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“So what?” I asked.
“So, I don’t want you feeling like you owe me.”
“I don’t feel like that at all!” I protested. “I didn’t think this would be weird. I’m going to Clemson, and you’re going to Auburn. This might be the last time we see each other, or anyone else at this party. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.”
Jack stood up and began pacing around the room. “You just want to do this because we’re all leaving for college?”
“Of course not.”
“I heard you and Brandi talking about it when I opened the front door,” he accused. “You only came here to find someone to pop your cherry. And you didn’t even consider me until I got in a fight for you.”
“My sister was joking…”
“I don’t want some meaningless sex,” Jack insisted, running a hand through his sandy hair. His eyes shone like blue fire, now. “You’re not some random girl to me, Alyssa. You mean more to me than that.”
Rejection stung like a slap, so I made myself scoff. “You have a weird way of showing it.”
My phone rang. Eager to turn away from Jack, I answered it without looking. “Hey, it’s Brandi. I got your texts. Kyle and I went out to get ice cream. Want me to bring something back to the party for you?”
“I’m good. I was just leaving.” I hung up.
“Alyssa, wait. Let’s talk about this.” Jack reached out for my arm.
The memory of Will grabbing me was still fresh in my mind. Without thinking, I slapped Jack on the other cheek. He stepped back, mouth hanging open.
Feeling embarrassed, and ashamed, and rejected, I ran out of the room.
I was crying by the time I walked the hundred feet down to my house. Our mother was sitting on the porch, smoking a cigarette.
“Have a good time at your party?” she asked in her usual biting tone.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I reached for the door, but our mother held it closed.
“Let me guess,” she said dryly. “You went to that party to see all your little friends before running off to South Carolina like a coward, abandoning your poor mother. Except you were a little too friendly with the boys. Gave them the wrong idea. Nobody likes a tease, A. I thought you would have learned that from your slut sister. At least B owns it, rather than pretending she’s something she’s not.”
I rounded on her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Her laugh was the most genuine I had ever heard. “I know that neighbor boy looks angry at whatever you did.”
She pointed back the way I had come. Jack was standing in the front yard, gazing in my direction. His hand still held his cheek. Not the one Darren had punched. The one I had slapped.
“Uh oh,” our mother said. “Looks like the party’s over. Mr. Franco came home early from his conference.”
A white SUV came skidding to a stop in front of the house. Party guests began scattering in all directions as Jack’s father stormed out of the car, screaming at his son.
“He’s going to get it now,” our mother chuckled.
Jack put his palms out toward his dad, but Mr. Franco lunged with a vicious backhanded blow. Jack fell to his knees on the grass, then slowly stood back up to face his father.
“You and B always bitch and moan about the way I treat you, but at least I’ve never gotten physical,” she muttered. “And believe me: you’ve deserved it plenty of times. Not that it would do any good. You two are as stubborn as a five pound bag of sand.”
I stared helplessly as Jack stood tall. He was bigger than his father in every way, but didn’t put up a fight as another fist hit him in the jaw. He stumbled, but remained standing. He held his head up high and said something to his father.
“You really are a piece of work, you know that, A?” our mother taunted. “You escaped the party at the right time. All of the fun without any of the responsibility. That’ll catch up to you eventually, believe me. It’s the reason I got stuck with the two of you. Thank God you’ll both be gone soon.”
“Which is it?” I demanded of her. “Am I abandoning you by going off to college, or are you excited to be rid of us?”
“Don’t take that tone with me,” she warned.
