Uh-Oh

Rhonda's misadventures. Her parents leave town and she throws a wild party, but things keep going wrong...

 

Rhonda 5:05

 

        It was a chilly Saturday in November.  Rhonda was at work at Pizza Hut and bored out of her freaking mind.  It had been a long day and she wanted nothing more than to go home and go to bed.  She took her break and wet to sit out back with her co-workers.  Rhonda sat next to her friend Amanda on an overturned Pepsi crate. 

        Amanda lit up her cigarette and inhaled and then turned to Amanda.   Her long red hair shone in the setting sun.  “What’s up Chick,” she asked.

       “Tired and bored,” Rhonda replied.

       “Join the crowd.”

       “I can’t wait to go home and go to bed.  At least no one will be there to bother me since my parents are going to be gone for the night.”

       “Where did they go?”

       “To my step-sister’s for the weekend.”

       “And you aren’t having a party?” Amanda asked surprised.  “What is wrong with you?”

       “Yeah, what’s wrong with you?” Jay said coming out of the back door.

       “Her parents are gong for the weekend and she’s not having a party,” Amanda explained to Jay as he leaned against the wall.  His green eyes blinked tiredly.  It had been a long day for him as well.

        He opened his eyes slowly and gave Rhonda a look.  “Are you like stupid or something? You have to throw a party.  It is like a rule.”

       “I don’t know,” Rhonda hesitated.  All she could think of was the peace and quiet she’d have with the house all to herself.  The loud music and commotion didn’t sound particularly appealing that weekend.  Not to mention the fact that she had no money to buy beer.  Of course, she was under age, but that had never stopped her before.  “I have no money,” she protested out loud.

      “Make it a BYOB,” Jay suggested.  “You know as long as people have a place to go, the booze and drugs will follow.  I can talk to Travis and he just might be able to hook us up.” 

       Travis had just pulled up in his beat up old Nova.  Travis delivered pizzas and took pride in his sticker-laden car.  There was a class of 1999 sticker in the front.  In the window were more stickers advertising such bands as Fat Boy Slim and The Butthole Surfers.  Rhonda was puzzled by the Class of 1999 sticker though because Travis had graduated in 1989, not 1999.  That was Travis though, no rhyme or reason to his actions.

       Amanda, Rhonda and Jay watched the car door open and Travis get out.  Jay walked toward him and said, “Hey man, Rhonda’s having a party.  Do you think you can score something for it?”

       “Probably.  Like what?” Travis replied.

       “I don’t know,” Rhonda replied.  “I don’t even know if I am going to have the party or not.”

       Travis shook his head.  “I’ll stop by your place when I get off work.  It will be about 11:30 or so.  Then we can talk.”  With that Travis bummed a cigarette from Amanda and started talking to her.

    

8:20pm

 

      A short time later Rhonda arrived back at her parent’s home.  Amanda and Jay had followed her.  The house was actually a small downstairs portion of a full house.  It served as half a double although technically it was more like one fourth of a double.  In any case, it was furnished with used furniture and knick-knacks.  Rhonda plopped down on her bed, which was in what was once the living room.  She kicked off her shoes and sighed.

      “I’m going to call some people and see if we can’t get this party started,” Amanda said picking the phone up off Rhonda’s desk. 

       Jay sat down on the bed next to Rhonda and listened to Amanda on the phone. He moved only to turn on the TV.

       “Hey, June, you want to come to a party,” Amanda said.

        Pause.

       “Rhonda’s.”

       Pause.

       “As soon as you get here.”

       Within ten minutes Amanda had invited Jun, Becky, Rob, Rikki and Tony.  She hung up the phone and lit another cigarette.  “Now all we have to do is wait.”

      “You invited Tony?” Rhonda cried suddenly as she sat up.  It was no secret that Rhonda had a thing for Tony.  They had met through Amanda a few weeks ago and spark flew.  Unfortunately, he had a girlfriend who was a b***h and he, for some stupid reason, refused to leave her. Rhonda had spent the past couple of weeks trying to get him to dump her.  “Is he bringing her?” Rhonda wanted to know.

       “Nope,” Amanda smiled. “I told him that you’d keep him in line since she wasn’t going to be around to do it and he kinda seemed to like the idea.”

       Jay asked, “You have anything to eat around here?”

       Rhonda and Amanda shot him a look.

 

9:18pm

 

      There was a knock at the door.  Amanda hopped up to answer it as Rhonda slowly moved from her place on the bed as Amanda grabbed the door knob. Rhonda had been half asleep watching some extreme sports program that Jay had left on the TV.  When the door opened June walked in with her boys�"Steve, Johnson and Rick.  They came bearing a dime bag.  June turned down the TV and pulled out a CD from Rhonda’s collection as Rick rolled a joint.  They all sat in a circle as Jay lit up.  Rhonda lay on her bed, ignoring the people partying on floor.   All she wanted was to sleep.  Why did she let herself be talked into this she wondered?  When the joint was offered to her, she took a hit though.  If you can’t beat them, join them she decided.

      Shortly after that round of weed, Johnson, Jay and Steve were busy eating all of Rhonda’s Foot Loops and drinking her Mt. Dew.  June announced that she was going downtown with Amanda to see what was happening.  The door shut behind them and Rhonda muttered, “Some party.  Everybody has left me.  Oh well.”

       Just then, the phone rang.  Reluctantly, Rhonda got up and answered it.  “Hello.”

      “Hey, it’s Penny.  What’s up?”

      “A party�"well sorta,” Rhonda said above the music.  She dragged the phone, cord in all, across the room to turn down the boom box.  The long, springy cord wrapped around her legs and she nearly tripped and fell.

       “Cool.  Mind if we come by?  Missy and Natalie are over her we are bored out of our f*****g minds!”

       “Sure, why not?”

        “We’ll be there in like fifteen minutes!” cried excitedly. 

         They hung up and Rhonda went back to chilling while she waited.  Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.  It had only been like three minutes.  “Wow, that was fast,” she muttered to herself as she got up to answer the door. 

          Instead of seeing her friend Penny, she saw Tony standing there with a bottle of vodka in his hand.  She seized the bottle from him and took a huge gulp without even shuttering.  With in a few minutes a warmth filled her and she felt more relaxed. 

       “Damn girl, you act is if you were dying of thirst or something.”

        Rhonda smiled sheepishly.

 

11:23pm

 

       June came back from downtown to find Rhonda had handcuffed herself to Tony.  The house was full of people, most of whom Rhonda had never met before.   June didn’t even know the majority of people there, but that was because she herself had invited total strangers to the party.  She had wildly announced to anyone and everyone that there was a party and then she yelled out Rhonda’s address.  Quiet a few people decided to go even though they didn’t know June or Amanda either one.  A party is a party the reasoned.  They didn’t need to know the hostess to have a great time.

       Johnson and some guy in a Marilyn Manson T-shirt were busy trying to pick the lock on a very real set of handcuffs that Rhonda had some how gotten a hold of.  A very drunk Rhonda was slapping their hands away.  She wanted to be handcuffed to Tony so he wouldn’t get away from her ever again. 

       June couldn’t help but laugh at this comical sight.  “Amanda, honey,” she said her friend, “You have to let him go.”

       And just like that Amanda took the key from her jean pocket and unlocked him.  Tony took off with his buddies to go to a football game as soon as Amanda let him go.

       “What did you handcuff him for?” June asked.

       Dazed, Amanda muttered, “What? You told me to keep him in line!”

       “Not a police line up!” June laughed.  She grabbed a Bud Ice from the kitchen counter and headed into the living room, which was Amanda’s bedroom.  Rhonda followed, and continued out the door to her porch for some fresh air.  Her head was spinning and she wasn’t sure what all was going on�"though it appeared to be pretty wild.

       Outside Ronda bumped into Travis and his friend Sean.  “Looks like this place is really jumping,” Travis said to Rhonda.

      “Yup,” she slurred.

      “Did you want something special for your party?”

      “Sure,” she smiled.

       Sean spoke up, “I know where we can get some killer acid.”

      “I have no money,” Rhonda protested.

      “No problem,” Travis smiled as he put his arm around her shoulders.  “Yours can be free, but everyone else at the party we’ll charge.”

       Just then Nicole came from nowhere and threw her arms around Sean.  Sean was her ex-boyfriend but she still had a thing for him.  He’d been f*****g Jenny at the same time as Nicole and when Nicole found out, she broke up with him. Ever since, she’d been trying to convince him to stop f*****g Nicole for good.  Sean just kept f*****g Jenny and then added Julie and Jackie to his roster.  Some people never learn Rhonda thought when she saw him.

      Rhonda went back inside while Nicole and Sean made out.  It was in her parent’s room at the back that Rhonda finally sat back down.  She just so happened to sit down beside Tony, who’d returned at some point during the night.  He was watching Greg and Gerry and Shawna shoot darts.  Her parents had a bed in one corner and a table in the other.  The table was rather large and used by her mother to make crafts on.  That night it had become a poker table as well.

     Rhonda turned to Tony.  Even in her daze he looked incredibly handsome. His long black hair fell of his broad shoulders and his deep brown eyes gazed right into her soul.  At that moment she wanted him more than anything.  Lacking any inhibition due to the alcohol, she leaned over and kissed him.  They fell back on the bed together, a tangle of arms and legs.  Everyone else soon left the room when it became apparent they were going to have sex with or without an audience.

 

Earlier That Night

Penny, Missy and Natalie

9:20pm

 

     After calling Rhonda Penny, Missy and Natalie hopped into Penny’s big boat of a car and took off for the party.  Penny lived in the neighboring town of Richfield.  Normally it would take a half an hour to get to Rhonda’s house in Shelbyville, but this wasn’t an ordinary night.  Missy begged for Penny to stop and get some beer.  There was a gas station that didn’t card and she promised to give Penny the money if she went in and purchased it for them. 

       When Penny returned to the car and handed the beer to Missy, she opened it right up.

      “Great!” Penny cried, getting into the driver’s seat.  “What if we get pulled over? Open container is a fine at least�"if not more.”

       “So drive along the back roads to get to Shelbyville,” Natalie suggested.

       So Penny took country roads instead of the highway.  Natalie and Missy both drank their beers while Penny drove and began getting giggly before they were actually anywhere close to being drunk.  Penny gave in and began drinking as drove as well.  Nervous about being caught, she pulled over at the edge of a field to finish before they continued into city limits. 

      When the sixth beer was gone she went to pull out of the field and found herself stuck in the mud.  “Oh no!” she cried.  “We’re stuck!”

      Missy and Natalie got out of the car and tried to push the car out of the rut it was in.  Mud splattered all over them as the tires spun.  They laughed and pushed and eventually fell down into the mud.  Finally, after about ten minutes of rocking and spinning, Penny got her car out.  Mud caked Missy and Natalie as the hopped back in the car to continue on their way. 
      “Where are we?” Missy asked.  “None of this looks familiar.”

      “Kamp road�"I thought,” Penny answered.

      “I’ve never been on this road before.  And why is called camp road?  I don’t see any camps around,” Natalie said.

      “Eventually we will see a road sign. I hope,” Penny said.

       They drove down the dark country road for more than twenty minutes before coming to a crossroads.  They were at Spring Road and McFarland. Penny knew that McFarland hit Andrews, which led into Shelbyville. The question was which direction? Left or right?   Following her gut feeling, Penny turned left. 

        It was on McFarland Road that Missy complained, “I have to pee!”

       “Can’t you hold it? We are almost to Rhonda’s?” asked Penny snapped.  She was getting rather irritated and frustrated.  It was after ten pm and they still hadn’t made it to the party yet.  Penny was getting angry with herself for drinking and getting lost.  Missing wasn’t helping with her incessant whining. It had been Missy who wanted the beer so desperately in the first place.

       “I can’t hold it,” Missy cried.  Her dark red lips pursed into a sulk and her green eyes glared madly at her friend Penny. 

       “Fine, I will pull over some place as soon as I find one,” Penny told her. 

       “No, I can’t wait that long.  You have to pull over on the side of the road and let me go NOW!”

       “God, you must really have to go!” Natalie commented.

       “It like really hurts,” Missy complained as Penny pulled over and put the car in park.   Missy looked out of the car window.  “Oh no!  Did you really have to stop in front of a cemetery?”

        “It is here or at Rhonda’s.”

         Missy shook her head and got out.  Before she went a step further she turned and said, “Natalie, can you come with me?”

        “Why? I don’t have to go,” Natalie said.

        “Cemeteries creep me out.  Please,” she begged.

        “Okay,” Natalie conceded.  She got out and together they crossed the ditch and made their way over to a near by tree.  Penny remained in the car listening to the radio. 

         A few moments later both girls came running back, breathless.  They piled in the car as Missy cried, “I heard something out there!”

        “Probably a raccoon or groundhog or something,” Penny said putting the car in drive and taking off.  Missy and Natalie insisted it was a ghost or something the rest of the way to the party.

 

11:30pm
Travis and Sean

 

     After talking to some friend’s at Rhonda’s Party, Sean and Travis got back into Travis’s car and took off for the drug dealer’s house.  Their dealer, who was known simply as G, lived on the bad side of town in a very s****y house trailer.  It only took a few minutes to get there, but the deal took forever.

      Travis parked outside the 1970s house trailer and got out.  He passed by G’s 1986 Ford Truck that was rusting out.  Even from outside they could hear the TV blaring and people talking loudly.  He knocked on the cracked and kicked in door.  A few moments later G opened the door.  Cigarette and pot smoke mingled and drifted out of the trailer. 

      “Hey Travis.  What’s up?” the thirty-something man called G said.  He was dressed in pants that hung off his narrow hips and he had a cigarette dangling from his lips.  Smoke drifted up over his face and his short black hair.  G was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. 

       “Hey G, I came by to see if you had anything for me.”

       “Sure, come in man,” G invited.

       Sean and Travis sat on the green stained couch and bullshited for a while.  They watched a NASCAR race on TV and hit the bowl going around.  G was busy watching the race and talking to his friend simply known as m**********r.  It was a half an hour before G even brought up what exactly he had in the way of drugs and it turned out to be s**t.

       “Maybe we will come back when you something more than weed to sell.”

       “I was supposed to get some ‘shrooms, but that fell through.  Then I tried to get some trip and some love, but no one around here has any.  I haven’t been down to Grant to get anything cool in a while.  I know a guy who might have scored something since I last saw him though.  His name was Fox or Wolff or something.  He was going to a rave tonight to sell it.”

       “Where is the rave at?” Sean asked.  This night might turn out to be cool after all he thought.

        “In Brighton. It was a warehouse of some sort.  YEAH!” G screamed.  He jumped up and screamed at the TV.  His favorite driver had just passed four cars and nearly wrecked. 

         A thirteen year old boy came in cussing and grumbling from outside.  He got himself a beer and sat down.  Travis got up and tried to make a graceful exit.  It was after midnight when they returned to Rhonda’s to see if anyone wanted to go to Brighton to the Rave with them.

 

12:16am Rhonda’s

 

      Rhonda stumbled from the bedroom and into the middle room, which was serving as the living room currently.  It had once been the dining room, but once her step-father had moved in the dinning room had become the living room and the living room had become her bed room.  Everyone had gathered in the middle room around the TV.  Tony had left and things were dying down.  Rhonda couldn’t believe what had happened. Her head was still spinning and her body ached.  She and Tony had gone at for like an hour before he pulled away and left her.  Rhonda turned her head and noticed a 15 year old boy passed out on her couch.  She was not happy that someone so young had managed to party unnoticed among the rest of the adults.  June and Amanda were talking to Johnson and some other guy about music and CDs. 

      “There you are!” June cried going over to Rhonda.  “You’ve been doing something naughty tonight haven’t you?”

       Rhonda smiled, “Well…”

       Amanda came toward her. “It is so nice to finally have you at your own party!”

      “Sorry, but something, ah, came up,” Rhonda smiled.

      Suddenly the door opened and Sean and Travis walked back in.  Jay, Rick and Johnson had the same question.  “What did you get?”

      “Nothing man,” Travis said.

      “Oh no!” Jay cried.

       Sean and Travis explained that their man didn’t through for them, but that they did get a lead on where some X might be.  Everyone left at Rhonda’s decided this sounded like a good way to continue the party vibe.  The apartment cleared out quickly as everyone headed out to the rave.  June, Amanda, Johnson and Rick pulled into one car and Travis, Sean, Rhonda, and Rob piled into another car.  They people that Rhonda didn’t know also piled into their own cars and followed them out. 

 

12:30am

Penny, Missy and Natalie

 

       Penny, Missy and Natalie pulled up to Rhoda’s fourth of a double and parked on the street across from her front porch. 

      “It is dark and I don’t see anyone.  I don’t think anyone’s home,” Natalie said.

      “Maybe every is just all passed out,” Missy suggested.

       Penny got out and said, “We will just have to see.” 

       All three of them walked up onto the porch and Penny knocked on the door.  No one answered.  After a few moments Penny turned to look at Missy and Natalie as if to say now what?  Missy giggled and tried the door knob. It turned and the door opened.  They went inside.

       “No one is home,” Natalie announced.

       “I can see that,” Penny replied.

       “So what are we going to do?” Natalie asked as she looked around the dark living room.  The TV was still on, but the sound was down.  Beer bottles were scattered all over the place and ash trays were full of butts. 

       Missy picked up a bag of pot that had been carelessly left on a table.  Not much was left, but still, but it sill seemed like a waste to leave it there.  “We could do this,” Missy said holding the bag up for Penny and Natalie to see. 

       Penny sighed and said, “Why the hell not?”  She turned on a light and took off her jacket.  They sat down in a circle then passed the joint the Missy rolled between the three of them. 

       By 1:30am the three of them were completely stoned and silent.  They sat quietly in Rhonda’s living room eating poparts and watching videos on MTV.  No one cared that Rhonda wasn’t there or that it was so late.  They were just happy to be high and somewhere besides home.

 

1am

The Warehouse

 

      Three cars pulled up into the already full parking lot.  People were both coming and going from the warehouse rave.  It had begun to drizzle out.  Everyone from the party dashed to the doors of the club and disappeared inside.  The music immediately surrounded them and pulled them out of their daze.  Rhonda had never felt more alive or more like dancing.  So Rhonda pulled Amanda and June onto the dance floor to dance with her.  The guys mingled and either tried to score more drugs or more chicks. 

       While Rhonda was dancing to some techno-type of pop song, she spotted Gerry and his friends.  Before the song was over Gerry and Rhonda were dancing together.  His friends talked to Amanda and June a bit as well.  Rhonda had never felt such an intense and immediate connection as she did with Gerry.

       After the song was over, Rhonda and Gerry went over to a corner and talked.  Gerry was a friend of Penny’s.  When he mentioned her, Rhonda said, “Where is Penny anyway?”

      “Who knows?” Gerry shrugged.

       Amanda and June left and went to take some Ecstasy that Gerry’s friends had on them.  Gerry offered Rhonda some and she decided to take it.  It wasn’t long before she felt flushed and fluttery.  For a moment she thought she might have a heart attack.  After all she’d drank quite a bit of alcohol and smoked some pot earlier.  Ecstasy on top of all that might be too much.  Luckily the panic left and soon she was making out with Gerry, forgetting all about Tony. 

       In fact, Rhonda ended up going to Gerry’s car with him and they had sex in the backseat before taking off and leaving the club together.  Gerry drove her down to the lake to watch the sunrise over the water. 

       It was 5:30am when Gerry took her to a local dinner for some coffee.  The place was open twenty-four hours and at that early time of the morning it was mostly drunks sobering up, but the pre-work crowd was starting to filer in as Gerry and Rhonda sat down.  Rhonda looked over at the next booth and noticed a man with long black hair sitting in behind her.  Suddenly her heart skipped a beat when she realized who it was.

       “Tony?” she said.

        Tony turned to see who it was and was surprised to find himself face to face with Rhonda.  “Hey,” he said, “You’re here.”

        “Yeah, and so are you.”

        “Crazy,” Rhonda said.

        “Who’s your friend?” he asked slowly.  He was obviously still a little out of it and still a a little drunk.

         “Gerry.  Hey, did you drive here all by yourself?”

         “No, of course not.  June drove me.”

         “Oh that makes me feel a lot better,” Rhonda laughed.  She knew June was most likely still high, but probably not drunk at least.

         Tony turned back, took a sip of his coffee.

         A waitress came over and took Gerry and Rhonda’s order and then left.  June returned from the bathroom and sat down. 

         “I fell like this night has aged me about twenty years,” Rhonda yawned.  

         “That’s because you just aren’t used to it!” June teased.

         The four of the chatted a bit before Gerry drove Rhonda home.

         

6am: Rhonda’s Apartment

 

        Gerry dropped Rhonda off at her apartment until after 6am.  That is when Rhonda had the surprise of her life. 

      “Aahh! Oh, no!” Rhonda screamed when she saw Penny, Missy and Natalie on her floor, sound asleep.  Her scream quickly roused them though. 

      “Rhonda!” Penny said sitting up, “Gerry.”  She rubbed her eyes.  “What time is it?”

       “Time for you to get a watch or open your eyes and look at that clock up there,” Gerry said as he pointed to the clock on the wall. 

       “What are you doing here when nobody is home?” Rhonda wanted to know. 

       “No one was here.  Everyone had left by the time we arrived, so we made ourselves at home,” Missy explained.  Missy grabbed her pack of cigarettes and lit one up. 

        Rhonda sat down and asked, “What happened to you guys? I thought you’d be like fifteen minutes.  It was like after midnight when we all left.  What took so long?”

       “We got lost,” Penny cried. 

       “Sorry,” Missy cried, “It’s not my fault you took roads you weren’t familiar with.”

        Rhonda sighed and looked around.  “Well, will you at least help me clean up before my parents get home?  It is one big f*****g mess.”

        Natalie, Penny and Missy nodded and the four of them set about throwing away beer bottles, emptying out ash trays and dumping out the half-eaten bowls of Foot Loops.  MTV was on in the background as they chatted about the crazy night they’d had.