In the Middle of Nowhere (12 page)

“Come with me please, young lady.”

He identified himself as an undercover police
officer and was told by a worker that I had run out of the store
without paying for a magazine, a magazine that I still clutched
firmly in my hand.

“No. You don’t understand! I was just looking
at it and only ran out of the store because I thought I saw
somebody I knew. I planned on putting it back.”

“Well, maybe you’ll follow through with your
plans better next time.”

The man tried to bring me toward the back of
the store, but I yelled. “Stop! Please! Let me get my mother!”

We were making a scene and started to cause a
commotion. Other customers stared at us and I was really starting
to get scared. I didn’t want to go anywhere with this guy. Why
would I have stolen a stupid magazine of all things? He wouldn’t
listen to me and kept dragging me toward the back. Just then my
mother spotted me and ran over to the two of us.

“What is going on here, Willow!?” she
demanded.

I started to cry and tried tell my mom what
had happened. As I stammered my defense, the whole room seemed to
get unusually hot. I suddenly felt light-headed and dizzy and
desperately wanted to sit down. I tried to tell them this, but I
couldn’t get the words out. All of a sudden everything around me
became blurry and my mother’s stunned and confused face was the
last thing I remembered before the blackness consumed me and sent
me crashing to the floor.

CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN

I was so embarrassed, so completely and
utterly embarrassed. After I foolishly fainted and finally came to,
I had a lot of explaining to do. My mom stood next to me as I sat
on a brand new folding chair borrowed from one of the store’s
aisles.

“This is just a big misunderstanding, sir,”
my mother defended me to the officer. “My daughter has never stolen
a thing in her life and why would she start now, when she’s on a
shopping trip with me?”

My mother held out her two arms, which were
draped in bags. “It’s not as though we can’t afford a measly
magazine!”

The officer let us go with a warning. I
couldn’t wait to get out of that store. Some shoppers stood around
and gawked at us, while others went about their business. We were
in such a hurry to leave that my mom forgot to buy some antacid for
Brian and, of course, I had to hear about it the whole ferry ride
home.

“This is all your fault, Willow! Now I’m
going to have to drive out of my way to stop at a pharmacy for
Brian once we get back to the island.”

I turned away and stared out the window and
watched as a seagull swooped down and effortlessly snagged a shiny,
flopping fish for dinner.

“What were you thinking?! I don’t care that
you saw a friend from school. Use your brain. Never walk out of a
store with merchandise, no matter how inexpensive.”

Even though the air was chillier now that the
sun was down, I wished that, I, too, could have flown away, far
away from my mother. I would skip eating the raw fish part,
though.

We finally got back to our house after making
a detour to pick up some pink stomach medicine for Brian. My mother
was so overwhelmed by my ordeal that she and Brian just had to go
to dinner alone so she could relax and unwind. She told us not to
wait up for her. Why would she and Brian be out so late? Were the
two of them going to stop over at his place after dinner for a
quick romp in the hay? Ewww, I was making myself nauseous just
thinking about it. I had to stop.

In the meantime, James and I were stuck with
two choices; either leftovers or frozen pizza. Neither appealed to
me, so I heated up pasta and sauce from the night before for James
and, afterward, headed up to my room.

I wasn’t in the mood to eat anything because
my mother had gotten me so upset. Not once had I ever given her a
reason to worry about me and she acted as if I committed grand
theft auto, a video game that James was dying for, but my mom said
was way too violent for him.

I signed on to my MyWeb account and was
checking out what other kids were up to on the weekend while I sat
home, once again, and babysat. Just then I got an instant message
from Tessa.

“Wanna hang?”
it
read.

I was just about to type “no,” but thought
better of it. Instead I typed,
“Where?”

“Rocky is having a get-together over at his
house tonight.”

Rocky Johnson was a senior, the captain of
the football team and the hottest guy in the whole school. He was
about 6’3” and had the best body ever. He had thick, dark brown
hair, a perfectly chiseled face and looked like a Greek God. Erica
and Taylor thought he was gorgeous, too, and one day, during lunch,
we nicknamed him “The God.” If I spotted him in the hallways, I
would feel myself getting flush immediately, even if I stared at
him for only a few seconds. I felt as though my innocent lust for
him would be written all over my face and that everyone around me
would be able to read it, including him.

I couldn’t believe that Tessa was inviting me
to a party at his house. What would Rocky think if Tessa showed up
with me? Who else would be going? Other girls or just guys? What,
in the name of “The God,” would Erica and Taylor think about
this?

Again, I was about to respond, “no,” but
wrote something so uncharacteristic, even I couldn’t believe it.
“When can you pick me up?”

“I’ll head over in about ten,” Tessa
answered.

I slammed my laptop closed and pushed it far
away from me as if it might infect me with some sort of incurable
virus. What the hell did I just do? I told Tessa that I would go to
a party with her to the home of one of the hottest guys on the
planet. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Who was this
stranger staring back at me?

I quickly realized there was no turning back.
I jumped up and ran over to my closet to try and figure out which
new outfit I would wear to the party. My initial doubt disappeared
and was replaced with intense mixed feelings of both anticipation
and dread; a combination I had never felt before in my sixteen
years and one week of life.

• • •

I looked in the mirror and was quite please
with what I saw. I had on a pretty, lacy navy blue top with a
matching blue cami underneath and a pair of expensive London Edge
jeans. All the girls in my school wanted LE jeans, especially after
tons of celebrities were photographed wearing them. The only
problem was that you could only buy them in specialty
boutiques.

Luckily, Portland had one such chic shop
called Salsa. Two of the girls at my party had given me gift cards
from there and I used the birthday money my grandma had sent me to
cover the difference in the cost of the trendy denim. My mother had
said that she was “dumbfounded” that I would waste so much money on
one pair of jeans. I wanted to tell her that she was acting like
half of that same word without the “founded” part, but I didn’t
dare. She probably would’ve slapped me.

I hadn’t had time to take a shower, so I
re-straightened my hair and put on a minimal amount of makeup. I
thought I always looked prettiest if I looked more natural than
heavily made up. I cleaned up my room and fussed with my bed and
comforter.

I did a final check in the mirror, and once I
was pleased with the product, grabbed my cell phone and keys and
headed downstairs. I now had to deal with the biggest, yet
scrawniest obstacle that was going to come between my night out and
me.

• • •

I stood directly in front of the television
and waited for it.

“What the heck are you doing?” James wailed.
He stood up and tried to push me out of the way. I had braced
myself and didn’t budge.

“Listen! I’ll make a deal with you.”

“Get outta my way first!”

“No. I need your undivided attention.”

“Fine.” He put down his controller. “Hurry
up!”

“I’m going out tonight and was gonna leave
you by yourself.”

“So,” James shrugged. “You’ve done that
before.”

“Yeah, but last time I got caught.”

My brother got defensive. “That wasn’t my
fault!”

“I know. Sorry. But tonight you’re gonna have
to tear your butt away from your video game and into bed before mom
gets back. Remember, she said that she’d be home late.”

“What if she checks on us?”

“That’s simple. You’ll be in your bed,
hopefully asleep and I stuffed my bed with clothes to make it look
like I’m in it. Then I’ll just quietly sneak in after Mom’s
asleep.”

James nodded his approval and became very
thoughtful. I could hear the wheels churning in his head.

“What’s in it for me?”

I knew this moment would happen and, luckily,
had already thought out a payment plan.

“I’ll buy you the Grand Theft Auto video
game, as long as you never let Mom see you playing it.”

James squinted his eyes and sized me up.

I added, “And if this works out tonight,
there might be other new video games in your future if I ever
decide to sneak out again.”

He didn’t hesitate and stuck out his hand.
“Deal.”

I shook his hand and said, “Deal,” at the
exact same moment Tessa blared her car horn. I grabbed my coat, ran
outta there as fast as I could and, fearing regret, didn’t dare
look back.

CHAPTER
EIGHTTEEN

I had to pinch myself a couple of times. I
couldn’t believe I was on my way over to Rocky Johnson’s house with
Tessa, at what was sure to be a memorable and exciting night. Kids
would talk about various parties throughout the school year and
Rocky’s always seemed to be the most legendary.

His parties were different. Unlike most
teenagers, who waited until their parents were away, Rocky’s
parents were always in attendance and encouraged kids to hang at
their house and party, as long as they didn’t drive home. They were
really cool.

I had to take slow, deep breaths once I
climbed inside Tessa’s car. I wanted to act all casual in front of
her and not let her see how extremely nervous I was, not only for
going to Rocky’s, but also in hopes of being able to sneak back
into my house after escaping.

Tessa glanced at me. “You look nice.”

“Thanks,” I said. “You do, too.”

Tessa cracked the car window and lit up a
cigarette.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to smoke in
your mom’s car?”

“I’m not, but she barely drives it and if she
ever did say it smelled like smoke, I would just blame you.”

Tessa smiled and gave me a wink.

“Thanks a lot,” I said.

I wanted some questions answered about the
big night. I needed to remain calm and act unaffected by her
answers.

“So, who else is going?”

“Not sure.”

“His parents are gonna be there, right?”

“Dunno.” She blew a mouthful of smoke out the
window. “Who cares who’s gonna be there as long as we are?”

“Where does Rocky live?”

“Over on North Shore.”

“Where’s that?”

Tessa looked at me, appalled. “On the north
shore. Duh!”

“I can’t help it if I don’t know my way
around the island.”

“Well you better get familiar with it soon or
you’re gonna end up driving into the ocean by mistake some
day.”

“I’m not that stupid,” I shot back.

Tessa took a deep drag and let it out slowly.
“We’ll see about that.”

I shook my head at her rudeness and stared
out the window at the darkness that surrounded us, while on my way
to a high school party at Rocky “The God’s” house, a high school
party I had absolutely no business attending.

• • •

If it was even possible, Rocky’s house was
bigger than Tessa’s. I couldn’t tell for sure how much, but we had
to be buzzed in at a stunning wrought iron gate before traveling up
the steep driveway.