Chapter 3 Summer

Chapter 3
The Chase

    After school, Holly hitched a ride from Rayna and me instead of with her mother, cousin and older brother. Rayna made up some excuse about having stuff to do, which she probably didn’t, and went home. I headed home, only to change into a bathing suit then went back to Holly’s, five houses up, and we spent the rest of the afternoon laying on a blanket in the backyard.
    Holly’s house is easily the biggest on the block. In it lives her, her brother, her mother, her grandma, older cousin, her older cousin’s boyfriend, and her older cousin’s kid, which would be Jake--so technically they were second cousins…I think.
    They’d moved in after Holly’s dad had bailed on them. He’d found a some younger, prettier chick and had an affair. She’d hated him after that. She hates the fact the second her father shows up again, her mother will go right back to him. It’s bad enough as it is while her mother keeps putting off the divorce.
    That’s another pro to Holly coming with us to the beach house this summer. She won’t have to deal with her parents anymore. She’s not the type to complain or cry about s**t, but she’ll just act like nothing is wrong. Sometimes she even fools me, but less than a week ago, we’d snuck out to walk around a little bit and she’d been half drunk, saying that she just wanted to forget.
    “Hey, can I have a smoke?” Holly asks me.
    “They’re in my purse.” I say without moving from my position, shades on and lying on my back.
    She reaches over to my black faux leather purse and pulls out the fresh pack of Marlboro Reds. Putting two in her mouth, she lit them with my I heart Paris lighter that I’d gotten during Spring Break.
    Usually, I go on trips out of the country on a break every year. The summer after eighth grade, I’d gone to Japan. After ninth it was Australia and New Zealand. And this spring it had be Europe.
    Holly hands me a cigarette and throws my lighter and pack back into my purse.
    “So is tonight going to be a Fun Night?” I ask before taking a drag and looking at Holly. I wiggle my eyebrows.
    Fun Nights are the nights that Holly and I spend sneaking out and drinking and smoking long after her parents, cousin, and grandma have gone to bed, with or without Jake. Mostly with.
    “Well, duh.” She says and grins.
    When the sun finally sets, we put our shorts and shirts back on over our bathing suits and head back inside, but not for long. For a little while, we talk out on the porch before deciding to go for a walk.
    Now, normally, this wouldn’t be allowed, but being the last day of school and with two people, Holly’s mom agrees to let us out, but only as long as we’re quiet and we have to be back before seven-thirty.
    The sun has completely set and Holly and I walk arm in arm as we always do at night. We have this tendency to freak ourselves out when out and about at night--like some monster is going to jump out of the forest and kill us as we walk through the trees and sit on the bridge going across the little river.
    We sit there for a while just talking about school and friends and nothing at all, but when it’s seven fifteen, we begin the walk back to Holly’s house.
    We’d just gotten out of the trees when a car of guys drives by. The car doesn’t pass us, but crawls to a stop about twenty feet in front of us. They guys stick their heads out the window and hoot and holler at us. Though I can’t even begin to understand exactly what they’re saying, I know that it can’t be very charming. They toss out some cash on the sidewalk when we walk by.
    “Have I seen you some place before?” The guy in the passenger seat asks.
    “Well, it wasn’t on Third Street at midnight last night because I don’t prostitute myself all over the place…” Holly says, pretending to think. “Oh, but hey, we were at the zoo earlier.”
    “Don’t be like that, baby.” The guy from the driver’s seat leans over to look at us.
    “Are you guys always this stupid?” I demand irritably, stopping beside the car and glaring at the guy in the passenger seat. “Or are you just making a special effort today?”
    The guy’s smile slowly fades away and he glares at me. “Watch the pretty little mouth of yours, baby.”
    “Aw, come on.” Holly says, smiling at me. “He’s pretty hot…for a gorilla.” She’s glaring as her gaze falls back to the men in the car.
    I grab Holly‘s hand and town her away. She may have seemed confident but I can tell by how tightly she’s clinging on to my arm that she’s just as terrified as I am. When we turn the corner it’s almost like a wave of relief washes over me.
    I remember the first time I drank with Holly at the beginning of last year, I’d stayed sober. It takes a long time for me to get drunk. She gets drunk fast but sobers up quickly. I hadn’t had time to get drunk, but she was already wasted when Jake and I took her for a walk around the block to sober her up. She’d been freaking out, yanking me away from cars saying that a rapist was going to grab me.
    I’d laughed and told her that if anybody was going to get raped it would have probably been her because Jake was a guy and I had my period. The fear had never seemed rational. Until now.
    Headlights come around the corner and then shut off.
    I turn my head slightly to sneak a peak behind us. The car from before, a crappy, beat up, old BMW has stopped just around the corner on the street we’re walking down. That’s no damn coincidence.
    “Holls.” I say, turning back around.
    “What?” She asks. Her grip on my arm is relaxed and her fear is gone.
    “I think we should run.”
    “Why?”
    “That car is following us.”
    Holly glances over her shoulder.
    “Run.” I say, grabbing her hand.
    We run down the street as fast as we can.
    Are these a******s just trying to scare us? I damn well hope so. I hope that’s all they’re doing because it’s f*****g working.
    We take one left turn and see a porch light on with a bunch of guys and one girl sitting outside with bottles in their hands. It’s on a corner to our right.
    “There.” I pant, barely able to breath. “My brother.”
    We run across the street without slowing down, up the street, then across again to the house.
    As we approached, my older brother and his three friends set down their beers and stood up. There’s something about the way they stand with the protectiveness of sentry that makes me feel safer. The looks on their faces make it seem like they have every intention of killing someone.
    Holly and I run past our four knights in shining armor and take refuge on the porch next to my brother’s girlfriend, Genna.
    This is how it’s always been. It had taken me sixteen years to realize that my brother was my knight in shining armor. He’s always there to protect me the way any big brother should, even if I didn’t know it sometimes. A lot of the time, Dom tries to be discrete about the things he does for me.
    The car’s headlights turn back on and it drives by the house innocently.
    “What the hell was that about?” Dom demands, turning on me.
    “They’re total pigs.” I say. “They were hitting on us so we sort of…called them stupid and said they looked like gorillas.” Cringing, I wait for the wrath of my brother.
    “Can’t you guys ever keep your mouths shut?” Dom glares at me. “And what are you guys doing out anyway?”
    “We needed some air.” I tell him. “Resume your evening. See you guys tomorrow.” I smile embarrassedly at Genna and my brother and wave to Josh, Seth, and George, my brother’s friends.
    I know leaving like that just pisses my brother off more, but truth be told, the chase has left me exhilarated and I have to keep moving.

Reviews

[Prateeksha Khot]

It was indeed an interesting chapter . I loved reading it. You indeed have talent. Do update and put up the next chapters as soon as possible.