High School Hangover (7 page)

I have the entire pool to myself because everyone else is talking, drinking, or making out. I watch Ronnie lean over and gently kiss Erika. I know I should be happy for her that she’s getting her guy, but I want to swim up and splash them. The urge intensifies when I see Leo leaning toward Amelia Brown, the rumored easy girl, and conspiratorially whisper something in her ear. Amelia has the nerve to look my direction and snicker. I dunk my head under water while fantasizing about doing the same to Amelia.

I hold my breath until my lungs feel like they are going to burst then I bust through the surface and swim as far away from Leo and Amelia as I can. I know I shouldn’t even care since he was obviously able to move on so quickly, but I do care. Tonight was my one chance with Leo. Now, thanks to Jack McAllister, my shot with Leo is completely blown. I dive through the middle of a neon green inner tube and scream underwater so no one can hear me.

I resurface for a breath while peeing in the pool because there is no way I’m getting out in front of everyone in wet, see-through panties and bra. I backstroke to the other side of the pool just in case there is any truth to that pee turning blue in the pool nonsense.

I lean my head back against the concrete lip of the pool and close my eyes. I’m fantasizing about what it would have been like if Leo would have kissed me. Fantasy Leo’s lips are almost on mine when something cold and wet pelts my forehead forcing my head to snap up. I look down to see a hot dog floating in the pool.

“I was making sure you weren’t asleep. It’d be a real shame if you drowned,” Jack shouts from his post behind a huge stainless steel grill. I narrow my eyes at him and fling the hot dog in his general direction, but he looks blurry, probably from the heat coming off the grill. The hot dog bounces off a junior’s totally fake boobs and lands in her lap.

“Hey,” she yells at me.

“Sorry, my bad,” I say. Err…freaking Jack. I don’t even have to look up to know that he is laughing at me. He got exactly what he wanted. He didn’t want me, but he didn’t want Leo to have me either.

I want to hold his head underwater long enough to wipe that smirk off his face. Why does he have it out for me so bad, anyway? I’ve never done anything to him besides get him a good grade.

Leo strides confidently by me without so much as a backwards glance. He slips in the back door, and a few seconds later, Amelia follows his same route. My mind may be racing a bit and my body going a hundred miles an hour but my heart knows what this means. I’m crushed. My devastation is even worse when I realize Jack is watching my face. I stare back at him, tears threatening to escape my lids. I dive underwater until I can get some control over myself.

A few minutes later, a bloodcurdling scream cuts through my pity party. Josie bolts out the back door, crying and screaming about something. I guess I should be worried but I can’t make myself care.

“Josie, what’s wrong?” Jack yells.

“Mimi is missing,” Josie shouts, flailing around in the yard like she’s walking over hot coals.

I don’t particularly care who Mimi is so I turn away from Josie because all of her bouncing is starting to make me quite nauseous.

Jack drops his spatula and rushes over to Josie. Jack must fancy himself a knight in shining armor. The thought makes me giggle, which I hide with my hand, because I don’t want everyone thinking I’m some kind of psycho who thinks it’s funny that a girl is missing.

Within seconds, I’m alone outside. Apparently I’m the only person who didn’t volunteer to join the manhunt for this Mimi person. Hopefully this new emergency is putting a kink in Leo and Amelia’s make-out session. I bet she’s kissing Jack, I mean Leo, right this second. The very thought is disgusting. I mean, she didn’t even get on the honor roll last quarter. I would have thought Leo would be more discriminating. I lean over and throw up next to the pool drain.

Holy crap, that was nasty. It was all red from the punch. I can’t believe I puked in Josie’s pool. I’ve got to get out of here before everyone figures out it was me. I swim over to the ledge and try to pull myself out but my arms are too weak and I slide back into the pool.

I’m about to give up when I see a pair of muscular arms reach out and effortlessly pull me from the pool.

“How about that alone time?” Leo asks seductively, giving me a look that makes me feel like I’m under a spell.

I’m so stunned I can’t speak. He came back for me. He picked me over Amelia.

“Let’s go, I don’t want to share you with anyone,” Leo urges, grabbing my dress and purse. I’m trying to focus but I can’t tear my eyes off Leo’s shirt that seems to be moving. Whoa, definitely no more punch for me. I force myself to stop watching because I’m afraid I might puke again. I steal somebody’s towel and disappear out of the yard with Leo. We sprint across the street and up his driveway, past the moving van that I saw earlier, and duck inside a back door.

“Wait here,” Leo urges me, disappearing down a long hallway.

My teeth are chattering so bad I’m afraid they’re going to crack and break off, which is weird because I’m not even cold. My stomach lifts and drops like I’m on a roller coaster and I’m terrified that I might throw up again. I guess I’m nervous because this is the first time I’ve ever been alone with a guy in his house.

Erika’s warning about not leaving without her annoyingly runs through my mind. I block it out by telling myself that Leo and I have known each other since kindergarten, even if we’ve technically only talked about three times until today. I mean, hello, if Leo had impure intentions, I’d know it. I’m the smartest person I know.

Beads of water race down me and puddle onto the linoleum floor. I realize I’m standing in Leo’s house wearing nothing but my soaked underwear and bra. I can only imagine what would happen if his parents walked in right now. I dry off as best as I can with the towel then reach for Mom’s dress, which Leo left lying on top of a dryer.

I slide the dress over me, but my bra and underwear are still so soaked they are going to get the dress wet. I don’t relish this decision but realize it must be made. I unsnap and pull off my bra, then wiggle out of my wet panties. I frantically zip up my dress one-handed while trying to figure out what to do with my wet underwear. I spot a garbage can next to the dryer and toss them in covering them up with a few dryer sheets. Luckily they weren’t my favorites. This is by far the weirdest thing I’ve ever done, but I can’t have Leo come back finding me with underwear in my hand.

A few minutes later, he peeks around the corner and gestures for me to follow him. I tiptoe after him, finding it insanely difficult to be quiet. I want to scream with joy that I’m in Leo’s house. Leo chose me to be with tonight. I almost wish that Erika and Jack knew I was here so I could prove them both wrong about Leo.

He holds a door open for me that leads downstairs. I grab the handrails on both sides of the stairs to avoid tumbling headfirst in these heels. I reach the last stair and stop because the room is pitch black and I can’t see anything. Leo moves in front of me, takes my hand, and leads me through the room.

When he flips on the lights, I’m surprised to see a plush living area with couches, a flat screen television, and a wet bar. I had expected a cold, dank basement filled with boxes of Christmas decorations. Leo disappears behind the bar only to resurface seconds later with a beer in one hand and a familiar-looking can in the other. I recognize it as the energy drink Erika chugs before school every day. Leo hands it out to me and I reluctantly accept.

He pops the top on his beer and starts chugging. I stand there feeling awkward because I don’t want to seem rude, but I don’t think I should drink anymore of this stuff. I’m finally starting to feel like I could sit still without tearing my hair out and I don’t want to ruin my time with Leo by getting crazy hyper again. Not to mention the fact that I’m not wearing any underwear so I don’t want to take any chances that I might have the uncontrollable urge to strip again.

“Cheers to you, Laney Wentworth, Higginsville High’s valedictorian,” Leo says, banging his can against mine. “C’mon, let’s toast to you,” he urges. I guess one more sip isn’t going to hurt me.

I pop the can open and guzzle down the strong tasting drink. It isn’t nearly as good as the punch but I figure a tiny bit more won’t hurt me. He gives me a smile that doesn’t meet his eyes and a mental picture of The Grinch pops into my head for some reason. I’m starting to get a weird vibe off him, or maybe this is just another punch side effect.

A ringing interrupts the silence hanging over us. He stares at my purse and I realize that it’s my phone ringing. I pull it out of my purse to see Erika’s cell phone number flashing on the screen.

Leo leans forward to grab it and I instinctively jerk away.

“Don’t answer it. Please,” he adds sweetly.

“I should probably let Erika know where I am,” I say, swallowing past the newly formed lump in my throat. Deep in the pit of my stomach an alarm is going off. Something feels off, which is crazy considering how long I’ve dreamt about this very scenario.

“Let’s have one drink, then you can go back to your friends.”

“Sure,” I agree, realizing how paranoid I’m being. I slide over the decline button then set it carefully back in my purse, my hands shaking the whole time. Without even thinking, I suck down the entire can of energy drink out of pure nervousness.

“Should we get back to the party now?” I ask, feeling my pulse already start to quicken. I hate the fact that Jack was right. These drinks are doing something to me. I want to get back to Erika before I do something truly stupid this time.

“There’s one more tiny thing,” Leo says, gesturing at something in a dark corner behind me.

I turn around to see Amelia stepping out of the shadows holding something that is buzzing loudly. What is she doing here and why is she holding a taser gun? I turn to Leo for answers but he grabs my arms and pins them behind me, my purse and empty can tumble to the floor.

“You just couldn’t be second best, could you?” Leo growls at me. “Do you know how humiliating it’s been chasing after you all these years? I even hijacked your lab project sophomore year, but it still didn’t make a difference.”

Jack was telling the truth. Leo stole our lab project out of his locker. I can’t believe I’ve spent two years penalizing him for something Leo did. I thought Leo was being such a gentleman when he offered to stand up with me, when it turns out he’s the whole reason why Jack was a no show. This changes everything. I have to get to Jack so that I can apologize.

Amelia is dangerously close to me with what I now realize is an electric razor.

“I’m sorry I’m smarter than you,” I plead with Leo, trying to twist out of his grip.

“Are you really?” he asks, laughing like a deranged person. “I got you to come here, didn’t I? I tricked you into thinking that I liked you.”

His words sting worse than that razor probably will. I was really starting to believe that Leo liked me when it was all just an act. These two have been cohorts from the beginning. Even Jack tried to warn me. For someone supposedly so smart, I’ve been a real idiot.

“You’ll never get away with this,” I yell, not even sure what they’re trying to get away with.

“Let’s show her what it feels like to be humiliated, sweetie,” Leo says to Amelia. “Give her the Mr. Clean.”

Oh my God, they’re going to shave my head. I kick so furiously Mom’s heels come flying off. Leo winds one of his legs around both of mine. I jerk back and forth so hard I feel lightheaded. I’m not going to be able to stop this, I think, feeling the vibration of the razor on my forehead. I’m going to have to walk back into Josie’s party in front of everyone, completely bald. If they only knew how completely humiliated I already am thinking that Leo liked me, they wouldn’t even have to shave my head. I try to scream, but nothing comes out, not that it would matter, anyway. I feel pressure on my forehead then everything goes black.

Chapter Four

I’m having a dream where I have to pee super bad. I’m in a restroom that only has one stall and there are twelve pregnant women in front of me in line. I’m contemplating using the sink when I jolt awake. Everything is pitch black, not at all like the bright fluorescent lights from my bathroom dream. I have no idea where I am and I’m terrified, especially when I realize the only thing I carried over from my dream was an excruciatingly full bladder.

I try not to panic but my head is throbbing, making calm thinking impossible. Where am I? What time is it? I don’t remember falling asleep. Am I at Erika’s house? But I’m not in a bed. I’m not even lying down. I’m propped up against something hard. My butt is vibrating, there are all kinds of muffled sounds around me, and I feel constricted. I think somebody has me in a strait-jacket, but then I move my arms and realize it’s not a strait-jacket after all. Slowly, I realize I’m moving. Rather, whatever I’m in is moving. I must be in somebody’s car, on my way home from the party. But it’s so dark. It reminds me of the haunted house Erika talked me into going to last fall. I cover my face with my hands anticipating something spooky is about to pop out at me.

After a few seconds, nothing grabs me so I spread my fingers a little but I still can’t see anything but darkness. Tentatively, I reach my hands out in front of me, but there is nothing but air. A tiny sliver of light is peeking out from beside one of my legs and I put my hand out to grab it. My fingers grip a flashlight and the relief of being able to see again has the unexpected benefit of lowering my heart rate from dangerously-close-to-a-stroke down to a more manageable killer-headache-from-hell level.

I massage my forehead with one hand while using the other to shine the beam of light around. Instead of the house of horrors I expected, I am surrounded by mountains of cardboard boxes contained in a larger metal box. My ever-so-helpful memory immediately accesses a story I read once about a girl getting kidnapped and held in a storage container never to be heard from again until her bones were found ten years later. I mentally cuss my brain for conjuring up
that
memory, but not how the heck I got in here. A soft whistling noise dangerously close to my side makes the hair on my arms prickle. I aim the flashlight directly at it.