“She's said plenty.” I ignore their chuckles and head toward the door. “Anyway, like I said, I'm just going to be passing by the party on my way home.” And if somehow I'm invited inside, great.
“Wait, wait, wait, hold up.” Mase pauses the game and jumps over Neil on his way over to me. “Here.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls something out, then shoves it into my hand. “You know, just in case.”
I look down at the condom in my hand, and Mase starts cackling as he walks back to pick up his controller. The others join in on laughing while I grip the condom packet and scowl at my now so-calledfriends.
“Laugh it up now, boys, but you know what? She will be mine one day. I'll make sure of it. You just wait and see.” I lift the packet in my hand and wave it at them. “And then I willneed this.”
They chuckle again as I turn around and walk out of the room with a smile on my face. I'm used to them giving me shit, especially Mase. And I usually give it back just as much.
It all depends on who's in the hot seat. I made myself the target tonight with my not-so-subtle plans to pass by the party and see what's going on.
Before I get to the bottom of the stairs, I put the condom in the back pocket of my jeans along with my phone. Not sure I'd like to have a conversation about why I'm carrying one around in my hand if I run into Campbell's parents.
It's completely silent when I walk through the downstairs area and walk to the front door, so I didn't need to worry about it anyway.
I step out into the cool air, take a deep breath, and then start the walk along the path toward my house. All joking aside, I really amhoping to run into Jennifer, even though she's not really likely to be outside. And even if she were, she'd be surrounded by her group of friends.
I've had a crush on her all throughout high school. It started on the first day of school when she said 'hello' to me from her locker beside mine. I don't think I even responded to her because I was too shocked that someone as beautiful as her had actually spoken to me. I stood there frozen, with probably the stupidest expression on my face.
It didn't matter anyway because right after that, she was swept into the popular crowd and I was kept firmly on the outside.
We're heading to the same college – which I happen to know because I overheard her talking to her friends – so I'm hoping we can start fresh and become friends.
And then, we'll go from there.
Just as I make the turn to cut through the field that sits halfway between Campbell's house and the party, a guy comes charging out from the darkness and bangs right into me, almost knocking me over, then continues running off without apologizing.
“Watch it!” I call to his retreating back. “Asshole.”
Shaking my head, I turn and continue on. But after several steps, an odd sound from nearby has me pausing and straining my ear to hear what the noise was. I realize it's a mixture between a moan and a whimper when it comes again.
Following the sound to where it's darker and where the grass is longer, I pull out my phone and turn on the flashlight, so I can actually see.
My blood runs cold when my sight lands on a girl lying on the ground in front of me. She's face down with her skirt bunched up at her waist, and her underwear pulled down, wrapped around one ankle.
“Oh, shit!” I quickly crouch down and roll her over.
My vision gets hazy around the edges when I see exactly who it is.
No! No, no, no, Jennifer!
The large bruise forming on her cheek looks painful, her makeup is smudged, and her hair is a tangled mess, just like her clothes.
“Jennifer!” I cup her cheeks. “Can you hear me?”
She doesn't respond. I move my hands to feel all over her body, checking for blood, or anything that feels like a broken bone. The panic and adrenaline mixing and swirling around inside my body have my hands shaking and my mind not thinking right.
I start tugging at her skirt, trying to pull it down in my panicked state, but I end up scratching her leg with the uneven nail I was chewing on earlier.
“Shit. Fuck.” I grip my hair. “Okay, okay, calm down.”
Breathe in, breathe out.
“Jennifer,” I say loudly. “Jennifer, wake up.”
Even when I shake her a little, she doesn't move.
In fact, I can't even tell if she's breathing right now. I fumble to find my phone that I had dropped earlier, and it takes me three attempts to dial nine-one-one.
