Blood in the Woods

by J. P. Willie

  ***

  I rode my bike up to the fence that surrounded the gym. My front tire smacked into it so hard, the fence rattled and sent vibrations all the way down to the end. Jack hopped off the handlebars and placed the radio player up against the fence while I positioned my bike. When I looked down the fence line, I noticed two more bikes leaning up against it; apparently we weren’t the only kids to have ridden to the dance. I walked along with Jack, who was still looking around frantically for the red truck, to the gate where two adults stood sentry.

  “You boys ready for a good time tonight?” the older looking man asked us with enthusiasm.

  “Sure,” I replied as we scurried past him and paid him the least amount of attention possible.

  I really didn’t mean to be rude, but I just wanted to make it inside the gymnasium where it was safe, where we’d be surrounded by friends and teachers; the thought of that made me feel a lot better. I certainly didn’t have time to stand there and shoot the shit with a total stranger and pretend to be super excited about the dance when there was a distinct possibly that someone was following us. I just wanted to get out of sight, and out of mind.

  Quite a few kids were standing out by the entrance to the gym as Jack and I walked up, some passing around cigarettes while others were handing out breath mints in the hope of getting their first kiss. As we wove through the small group of people, I heard music bouncing around the gymnasium; it was “What is Love?” by Haddaway.

  We stepped into the gymnasium and checked out the sea of people who were dancing to the thumping music. It was extremely loud and hot, almost to the point where I wanted to turn right back around and leave, and I could see that virtually everyone was sweating profusely, just as Jack had predicted.

  To the immediate left was the DJ. He had his equipment and a quartet of enormous speakers parked under the basketball goal. He danced around like a goof with his headphones on, bouncing his arm up and down with the beat of the song. Directly in front of him was the crowd of dancing kids, and I actually caught a glimpse of stinky-ass Kent Lester shaking his tail feather like he could really dance.

  I looked over to my right and chairs were set up all the way down the wall for the losers who didn’t have dates, or for those who didn’t want to dance. And just a few feet in front of that Wall of Shame stood the refreshment table; I couldn’t quite see what was on it, but I did spot a glass bowl with an insipid, red liquid in it.

  As my eyes circled the gym, I spied the chaperones. Many of them were teachers, but there were a few parents who’d been brave enough to take on the responsibility, and I cringed when I thought just how embarrassing it must be for the poor kids, and thanked God Momma hadn’t volunteered.

  Jack and I shuffled through the constant onslaught of bumps and slams, until finally we came upon the refreshment table. It was just punch in the glass bowl, and there were a few snacks and dips scattered across the table. Chips, dip and a few baby carrots had managed to find a new home on the floor in the short period of time since the dance had begun, and I couldn’t wait to see what the place would look like by the time Momma and Renee came to pick us up.

  “You seen Laura yet?” I asked Jack, and it felt like I was yelling.

  “No, not yet,” Jack shouted, loudly. “Have you seen Krystle?”

  “No.”

  “Let’s go check out the bleachers. They might be over there.”

  “Okay,” I replied.

  We made our way toward the bleachers, skirting behind the dancers this time instead of attempting to go through them. Then, I saw Laura. She was standing with her arms crossed, as if she was irritated at something. She wore an all-black dress that went to her knees, and I thought she looked beautiful. I knew she’d be mad because I hadn’t met her at the door like I’d promised, but I figured she’d just have to get over it.

  “One hot-blooded red-head coming your way,” Jack forewarned as Laura stomped over.

  “Where have you been, Jody?”

  “I’m sorry I’m late. Jack and I rode my bike up here, so it took us a while,” I explained.

  “Justin and Chase rode their bikes up here too, and they were able to make it here in time,” Laura copped an attitude.

  “What?” I blurted out.

  Jack stood there with a pissed off look on his face.

  “You heard what I said,” Laura spat.

  “Justin and Chase rode up here, too?”

  “Those one-uppers,” Jack bitched, swaying from side to side in agitation. “They just had to go and steal our idea.”

  “What’s the big deal?” Laura asked us.

  “The big deal is that we planned this a long time ago. It was supposed to be our big bang to go out on for the school year,” I explained.

  “This is bullshit,” Jack muttered, biting his bottom lip.

  Just then, when the timing couldn’t have been any worse, Justin walked up behind Jack and grabbed him by the shoulders. Chase stood a few feet behind him, and Jack turned swiftly to face them.

  “What’s up, guys?” Justin asked, with a big smile on his face.

  “You stole our fucking idea,” Jack yelled above the music, within inches of Justin’s face.

  “Whoa– whoa–” Justin backed away from Jack, his hands held up in front of him. “I didn’t know it was against the law for us to ride our bikes up here.”

  “You know me and Jody planned on doing it first, but you had to try to beat us to the punch,” Jack growled.

  “I don’t have to explain anything to you, Jack,” Justin said coldly. He placed his finger in the middle of Jack’s chest, “you’re just pissed because we beat you up here and now you can’t go around bragging about it like you’re some hot shot.”

  “Get your damned finger off me,” Jack warned him.

  “What are you gonna do if I don’t?”

  I stepped in before things could get out of hand; I didn’t want either of us to get thrown out of the dance for fighting. We had ridden all the way up here and I didn’t want to sit outside for the next three hours with mosquitoes feeding off me while we waited for Momma and Renee to pick us up.

  “Calm down,” I said, pushing them away from each other.

  “You need to tell Jack to calm down,” Chase decided to play one of the tough guys.

  “Who asked you to speak, faggot?” I snapped, shooting a quick middle finger in the kid’s general direction. “I know I didn’t, so keep your damned mouth shut.”

  “Don’t talk to him that way!” Justin barked.

  The inevitable, all-out, testosterone laden verbal argument ensued, followed by a number of hard shoves between Justin and Jack. One of the chaperones magically appeared and grabbed Jack and Justin by the wrists.

  “Cut it out, gentlemen,” he said calmly. “I don’t want to throw ya’ll out of the dance, but I will if ya’ll keep this up.”

  Jack shook his wrist free from the chaperone’s hold, glared one last time at Justin and made his way over to the bleachers. I didn’t say anything more to Justin or Chase, and I turned to follow Jack.

  “Where are you going?” Laura asked as I walked past her.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  My girlfriend threw her hands down to her side in a huff and stomped off to join the crowd on the dance floor. I made my way up to Jack, who sat glumly in the fourth row of bleachers, and sat down beside him.

  “Don’t let those assholes ruin this for us,” I said.

  “We should have never told Justin anything. It should have stayed a secret,” Jack said, picking strips of paint from the bleachers. “Guess it didn’t impress as many people as we thought.”

  “It doesn’t really matter if people thought it was cool, and I don’t care if Justin and Chase stole our idea. All that matters is that we did it together, Jack, and that’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

  Jack quit peeling the paint and looked over at me; he finally had a smile on his face. “I’ll never forget it, either,�
�� He said quietly.

  “Good,” I said, slapping my hands together, “now let’s go back down and do what we came here to do.”

  “And what did we come here for?”

  “We came to dance, dipshit,” I told him as I stood up and thrust my pelvis back and forth like some maniacal Elvis. “I didn’t practice all these sweet dance moves for nothing.”

  We made our way onto the dance floor and we soon stumbled upon Krystle, Angela, Laura and a bunch of other girls and their boyfriends, all dancing in a circle. Angela took a quick gander at me, and went right back to dancing. The guys walked up to us and made with the usual handshakes and high-fives. They then reminisced about all things that I had done that year, and it felt to me like I was already gone. Still, I cut loose with them, throwing in some fake laughter at each story, and then I casually inched myself away and into the crowd of dancing girls. I was ready to put my dance moves to the test, despite my aching foot, but just then the music stopped and the DJ shouted into his mic.

  “Is everybody having a good time tonight?!” he called out. At this, the gym erupted with yells and shouting, and it was deafening. “Alright, I wanna see everybody on the dance floor for this one!” The DJ shouted, slamming down the microphone.

  “Party peoplllllle!!” yelled the rapper on the record, and I recognized the song immediately – “Whoomp! There it is.” The funky bass groove kicked in and the gym erupted with shouts as everyone danced in unison.

  “Oh my God, I love this song!” Krystle shouted, and without warning, she grabbed Jack by the hand and pulled him towards her.

  I was glad to see that the horrors from yesterday had been erased from Krystle’s and Angela’s memory, albeit temporarily – it’s amazing what being amongst friends can do. They seemed fine now as they danced their hearts out, and Jack looked over at me, shrugged his shoulders and began dancing as well. I laughed, but was abruptly stopped when Laura yanked me over and rubbed her rear end seductively upon my boy parts.

  I fought back the boner that tried to push its way out of my pants, somehow finding it within myself to control it. Jack on the other hand, didn’t look like he was doing so well. He’d dance close up against Krystle, then he’d yank himself back and dance by himself – it was hysterical. Even though every kid in the gym was country as you could get, they sure the hell could dance. You can’t blame kids for dancing dirty; it’s one of those things that’s inevitable.

  When the song ended, everyone was winded and the gym was starting to smell like musk, perfume and fruit punch all mixed together. Laura had evidently forgotten all about being rude to me earlier, she was now holding my hand tightly as we made our way with the group over to the bleachers. There, we stood in a big circle, joking around and gossiping as the next song played.

  I, on the other hand, wanted to go dance. I liked the feeling I’d gotten earlier while dancing with Laura, and I wanted to get it again – errant boner notwithstanding. Several of the other kids in the group told me how much they were going to miss me, and that I must swear to stay in touch with them after I moved. I just nodded my head and made promises to them that I knew I wouldn’t keep; though, many years later, I found most of them again on social networking websites.

  For over an hour, we danced away to the Electric Slide and The Freeze, busting out many other dance moves while the DJ switched songs. I’d introduce the Running Man and Roger Rabbit to everyone when I got tired of bouncing and just swaying from side to side. Naughty by Nature’s song “Hip Hop Hooray” came blasting from the speakers, and the entire gym waved their arms from left to right as one; it was fun, but once the song was over, the mood in the gymnasium went in a new direction.

  The atmosphere changed drastically as the dance music stopped and the first slow song of the night played. It was Boyz II Men’s number-one hit single “End of the Road,” and I skimmed through the crowd of non-dancers, who were all awkwardly attached to the wall. I came to the conclusion right then and there that I might have learned some sweet dance moves in a short period of time, but I had totally forgotten to practice slow dancing. My stomach boiled with freshly-cooked nerves, and soon I was feeling as if liquid magma had filled the floor. And then Laura wrapped her arms around my neck.

  “Will you have this dance with me?” Laura asked, jokingly.

  “Sure,” I said. I looked around for Jack, hoping he would come bail me out.

  I placed my arms on Laura’s hips, mimicking what the others in the gym were doing and began rocking slowly from side to side, and in an instant, it reminded me of the day before when I’d held Angela in the creek.

  “I’m sorry for the way I acted earlier,” Laura apologized.

  “Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have shown up late.”

  “You don’t have to apologize. I was just upset that everyone else’s dates were here before mine. I just wanted to spend as much time with you as I can before you move.”

  “Well, here I am,” I said and gave her love handles a gentle squeeze. “You got me in a choke hold, so I’m not going anywhere any time soon.”

  “I’m sorry,” Laura laughed, releasing the tight grip her arms had around my neck. “Let’s try it this way.”

  She freed her arms from my neck, only to bring them down around my waist, pulling me closer into her. I readjusted myself and placed my arms around her neck, turning it into more of a hug. The ballad played on and we danced together, spinning slowly, enjoying our youth while getting lost in the moment. Laura rested her head upon my chest and when she did, I felt her warm breath rolling sweetly across my collarbone.

  I scanned the gym as we slowly spun, and I locked eyes with Angela, who was dancing with Chase only a few feet away from me. She looked heartbroken. At that very moment, all the feelings I was experiencing with Laura dissipated, and I knew I wanted to be with Angela, and I wanted more than anything to give her that kiss she’d asked for the day before.

  When our eye contact was broken, I saw Jack and Krystle kissing. My heart lit up like a Christmas tree, I was so happy for my friend. I was witnessing another chapter in his life open up before me, and I realized I wasn’t going to be around to be a part of it. I looked away so no one would think of me as a creep for watching them and I laid eyes on Justin, who was dancing with a pretty, auburn-headed girl named Paige. He just nodded his head and gave me a quick thumbs up from behind her back; evidently, he wasn’t pissed at me anymore, either. It’s funny how kids fight; one minute they’re at each other’s throats and then the next, they’re best friends again. The innocence of childhood is an amazing thing indeed.

  “Aren’t you going to kiss me...?” Laura asked softly, looking up from my chest.

  “Umm... I...” I stuttered, trying to come up with something on the fly, but instead of lying, I took a deep breath and told her the truth; something I hadn’t done in a long time, “I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Listen, I really like you, Laura, but –I like you more as a friend,” I was very straightforward.

  “What?” Laura was understandably confused.

  “Please don’t get mad at me.”

  “You like me more as friend than as a girlfriend,” Laura snapped, releasing her hold from my waist. “Is that what you’re telling me?”

  I shrugged my shoulders in agreement. I knew shit was about to hit the fan.

  “Why are you telling me this now, Jody?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, suddenly feeling a bit ashamed. I backed away from her.

  If I had known that telling Laura the truth about the way I felt would’ve turned out like this, I should’ve just stuck to my original plan of lying to her.

  “You know what, I don’t want to know. Just stay away from me, okay? We’re finished!” Laura yelled and stormed off across the dance floor, knocking couples loose from one another’s arms as she pushed by.

  The song continued to play, and for a short time, I felt like I was standing in front of the c
rowd naked, embarrassed and very red in the face. Laura’s shouts had raised some attention, and many of the kids were staring at me, most specifically Angela who had a troubled look on her face; I usually like being the center of attention, but not in that way.

  Finally, the song ended, and I came back to reality as the DJ struck up the next tune; “Rhythm is a Dancer.” The atmosphere returned to normal and the kids migrated back to their friends and made ready to shake it after the intro of the song was over. I saw Laura exiting the gym doors – most likely heading to the pay phones to call her mother for a ride, and Justin hurried over to me.

  “What the hell happened with Laura, Jody?”

  “Let’s just say we’re not boyfriend and girlfriend anymore,” I told him, agitated. I and turned to walk away, but froze in my tracks...

  He had found us.

  Standing by the stairs that lead up the bleachers, less than thirty feet away from where I stood, was the man who’d tried taking my life the day before. He wore black clothes, and that trench coat that he had worn at the mall. His eyes were filled with malice, and they were fixed directly on me.

  “He’s here,” I mumbled, petrified.

  “What did you say?” Justin was puzzled.

  “He found us.”

  “What are you talking about?” Justin asked, “who?”

  I took hold of Justin’s arm and steered him around until he faced the guy. At once, Justin’s skin turned cold – I felt the tiny goose bumps rise up on his forearm.

  My head spun, and I felt as if something had sucked the breath from my lungs and I struggled to speak to Justin. “What... do we... do?” I spoke quietly.

  “Let’s go, umm – tell one of the chaperones.”

  Justin had answered my question, but I didn’t comprehend what he’d said. I watched the man with the hare lip as he made his way slowly along the wall of the gym, not once breaking eye contact until he disappeared amongst the crowd of losers that hung out by the bathrooms.