by M. L. Rice
Stupid drama. Bryce thought. Why can’t people just get over themselves and be nice to each other for a change. I can’t wait till I get out of here.
Chapter Four
Bryce walked down the stairs slowly, trying not to trip over the long hem of her dress. She never wore dresses, and she worried she might tumble down in the most ungraceful and humiliating manner possible. With Michael, Arati, Jennifer, Brian, Steven, Jeff, Angela, Keiji, and Leah all waiting at the foot of the stairs, a spectacular fall wouldn’t be the best start to the evening.
She exhaled with relief as she placed both feet solidly on the bottom landing.
“Made it.” She smiled as Michael approached her and put the corsage he had purchased around her left wrist. She saw that the blue hydrangeas and white roses matched perfectly with the royal blue of her strapless gown and knew that the blue of her eyes would stand out even more.
“You look gorgeous, Bryce. And before you say anything else, I’m sorry about what I said to your friend Daniela earlier. I was a dick. Are we cool?” he implored.
“Thank you for your apology, but you need to tell that to Daniela, okay? You really hurt her feelings.”
“Yeah, I get it. But guess what?”
“What?”
“There’s a frickin’ limo in the driveway!”
Everyone laughed and turned to walk outside, but Bryce’s parents stopped them.
“We have to get pictures of you kids!”
“Mom!”
“Sweetie, you’ll want to remember this moment for the rest of your life.”
Bryce’s dad was silent and only stared at Michael with fatherly suspicion.
Sighing, Bryce joined her friends in front of the fireplace as her mom took picture after picture.
“Mom. Time. Please.”
“I’ll upload these tonight and send them to everyone’s parents!” Bryce’s mother was obviously giddy with excitement about the prospect of being the bearer of such gifts.
“Fine,” she said, with playful exasperation. “Can we go now? We have dinner reservations.”
“Of course, hon. Come here first, though.”
She pulled Bryce into the kitchen so the others couldn’t hear.
She spoke in a low, but insistent whisper. “I know you’re going to that party tonight and I need to know you’re not going to do anything…unbecoming of a young lady.”
“Wow. Downright Victorian.”
“Don’t give me that, Bryce. I just want to make sure you don’t drink or…or…” She made uncertain circles in the air with her hands. “Anything else.”
“Mom, please,” Bryce said as she rolled her eyes.
“I trust you, but unwholesome things happen at parties. Satan will try to tempt you, but always remember that God is watching over you.”
Bryce managed a smile, but turned around and tried to stifle the inappropriate refrain running through her head. He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake.
*
Bryce stared into the blue plastic cup Michael handed to her. The red liquid inside looked like neon-colored toxic waste, an affront to nature.
Michael noticed her appalled look and laughed. “Bryce, it’s just vodka, rum, tequila, apple schnapps, and fruit punch. See? Fruit. Practically health food!”
“That sounds soooo disgusting.” Her words were slightly slurred.
“Drink it anyway. You’ve only had two wine coolers, and the night is still young!” With these words he threw back a nearly full cup of what appeared to be nothing more than ginger ale and whiskey. He hadn’t stopped drinking since they got to the party (and that didn’t even include the gin he had snuck into the prom in a small silver flask—she had taken a drink or two from that herself and had discovered that she really, really hated gin).
Jennifer’s prom after-party was a huge hit. Practically every senior in the school was there, out by the pool, in the kitchen drinking horrendous alcoholic concoctions that were never meant to go together, or making out on the couch, in the hallway, even on the piano bench in the living room. Jennifer, usually so down-to-earth and tidy, was clearly trying her best to not freak out about how loud or messy the house was getting. She hadn’t realized how big the party was going to get, but was obviously trying to enjoy herself anyway in a last wild night before going to college.
Since she rarely drank alcohol, Bryce was already feeling a little light-headed from her two drinks and didn’t want any more, but the frenetic atmosphere, the loud thumping music, the carefree feeling of being young and stupid, if only for a little while, and the gentle goading by Michael drew her in and enveloped her in a hazy trance. She downed the terrible mixture in one long chug and spluttered at the vile taste. Michael just laughed again.
“Blech! That shit’s nasty!”
“Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Michael said as he put his arm around her.
“I feel…I feel weird…ish.”
“C’mon. Let’s go find a place to sit down.”
They wandered around, but couples sucking face occupied all of the chairs and most of the corners.
“I’ve got an idea,” Michael said with a smirk. “Let’s go upstairs.”
“M’kay,” Bryce said thickly.
They walked up the stairs slowly, Bryce occasionally tripping on her dress and laughing hysterically each time.
When they reached the landing, Michael turned to his left toward a closed door.
“Michael, no. No, that’s Jennifer’s parents’ room.”
Michael chuffed and replied, “They’re not here. Nothing’s off-limits tonight.” With that Michael opened the door. They both heard a gasp and a guy yell, “Dude!”
Bryce’s vision was fuzzy, but she saw Arati and Michael’s friend Steven in a large bed, frantically pulling the sheets around themselves.
“Sorry, man.” Michael laughed and pulled the door shut.
“Oh my God. I didn’t think she was that serious!” Bryce shook her head, trying to get the disturbing image of one of her best friends naked in bed with a guy out of her brain.
“Aw, let them have their fun, Bryce. They’re not hurting anybody.”
“You’d better be using protection, Arati!” Bryce yelled through the door. She then hiccupped loudly and any credibility she had as a mature advice giver was immediately lost.
Michael held her hand and led her to the next door. When he pushed it open, Bryce saw a guy she didn’t know passed out in the empty bathtub and a girl kneeling in front of the toilet, hanging on for dear life. She had no way of knowing who the unfortunate girl was because her face was obscured by the toilet bowl and the hair that had come down in a mess from the nice up-do she had worn for the dance.
“Nope. Not here either,” Michael said with a twinge of annoyance in his voice.
“Let’s go find Angela and Jennifer.” Bryce was getting tired of playing search the house for whatever the hell Michael couldn’t find.
“Nah. I have a better idea. We just…have…to find…a place,” he said as he peered into two rooms next to each other. “Ah. Here we go!”
He pulled her into a dark room that Bryce groggily recognized as the upstairs guest room where she had slept many nights.
“What’s in here?”
“Just the two of us. Better than being in the middle of all those people downstairs, don’t you think?” Michael closed the door and locked it.
Bryce followed his motions with her eyes, an odd sense of unease forming in her chest. Bryce backed into the room and Michael followed. “Come on. Sit down with me.”
Not wanting to seem standoffish and rude, Bryce obliged and sat next to him on the bed. He slowly turned her face toward him and before she knew what was happening Michael was kissing her with a rough clumsiness that turned her stomach. She pulled away quickly and put her hands on his shoulders to keep the distance between them.
“Michael, what the hell?
” She used one arm to wipe the saliva off her face.
“What do you mean? I just want to get close to you. I’ve been looking forward to doing that for years.”
“But I’m not really…wanting to do that…right now,” Bryce said ineloquently.
Michael shook his head sadly. “You don’t realize what you do to me, do you? Every guy in school was jealous as hell that I asked you out first. You are seriously the hottest girl in the school. And you’re completely awesome too!” he added, placating Bryce when he noticed her furrowing brows.
“Um. Okay. I’m glad you think I’m…awesome—”
Michael leaned forward and kissed her again. Bryce resigned herself to the contact and halfheartedly kissed him back, figuring that maybe if she tried to get into it, she might actually start to enjoy it. He was super attractive, after all. Any girl in school would walk across burning coals to be in her shoes right now. So why was she feeling so blah about the whole thing?
Reading Bryce’s newfound willingness to give in to his show of “affection,” Michael kissed her more intensely and pushed her down onto the bed. He lowered himself on top of her, one leg between her thighs, and slowly reached down to move his hand up her leg under the fabric of a dress that now seemed woefully thin.
The kissing was one thing, but even though her thoughts formed as if they were mired in mud, she knew she wasn’t ready to be in this position with him. She pushed up on his chest and tried to turn her head away, but he moved his hand back up to her face and held on firmly so that she couldn’t break the contact. His fingertips dug painfully into her cheeks and a fire of real fear ignited in her chest.
“NnnMmphn!” Bryce protested, but it only came out as a pitiful muffled noise. She pushed harder against him, but even though she was pure muscle, he was bigger and determined to stay right where he was. He shifted and straddled her waist to put his entire dead weight on her body to keep her still.
Realizing the situation was about to get immensely worse, Bryce let loose all inhibitions about hurting him and lifted her right knee as hard as she could, connecting forcefully with his genitals.
Michael let out a deep oof, rolled off her and, curling up into the fetal position, coughed and tried in vain to catch his breath.
“What the fuck, Michael?” Bryce screamed, tears running down her face. She ran to the door and fumbled with the lock. In her drunken and terrified state, she was unable to get it to move, so she banged loudly on the door. “Let me out!”
Michael regained some control over his body and slowly got up from the bed. He wheezed, “You…bitch!” Still gasping, he limped over to where Bryce stood.
She turned around to see Michael towering over her, even though his body was still bent forward in pain.
“Don’t touch me, asshole!” Bryce pressed her back against the door and defensively raised her fists in a way that might have looked old-fashioned and comical were the situation not horrendously serious.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Michael’s breathing was ragged with pain and rage. “Any other girl would throw herself at me. You’re missing out on the best night of your life!”
“Just leave me alone! Get the hell out!” Bryce was shaking uncontrollably.
In a fit of rage Michael lashed out and slapped Bryce full across the face.
The force of the slap threw Bryce to the ground.
“Fuck you, bitch. What a wasted night.”
Through the stars popping in her vision, she saw Michael unlock the door and stumble out of the room. She heard some yelling in the hallway, but couldn’t make out the words. The next thing she saw was a pair of shiny black shoes and women’s dress pants running in to the room, stopping in front of her.
“Oh my God. Bryce, are you okay?” asked a familiar voice.
Bryce sat up slowly, holding on to her head to keep it from spinning around the room like a top. “Ow,” was all she could manage before dissolving into tears.
“Come on, let’s get you onto the bed.”
She struggled to her feet with the support of the girl who had heard her screaming from the locked room. As she walked the few short steps to the bed that had almost been her nightmare, she looked down at the short person helping her, one arm around her waist. It was Leah. She recognized the tight, dark curls of her long hair.
“Thank you.”
Leah’s voice shook. “I heard you scream and I tried to open the door, but it was locked. When I saw Michael come out and you lying on the floor… What in the hell happened?”
“Michael assumed that I would…that he could…” Bryce sobbed harder.
“Ah. I thought that was it. I’m so sorry. Can I do anything for you? Want me to call the police or something?”
“You would”—Bryce hiccupped—“call the cops on your own cousin?”
“We’re not that close, Bryce, and I’d call the cops on my own father if he did something like that.”
Bryce sniffed and tried to regain her composure. She was sure her makeup was ruined. “No, don’t call the police. I’d rather no one else know about this.”
“Bryce, this is serious.”
Bryce’s breathing regulated slowly. “I know. I feel like I shouldn’t have put myself in that position, though. I’m such an idiot.”
“You’re not stupid.” She reached out, inviting Bryce to take refuge in her embrace, and even though Bryce had to lean down to do it she rested her head gratefully on Leah’s shoulder. “You deserve better than him.”
Bryce closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of Leah stroking her hair. Time seemed to stretch on and Bryce lost herself in the feeling of warmth and safety. In the back of her mind she realized she was surprised that Leah could be so overtly compassionate when they didn’t really know each other all that well. A pang of regret formed in her stomach as she realized she probably should have gotten to know her better over the last few years. She was obviously an amazing person.
“Leah?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?”
“What do you mean?”
Bryce paused. “Well, we haven’t hung out as much as I would have liked and here I am, all crying on you like a baby. I mean, you wouldn’t even know who I was if we both weren’t friends with Angela.”
Leah shifted so Bryce sat up. Leah’s eyes were moist and she said quietly, “Bryce, I’ve known who you were ever since we started fifth grade together.”
Bryce felt a twinge of guilt. Leah had been in school with her since fifth grade? She didn’t remember meeting her until last year. She decided to keep that damning information to herself.
“Well, anyway, thanks for just sitting here with me. I can’t bear to think about going downstairs right now.” She sniffed again.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll protect you.” Leah smiled and tapped Bryce on the tip of her nose.
They both jumped as a loud knock sounded on the door. Bryce looked at Leah with fear in her eyes and Leah hesitantly got up to see who had knocked. When she opened the door, Jennifer was standing outside with a worried look on her face. She blinked at Leah, then peered over her shoulder to see Bryce sitting on the bed.
“What in the hell happened?” she asked with a tremor in her voice.
“Come in first,” said Leah.
Jennifer rushed past Leah to sit on the bed beside Bryce while Leah closed and locked the door behind her.
Jennifer moved a strand of loose hair behind Bryce’s ear. “Jesus! What did he do?”
Bryce turned her head to look at her reflection in the mirror and saw that her hair was a mess, her mascara had run (even though it was the expensive kind that wasn’t supposed to), her cheek was a violent shade of red from where Michael had slapped her, and her lipstick was a large smear around her mouth.
Leah asked, “Is he downstairs saying something?”
“No,” Jennifer said, still watching Bryce worriedly. “I just saw him making out with that ho-bag Lucia Dell and knew
something must have happened. So…why is he downstairs making out with Lucia while you’re up here looking like you’ve been tumbled in a dryer?”
Bryce looked to Leah for help and nodded. She couldn’t bring herself to speak the words to Jennifer. She was too humiliated, not to mention still trying to sober up.
“Michael forced himself on her, Jenn.”
Jennifer’s eyes widened in horror. “You mean you were—”
“No, no. Bryce is a tough chick. She didn’t let it get that far, did you, Bryce?” Leah braved a smile.
Bryce was starting to feel a little better now that her friends were with her. “Oh hell no. And I don’t know how he has any desire to make out with anyone right now. I don’t think his dick will work right for at least a week. I racked him pretty hard.”
“I’m going to go downstairs and make sure his dick doesn’t work for the rest of his life!” Jennifer got up to confront Michael, but Bryce jumped up to stop her.
“No! Jenn, no. It’s okay.”
“What do you mean it’s okay?” she asked incredulously. “He tried to rape you.”
“He seriously didn’t get anywhere close to that. If he had, then yes, I would send you and every other person here to rip off his particulars in the most painful way possible, but he didn’t. Let him have his ho-bag. They deserve each other.” She shuddered. “I just want to go home. Please don’t tell anyone else.”
Jennifer stood in angry silence, tapping her foot in the fidgety way she did when she was waiting for test results. She finally let out a breath and said, “Fine. I won’t kill him and I won’t tell anyone. But I want him out of my house. Now.” She then hugged Bryce and Leah and stomped out of the room.
Everything was silent but for the muffled bass coming from the music playing downstairs. With knee-trembling abruptness, Bryce sagged with complete exhaustion. Her surge of adrenaline ebbed, and now she just felt sick and wanted to curl up in her own bed and sleep for days.
