Hybrid

by TJ Hines

  Before I could say anything else to Will, I was being pushed from behind by Ella.

  “Go on Kinsey. Get up there. And close your mouth—you look like a fish,” Ella said before jumping up and down. She was having the most fun of anyone tonight.

  I did what she said because…well…I, basically, had no choice. Everyone was staring at me and I was so overcome with humiliation that I almost passed out. I cannot believe that I put Addison through all this. No wonder she looked like she was going to be sick when she got up on stage.

  I saw Tyler smiling at me as I walked towards the steps leading to the stage. No- no-no-no. Did Tyler do this? Why? Why would he think this was a good idea?

  When Tyler saw my face, he seemed confused by my expression. It must have looked something like a person walking towards their executioner after all attempts at a pardon had been exhausted. I was staring off into space, eyes blank and shaking my head like this was all just another nightmare.

  “Hey, we need you to fill out this form about ‘who you are and what you like’ and then Chip will start the auction,” Tyler said with that still confused expression on his face.

  “Ummm. Okay. I guess,” I mumbled quietly taking the form from Tyler.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Not really. Do you know who put my name on the list?”

  “Let me check with Chip.”

  He walked up the stage to ask while I finished filling out the form. The form that would be used to entice someone to buy a date with me for charity. Any person who was willing to shell out the most money. What was wrong with me? How could I have ever thought this would be a good thing for Addison? If Ensley hadn’t decided to stop at anything to win the date, she could have ended up with some creep—like that clown guy. I shuddered slightly thinking about how creepy that guy was.

  “Chip only remembers that it was a girl,” Tyler said walking back down to me.

  “Oh. Well, thanks anyway. Here’s the form.”

  “Don’t look so worried, Kinsey. I’ll be out there and nobody—I mean nobody—will outbid me for a date with you.”

  Normally, that would have made my head spin. But after the confession Will had made to me, that only made my stomach start doing cartwheels. This was so not going to end well. As I started making the lonely trek to the middle of the stage, I realized that I knew who put my name on the list. Abby. Realizing who would do such an evil thing to me, especially when she knows about my feelings for Will and Tyler, made me furious. By the time I was introduced, I was fuming. My hands were balled into fists. And all I wanted to do was jump off the stage and confront the evil, heinous bitch.

  But first I had to find her and what better place to search for one warped French maid in a sea of people than from up above. I found my group almost immediately thanks to Ella’s huge pixie wings, which were almost as tall as she was. Drew and Ella still looked amused by what was happening. Drew because well—it was Drew, and Ella was acting as if this whole auction thing was the best thing she had ever witnessed. Addison, however, knew what I was going through especially when we both saw Tyler weaving through the packed crowd to get closer to the stage. Addison gave me a sympathetic smile acknowledging that this was not going to end well for anyone. She looked over at Ensley, who was staring at Will. I felt so horrible inside. He had just bared his soul to me and before I could say anything to him, I had to come up here. I am sure that this is not how he had foreseen the night going. Before I could kick myself, even more, I realized that I shouldn’t be upset with myself because this was in no way my fault. But it was hers.

  Abby! I said to myself. I am going to make her pay for this, one way or another. I scanned frantically around the crowd. Where was she? Did she leave? Because at this point that will be the only thing that saves her face from meeting my fist tonight. Nah. Knowing Abby, she’s still here lurking in the shadows. She wouldn’t miss my utter humiliation and social destruction.

  “Our final auctionee tonight is Kinsey Adams. She is a junior majoring in Communications. Most of you will know her from the campus radio station where she is a DJ. Kinsey loves music and movies. She loves hanging out with her friends and reading in her spare time.” Chip, the auctioneer, said with slight disgust at the reading part. Obviously, not an avid reader.

  “Bidding will start—…”

  Thanks to my one-track mind, at the moment, I ended up not hearing how the auction actually started. I don’t even have a clue of who actually bid on me first because I focused on my mission of finding the traitor. I finally spotted the little slut standing near the makeshift bar with Mike. All I could do was lock eyes with her. The bidding had already started, and I wasn’t about to embarrass myself anymore tonight. I would wait till this horrid thing was over and then deal with the skank. I kept scowling at her. Waiting. She, to my surprise, never tried to sneak away. She must have realized that she was safe until that Chip guy said ‘SOLD’.

  After I focused in on where she was, because I was not about to lose her, I started listening to—but not watching—what was happening around me. I was shocked to hear that I had like four or five guys bidding on me, then when the price reached a hundred dollars the number of guys bidding went down to three. What can you do? When it reached two hundred dollars, the only two guys still bidding on me were Tyler and…Will. This was horrible. I had to do something. I had to fix this.

  I started repeating to myself: Please let someone other than Tyler or Will win the date. I remained as focused as I could on Abby while trying to keep up with the bidding that was now beyond control. I was sure that no matter the outcome—one of these guys was going to end up punching the other one. You know how some girls always say it is flattering to have two guys fighting over you. Well, they have to be on crack because this was in no way flattering. I wanted to hit both of them for being so childish and petty. This competition was bringing out the worst in them.

  When the price was a little over the five-hundred-dollar range, the strangest thing happened; the auctioneer, Chip, said ‘Sold…for $515…to…me. Thanks for participating everyone.’ Both guys turned towards the podium to stare at Chip. That was, well, weird. I didn’t even realize that the auctioneer could bid. I am almost positive that it’s not allowed. Honestly, though, I didn’t give a flying flip if it was allowed or not because it kept Will and Tyler from getting hurt. I really did not have time for the two of them to start with their macho bravado again. Love triangles were so 2012. So, I left a very pissed off Will and Tyler to deal with Chip because I had bigger things to deal with. Those things being a five-foot-seven blonde-haired bitch and possibly her steroid-induced dipshit bodyguard/boyfriend.

  I jumped off the stage when I saw Abby trying to retreat. It took me a while to make my way through the packed party guests to where she had been standing with Mike. Making it even harder was that now, I didn’t have the advantage of elevation and everyone was either taller than I was or so drunk that they were falling on me. She is actually going to make it out of here free and clear. I squeezed between people as I made my way towards where I thought she was. This is impossible. Dammit!!

  I was about to give up when I caught a glimpse of her making a beeline for the back doors, so I immediately adjusted my path. I got tired of trying politely to squeeze between people, so I started pushing people out of my way, which would have worked a lot better if everyone there was smaller than me. You would think it would be easier to push a drunk person out of the way than it would be if they were sober. Wrong. They kind of sway to one side and then right back into you, with a lot of force.

  But I kept barreling along. I had to get to her. I didn’t even stop to hit the people whose hands kept wondering over my butt. And there were a lot. I just took the anger of being felt up and poured it in with my anger over what Abby did.

  The crowd started converging in on me the closer I got to the door. I pushed and shoved some more and ended up pushing some drunk guy so hard he dumped his beer on some unsuspecting g
irl dressed in a pink bunny outfit.

  “I’m so sorry…okay, maybe…I’m not,” I said to the couple who were now making out. Hormones + Halloween costumes + Alcohol= Random hook-ups and possible orgies. Ewww!!! You gotta love college. This party was getting way out of control. And I was about to turn it chaotic. I began chastising my actions once I realized what starting a fight would do to me and to this already crazy party. What are you doing, Kinsey? Have you completely lost your mind? Jack is going to kill you if you get in trouble.

  I finally made it into a clearing, when to my shock, I saw Abby blocked by Ella and Addison. Addison looked a little uncomfortable, but Ella seemed completely at ease. Drew and Ensley were standing about ten feet away from them, just staring at Mike. Drew and Ensley appeared to only be observers unless Mike decided to become involved. I was still too far away to hear or, for that matter, see what was going on between Ella and Abby. It had to have been funny because Drew was chuckling, and even Ensley was smiling. I took deep breaths and tried to calm myself down from a bloodlust rage to more of a fiery rage. I took my time getting to them, in the hopes that I wouldn’t try to kill Abby. I’m not normally so violent, but something came over me while I was on stage.

  When I finally managed to get to an area where I could see what was going on, I realized why Drew and Ensley were so amused. Abby was standing in front of Ella and Addison with her hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed at the little thing speaking to her. I had a good guess at what Abby was thinking, who is this little person? and why does she think she can stop me from leaving?

  Every time Abby tried to go around, Ella would step in front of her and block her. Ella never backed down either. She stood there like a wall and kept giving Abby a look that said, Try it. What I thought was extremely funny was that Abby kept backing down even though she had, at least, five inches and forty pounds on Ella. I couldn’t help but giggle at the scene, too. But Abby being Abby had a backup plan. She knew that she could intimidate Addison into backing down, so she turned on her.

  “Tell your little friend here to get out of my way before I hurt her,” Abby said sneeringly to Addison.

  “I, uh…,” Addison started to say.

  Ella must have sensed what I already knew—Addison would cave in a heartbeat. She was the most non-confrontational person I knew. I have never even seen her yell at anyone, well except the other night with me.

  “Back off Abby,” Ella said taking one-step towards Abby, which made Abby back up.

  “Make me.”

  I would have put money on Ella hitting her, but instead, Ella stood there—very calm. I had to put an end to this because I didn’t want Ella or Addison to get in trouble for me. This was between Abby and me.

  “Leave them alone Abby,” I said stepping between Ella and Abby.

  “I have nothing to say to you,” Abby said getting right in my face.

  “Yeah well, I have plenty to say to you,” I said not backing up an inch.

  “Tough. Mike. Let’s get out of here. This place is starting to reek with all this trash,” Abby said as she took Mike’s arm and shoved me to the side.

  And there it was—the final straw. I let it go last night, well, I did once Drew helped me calm down, but I am not about to let her get by with tonight.

  I stumbled when she shoved me to the side, but I recovered immediately, which was surprising to me because I’m usually not that graceful. I put my hand on Abby’s shoulder and turned her around so quickly that she didn’t even realize what was happening. As soon as she was facing me, I hit her square in the face. And it felt good too, right up until Mike turned on me.

  At first, he looked like he was going to yell at me for what I had done to his precious girlfriend. Then his eyes turned a foggy, milky gray and he grabbed me around the neck, lifted me straight up, and started squeezing. All I could think was he is actually choking me. Me. A girl. What the hell! And then everything began to swirl.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  When I finally got my bearings back, I was in Ella’s arms and Will had Mike up against a wall. He looked like he was five seconds from ripping Mike’s head off. It was so scary because he wasn’t saying a word. He was glowering at Mike with so much hatred that I had to look away. Drew and Ensley had taken up defensive positions guarding Will because the Delta Chi boys were all starting to converge around. I sat up a little disoriented and started to try to piece together how I ended up in Ella’s arms. Mike must have thrown me or dropped me. I wasn’t quite sure how it all happened, and I didn’t care because my friends were in trouble and wait. Where’s Addison? I scanned the area behind me because I knew she wouldn’t be anywhere near the fiasco in front of me. I couldn’t see her anywhere, but I did manage to see Abby. She was in the corner being looked after by a few of her friends. From a distance, it looked like I might have broken her nose. Cool. I’ve never done that before.

  “Where’s Addison?” I asked Ella in a voice that came out all gravelly and hoarse. My throat was killing me. Frankie is going to kill me if I can’t talk tomorrow. Yet another thing to be pissed at Abby about. If I lose my job over this, I may actually kill her. I don’t think I could actually do it, but I could find someone. People still hire people for that, right?

  Ella looked around scanning the crowd for Addison.

  “Hmmm. I don’t know. She was right beside me before, well, this happened,” Ella said making a movement with her hand to encompass what was going on in front of us.

  “We need to…,” I started to say but stopped because it hurt too much.

  “Don’t talk. That dick probably hurt your vocal cords. Can you stand?”

  I nodded. With Ella’s help, I managed to stand up, I started towards Will, but Ella grabbed my arm first.

  “They’re fine. Trust me. We need to go find Addison before she gets into any trouble.”

  Even though I doubted the guys were fine, Ella was right—Addison needed to be found. And soon, too. Because it looked like we were about to wear out our welcome. I snuck a quick glance back to make sure the guys were okay. Not like I could help them out. Well, this was going so very well. I’m so glad I decided to come tonight. Totally worth it. Not.

  Ella pulled me in the house right before the fighting began outside. We need to find Addison. Ella checked in all the upstairs rooms while I checked the main floor. Nothing. When we met back up, we heard more things shattering in the backyard. Oh. No. I hope they’re all okay.

  “Ella…maybe we should…I don’t know…,” I said looking back at the doors leading to the back door.

  “No. I promise those boys will be fine. I’m more worried about Addison. Does she normally take off like this?”

  “No. Never.”

  “Do you know where she may have gone?”

  “No…she’s very responsible…wait, I bet she went back to the car to wait for us.”

  “Yeah well let’s hope so,” Ella said in a way that made me seem like she doubted that was where Addison would be.

  We started back towards where Drew parked us earlier. I had forgotten how far away he parked. That was making me doubt that Addison came back to the vehicle. Why would Addison leave like that? She knows how dangerous it is at night. It finally dawned on me. Oh. Crap. This is not going to be good.

  “Ella?”

  “What?”

  “I think Addison is in trouble.”

  “No shit, Kinsey. I already figured that one out.”

  “No, listen. Addison would not have walked alone to the vehicle. She wouldn’t have. It’s not like her. At all. She may have came outside to get away from all the tension and then someone grabbed her.”

  “Why would you think someone grabbed her?” Ella asked stopping in the middle of the road.

  “I just have this feeling. There was this creepy guy in a clown costume at the party earlier. Tyler made him leave because he was trying to force girls to dance with him—including me. I don’t think he was very happy about leaving.”

 
“Well before we start to freak out. Let’s go check the car to see if she’s there. If she’s not…well, let’s take it one step at a time.”

  We started walking again, but this time both of us were more or less jogging, as best we could in our monster heels. When we got to the Tahoe, my heart dropped right through my stomach. Addison wasn’t there. And she wasn’t in the house. Oh. No. I started hyperventilating.

  “Breath, Kinsey. We’ll find her. You have to trust me on that.”

  All I could do was nod. This was all my fault. If I hadn’t wanted to spend time with Tyler tonight, Addison would never have been here. She would be back in her dorm room completely safe.

  “Kinsey listen to me. I need you to come with me back up to the house. Do you think you can do that?”

  “Um…yeah…I think…What if something happens to her?” I asked through the deep cleansing breaths Ella thought would calm me down.

  “Nothing is going to happen to her. Now let’s go.”

  Ella started running back towards the house with me in tow. She never left my side even when I told her to go on without me. I almost thought she was going to pick me up and carry me. If I weren’t so upset about Addison, I probably would have let her because it would have been funny to see her try. Plus, my feet were killing me.

  “I need you to go inside and get the guys, okay?” Ella asked when we reached the front of the Delta Chi house.

  “Why? Where are you going?”

  “I am going to look around. Now go, Kinsey. Tell them I will meet them back at the car.”

  Before I could even protest, Ella was gone. She started running down the sidewalk making it look extremely easy to run in heels. Well, that’s freaking great. What if something happens to her too? I know she could handle herself against a girl, but what about the clown guy or some other psycho.

  I had to get the guys. I ran up the stairs and straight through the living room. I didn’t even stop when Abby made some dumbass comment about how she was going to press charges against me. I opened the back door and found…Will, Drew, and Ensley walking towards me laughing. The reason why they were laughing was behind them. All the Deltas who came out to fight were now lying all over the place. They were moaning and holding their heads. Thankfully, most of them still had at least some parts of their togas covering areas I did not want to see. All the other guests had cleared out of the backyard. Don’t think I could blame them from the mess of things back here. I could barely even tell if the guys had even been in a fight. Drew didn’t have a scratch on him. Will’s shirt had come untucked and he was missing his cape but besides that no damage. Ensley looked the worst of all them. He had a busted lip, the beginnings of a shiner, grass stains on his scrubs, and he no longer had his doctor’s jacket. How is that possible? Twenty or so frat guys versus three. Impossible!