The Queen Bee of Bridgeton (17 page)

"It's not...your fault, Lauren. I just -"

"
DeHaven
." She interrupted me.

"What?"

"My name is Lauren
DeHaven
."

I just stared at her completely confused. What the hell was the difference? Once again, I got that creepy vibe from Lauren. Something just wasn't right about that girl.

After focusing on my breathing for a few minutes, I decided it was time to leave. I needed to get to Will. I needed to let him know that I did care about him even though I wasn't ready to marry him. I needed to make sure he was okay.

"I better go now," I said, chugging the last of the lemonade. I stood up, but then got so dizzy I had to sit back down.

"Why don't you relax for a little bit?
You're upset. You're in no condition to go home alone," Brittany said.

"Don't
worry,
we'll take good care of you." Ashley added with her sweet yet creepy smile.

The next thing I remember I lay on a gloriously cold bathroom floor.  It felt so good to be cold I actually rubbed my face against the tile.  Then someone knelt over me, lifted my head and wiped my face with a cool rag.  It was Sasha.

"What are you doing here?"  I asked.  I tried to get up, but the room started spinning.

"Don't get up," she said in her 'you're in trouble' tone.  The last time she sounded like that was when she found out I failed a Chemistry quiz.

"What's wrong with my head?"  I asked as I felt my scalp to make sure there wasn't a knife sticking out of it.

"You've got a hangover. What were you thinking?  You've never had a drink in your life.  What made you think you could handle all that alcohol?"

"What are you talking about?  I didn't drink anything."

"Then how do you explain this?"  Sasha showed me a picture on her camera phone.  It was me in my underwear dancing on a table.

"Where did you get that?" I exclaimed horrified at what I had unwittingly done.

"Around 10:00 last night someone sent this to me. 
Desi
and I immediately went to David's house and got you out of there before you did anything else I knew you'd regret."  Sasha slammed her phone shut and yelled, "What were you thinking?"

"I don't know what happened?  I don't remember getting drunk. All I had was lemonade."

"That wasn't lemonade!" she yelled, standing.  Her voice echoed causing every fiber in my body to twitch.  She had no idea how much pain just the sound of her voice caused.  If she did, she would surely lower it.  I tried to cover my ears and block out some of the sound as she said, "
It's
called grain alcohol. It's odorless, colorless, and 80 proof."  I didn't know what 80 proof meant, but I felt like now wasn't the time to ask.  I probably should've learned it in Chemistry class.  I immediately recalled Will's advice to never drink anything that wasn't in a factory-sealed container.  Why didn't I think of that last night? 

Sasha paced the bathroom.  When did our bathroom get big enough for pacing?  The last time I checked our bathroom was barely big enough to hold me and Sasha at the same time.  I looked around.  This wasn't our bathroom.

"Where are we?"

"We're at
Desi's
house.  I couldn't have him take us home and you were in no condition to walk.  So we spent the night here."  She crossed her arms and continued pacing.  "How are we going to fix this?" she asked more to herself than to me.

"I'll just explain to everyone that I didn't know I was drinking and that it really wasn't like me and…"  Sasha stopped in her tracks, spun around and glared at me causing me to freeze mid-sentence.

"Do you have absolutely no idea how high school works?  No one cares you didn't know you were drunk.  This is going to haunt you for the rest of your time at Bridgeton.  It's going to haunt
us
! I bet most of the people there thought you were me!"  Just then, I heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"What!" Sasha barked at the intruder.  I had never seen her so angry before about anything. 

An always polite Desmond asked if we were coming down for breakfast.  Sasha softened a little.  "Maybe later, Babe," she said, trying to sound sweet for Desmond's sake.  The thought of food made my stomach turn.  I pulled myself up on one arm and leaned over the toilet just as everything I ever ate in my life spewed out of my mouth.  Sasha came to my side, held my hair and rubbed my back.

"I'm so sorry, Sweetie.  I'm so sorry you had to learn the hard way not to trust the Bitch Brigade," she said as she wiped my mouth with the cloth.

"I'm sorry," I moaned. I closed my eyes and tried to remember when things went wrong. I remembered talking to the bitches. And I did trust them momentarily. I believed their apology and I took the drink from them. And then I was dancing and doing a whole bunch of other stuff with...  "Oh God, David," I said in panic.

"Yes David. Why don't we talk about David? Didn't I tell you he was an asshole? Didn't I tell you not to trust him? What were you thinking? I tell you what you should've been thinking."

"Did I...you know…do anything with David?" I said between sobs.

"Nothing too serious.
 
Just a lap dance according to the pictures."

"Just a lap dance?
Just a lap dance! Oh God, Will is going to hate me.  He's never going to talk to me again.  Wait, does he know?"

"Sweetie, everyone with a cell phone, email, or a pulse knows, but..."  I started bawling again.  "
Shhh
, I'm not done.  He was here at 5:30 this morning looking for you.  He's worried about you.  I told him to come back later."

"No, I can't face him.  I can't."  Surely, he wanted to see me in order to break up with me.  I wanted more space and I bet now he was willing to give me all the space I wanted, permanently.

Sasha tucked me into bed as I cried myself to sleep.  I actually dreamt that last night didn't happen and that Will still loved me, but then I woke up and saw that I was still in Des' house. Reality pounded me in the head.  Or that could have been the hangover.  I turned and looked at the clock: 1:27 in the afternoon.

"Will is downstairs," Sasha said through the door after a quick knock.  "Get yourself together and come talk to him."

"I can't," I whined on the verge of tears again.

"That wasn't a request," she said curtly.  Something in her tone made me hop out of bed without another thought of protest.

On my way down the stairs, I heard Sasha and Will in the den.

"She's on her way. You better hope I can fix this or I'm coming after you," she said to him.

"Me? What did I do?"

"Oh, please. You know this is all your fault, right?"

"
My
fault?
What the hell are you talking about?"

"She should've broken up with you when I told her to."

"You told her to break up with me? How could you? I love her."

"Love?”
Sasha laughed a little. “Please. You're a psycho.
A freaking psycho.
First you stalk her for two months while screwing every girl in sight,
then
now suddenly you're in love. Is this some sort of game to you? I swear to God if you hurt her I will ruin your life."

Will clapped his hands dramatically.

"Stellar performance, Sasha, really.
Is there a camera nearby?"

"Shut up!"

"Come off it, Sasha. You may have everyone else fooled but not me.
Your
friends did this. I bet you're only angry that you didn't think of it first."

Sasha slapped him. "Go to hell!" she yelled before storming off.

Will stood in the den rubbing his still red cheek and staring out of the window.  I hesitated a moment at the entrance and just looked at him.  He was so handsome. The sun shined on his hair making shades of gold dance on every strand.  I hated myself for hurting him so much.

I wanted to ask about the conversation I'd just overheard. It seemed as though Will thought he know something about my sister that I didn't. How could he call those girls friends of Sasha? Didn't he know how afraid of them she was?

Now wasn't the time to talk about Sasha, though. Will and I had a lot of things to work out in our relationship.

"Do you hate me?" I asked.

"I could never hate you," he said still staring out of the window.

"Are you angry with me?"

He shrugged. "I'm not angry. I'm just…I just don't understand. I poured my heart out to you. I asked you to be my wife and then you run right into David's arms."

"But Will, that's part of the problem. You asked me to marry you. I'm sixteen and I've only known you for what?
three
months tops? How could you possibly expect me to marry you?"

"You want David, don't you? You're never going to feel for me what I feel for you," he said as if he didn't hear me.

"Will, you're not listening. David is not the issue here. That's the one thing I've figured out. You're what I want, but we need to get to know each other better. We need to slow it down a little, okay?"

He didn't answer me. We fell into a tense silence as Will kept staring out the window. I felt like I might have lost him forever.

"Do you want to break up?" I asked finally.

He shook his head and asked, "Do you want to break up with me?"

"No, but I can't marry you, Will. Not now."

He sighed. "I know. It was stupid of me to try to force that on you. It's just that...I lost everyone and everything I ever loved. And then you came along and make me feel..." He leaned his head against the glass and said, "I guess I just tried to hold on to you too tight. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. We both made mistakes last night."

Will crossed the room and embraced me. "Your only mistake was being too trusting. You were tricked."