I sat down in front of my desk and ate my pizza as Karla set up her makeup bag. There was no telling how far she wanted to go with the makeover, she meant well but it wasn't something that I particularly liked. She liked to go all out with the glitter, color, and style while I preferred to keep things simple, clean, and neat. We were always opposites and always would be, its what made our friendship even more surprising to anyone on the outside looking in.
When I finished eating I faced Karla head on about what I wanted, "I want you to think more of a female peacock, the ones that don't have the flashy tail feathers."
She looked slightly offended but gave in, "Fine, I'll keep it light and elegant so that all the boys will want to chase you." We both started to laugh as she said it, knowing I wouldn't even notice even if someone had noticed me.
I sat still and let Karla do what she did best, make me look like I belonged at a party. As she worked her magic I went to a happier place, one where I was more daring, more willing to do things that I wanted to do but normally just put them aside to be the 'good kid'. It's not something that I had truly thought about until that moment and now that I had thought about it I wondered, why?
"Ok, my master piece is finished." Her voice was muted as I watched her go in my closet, "Now all you need to to is change into this." She came out with a deep blue dress that I had forgotten I owned, since I didn't usually wear dresses.
I got up and took it from her, "How did you know I still had this?" I asked her as I took the dress across the hall to the bathroom with me so I could change. I slipped the dress on and went back to the room and found Karla had also changed, a forest green dress that had the silhouette of a forest around the bottom.
"I knew you still had the dress cuz I hung it in the back where you never go." Karla smiled at me as she had me turn my back so she could zip up my dress, then turned around so I could do the same. "I knew it would come in handy for an occasion like this."
I couldn't blame her for hiding the dress, it was a lot more comfortable than I expected. I sat down and drank the last of my soda as Karla gave herself a once over fluffing her hair and making sure her makeup was perfect, finally adjusting her dress so that it would flow the way she wanted. She looked amazing, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that she wasn't the only one that looked great tonight.
She had actually kept my makeup simple, for once, and it looked even better than I had expected. Karla moved to the door and gestured for me to follow, "Alright, we look amazing. Now it's time to head out."
I followed her down the stairs and knocked on my dads office door, "We're headed out now, I'll call you when I'm on my way back home. Please try not to work too hard." I didn't hear any response but when I heard my text notification I knew he heard me.
Karla practically ran to her car as I locked the door to the house and got into the car. I had no idea who was throwing the party, they seemed to be popular with how full the house seemed to be. Karla parked around the corner underneath a street light, she had good instincts when it came to safety.
The front door to the house was open with teens dancing in and out with the music that was playing. Karla grabbed my hand and pulled me through the crowd to the kitchen, it was surprisingly empty considering it had all the drinks. A can of soda was pressed into my hand as I was pulled into the back yard when we came to a sudden stop.
I popped the the can open and took a drink looking in the same direction Karla did, she was staring at the person she wanted to talk to. I glanced over at her and saw a small smile work its way onto her face, "You going to stand here stalking him or actually talk to him?"
She swept her arm out to playfully hit me before she turned to me, "I'd like to see you talk to a guy, or anyone aside from me."
It was my turn to take a swipe at her when I saw Jack in the back yard and our eyes met. I don't know how long we just stared at each other but I heard Karla next to me, "If you go talk to him I'll go talk to Brad."
She was looking at me, most likely expecting me to turn and walk away, but I didn't walk the direction she expected. I set my soda down on the counter and started walking out in the backyard, watching as Karla's expression change to surprise. It was easy working my way to Jack, it wasn't all that crowded outside, "Hey, what brings you here?" I clasped my hands behind my back and leaned down slightly getting closer to eye level with him.
When he met my eyes there was a slight smile on his face that he struggled to contain, "Hey, I didn't peg you as the partying type." His eyes traveled to the ground and back up to my face and the look on his face turned sad.
I stood up strait and tilt my head to the right in confusion. Jack stood up, leaned in a bit closer and whispered, "You should go home, sooner rather than later." turned on his heels a walked back into the house and go lost to the crowd. I stood there for a moment looking in the direction he had walked in until Karla put her hand on my shoulder.
"It's your turn to talk to Brad." I didn't know what else to say, the sooner she talked to Brad the sooner I could leave. There was something in his words that I could't ignore. I wanted to run home right that second but stayed rooted where I was. I glanced her way and put on a half smile, "Go talk to him, it is why we're here."
When she continued to look at me with worry I started to push her in the direction she should have been walking. "Fine, I'm going." She continued to walk away even after I stopped to watch what happened from afar.
Brad was standing and talking to some of his friends on the threshold of the house. Karla tapped his shoulder and they stepped away from the crowd. I could tell that things had gone well so I made my way toward the door and waved my phone in the air to let Karla know I would message her.
S: I'm gonna head home.
I made my way through the house slowly as there were so many bodies packed together. I couldn't tell who was who as faces passed and blurred together, until I saw Raymond. I kept my head down and made sure that he would only see the back of my head, after all I was never expected to be at a party. I finally reached the front and realized I could have just left through the side gate as my phone chimed to let me know I had a message.
K: We just got here stay longer
S: Nope I'm going home
S: It's something Jack said to me
I kept my phone in my hand knowing that Karla would be messaging me until I told her I was in bed. I walked to the school and decided to walk the path through the park, rather than around, so I could get home a little faster. It was still fairly early in the night so the lights were still on and the path was well lit and looked welcoming, even though it was almost ten. I slowed down enjoying the silence around me. When I was about half way through the park I heard a car on the road and saw the lights in the distance passing by.
I focused on the sound my steps made in the silence and started to hear the sounds of talking coming from my left. I began to walk faster not wanting to deal with any of the people from the party. I really didn't want to deal with anyone that was drunk right now but it was starting to look like our paths would be crossing. I kept my eyes forward and tried to walk as fast as I could to avoid any confrontation when a group of guys stumbled into the light onto the path.
I didn't look back, kept walking as quickly as possible, "Hey there, your real pretty." One of the guys ran to catch up falling into stride to my left.
I didn't say anything just kept walking when one of the others caught up and grabbed my right arm pulling it to stop me. He tugged again to make me face him, it was Raymond's friends Charles and Kyle, they were known for a lot of things and none of them good.
I yelled at them and tried to call Karla, "Let go of me."
I fumbled with my phone and hit send on the first number I could find before my phone hit the ground face down. I looked behind me and saw Raymond grabbing my wrist, Charles let go of my arm as Raymond pulled me towards him. "Well arn't you a cutie." He hadn't noticed who I was but I could tell he finally realized when a creepy smile covered his face.
"Sera, so nice of you to join us," I could feel his movements as he let go of me and started to back up a little it, "tonight is gonna be real fun." His smile got bigger as he started to walk toward me backing me against a tree just outside the light filled path.
Raymond pressed me against the tree using his upper body. All three of them started to laugh as I tried to turn away and meld with the tree so I could escape. While they let their guard down I brought my knee up into Raymond's groin and threw my elbow into his face knocking him back, giving me a chance to get to my phone. While Charles helped Raymond Kyle managed to grab me before I even got to the path and threw me further back into the dark.
I lay on my back while Kyle held me against the cold ground until Charles and Raymond mad their way over. "So much for the fun that we could have had, now only we get to have fun." Raymond stood over me as Charles helped Kyle to hold me down. Raymond made his way on top of me and was rewarded with another knee to the groin. When he curled in pain his face got closer to mine I threw my head up and butted his head making him fall, his friends loosening their grip enough for me to try to get away again.
I tried to crawl away as all three boys gave up on what they were trying to achieve and slammed my head into the ground, taking turns to kick me while I curled on the ground trying to protect myself as best I could. They suddenly stopped kicking me and I began to wonder what was coming next when I felt the smack of a thick tree branch against my side. I screamed as each time I was hit somewhere until they got a shot at my head, my body went limp and I watched them disappear into the dark.
I lay there growing colder, not being able to move, and fighting to keep my eyes open. I heard the sound of steps coming toward me from the lit pathway. At first I thought it was Raymond but saw Jake as he knelt next to me. He looked so sad as as he sat me up to lean against a tree, "I'm so sorry."
As he brushed the hair out of my face as I smiled, "Thank you" was all I could manage to say. I didn't feel cold anymore but I also couldn't keep my eyes open. I fell into the darkness, it wasn't cold anymore, it was warm and relaxing drowning into the abyss.