In the Middle of Nowhere (Willow's Journey #1)

by Julie Ann Knudsen

  Something was vibrating and hitting me in my temple over and over again. The room was dark and it hurt to open my eyes. The vibrating came again. I didn’t know what it was and sat up to find out. Immediately, my head throbbed and felt as if someone whacked me on the side of it with a sledgehammer. As I closed my eyes and laid back down, I smacked the back of my head on something very hard. I forced my eyes open. Once they adjusted to the darkness, I turned around, looked behind me and found myself staring at an ornate, golden metal headboard.

  I didn’t own an ornate, golden metal headboard. I quickly shot up and looked around. Where the hell was I? I was confused at first and then my memory came flooding back to me. I was still at Rocky’s!

  The vibrating came again and was hitting me in the shoulder this time. I looked down and realized it was my cell phone. I picked it up and answered.

  “Hello.”

  “Where the hell are you?” Tessa demanded.

  “I have no clue.” I looked around, saw a lamp next to me and switched it on. The light burned my eyes. “I’m in a room with giant-sized red and gold flowered wall paper and a big white chair in the corner.” My head throbbed.

  “That doesn’t help me, Willow. Get your ass outta there and meet me by the front door,” she snapped and hung up.

  Slowly I climbed off the pretty bed, where I had crashed, and straightened the fluffy comforter. I left the bedroom and tried to find my way around the maze of winding hallways so I could meet up with Tessa. My head felt like it was going to explode with every step. I never would have thought that anything could hurt worse than a migraine, which I had had a few times in the past. But this special kind of headache did.

  I finally found the front staircase and wobbled down it, holding on to the railing for support. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, Tessa joined me in the foyer and held two large water bottles in her hands.

  She pushed one toward me and whispered, “Here. You’re gonna need this.”

  Tessa grabbed her keys out of the infamous wicker basket and traipsed out the front door. I followed her as I tried to unscrew the top to the water bottle. Even that was proving to be too much of an effort so I gave up and just positioned the cold, plastic bottle across the top of my pounding forehead.

  • • •

  Once inside Tessa’s car, I had a million questions for her. Before I could even ask one of them, she turned to me.

  “You look like shit.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. “You don’t look so hot yourself.”

  The car reeked of alcohol, but I wasn’t sure if it was Tessa, me or both of us.

  I was finally able to pry off the water bottle cap and took a huge gulp. I couldn’t believe that I stayed overnight at Rocky’s house and that my mother had no idea. I assumed she didn’t know I was gone because I hadn’t had any missed calls or texts from her. She definitely would have called me a million times if she had realized I wasn’t home.

  I finished the huge bottle of water and felt some relief. I was ready to start firing away at Tessa.

  “Why didn’t you tell me ahead of time that we had no choice but to spend the night over there?”

  “I didn’t really think about it.”

  I was dumbfounded. “Didn’t think about it! Well, did you think about how I was going to explain it to my mother when I never returned home? When I was never even supposed to be going out in the first place, leaving my brother alone!?”

  Tessa got defensive. “How was I supposed to know that? You didn’t tell me you were babysitting.”

  “Whatever.” I laid my head back and closed my eyes.

  I thought out loud. “Now I’ve gotta sneak back into my house. If I get caught, I am beyond screwed.”

  “I’m not,” Tessa offered up.

  “Why not?”

  “I told my mom I was sleeping at your house,” she said, matter-of-factly.

  I sat up and shot Tessa a dirty look. “Why didn’t you tell me that before we went out?! I would have told my mom that I was going to sleep at your place.”

  For once, Tessa was the rational one. “Think about it, Willow. I must know your mom better than you do. Would she have let you spend the night at my house? She’s never even met me.”

  I knew she was right, but I was still pissed.

  “That’s not the point. I wouldn’t have gone to Rocky’s in the first place if I knew it was gonna turn into a slumber party.”

  Tessa smiled wryly and hit me in the shoulder. “Admit it. You had a great time.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned away. Even that hurt my dehydrated brain. I couldn’t answer Tessa at that moment, even if I had wanted to. I didn’t want to admit it, but I couldn’t remember a darn thing that happened at Rocky Johnson’s party. No wonder they were legendary.

  • • •

  I stood at my front door and fumbled with my keys. I was more nervous now than when I had walked out the night before. I needed to be quieter than I had ever been. I checked my cell phone. It was only 6:30 A.M. Both my mother and brother should still be asleep.

  I gingerly opened and closed the front door behind me. Thankfully, the house was still and quiet. I tiptoed up the stairs, carefully maneuvering around the floorboards that tended to squeak the loudest.

  I made it into my bedroom, closed my door and finally breathed a sigh of relief. I was safe. I stripped off my clothes, rolled them into a ball and shoved them underneath my bed. I would wash them later, unsure of whether the stench of alcohol was coming from my clothes or my pores.

  I climbed into bed and gulped down the rest of an old water bottle that sat on my nightstand. I didn’t care that it tasted horribly. I couldn’t believe how crappy I felt. So, I thought to myself and concluded; I was in the throes of my first real hangover. I had never gotten drunk before in my life, ever!

  One time when I lived back in Mass, Gabby stole two of her mother’s wine coolers and we experimented by splitting the bottles between the four of us. They tasted good, but none of us felt any differently after drinking them. Maybe it was because we didn’t drink enough, only half a bottle each, or because we had just chowed down on all sorts of junk food beforehand. Either way, I was totally unprepared for getting drunk, really drunk, for the first time. It shouldn’t be called a hangover, I thought. It should be called a deathover because I felt like I was going to die.

  At first I couldn’t even remember what I drank; beer, vodka, a rum and Coke? I had no idea. As I lay in my bed, I tried to recall the events from the night before. Most memories were foggy, but I tried my hardest to remember.

  I remembered arriving at Rocky’s house, Tessa surrendering her keys and meeting Rocky. Tessa and I made our way toward the kitchen and into the addition behind it. The bar room resembled an authentic, old English pub with dark, mahogany paneled walls and an ornate, tin metal ceiling. The lighting was low, so we had to walk slowly through the crowd.

  Tessa order two beers and handed me one. I sipped it and didn’t like the taste at all, but didn’t let her know because I didn’t want to seem un-cool.

  I remembered drinking another beer and then another one. Tessa and I went back to the game room and hung out with Rocky and his friends. From what I can remember, we played pool with the guys and actually had a good time. That’s where my memory started to get fuzzy.

  As I turned over in my bed and snuggled underneath my covers, I thought hard about what had happened. I remembered bits and pieces of the rest of the night. I think Rocky took me by the hand as I followed him up a staircase and into a bedroom, not the bedroom I woke up in, but another one. We sat on the edge of the bed and talked. He complimented me, said something about my eyes being pretty.

  Rocky had said that I had a nice body, too, as he felt his way up the inside of my shirt. I remembered panicking and jumping off the bed. I also remembered telling him I thought that I was going to throw up. He came back with a small trashcan and handed it to me. I cringed to myself as I remembered throwing up violen
tly into the fancy garbage can. When I finally stopped, I wiped my mouth with the back of my sleeve and looked around the room. Rocky had vanished.

  I left the room and made my way into the foyer. I had to get outta there. I wanted to find the basket with the car keys and drive myself home. What the hell had I been thinking? Not only did I not know how to drive, I was drunk and thought nothing of stealing Tessa’s car. No wonder people did stupid things when they were drunk. Intelligence and common sense stayed at the bar as soon as you took that very first sip.

  I recalled walking, actually stumbling, around the foyer looking for the keys and being intercepted by Mr. Johnson. By this time his face was blurry to me, but I remember him saying that I couldn’t drive home or anywhere, that there were plenty of beds in the place and to go find one.

  That’s how I must have ended up in the flower room. I was completely mortified once I remembered what had happened to me. What was I going to do on Monday at school if I ran into Rocky or any of the other kids who were there? Did anyone else know what had happened to me? Hopefully, like me, they were all too gone to remember.

  Even if they weren’t, I doubted any one of them would have cared about my wild night. I hoped this would be the case and that no one would be gossiping about Tessa or me. If it were possible, I would have gone back in time and stayed home, bored and alone, with my brother. I pulled the covers over my head and wished I could have been stricken with a convenient case of amnesia for the rest of my life.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY