chapter 2

It was the day after my birthday; I had just turned 15 when our friend Andre decided he was going to have a party. Andre was the kind of guy who knew everyone, and I mean everyone from drug dealers to kids that would cram all night so they could get an A on the next pop quiz. So when he threw a party, expect more than the expected. We got to the party early he wanted us to help set up, for some reason he wanted balloons and streamers everywhere, I didn’t care I just wanted some free food. He had one rule that his dad gave him, no drugs which was the only rule we broke. So; me, Kevin and Caitlyn, a new friend of ours from another school were there eating all his party food when the first guests got there, three girls from another school Andre went to already drunk and they brought drinks. I forgot to mention Caitlyn has sort of an anxiety problem she only knew 3 people there that scared her , everyone was smoking weed and drinking, that bothered her and she had sleeping pills in her bag, that bothered me of course I only found out latter. The night progressed as a nonstop line of guests I’d never met, maybe heard of in conversation poured through the door where I was sitting in the living room stuffing my face with ketchup chips I figured if my mouth was full I’d never have to make conversation when there she was one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seen in my life, Courtney Kern she was going to be in our grade this year at SHS, boy was I existed just to say hi let alone have a class with her , she had a bit of a reputation though a bit to into the night life as I would put it in other words drinking and weed and whatever else she could get her hands on but this is only what I had heard tonight is get to see it. Lucky for me, Caitlyn knew her too. I was pretty clinging to her or Kevin the hole time I didn’t want to look like to much of a loner seeing as I had finished of 3 bags worth of chips they couldn’t be my company any more. So when Caitlyn walked over to talk to her I of course had to follow her Courtney was standing with her friend Grace another person I didn’t know. “Hey guys!” Caitlyn said mid hug. They both screamed “Caitlyn!”, and had a group hug well I cowardly stood beside them not saying a word. “Ummm, hi.” I said lifting a hand. “I’m Jeremy.” “Pleasure to meet you Jeremy.” she giggled then took a sip from a water bottle. I could smell the rum inside it had been one of my dads favourite I knew the smell any where obviously Caitlyn recognized the bottle immediately asking for some after she took it out. She said “maybe later.” and walked off when Caitlyn spotted a friend and deserted me when I wasn’t paying attention. Kevin left to leaving me to drown in a sea of strangers and very loud rap music. My sad attempts to mingle had landed me three drunken hugs, 2 threats and another bowl of chips until I saw Caitlyn coming in through the door and there it was again, another smell I remember from home. Caitlyn had just got into her weed stash and a bit of Courtney’s rum when she finely realized I was standing in front of her the amount of surprise and astonishment raised her eye brows a good ten feet ‘ “heyyyyyyyyyyyyy Jeremy how’s I goin’?” “Oh pretty good you, know ate some chips talked to some people this drunk girl wants me real bad” “awesome where’d our little Kevin go’?” “I’m not sure I haven’t seen him in a while actually ‘Jeremy’ yes Caitlyn’ are you drunk?’ no Caitlyn’ then go find Kevin’s lazy ass’ first thing I do when I walk outside there he is on the porch chugging back someone else’s drink. He saw me and gave me the same look Caitlyn did 5 minutes ago. “Heyyy buddy how’s it going?” ‘good I guess were you drinking?’ no no no yes but im good ‘ this kinda worried me, I know Andres dad was pretty clueless up until now the drunk chicks falling every where the potheads lighting up on the couch and him coming up stairs only asking that they turn the music down but tonight we were supposed to stay over and I’m sure if Andres dad and Kevin actually talked he would realize. Andre was like a bee the whole party buzzing around from conversation to conversation I finely stopped him one time and told him about Kevin ’Ohhhh shit r you serious ?’ yea drunk as a door knob freaking light weight ‘ no I mean I forgot to ask my dad if you guys could stay’ seriously? ‘Yea I’m sure he’ll be fine with it here’s hoping I said then took another sip of root beer gaining on my 5th cup of the night. Apparently Andre wasn’t the only one having a party that night, word got out that every one else was going to another party so one by one they left and dispersed into the street the only ones left were me Kevin Caitlyn Andre and Courtney how sad even grace left her it was 12:30 so technically the party was over any ways so Andre went to his basement to ask his dad if we could stay I walked to his bed room where I found Courtney sitting on his bed ‘ hi Jeremy she said before she fell over ‘ughh I’m soooo tiered can I sleep here ‘ no I’m pritty sure we should get you home ‘ we can’t though I’m drunk she whispers ‘ yea I realized where is Caitlyn and Kevin ?’ oh there outside having fun’ actually I want to find them to get me some more pills ‘ wait what pills ?’ Caitlyn has some sleeping pills we’ve bin taking them the hole night they make me feel sooo goooood ‘ how many have you had ?!’ 6 or 7 why? And how many has Caitlyn had?’ 6 or 7. I looked out the window to see running around screaming ‘there every where there trying to get me someone help !’ great I thought she’s hallucinating and I can’t take her home either because her mom will send her down to live with her dad so I went around to the back door she was still running Kevin was sitting on the steps saying it’s ok Caitlyn nothings trying to get you in till smack right into the support beam of the deck she got hit square in the forehead , thank god that shut her up Kevin would always deny this but he had a crush on her so being drunk he ran to her aid Caitlyn. Caitlyn are you ok and he just laid next to her I went back inside for only more bad news Andres dad said no one could stay over ... It looked like I was sleeping outside tonight . I said to him “Ok well either way we need to get these guys home now.” He said “All right we got our stuff and we were off.”and Caitlyn was worse than Kevin with the questions, the same “are you drunk?” and “why not drinking is fun.” and “your lame pussy Courtney was stand able though she only said that I needed to live more”. Carrying a Caitlyn drunk is one of the worst painful things you can experience in life, one second its fine she’s asleep in your arms next she’s kicking the hell out of you because she wants down to walk then she’s laying down the next 5 seconds saying she wants back up from my experience with been I knew she needed sleep we just needed to get her some

where less public so we went up a street when Courtney’s cell rings. She picks up; it was her dad. I could actually hear him, he was yelling so loud “Hey where the hell are you its 12:45 you should have been home by now.” “Dad its ok I’m staying at Grace’s.” “No you’re not young lady, your coming home now; I’m coming to pick you up.” Oh damn this was bad, not only was she still out of it but what if he drove up and saw Caitlyn this way to we had to split up? I told Andre to go with Kevin and Courtney up towards her house while I went with Caitlyn up the other road and he would call me when they were done. Off the road with Caitlyn she finally wakes up to say something useful. “Hey my friend lives here lets sleep on their lawn.” Honestly I thought it was a bad idea, I had no idea where I was but I was getting tired to so I put her down and started counting stars when I hear a car coming so I look over. Red and blue flashing lights, oh shit, the cops, I definitely knew if we were caught Caitlyn would be shipped off so I did what any teenager would do. I ran I ran like a Kenyon. I threw her on my back and ran straight across the road into some neighbours yard, hopped a fence, stepped on a dog that was sleeping and got bit continuing running full pace left and rights up and down looking up to see a different street sign at every turn. Finally by some luck I found a place I knew a public lake; the moon just over it, the reflection looking so peaceful. I sit her on a bench and see her shivering. I only had a jacket and a t shirt so I hand her my jacket and just sat next to her when I hear my phone ring and walk off down the trail, still keeping an eye on her. ‘Hey who’s this ?’ “Andre, where are you guys?‘ “I took her to first lake, where are you?” “Up by my house, we have blankets and pillows.” “Alright I guess I’m on my way.” Walking back, Caitlyn’s unconscious the moon lighting my way sparkling the broken glass to shine like diamonds. It’s the little distractions that get you through the day I guess. Just walking up the big hill with her asleep on my back was murder on my body, my arms like noodles; my legs only dead wait my neck more knotted then a pretzel. I was ready for bed; little did I know that wasn’t what was waiting for me at Andres. Ok one more house to go... Shit my mp3 just died, Ohh well I’m sure as I get somewhere to sleep. I’ll be fine. Andre was waiting at the top of the driveway for us; he had set up a bed for Caitlyn and Kevin. I thought it was a bad idea for me to sleep so I just stayed awake and the only place was dry was under his deck, so I spent 3 hours under there watching them sleep. Jeez I sound like a creep, but if Andres dad woke up for work and they were all asleep in his back yard, I knew we would be in shit. So at 4:55 it was just starting to rain, so I pick Caitlyn up again take her to the house where the roof would cover her. Even after the sleep, Caitlyn was still out of it though which is what scared me. Then I put the blankets under the deck and got Kevin up. I told him Andre’s dad would be up in 5 minutes, we need to go now. “Ok well where can we go?” “The closest fast food joint is a Timmy’s, at least it will be dry there.” “All right then, I have money I will buy Caitlyn some coffee,” he yawned, still sound asleep. I carried her down the hill and across the highway to the little Tim Horton’s on the side of the road. Lucky for us, Caitlyn loves coffee; the smell woke her up as soon as we walked in. For some reason all the truckers and old people wouldn’t stop giving us dirty looks. I suppose it didn’t look so good, me walking in with a girl asleep on my back completely soaked in a t shirt, with a guy that looked like he need at least 3 good shaves before you could see his teeth. Walking up to the counter, the cashier asks me; “Hey buddy is she ok?” “Yeah, just a little tired, she’s cool don’t worry. Can I get an iced coffee and lots of sugar?” “Sure, two dollars and fifty cents.” I gave him a five and said keep the change; it was Kevin’s money why would I care. Going back to the benches they were both laying down in the booth, so I had to pull up a chair to sit with them. Then, sliding the cup down to Caitlyn she sat up, still in a daze. “Where are we? How did we get here? What time is it? Where did I sleep last night?” “I’ll tell you in a sec, just finish your coffee.” “Ok,” Kevin finally sat up and said, “Hey where are we gonna go after this Jeremy?” “Well let’s see, its 5 in the morning, odds are any where we go our parents haven’t left for work yet so let’s wait till 8 then go to Cait’s. Sound good to everyone?” They groaned to show support for my plan. Remember how I said I was drenched when I first walked in? Well for anyone who didn’t fail science class, let me just remind you when you’re wet, you lose body heat much faster than when dry. So it was a fun 3 hours singing along to the oldies, freezing my ass off while they slept more. I’m not sure how they slept through all the noise I was making, but whatever. I did to get me through those painfully long three hours. It worked, eight rolled around. The sun had risen the rain had stopped and I was finally going to sleep. Oh what a great feeling. Even to be dry, what a great feeling but carrying Caitlyn up another big hill; not so great, but obviously we can’t sleep on the lawn because that worked so well last time. 3 more houses ...2 and a half, shit where’s Kevin? He was behind me 3 houses ago, I look down the road and see a fire hydrant with some black hair behind it. I walk back down the hill “Hey buddy” Kevin said, half awake. “We were so close, why would you stop?!” “Oh well I got tired” “Come on sleep at Caitlyn’s” I watched him slowly get up as the water ran off his back. I don’t think he realized he sat in a puddle .13 more houses to go.
When we finally got there, we walked in and Caitlyn was still asleep on my back. Kevin looked like the walking dead; I took them both up to her room and put them both on her bed. I’ll get Kevin to thank me later, I thought and I just lay down on her carpet and wondered; what happened to Courtney?