, I take it.
“Me either.” I shrug and take a drag. The cigar is flavored and tastes good. It calms my grating nerves for a second. “I thought I might need a change.”
“Change is good.” He nods and takes the cigar back. “You drinking?”
“Nope.”
“Not that much change, huh?” He chuckles.
“I guess not.”
He heads back into the house and I walk down the sidewalk. The night is cool and the air is eerily still, despite the music that echoes through the windows and walls.
Over the loud music, the crashing of bodies against each other, and the shouts of everyone trying to talk over everyone else, I hear someone crying. To my right, a girl is sitting on the curb. She is crouched over with her head in her lap and her hands over her head. A pair of ridiculously high heels sits next to her. She sniffles and gasps as her back heaves up and down in an ungraceful arch.
I step a few inches closer and realize it is Evelyn. I should have known. Nobody else has hair that wild or heels that high. My heart stops and then quickens almost instantaneously.
“Are you alright?”
She stops gasping and slowly lifts her head. Under the spotlight of the street lamp, I can see her makeup is smeared all over her face. Her cheeks are puffy and red, her eyes swollen and wet. Her breasts are about to spill out of her too-short dress. Her hair swirls around her like a tangled, fiery tornado. Despite the storm she has become, she is stunning.
“Just walk away.” She looks down in her lap. “That’s what everyone else has done. They just keep on walking. It’s like I don’t even exist.”
“A guy can’t just walk away when they see a girl crying on the side of the street.” I stuff my hands in my pockets and inch my way closer to her. “That just wouldn’t be right.”
“A gentleman, huh?” She sneers. “You only have to be polite to women who deserve it. I’m no lady.” Her voice is raspy from crying, deep from being Evelyn, and strained from trying to hold onto herself. It intoxicates me.
I sit down next to her and wrap my arms around my knees. I am careful not to sit too close. The last thing I want to do is run my dream girl off before I’ve barely been able to speak to her.
We sit there in heavy silence for a few seconds. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, you know.”
“Why not?” She laughs. “Nobody else seems to have a problem with it.”
“Who cares what they think?”
“Easy for some kid on the basketball team to say.” She rolls her eyes. I do not know whether I should take this as an insult that she is assuming things, or as a compliment- because she knows about me. “I guess it’s just easier for some people.”
“Easy?” I try to keep my voice down. “Don’t talk to me about easy, Evelyn.”
She shrugs. “You come to school, everyone loves you, you do your work, and you go home. You have friends, fans. Hell, I’m sure you’ve probably already got all of your college bullshit lined up. Sounds pretty ideal to me.”
“That’s the problem with people,” I tell her. “They assume too much.”
“So I’m wrong?” She looks at me. “None of that is true?”
“It might be.” I stare hard at her. “But you don’t know the reasoning behind it. You don’t know why I play basketball. You don’t know why I work hard in school. You don’t know.”
“Well, tell me.”
I realize that she has finally stopped crying. The black makeup starts to firm up on her face but she does nothing about it. So I do not say anything. I consider spilling everything, letting it pour out of me like the vodka she lets spill out of the bottle beside of her. Deciding that I could easily scare her away with the truth, I give her a condensed version of it.
“I’ve got to get out of here.”
She remains quiet for a minute, and then pours the last bit of alcohol onto her tongue. “You aren’t the only one.”
“Why are you out here, Evelyn?” I take the bottle from her. “What happened?”
“Boys are stupid,” she tells me. “And I forgot that for the tiniest second, and I got fucked over. That’s what happened.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She shakes her head. But she also keeps talking. “Riley and I were never official, you know? He wasn’t my boyfriend, and I wasn’t his girlfriend.”
Riley. Of course.
She continues with slurred, loopy words. “But at the end of the day, I felt something there. I know what everyone thinks about me. They think I’m dirty. They think I’m just some stupid slut who uses her body to get what she wants. They think I’m not worth anything. Don’t they?”
“That’s not true,” I tell her.
She closes her eyes. “Don’t lie! It’s the truth. I am a slut, and I do use my body. And I am worthless. I’m a fucking idiot, because no matter how many times I get let down, I believe that one day a guy will be different. I keep telling myself that something will change. I was crazy to think he could change. Because nobody ever changes, do they?”
I am not sure how to answer. Instead of thinking about what I would say, I put myself in KT’s shoes and think about what my best friend would say. He was always so much better at giving advice and talking to girls than I was. In my head, I reach out to him. Help me out, KT. Help me help this girl.
“You’re not crazy. People change,” I tell her. “But they only change for themselves. They will only change because they want to. You want Riley to turn into your perfect, sweet, loyal, committed boyfriend, right?”
She sighs, and I take it as a confirmation.
“Until Riley wants to become that for you or someone else, he’s going to keep doing what he does.” I clasp my hands together and force my nerves down before I continue. “Until you start believing and acting like you are worth something, nobody else is going to believe it. You can only change yourself.”
She is quiet and I sit next to her in our quiet bubble. That bubble bursts when she starts to cry again.
“I’m sorry.” She covers her face. “You probably think I’m a total idiot. What kind of girl falls for Riley Sutton?”
“All of them,” I say.
That makes her laugh and relief washes over me. She scoots closer to me and her hair tickles my arm.
“I’m not like other girls.” She wipes her face on her jacket. “And Riley is an asshole. I hope he has fun with that little…“
I wait for her to finish. I am sure that some pretty terrible words are about to come out of her mouth, and I think she is sure of it to. But before she lets them out, I can see her thinking about it. And her face softens. And finally, she finishes.
“I hope he is happy.”
I am not sure what else to say, but I don’t think she needs me to say anything else. She rests her head on my shoulder and sniffs.
“Don’t tell anyone I’m weak,” she says with her mouth pressed against my arm. “They’ll eat me alive.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Why haven’t we ever talked before?” She asks without lifting her head. “I mean, I’ve always known who you were. I guess I never thought you would be so… smart.”
“Yeah, most people don’t.” I chuckle. “It comes with the skin color.”
“That’s stupid.” Her voice has become a whisper.
A few seconds later, the sound of footsteps quickly approaching snaps both of us out of our daze. To my right I see a group of people walking towards us. From the silhouettes of baggy jeans and puffy jackets, I can tell they do not belong here. When they get closer and I hear Spanish flittering from their mouths at warp speed, I realize that something is very wrong.
“What the hell?” Evelyn looks up.
“Shh,” I tell her.
When she realizes who they are, she grabs onto my arm and tightens her grip. Her nails dig into my skin, but I do not mind. A few seconds later, Manny Aviles and several of his friends walk past us. He looks down at me, squints his eyes, and clenches his jaw. Panic stirs from inside of me.
But he isn’t here to see me.
They keep walking. Towards Brian’s house.
“Come on,” I urge Evelyn. I stand up and hold my hand out for her.
She struggles to get up and grabs her shoes. I pull her around the house through the side yard and around to the back deck. She follows me up the stairs and into the house. Brian is standing in the kitchen making drinks for a couple of girls. I let go of Evelyn’s hand and hurry to the counter.
“What’s up man?” He smiles. He is clearly more intoxicated than the last time I saw him a couple of hours ago.
“Brian.” I get close to him. “Manny and his crew just rolled up.”
His eyes get wide. “What? What are they doing here?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug. “But they didn’t look like they were here for the beer pong or the dancing. You feel me?”
He nods and hurries past me.
I find Brandon and the other guys playing flip cup in the dining room. I hurry over to him and pull him right out of the game.
“What the fuck, Jeoff?” He is wasted. “We’re going to lose!”
“Manny Aviles is here,” I tell Brandon. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. We need to leave.”
“He’s probably just here for the party, man!” He slaps me on the shoulder. “Just have some fun.”
I look at Evelyn, who is just as freaked as I am. It reads all over her makeup-smudged face. I pull Brandon’s keys out my pocket and look him straight in the eye.
“You can either leave with me, or you can stay. But I’m getting out of here right now.”
He knows I am serious, despite the alcohol in his system begging him to stay. He rounds up the other guys, who are pissed that I’m making them forfeit. Clayton and Will decide to stay, and I do not really care. Brandon and Matt follow me though, and we head out to the foyer.
“Where is Riley Sutton?”
Manny is standing in the foyer with his gang. Everyone stands around him, completely shocked that he is here. I see in all of their faces that they are terrified. The girls cower behind their boys, and the boys search as well as they can to see if Manny has a gun on him.
Nobody answers, so he pushes through the crowd towards the living room. Alex comes through the front door a few seconds later. Evelyn is still behind me.
“Jeoff, have you seen Riley?” Alex asks. His face is flustered and I know he must have just had an encounter with the Kings.
“I saw him go upstairs about an hour ago.” I point towards the stairs. “Look kid, things are about to get real in here. Do you need a ride home?”
“What do you mean?” He asks.
A few seconds later, the music is off and people are yelling. Glass crashes against walls, and the room next to us pulsates with adrenaline. I grab Evelyn’s hand.
“Let’s go!”
She follows me outside, with Alex right next to us. Matt decides to stay, but Brandon trails behind us. I know he wants to stay and see what is going on.
“Can we please stay?” Brandon begs me. “This could be the fight of the year!”
I unlock the door to his car and let the others in behind my seat. “Fight of the year means blood, broken bones, and lots of damages. That means police. Police mean drinking tickets. You trying to lose that scholarship before you even sign the contract?”
Brandon sighs at the weight of reality and slips into the passenger seat. He is nearly passed out before I can even start the car. My hands shake as I put the key into the ignition and put the car into drive. With a passed out Brandon in the front, and a panicked and crying brother and sister in the back, I press the gas and get us out as quickly as possible.
This is what happens when you take a chance. You risk everything for one night of escape, and everything can go sour in an instant. But in the mirror, I can see Evelyn staring out her window. The faintest smile is wedged onto her face, while tears still stream down her cheeks. Maybe taking this chance was worth it, if even only for those few moments I had with her. Perhaps I should take chances more often.

Chance can change everything.