by catt dahman
“Now what?” Nick asked. “That's crazy. Can you believe Mr. Turner is taking the high road?”
“Ummm, Agent McLendon?”
Virgil and Vivian turned.
The deputy pointed to Vivian. Then he pointed under his desk as he shrugged.
Vivian was confused and went around to look. If anything, she looked more vexed when she saw underneath a girl who climbed out of the little cubby hole and told them, “I hid before the rest got here. I didn’t want them to see me.”
Virgil saw she was the girl he saw in the gym who had paused as if she wanted to speak to them. She wore a plaid shirt and baggy jeans again. He motioned her to come into the room.
“Can I talk to just Agent McClendon? Mrs. Agent McLendon, I mean?”
Vivian nodded and sent the men out to interview the local doctor and sat down. “Call me Vivian.”
“I’m Sandy Slider, and I think I’m going to be killed next.”
Chapter Eleven: Sandy’s Secrets
Sandra and Jennie went to the party together at Steve’s house, both dressed in cute clothing, excited, and ready to celebrate the beginning of their last year of high school. They giggled all the way there while listening to music on the car radio and debating who the cutest boys were in their class and who was the bitchiest girl.
Sandy was glad to see that her fiend had perked up; for weeks, Jennie had been unusually quiet and sad but refused to talk about what was wrong. Sandy couldn't think of anything that might be causing Jennie so much stress.
“Did you know Jasper's little sister likes other girls?”
“No!” Sandy said, “How do you know?”
“I heard it. I heard she likes girls and....and...she does it with them.”
Sandy wrinkled her nose, “How would two girls do it?”
“Dunno. But that's the word. Isn't that freaky?”
With Steve’s parents out of town, the party was running at top speed with a thumping stereo blaring through shuddering speakers, booze flowing like water, and laughter filling the room, as well as the faint smell of pot permeating the rooms. In the kitchen, several boys played bartender, mixing drinks and handing out cold beer.
Sandy and Jennie walked around, scared to do more than wave at a few people, still in shock that they were there, at the party. This was what the popular kids did and where they did it. It was like a fairy tale. It was also so very grown-up.
“Hi, ladies, what can I get you?” Michael Lordes asked.
“What do you suggest?” Sandy asked. She drank very little if at all at parties. She wanted to act cool, but she didn’t know what to ask for. This was the first big party she had attended where there was alcohol and no parents around to chaperone.
She kind of stared at Michael. He was so cute and funny so popular and amazing; so many times she imagined talking to him this way when she was supposed to be conjugating verbs in English class. He had been in her day dreams many times. Now, he was asking her what she wanted to drink!
Jennie giggled nervously. This was new to her, too. She hardly could think, much less speak.
“How about rum and cola or orange juice and vodka or you can have some of the punch?”
“Punch?”
Michael laughed, “Not plain punch but punch with a kick. It’s spiked punch.”
“Are you drinking that?”
“Sure. I;m drinking everything, though,” Michael said.
Sandy shivered with happiness. Michael Lourdes was making a joke with her. He was talking to her. It was a big deal.
Both girls wanted that, so he poured them tall glasses of the concoction as they discussed their classes and football. They talked liked they were good friends and always chatted, just like it was normal and usual. Both girls were stunned and thrilled. As an offensive tackle, he was like a team hero.
The drink was purplish red, tasted strongly of liquor, but was fairly good. A chunk of an orange floated in Sandy's glass, alongside the ice cubes. Their glasses were plastic, and so were the plates that they could load up with snacks: chips, cookies, dip, veggies, and cheese.
Mindy came in and hugged up against Michael, sending a clear message he was taken. She was gorgeous and perfect. Her hair was poofed out and sprayed into a fashionable coif, and her eyes were smokey with eye shadow. Her clothing was expensive and obviously purchased in the city.
“Hey, honey.” She looked at Sandy and Jennie, “ Oh, you’re in my math class: Sharon and Jill?” She faked not knowing the girls’ names, but she knew them; they lived in a tiny town with a small senior class. It was a veiled insult that they were so forgettable, just because they weren’t popular. She did it as easily as one would toss away a piece of paper.
She was excellent at establishing the pecking order.
“Sandy and Jennie.” Sandy blushed even if she wasn't sure why she did.
“Oh, yeah? Right. Sandy and Jennie. I am so forgetful. It’s getting late for you to be out, right?” Mindy asked.
“No, I have no curfew since my mom is at work,” Jennie said.
Mindy sniffed, “She must not care about you.”
“Or she trusts me,” Jennie snapped back.
“Cool,” Michael responded.
“I have a strict curfew. My parents are really all about me doing well for myself. I don't drink either.”
Sandy suddenly felt less cool as she held her glass of punch. “Oh. I like your jeans, Mindy. Those are so great.”
“Yeah? They're kind of bumming-around jeans but they do peg well. You should get some jeans with smaller legs so you can peg and cuff them easier. It's easier when you're little like I am,” She giggled.
“I'm a size five,” Sandy said.
“Well...work on that. Remember, nothing tastes as good as being tiny feels. Cheese is fattening.”
Jennie stopped herself before taking a bite of the cheese she was holding.
“How much do you love me?” Mindy asked Michael.
He growled and hugged her close, making her giggle again. She took a piece of raw broccoli off the platter and munched it, “Piggy me.”
Sandy set her plate down, determined to not eat the contents now. “Have you studied for the quiz on Monday?”
Mindy waved a hand, “I'm a cheerleader.” That both made no sense and made total sense at the same time.
“I know.”
Mindy frowned and turned away as if the girls had vanished. She spoke to her boyfriend. “I have to go, so run me home?”
“Is it that time already?”
Mindy nodded, “And I don’t want to be late.”
“Then let's roll,” Michael said.
He was clearly under her beck and call. She controlled him. Mindy had power.
He waved and so did Sandy and Jennie. Mindy turned her head and didn’t say a word. To her, the other girls didn’t exist. She was cheerleader.
“Sure thing.” He left with her.
“Wanna watch a movie?” she asked him at her house.
“No...hey...I wanna go back and hang with the guys.”
He wanted to go back to the party, infuriating Mindy who could almost sense something terrible about to happen. She felt something was wrong. She began to rant loudly, complaining and making threats. Mindy was great at throwing fits.
Had she cried or asked sweetly, he would have stayed and forgotten the party, but her over-the-top fury hit him wrong, and he set his jaw and left her still railing at him. He was not about to have a girl yell at him and order him around. Well, he mostly let her do that, but he really wanted to be with his friends. He wanted to party, and in the morning, she’d forgive him, and all would be fine again.
They were a perfect couple, after all.
It was strange. Before, when he had taken her home and gone back to hang out with his friends, she never had been angry. This time, she was livid for some reason.
When he got back, the music was louder with a tape of hard rock music, playing, everyone was having fun, and everyone was noticeab
ly drunker. He waved at Tommy who was smashed. Lisa Marie, Tommy’s girlfriend, had too much to drink and vomited a while. She covered up in a quilt, passed out in a downstairs bedroom, and snored, despite the loud cacophony of noise. Tommy laughed about it, downing another beer and going to get Michael and him more beer.
Lisa Marie was a fun girl and could stay out later, but if she drank, she often got sick; the punch was too much for her, and she should have stayed with her three-beer limit. Or three-wine cooler limit.
Wayne was dancing with a junior from their school, getting pretty sexual in his movements since his girlfriend, Jacki, wasn’t there. He ran his hands up and down the girl’s body, and she threw her head back. He loved hanging out with wild girls and partying, but he wanted to date a nice girl.
“Go, Wayne!” Steve yelled as he greeted Michael. “He’s a stud.”
“Yeah, when Jacki is away.” Michael laughed.
Tommy handed his friend a beer and threw an arm against the wall as he roared with laughter. “I think that’s what he calls dancing.” They watched their friend moving with no grace or rhythm. “He’s drunk.”
“I bet he is without freaky Sue.”
“He didn’t invite her?” Michael asked.
“Right. Would you? She’s a slug. He could do better.”
“He could?” asked Jerry Barber as he leaned in, “I dunno.”
“Sue is scary. Her family always wears camo, hunts, fishes, and acts like mountain people. Even the girls in that family can kick my ass.”
Jerry laughed. “Michael, it ain’t hard to do that, dude. He says Sue is wild in the sack, so he gets all the sex he wants; the guy has it made.”
“Like you and Jean, Jean the sex machine?” Michael poked back.
Steve looked around. “Hey, Sandy!” She was close to them and walking dizzily. She was very drunk and was bouncing to the music. The glasses of punch had made her drunk very rapidly.
“Hi.” She saw double because she was tanked-up, but as she teetered, Steve caught her. She liked him; he was really cute. For years she’d had a crush on him and watched him from afar, day dreaming about his asking her for a date. That was impossible because no one could compete with pretty, popular, head cheerleader, Terri.
“I’m sloshed,” Sandy said, but it came out as “I’m slogsheded.”
“I can tell,” Steve laughed and asked, “are you having fun?”
“I shink tho. So. Thinked. Think. Whatever it ish.” She giggled. “Punch is killer. I dranked too smuch.”
“Well, as long as you’re having fun, that’s what counts.”
“Yep,” Sandy agreed. “You aren’t my boyfriend.” She added which made no sense but caused her to laugh harder.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Come on; let’s go to the pool house.” Steve said as he held up his keys.
“Jennie….” Sandy began.
“Jennie, you wanna go?” He asked as he included her quickly. Michael, beside Steve, leered.
“I…no….” She looked at Jasper wistfully. She was so shocked at being spoken to by the popular boys, much less being included by them. It was a dream come true to hang out with them. Only, she wished another one was hanging out: her secret crush that only Sandy knew about.
Most afternoons they talked on the phone about what Steve and Jasper wore that day, if one nodded hello in the hallway, or if one’s girlfriend looked bad that day, even how cool and handsome the boys were. They dreamed of dating the two boys and giggled for hours. Harmless, the girls day dreamed a lot about things, wishing for differences.
Tommy whooped, “Jasper!” He could tell she liked him.
“Hi,” Jasper said.
Wayne and Jasper came over. “Yeah? Hi, girls.”
“Hi, Jasper,” Jennie breathed. She could hardly say his name although she thought about him all the time.
“Hi, Jennie,” Jasper said to her.
Her heart pounded. He knew her name! And he said it!
“Let’s walk with these lovely ladies,” Steve announced as he dropped an arm over Sandy’s shoulders. Behind her back, he winked at Wayne and Jasper.
Sandy almost fainted. She had liked him for years but never said a word. Now her heart raced. Maybe he would kiss her. She looked around to see who saw this. She wanted everyone to see him with her. Maybe he and Terri were over with and he was ready for a new girlfriend who wasn’t so stuck on herself.
Tommy gave Jasper a push so he was next to Jennie and nodded his cocked head and said, “Jennie wants to walk.”
Jasper was drunk, but he caught on at once. Maybe someone had a joint, and all of them were sneaking away to smoke it. It had to be one of the girls, or why else would they be hanging out with them?
The two couples walked outside. The other boys trailed at a distance, and had anyone asked why, they couldn’t have said, exactly. Hoping for marijuana, maybe. Curious as to what Steve was up to. They went past the pool where a few people cavorted, skinny dipping. None paid much attention.
Jasper looked at the cool water. He wouldn’t mind a swim.
All the teens giggled and laughed as Steve motioned them to stay quiet as they reached the pool house, a large place with a bathroom, bedroom, kitchenette, and living area with a pool table. The boys often hung out there when they were at Steve’s house. After the pool, this was the most fun place. They tried to shoot pool but were too drunk. Steve said he would show Sandy around and took her to the bedroom.
Everyone laughed loudly, and everything was funny as they chased the balls around with pool cues.
Vivian asked, “What happened that night at the party? We know it was something terrible.”
“Agent Vivian, I was a virgin, and I thought Steve might kiss me. Instead, he pulled me down on the bed, and the next thing I knew, he was hurting me, and we were having sex.”
“Consensual?” Vivian doubted it, but asked.
“No Ma'am. No way. I was okay for a kiss and making out, but sex? No, I wasn't ready and it scared me, really. I'm not as mature maybe, but I wasn't going to have sex especially when he might have still be Terri's boyfriend and we hadn't even dated.”
“I understand.”
“I may have passed out a few seconds right before because my clothes were off. I remember falling to the bed and my head swimming.”
“How terrible,” Vivian remarked.
“I asked him to stop and I begged him, but he finished really fast, thank God. It was so…gross. Even his kisses felt sloppy…greasy and salty…slobbery. Disgusted, I was over my crush just from that, but I was too drunk to fight back. I could hardly feel my body because I was numb. Right after, I lay there sick, and he got upset, saying that he had cheated on Terri and she would never, ever forgive him.”
“I imagine. Please, go on, Sandy.”
“He yelled about what he did, and then, in a few seconds, he wasn’t upset so much as mad…and at me! He yelled a little more. He walked out of the room, and there was laughing and noises and then….” She looked down, her hair covering her face as she cried.
Vivian handed her a tissue and waited.
“I felt like I was passing out, and the room spun. I saw Michael and Wayne. They…one held my hands while the other raped me, and then they switched. They looked very drunk and not happy, but sort of blank. Tommy was there and Jerry and then Jasper who looked upset but all of them still did it. Jasper looked sick and sad, really. Steve and someone else were cheering them on, and Wayne kept saying things…like daring them and urging them to do it. Michael was angry and rough.”
“It was confusing?”
“I couldn't keep track of anything but the pain.” Sandy took a breath, “Then Steve again. He sure didn't feel guilty. He slobbered all over me as he did it. I begged them to stop, but they said I liked it, and we were all having some fun; it wasn’t fun and I hated it. I cried the entire time. “
“None of them acted like he might stop it?”
; “Not a one of them ever made eye contact with me that I remember.”
“I’m so sorry.” It was along the lines Vivian had considered in relation to Jennie.
“I must have passed out again. When I awoke, Michael was out cold and so was Tommy. They were on the bed, pants half undone, and snoring. I got my clothes, dressed, and ran out of the room. I ran to the bathroom and had to pee, and it hurt so much. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I understand. I wouldn’t know, either.”
“I hurt so much that I thought I would die with the pain, and my arms were bruised where they had held me. My face was burned from their whiskers, and it was all raw and burned when I washed my face. I wanted it to be a nightmare, but I was still there, and there was all that pain….”
“I know.”
“I didn’t want that. Never. It was horrible, and I wanted to cry with shame. I was humiliated, but I was also scared of them. I wondered what they would do. Would they do it again if they saw me? Would they tell everyone at school? Would they laugh at me? I wanted to curl up and die, but I wonder why. What did I do to cause that?”
“Nothing. You didn’t cause it.”
“I don’t know. If I had been sober…but I still would have fallen for walking to the pool house because I was stupid to think Steve liked me,” Sandy cried. “I was an idiot.”
Vivian patted her hair. “Can you tell me the rest of what happened that night?”
“Vivian, I saw Jennie. She was lying next to the pool table, kind of awake, but in shock, I guess. She was crying, her hair was in knots, and she was bruised, too. Her mouth and face were red and raw. The boys raped her on the table after Jasper did. I’ve known those boys a long time, but that night, they were like animals.”
“Alcohol and a few dares,” Vivian said. “They were all in that zone they go into like when playing ball: all of them drunk and fueling one another.”
“I got her dressed, and we were afraid all of them would come back and try something. We left. We didn’t see the other boys, and I guess they had left the party or were inside the house again, but we didn’t look for them. Jennie cried so hard that night, that it was like she was never going to stop.”
