The Last Girl (14 page)

A couple minutes pass before I finally see
Hayden coming back towards me. He smiles and hands me a red cup. By this point, I am so thirsty I chug the whole drink. After a few seconds I feel the burning in my throat and pull the cup away from my lips. I spit it out in a mist and Hayden laughs.

“What the hell is that?” I ask looking at the yellow liquid in the cup.

“That is some cheap ass beer,” he explains, taking a sip of his own. “What did you think it was going to be? Punch?”

“Do I seem like the type of person who drinks beer?” I yell; half because I was mad and half because of my nearly bursting eardrums.

“Jenna,” he pleads. “Just have some fun.”

“I can have fun without needing to be drunk, thanks,” I say as I hand him
back the cup. I shake my head, “I can’t drink that.”

Hayden
sighs and turns to walk away, “Fine.”

I probably should follow him but I notice
through the sliding glass window someone sitting on one of the couches outside. I quickly open the door letting the cool air hit my skin. It is quiet out here; the door blocks out the music well enough to actually have a conversation. A voice in my head is telling me to go talk to Hayden, but I don’t want to deal with that right now.

“Hey,” I say, sitting next to Kelsey on the couch.

She looks a little frightened to see me, “Oh, hey.”

“How’s it going?”

“It’s going good,” she nods.

“Good.”

There is an awkward silence and I look at the people in the yard. Couples were lying on the grass looking up at the stars and surprise, surprise, more people were making out. I saw some smoke coming from a small group of people near the dark area on the side of the house. I feel myself shiver.

“So, are you here with
Lance?” I ask as casually as I can.

“I know what you are going to ask, Jenna,” she says. “
Might as well just ask.”

“Okay,” I nod. “What happened, then?”

“I couldn’t go to school that day because I woke up feeling so sick. But I slept for like three more hours and I felt better so I decided to go to school. I got there around lunch time and was walking to your table when Lance pulled me into a supply closet and kissed me,” she explains.

I feel my eyes widen as I remember that
Lance wasn’t there that day at lunch either. So that’s where he was.

“I tried to stop him, but it just happened so fast.
I slapped him after. I swear I tried to stop him, I don’t cheat on my boyfriends.”

I nod, “I believe you. I don’t doubt that
Lance did this.”

“Well, after that the bell rang so I had to get to class. But after school I was waiting in the parking lot for
Nolan when out of nowhere again Lance came and kissed me. But this time Nolan, and everyone else saw too. I will never forget the look on Nolan’s face. I tried calling him and texting him but he never answered!”

“Okay, so why were you holding hands with
Lance the next day?” I question.

“He was the only one there. None of my friends would talk to me
. You guys wouldn’t talk to me. He was the only one that would.”

“And you didn’t stop to think that he was the one that messed everything up in the first place?”

“I’m just…” she sighs. “I’m just not good at being alone. And Lance is a really great guy.”

I feel myself laugh at that but quickly cover it, “Well, I guess it
is good you are happy.”

She smiles, “I just wish I could tell
Nolan what happened. He won’t even look at me.”

“I’ll tell him,” I say standing up.

Kelsey looks at me with hopeful eyes, “Thank you.”

I smile back, “Well, I’ll see you around.”

“Bye.”

I make my way back to the door and enter the house. A heat wave hits me as soon as I take one step onto the wooden floor. I look around the room for
Hayden but I don’t see him. He was easily one of the tallest people here so it would not be that hard to find him. He must not be in the kitchen.

I walk into the living room and glance around there too. No
Hayden. But I do notice my best friend sitting on the silver couch laughing hysterically. The hoop earrings Jessica had given her to wear earlier were shaking furiously with every head movement she made. Daisy looked really happy. I don’t think I have ever seen her look this happy when she wasn’t studying or when she wasn’t in the tutoring hall where she knew how much smarter she was than everybody else in the room.

I looked at the boy next to her who was making her laugh so hard and was surprised to see it was the boy I had been talking about less than a minute ago.
Nolan.

“Cute, aren’t they?” I hear someone say in my ear.

I look up at Zac and smile, “They aren’t a thing, right?”

He laughs, “No.”

“Good, because I did not know this was going on.”

“Neither did I.”

I stand there staring at my best friend’s alter ego and then Zac’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

“Where’s
Hayden?”

A sinking feeling attacks my stomach. I had forgotten about that. “I honestly don’t know.”

“Well he’s around here somewhere,” Zac looks around. “You want a drink?”

I shake my head quickly, “I am not drinking any of that nasty beer.”

“I was talking about some soda,” Zac laughs.

My ears perk up, “
They have soda here?”

Zac
laughs again, “Well, yeah.”

Well that’s something
Hayden forgot to mention.

A couple minutes later,
Zac comes back with a Coke for me. I pop open the can and watch as he takes a sip from his plastic cup.

“How can you drink that stuff?”

He smiles, “Loads of practice.”

I feel myself shudder and gulp down my Coke.

“Well, you were thirsty.”

I laugh, “Well it’s so hot in here!”

“Want to dance?”

“Sure,” I respond. “But just a warning; I’m a terrible dancer.”
He smiles, “So am I.”

I drop my Coke can on the already littered floor and follow him to the room where everyone was dancing. It was about 50 times hotter in this room than everywhere else in the house.
Zac leads me through the labyrinth of people until we got to an area where we weren’t being squished. We are really close to the speakers and I have a feeling I won’t be able to hear in the morning. I stand there watching Zac, not really knowing what to do since pretty much everyone around us was grinding.

Zac
starts to jump up and down, pumping his fist in the air. I can’t help but laugh; he reminds me of a little kid. I start to jump with him and he then grabs me and spins me around. We both start to laugh and then we start to dance like normal people.

A couple minutes later, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to see a swaying
Hayden. His hair was a mess and he reeked of alcohol.

“May I cut in?” he asks.

“How much did you drink?” I ask folding my arms.

“I don’t really know,” he responds clueless.

“Hayden!”

“Just dance with me,” he says, leaning in to kiss me.

I move away causing him to stumble. “I’m not going to kiss you like this.”

He p
outs and then I see that Victoria girl and one of her friends run up. They both grab onto Hayden’s right arm. I see a look of annoyance on Hayden’s face.

“
Hayden!” Victoria screams. “Where did you go?”

“You disappeared so fast we didn’t have time to get you another drink!” her friend yells.

Well, screw this.

I grab
Hayden’s face and kiss him for as long as I can. I open one of my eyes and see Victoria and her friend sulk away. I pull back from Hayden, coughing at the terrible taste now in my mouth; it was so strong.

I see
Hayden smile stupidly and Zac clears his throat.

“Well, I’m just going to go over there,”
Zac says walking to the door.

I feel bad but I can’t leave
Hayden like this. All these crazy ass girls will attack him.

“Jenna,”
Hayden yells into my ear. “Do you want to-?”

I stop listening to him as I notice
Zac’s confused look. I follow his gaze and feel completely frozen.

“Jenna?”
Hayden pokes me and then follows my gaze too. Out of the corner of my eye I can see his jaw drop open.

Leaning against the banister of the stairs was Jessica, sloppily making out with some tall senior guy.

Tom Stephens.

The Tom Stephens who called me a slut and got
Zac detention for two weeks.

And now my best friend was making out with him.

Hayden mutters something too quiet to be heard over the music and stumbles through the crowd of people, following Zac who was already making his way towards them.

Shit shit shit.

I feel myself lunge for Hayden’s arm but he tugs away.

“
Hayden!”

“I’ve got it Jenna!” he yells back
in annoyance.

I can’t help but notice how much he is swaying when he walks.

Oh God.

I know it’s pointless to try to stop him so I run ahead of him and get to Jessica and Tom just as
Zac does.

“Tom!”
Zac yells and he pulls away from Jessica. I run up and grab her by the arm and tug her away.

“Hey! Jenna!” she yells excitedly. “Did you see that really hot senior I was just making out with?”

I can tell she’s drunk even before the smell of alcohol hits my nose.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I yell.

Her face contorts to confusion, “Wh-what?”

“That’s Tom Stephens! The guy who called me a whore a couple of days ago while I was waiting to meet you after school and then
Zac punched!”

I am surprised at how fast tears spring to Jessica’s eyes, “Shit, Jenna I didn’t know I swear.”

I shake my head, “It’s fine. Come on let’s get you out of here.”

She wraps her arm around my shoulder and I hear a loud noise over by the stairs. I turn to see Tom doubled over like
the other day after school, but this time it was worse. Much worse. This time, I see that it was Hayden that punched him. Zac just stands there.

I feel tears form in my eyes and I run up to him, practically dragging Jessica with me.

“Hayden!” I yell and he turns to look at me angrily. His eyes settle on me and his face softens. “Hayden, help me with Jessica.”

He looks back at Tom and then at me confused again.

“Help me with Jessica now, please!” I yell a lot more angrily this time.

He wraps Jessica’s other arm around his neck and we walk towards the front door. I look back at
Zac, waiting for him, but he just waves and walks to the kitchen.

Once outside, I dig in
Hayden’s pockets to retrieve the keys and put Jessica in the backseat.

“How are we going to get home?” I sigh.

“I’ll drive,” Hayden shrugs, trying to take the keys from me.

“There is no way in hell I am letting you drive.”

He sighs again and leans against the hood of the car, “Then go find Luke.”

“
Luke?”

He nods, “Yeah, he’s in the backyard. He doesn’t drink.”

“Fine, stay here.”

He smiles, “Only for you
, babe.”

I roll my eyes and jog back into the house. Attempting to avoid Tom
, I power walk to the sliding door and search the darkness for Luke.

I see
Lance and Kelsey cuddled up on the couch and I turn away before I hurl.

“
Luke?” I yell.

“Yeah?” I see him stand up from a group of people sitting on the grass near the back of the yard.

He walks towards me, “Oh thank God you are here. I need your help.”

I wanted to hug him but something stopped me. I don’t know wh
y, but it just wouldn’t seem right if I did. “Hayden’s like super drunk and so is Jessica and well, clearly I can’t drive, so can you please drive us home?”

He smiles, “Yeah, sure.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

We get back to the car and Hayden is fast asleep in the back seat next to Jessica.

“Wow,”
Luke says getting in the driver’s seat.

I slide in shotgun, “Yup.”

I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and read the text from Daisy:
Where are you?