Chapter 3

In the middle of my English class, I felt a vibration in my pocket. Making sure the teacher wasn’t paying attention, I pulled out my phone to see a text from Francis.

It read:     

Hey R there any plans 4

our last night of HS?

Do ya’ll wanna do anything?”

I thought about it and felt it was outrageous that this wasn’t asked sooner. I typed back on the vibrating keys.

I don’t believe so except for

the canoe trip this weekend with

all the seniors... The four of us

should go out and do something.

Hey, what about bowling??

I slid the phone back into my pocket and started taking notes again. I spent the next ten minutes half paying attention to the teacher and the other half wondering when I would get another text. When I felt another buzz I pulled my cell out to read the screen.

Bowling sounds good but

I dnt see Bobby wantin

2 go...What about meeting

at the usual place 2nite and

hangin? Tell Jetta. I already

texted Bobby bout it. He is

still mad at me L lol 

I smiled at the emoji before texting Jetta letting her know the plans. She agreed and said we should talk more at lunch.

Lunch came and went. After a conversation over pizza we decided what our duties were. Bobby would bring the booze, Jetta would bring the food, Francis would bring the key, and I would bring the entertainment.

At four everyone lied about they were going, and we all met at the same area we had been meeting for the past year. It was one of Francis’s family’s other houses. They used to rent it out but hadn’t needed to in a while and felt it was convenient to have open for when their relatives visited.

I pulled up behind two other vehicles. Bobby was lacking a mean of transportation so I assumed he rode in with one of them. Getting out I saw everyone was already inside. I knocked before immediately opening the door, not giving anyone enough time to ask who it was. I saw Jetta reclining on the couch with her feet propped up on Bobby’s lap. Francis was somewhere else.

“Alright guys, what’s the drink tonight?” I asked coolly.

Bobby eased off the couch and galloped towards me. “Check it out! I got Fireball.” Bobby explained, “My brother bought it for me when I told him I was hooking up with another girl. Anything to keep me ‘straight’ right?” I half smiled, half frowned at his answer.

“Well, let’s take some shots!” Jetta announced from the couch. “You better get drunk with me tonight girl, I am so tired of always being drunk with just Bobby.”

 “Hey!” Bobby retorted back to her.

“I promise, tonight, I will drink with you,” I said carefully avoiding the word ‘drunk’. Jetta sprinted to the kitchen to grab the shot classes and hurried back, as if I was going to change my mind in accordance to how fast she could get a shot in me. I sized it up before saying, “I’m just going to grab a cup. Is there anything to mix it with?”

Jetta lectured, “No Bonnie, you cannot mix it, you got to chase it. Every time you make a mixed drink you feel sick after a few sips and never get a real buzz going!” I grimaced at the idea of taking shots. “No, none of that. Be a man, Bonnie. You can do this.”

I scowled at her, “But I’m not a man-“

She shushed me and repeated, “Be a man, Bonnie.”

I watched the shot glass as it was being filled before arguing, “How come you two never hassle Francis to get drunk? Why do you always pick on me?”

Bobby snorted. “Because we don’t want drunk-Francis. He pees on vehicles and strips. I love a man willing to perform a strip tease but I don’t want to see any of that coming from him.” I thought back on the night he peed on Jetta’s car, severely pissing her off. It was the same night he’d hit on me.

I concurred with them and stopped arguing. “Alright.” I sighed, beaten. “What’s the chaser?” Bobby threw me a can of cherry Dr. Pepper. I investigated it before looking back up to the whiskey bottle.

“Trust me,” Bobby declared, “It’s delicious.” I went against my gut feeling and took the shot. There was a chatter of wooing behind my shot, coming from Jetta, Bobby, and the newly reappearing Francis.

Jetta turned hers up before enthusiastically spinning to me. “Alright.” Jetta exclaimed, “Now another!”

This continued for three more shots.

My belly was bloated, and I felt disgusting. “No more,” I gargled, “I can’t do anymore.” Everything was fuzzy. I had never drink so much. My tolerance was a serious joke. Sloppily scanning the whirling room I saw Francis playing his guitar, Jetta booty dancing with Bobby, and… who is that?

Everything was blurry but compared to this woman, everything seemed crystal clear. She was watching me, and I was staring back at her. Her hair was a pixelated carroty wave down her shoulders. I shook my head, and she was gone.

“Hey man,” Jetta’s voice rang in my ears. “How you feeling?” I looked over and saw her approaching me.

“How much did she drink?” Francis had stopped playing and was asking Bobby, concern dripping in his breath.

My words slipped out. “Fourn swats. Who was dat girl?” I asked earnestly and sloppily. Their voices were shaky, and I felt the room pulsate around me.

“Who are you talking about? I’m Jetta, crazy.” Jetta’s voice asked before she directly spoke to me, “Bonnie, you’re really pale. Are you ok-k-k-kay?” Her word broke into separate alterations. It didn’t make sense. I looked around and saw the red hair again.

I pointed to the girl. “You!” I exclaimed. The woman was seemingly entertained watching me, while everyone’s eyes glanced toward an empty corner of the room and back to me. I asked, “Who are you?”

She was all of a sudden not in the corner of the room anymore. She was trudging towards me and was now holding a chilling blade in her hand. I swallowed and instinctively backed away from her.

The woman snarled, “I’ve been waiting a long time for this.”

“Waiting for what?” I asked alarmed. I backed up again and didn’t stop until I was against the wall.

“Bonnie what are you talking about?” Francis made a weird face at my question. “What the hell is going on? Did your brother spike that whiskey?” He sounded heated and nervous.

The red headed woman’s eyes are the only ones holding my focus. She was directly in front of me now and I watched, paralyzed, as her hand raised above her above her head. The glimmer of the blade shimmered in the light.

The knife came forward and everything fuzzy faded to black.