Myself and I (14 page)

“I noticed that there is no furniture in the house,” I said.

“It's all in the garage out back. Me, my brother and a few of his friends moved it all back there so it wouldn't get damaged. Trust me, Keysha, we thought of everything.”

“This guy and his brother always threw some kick-ass parties when they lived in Buffalo Grove,” said Tim as he reached down into the cooler chest and pulled out a can of beer. He popped the top and began guzzling it down.

“Do you want one?” asked Carlos. “We've got plenty.”

“No, thank you,” I said, not feeling the need to get all liquored up.

“Would you like to go someplace where we can have some privacy?” Jerry whispered in my ear. I nodded.

Jerry and I maneuvered our way back upstairs to the main level. The house was practically bursting at the seams with people. The music was loud, and people were jumping around and tossing their hands while moving to the beat of the music. Girls were grinding their behinds against guys who were more than willing to let them. Jerry and I made our way upstairs to his bedroom. When he opened the door there were a bunch of Erin's friends who Jerry knew standing around smoking weed.

“All right you guys, come on, get out,” Jerry ordered them to leave.

“This is a kick-ass party, man,” said one of the weed heads.

The smell of marijuana was overpowering, so I walked over to his window and opened it up. By the time I turned around, Jerry had locked his bedroom door and was removing a spray can of air freshener from a shelf in his closet. Jerry then plugged his iPod into a docking station. He selected some music and walked over to me.

“Come on and dance with me.” He took my hands into his and pulled me into the center of the room. I placed my hands on his shoulders and threaded my fingers behind his neck. He pulled me in close and placed one hand on the arch of my back.

“Do you know how fine you are?” he whispered.

“No. Why don't you tell me?” I said, suddenly feeling desired.

“The first time I saw you I knew that I wanted to be with you,” Jerry admitted.

“How did you know that I even wanted to be with you?” I asked.

“I knew you were impressed with me when you watched me dive.” Jerry's arrogance started showing.

“You weren't all that,” I said, trying to deny what was probably true. Jerry lowered his eyes and prepared to kiss me. When our lips met, I opened my mouth and waited for the dance of the kiss to begin. We kissed nonstop for the remain
der of the song. By the time the next song began playing Jerry had wrapped his hand around my waist and led me over to his bed. Suddenly I was lying flat on my back with him on top of me. We kissed deeply, and the passion between us was starting to get intense. I surrendered my most sensitive body parts to Jerry, my earlobe and neck. When he kissed me there, goose bumps formed on my skin and I immediately cradled the back of his head so that he wouldn't stop. Suddenly, someone began pounding on Jerry's bedroom door.

“Just ignore it,” Jerry insisted as he kept kissing me. The pounding got louder.

“Jerry, are you in there?” the person on the other side asked. Jerry tried to ignore him, but the person knocking tried to gain entrance by turning the doorknob.

“Jesus Christ! I'm going to beat down whoever this is,” Jerry said, getting up to open the door. I peeked over his shoulder and saw that it was his friend Carlos.

“Dude, you've got a problem brewing downstairs. Some guys brought some pit bulls to the party and want to have a dog fight.”

“What? Are you for real?” I overheard Jerry ask.

“I'm telling you, dude, they're about to do the damn thing. People have started placing bets.”

“Who are they?” Jerry asked.

“I don't freaking know. It seems like people are just coming from all over the place. I think other folks are calling up their friends on their cell phones and telling them about the party,” Carlos explained.

Jerry glanced over his shoulder at me. “Wait right here, Keysha. I'll be back,” he said as he stepped out into the crowded hallway.

I sat upright and placed my right cheek in my right hand and exhaled. A short time later I looked up and saw Wesley pushing open the door and peeking around.

He smiled when he spotted me. “Wesley, what are you doing? Are you drunk?” I asked.

“There you are. I've been looking all over for you,” he said. “I never thought I'd find you in one of the bedrooms, though.”

“Whatever, Wesley,” I said not wanting to get into a debate with him about what I'd been doing before he came in. “Why are you looking for me?” I asked, thinking that he was drunk out of his mind.

“To let you know that I did it.”

“Did what?” I asked, completely clueless as to what he was referring to.

“I stood up to Lori. I broke up with her,” Wesley said, as if that was one of the most difficult things he'd ever done.

“Well, you should have, especially if you weren't happy,” I said, commending him on manning up.

“I've also decided to do as you suggested and check myself back into rehab.” Wesley paused. “You were right about me, Keysha. I'm going to stop trying to be a hero for everyone else and be one for myself.” I didn't know what to say. It was obvious that Wesley had had a breakthrough, and I was happy for him. I rose to my feet, walked over to him, closed my eyes and embraced him as a friend.

“So this is why you're breaking up with me, so that you can get back with this whore!” I popped open my eyes and found Lori standing at the door.

“You are truly a certified—”

“Keysha!” Wesley interrupted me. “I got this.”

“Lori. You've been running over me ever since I've met you, and I can't let you do it anymore!”

“Wesley, you're only saying that because you've been listening to the bull crap she's been filling your head with!” Lori's eyes were ablaze with hatred and rage.

“You can't handle the truth! That's your freaking problem. When someone tries to give it to you straight, you twist things around. You're the type of girl who prefers to believe in lies. You're deceitful, Lori. That's why I'm through with you. You can drop off the face of the earth for all I care.” Wesley roared like he was her daddy. When he was done, all Lori could do was fold her arms across her chest and throw daggers at me with her eyes.

“Keysha.” Wesley looked over his shoulder at me. “I'll see you around,” he said and then left.

“I've just declared war on you, Keysha!” Lori wrinkled up her face and pointed her finger at me before exiting the room.

 

Once Lori was gone, I shut Jerry's bedroom door and locked it. “This is crazy,” I said to myself as I processed what had just taken place. I walked over to Jerry's window and took a peek outside. I was totally shocked with how many people were outside trying to get in. The crowd had grown
to concert size, and folks were getting rowdy. Right then and there I got an unsettling feeling and decided it was time for me, Mike, Maya, Misalo and Sabrina to leave. A crowd that size was surely going to initiate a call to police.

When I opened Jerry's bedroom door, there were so many people jam-packed in the hallway that they naturally piled into Jerry's room so that they'd have a little wiggle room. After squeezing past a ton of people I finally made it back down into the family room. I searched the crowd for Mike and Maya but didn't see them.

“What's going on, baby? Is this party off the chain or what?” It was my little stalker, Alex. Someone had given him a beer and he obviously thought it made him look and feel older. I hadn't seen or heard from his behind since he nearly drowned Priscilla.

“Boy, what are you doing here? And why are you drinking?” I yelled at him with authority.

“I'm having fun, just like everybody else. Everybody knows about this party!” Alex boasted.

“Listen, Alex. You should go home. This party has gotten way out of control.”

“What are you talking about? This party is off the hook, baby. And you're looking extra thirsty in those shorts!” Alex said, then reached out to stroke my thigh. I twisted his earlobe.

“Take your little ass home!” I shouted in his ear before letting him go.

“Hell, no, I won't go!” he shouted back defiantly before disappearing.

“Mike!” I spotted him and called out his name. He made his way over to me.

“Keysha, it's time to go. A fight just broke out in the back.”

“Are you serious?”

“As serious as a terrorist attack,” Mike said.

“I have to find Maya,” I said with desperation in my voice.

“I don't know where she is. It's way too crowded in here to search for her. Go outside and call her on her cell phone,” Mike suggested. Suddenly all hell broke loose. The fight in the back had swelled into an all-out brawl. People were being pushed and crushed against the walls.

“Come on, Keysha!” Mike grabbed ahold of my arm and began pulling me away from the stampeding brawl. We pushed and forced our way outdoors only to find complete chaos. People were clashing on the street, smashing out the windows in the empty house next door and defacing property with cans of spray paint. I watched a group of rowdy rebels kick in the front door of the empty house and then charge inside to go on a vandalizing rampage.

“Come on, Keysha, we've got to get out here!” Mike yelled. Within a matter of seconds there were cops everywhere and the crowd began stampeding in multiple directions like a herd of wild horses.

“Run!” I shouted, and took off running as best I could in the direction of our house. Mike rushed past me but slowed when he saw that I wasn't keeping up.

“Take off those dang heels, Keysha!” Mike howled at me.

“I can't run barefoot because I'll cut my feet,” I said, but kicked off my shoes anyway and began sprinting as fast as I could. Behind me I heard police dogs barking and people screaming with fear. Growing anxiety made me concerned about Maya. I didn't know where she was. I wasn't sure if she'd gotten out or somehow got tangled up in the bedlam and was in desperate need of help.

Once
I reached our driveway I stopped running, leaned over, placed my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath. It was then that I'd noticed the blood between my toes. I sat on the grass, folded my leg onto my thigh to take a closer look. A sizable chunk of flesh dangled on the ball of my right foot, and if I didn't get it taken care of right away I'd end up with a nasty infection.

I looked around for Mike, but he'd already rushed inside the house.

“Bastard!” I said aloud, angry that he'd gone inside without me. I gathered myself, rose to my feet, and hopped on my left leg all the way down the driveway and over to the door. Just as I was about to bang on it with my fist, Mike opened it.

“I was on my way back out to see where you were,” he said, still breathing heavily. “I thought you were right behind me.”

“You know I'm nowhere near as fast as you, Mike,” I said as I leaned against him.

“What happened?” he asked, looking down at my foot.

“I don't know. I must have stepped on something, because my foot is messed up,” I hobbled into the house. Mike helped me up the stairs and over to the sofa. He slid the footrest under my heel so he could take a look at it.

“Damn!” He winced.

“Is it that bad?” I asked.

“Well, it's not pretty,” he assured me.

“Dang it!” I frowned. “Help me get to the bathroom so I can clean and bandage it up.”

“Once I saw you kick off your shoes I turned and got in the wind,” he explained as I lowered the lid on the toilet seat and sat. He turned on the cold water and pulled out the first-aid kit that was in the medicine cabinet.

“Yeah, you and about a thousand other people,” I said, repositioning myself. “Where did Sabrina and her girlfriend Katina go?”

“When a bunch of guys came into the house with barking pit bulls I told them that it was time to go. They went over to Katina's house and I went looking for you,” he explained. “Where were you, anyway?”

“I was upstairs,” I said. Mike helped me clean my wound, cut away the skin-tissue flap and bandage my foot.

“What happened to Maya?” he asked.

“I don't know,” I said as I reached into my pocket and removed my cell phone. I didn't have any messages from her so I called. Her phone rang for a while and then went to voice mail.

“She's not answering,” I said.

“Call Misalo,” Mike suggested. Thankfully, I had his number programmed into my phone and gave him a call.

“Same thing,” I said. “It rang for a while, then went to voice mail. I hope they're okay.” I paused as I recalled something Mike had said earlier.

“You said that a fight broke out in the back. Who was fighting?” I asked.

“When I was in the back looking for you a mob came from around the front of the house. They were pissed off with another group of guys who were on the deck and decided that they wanted to fight. I saw people jumping in to break it up and it escalated from there. At that point I went back inside and that's when I ran into you.”

“Wow,” I said, shrugging my shoulders and swiveling my head disapprovingly.

“What about your boy, Jerry?” Mike asked.

“Oh, wow, I totally forgot about him,” I said, feeling bad. I dialed his number, but it went directly to voice mail.

“Where was he when all hell broke loose?” Mike asked.

“In the basement trying to prevent the dog fight,” I said, feeling a rush of nervous energy race through me.

“This incident will probably make the evening news,” Mike said.

“Maybe so,” I agreed.

“One thing is for sure—we can't let Mom or Dad know that we were anywhere near that party. They'd chop off both
of our heads if they knew we took part in all of the chaos,” Mike said.

“You don't have to worry about me saying anything,” I assured him.

“What are you going to say happened to your foot?” Mike pointed to it.

“I'll tell them I cut it while walking barefoot around the pool deck,” I said.

“Yeah, that's a good one,” Mike commented, liking the lie I'd tell if the subject came up.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon trying to reach Maya without any success at all. I was going crazy with worry because I feared that something horrific had happened to her. I even phoned her house several times, but didn't get an answer.

After my family ate dinner together we gathered in the family room to watch a rented movie. The moment Jordan turned on the television, the first thing I heard was reporter Angela Rivers providing the details on a wild teen house party. Jordan wasn't paying much attention to it and was about to flip the channel, but Barbara stopped him.

“Hold on a second, baby, I've seen that house before,” Barbara said, taking a very close look at the background shot.

“Two brothers, one seventeen and the other twenty, decided to throw the party of the summer for a few close friends. What they didn't count on was this—” Angela paused as a video clip of all the stampeding teenagers was shown.

“Caught on cell phone video are drunken and out-of-
control teens defacing property, brawling and smashing out windows. When the police arrive you see packs of teenagers fleeing in multiple directions as they try to avoid being arrested or detained by the police. This is an unusual occurrence for a quiet suburban community, and neighbors say the two young men who hosted the party are new to the area. Police have arrested the two young men and have contacted their parents, who were out of town when the rowdy party took place. Authorities also discovered that there were dog-fighting matches, and charges will be brought against the homeowners and others for this cruel and vicious activity. Paramedics had to be called in to deal with injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to broken bones. Police say that a thorough investigation will be launched and charges will be brought against anyone involved in spraying graffiti on private property. As for the two young men who hosted the party, additional charges are expected to be filed against them as well. Authorities are encouraging anyone with any other information to contact the South Holland Police Department. Reporting live from South Holland, I'm Angela Rivers.”

“I am so glad that neither one of you were involved in that foolishness,” Barbara said as the news report ended.

“I think they've learned their lesson,” Jordan said in support of us.

“You don't have to worry about me,” Mike chimed in as all three of them glanced over at me.

“Hey, I don't have time for that type of drama. I've got a job to keep me busy,” I added.

“Good,” Jordan said as he walked over to the DVD player and inserted the movie.

“What movie did you get?” Mike asked Barbara.

“It's a remake of an old '80s television show called
Fame.
I thought you guys would like it.”

“I'm cool with it,” Mike said, glancing over at me briefly before turning back to watch the movie.

 

Around 1:00 a.m. my cell phone rang. I wasn't sleeping very hard because I'd left several desperate messages for Maya to call me whenever she could. I immediately snatched my phone from beneath my pillow and answered it.

“Hello,” I greeted the caller.

“Hey, it's me, Maya,” she spoke softly.

“Where have you been, girl? I've been driving myself crazy with worry.” I scolded her for not calling me sooner.

“Did you get out before all of the craziness started?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said, sensing that she wasn't as lucky.

“Well, I didn't,” she said with a nervous edginess in her voice.

“What happened?” I sat upright and gave her my full attention.

“My right fibula bone and ankle are broken and I have a cast on up to my hip,” Maya said tearfully.

“Are you kidding me?” I said, turning on the light in my room.

“No.” I heard her sniffling.

“What happened?” I whispered, feeling awful about not being there for her.

“Misalo wanted to go into the basement to watch the stupid dog fight. I told him I didn't want to see that, but he persuaded me to go down there with him for just a minute because he was only curious. After squeezing our way down the stairs, we quickly discovered that it was too jam-packed to see anything, so we decided to leave. The minute we tried to get back out, people were pushing to get down into the basement. Next thing I know I hear the dogs barking. I thought they'd started the fight but they hadn't. The dogs got spooked or something and started attacking people. People started pushing to get out.” Maya paused and cried a little, which caused me to cry. “I felt like I was being crushed alive, Keysha. My foot got pinned against the first step and I couldn't move it. As people kept pushing forward from the back I felt as if my entire body was in a vice or about to be completely smashed like garbage in a trash compactor.”

“Where was Misalo?” I asked, walking over to my dresser to grab a few tissues.

“He was right next to me yelling at people to back up, but they were all shouting for us to move forward because the dogs had gone wild. Then I heard a loud cracking sound, and I felt my leg collapse. I screamed because I was in so much pain. Misalo put my arm around his neck, then propped his foot against the step and pushed back against the crowd. He was able to create enough space to free up
my leg. Then all of a sudden the people who were trying to come down the stairs into the basement started yelling ‘The cops are here' and began to scramble. Misalo picked me up and carried me up the stairs and out the door.”

“Oh, Maya, I am so sorry,” I said as I continued to cry.

“When we got outside it was like the world had gone crazy. People were running and shouting and fighting. Misalo set me down on the grass but had to stand over me and fight off a stampeding herd of people who were charging like wild buffalo. I'd never seen anything so crazy my entire life,” she said, and continued to cry for a solid five minutes.

“Did the paramedics help you?” I asked.

“Yeah, they helped me, but when I looked at my leg and foot they were really messed up. Misalo rode to the emergency room with me and called my parents. I have to be in this thing for eight weeks. My summer is totally ruined, and I'm going to lose my job,” Maya said, bursting into tears. I felt horrible and didn't know what to do or say, so I cried with her and told her I'd be over to see her as soon as I could.