black & gold

Chapter 5

"Do you want something to drink?" Mitchell asks over the deafening boom of Jenna's
stereo. Her house was packed with virtually every student at Kennedy High, leaving teens
squeezed tightly into the medium-sized condo as they yelled back and forth to each
other. Grace was sure that her uncomfortableness had reached an entirely new level.
Grace raises an eyebrow at Mitchell and shakes her head, "What? I can't hear you."
"I said -" Mitchell frowns at the volume of the music around them, "DO YOU WANT A
DRINK?"
Grace nods in response and watches as Mitchell fights his way towards a keg in the back,
clumsily throwing his body through the mess of people around him. Grace, in turn, stands
awkwardly amidst the partying happening around her and clutches her hands to her chest.
It's her safe position.
"Are you that track girl?" A boy says to Grace when the music lowers for the next song.
He has a red solo cup in his hand and a white grin plastered across his chiseled face.
Grace nods, "Yeah. I'm Grace."
"I'm Matt," The boy smiles in return, "I saw you in the paper last week. You're pretty
cute, Grace."
Grace quickly casts her gaze towards the ground and mumbles a faint, "Uh, thanks."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen," Grace says and she runs her hands over her bare arms, wishing she had
worn something warmer. Her black Forever 21 dress had seemed like a good idea at the
time, but she was starting to regret it.
Matt nods, "I'm twenty. Graduated a couple years ago. I'm going to UCLA now."
"Why are you at a high school party?" Grace asks.
Matt shrugs and bares a grin, "Jenna's a friend of mine and she needed help getting her
hands on some alcohol. I'm always game for helping a few Kennedy teens get wasted."
"Why? Don't you have cooler, college-type parties to go to?" Grace questions and the
corner of her mouth perks up for the first time in the conversation. Although she has no
idea why the smoldering, tanned boy is talking to her in the first place, she likes it. Matt
is cute and nice and older and, once again, a male. He's what she wants. He's what she
needs.
"High school parties are fun. Teens party like there's hope out there in the world. Like
everything's not gonna turn to complete shit." "That was really deep. Are you majoring in English?" Grace jokes, laughing at Matt's
change in tone.
"Physics, actually," Matt laughs along before running a hand through his thick, brown
hair, "But the real reason I'm at this party? Cause you're here." Grace's cheeks turn
crimson and the boy across from her smiles again, "Here, have a drink."
"Oh, uh... I'm good. Someone else is getting me one," Grace says and glances behind her
shoulder, searching for any sign of Mitchell.
"I don't see anybody. Come on," Matt urges and hands out his red solo cup towards the
blonde.
Grace sighs before nodding and smiling in thanks to the older boy. She takes the cup
from Matt and presses it to her lips, shutting her eyes and letting its contents flush down
her throat. She's not sure what's in it, but the burn of the alcohol feels nice. Like Matt,
the drinking is necessary.
"Take a breath, alright?" Matt laughs and reaches out for his empty cup, letting Grace
hand it back to him, "Don't want you getting wasted. There's too many horny teenage
boys around here that would love to take advantage of someone like you."
"Someone like me?" Grace questions, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
"A beautiful blonde," Matt responds and tosses his cup into a trash bin near him, "Come
on, let's go out back."
Grace nods in response and moves to follow Matt, suddenly feeling her legs give out
from under her. She stumbles a bit and gasps when Matt grabs her arms to steady her.
"Whoa, you okay?" Matt asks, his eyes full of what Grace determines is concern.
"Yeah, fine," Grace mumbles and gives Matt a smile, "Head rush."
"You sure you don't need me to get a friend to take you home?"
"No, no... I want to be here right now," Grace says and that's enough for Matt to
continue leading her out towards the back yard.
Once the couple reaches their destination, Matt helps Grace sit down beside him on the
steps leading to Jenna's pool. Grace dangles her bare feet in the pale blue water and
frowns as familiar memories of Hannah kissing her come flooding back. Now even water
reminds me of her. Fuck.
"You look sad," Matt comments, rolling up the hems of his jeans to dangle his own feet
in the pool.
Grace shakes her head, cringing at the pain that comes to her head, "I, uh... I was just thinking of something. That's all."
"You need to take your mind off of whatever it is," Matt whispers and when Grace turns
around, her eyes widen at the proximity of her new friends' face.
Before she can react, Matt's lips are pressed to hers and his left hand reaches down,
squeezing at her upper thigh.
"No-" Grace mumbles into Matt's mouth and although she tries, she fails to gain the use
of her hands.
Matt's hand moves up Grace's leg until it slides under her dress, his fingers creeping their
way higher and higher until-
"Fuck!" Matt yells and he pulls back, bringing his hand to his bloody lip, "Did you just
fucking bite me?!"
Grace pulls her dress down and scoots away from the boy, struggling to get to her feet.
Once she's firmly planted on the ground, she holds her head as everything begins to
move around her again. She tries to figure out why she's so unstable after drinking no
more than half of one red solo cup full of alcohol, but she fails to make a connection.
Instead, she simply runs as fast as her feet will carry her around the back of Jenna's
house. She can vaguely hear Matt's yells of "fuck you, bitch" as she rounds the corner.
Once in Jenna's front lawn, Grace collapses on the greenery and digs into her pocket,
fumbling to find her phone. Once her hands find the sleek, metal device, she dials the
first number that pops into her head. Hers.
"Grace?" Hannah's voice rings through the line, clearly tired and worn out. If Grace
hadn't drank whatever Matt had in his little red cup, maybe she would have picked up on
the hopeful undertones in Hannah's weary voice.
"Hannah?" Grace slurs, "Were you sleeping?"
There's a brief silence on the line before Hannah exhales, "I'm... I'm awake now. Are
you okay? You sound-"
"I didn't know who to call," Grace responds, her words blending together once again.
"Do you need help? Are you alright?" Hannah asks, worry and panic evident in her voice.
"Could you pick me up?" Grace questions, her voice suddenly soft and young.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at Jenna's house," Grace responds as if her location should be obvious to the
brunette.
Hannah sighs at the end of the line, "Grace, I have no idea who Jenna is. Do you know e address? Are there any street signs?"
Grace squints and tries to read the green sign perched at the end of Jenna's block,
"Mound street."
Hannah quickly punches the street into her phone and lets out a breath of relief when she
realizes that it's not too far from her, "Alright. I'll be there soon, okay? Will you wait
outside for me?"
"Okay, Han," Grace slurs before ending the call.
When the line clicks off, Hannah stares at her cell phone for a few moments, wondering
when they began using nicknames.
-
"Fuck, Grace, where are you..." Hannah mumbles to herself as she cruises slowly
through the quiet neighborhood. It's not until she gets to the end of the street that she sees
a house with a slew of cars parked outside and music blaring. She curses to herself
silently when she sees Grace sitting out on the front lawn with her knees pulled to her
chest.
Hannah wastes no time in flinging her car door open and running towards the blonde,
kneeling beside her.
"Grace?" Hannah questions. Grace's head immediately flies up and the brunette notices
her friends' runny mascara and red, bloodshot eyes. "Hey, c'mere," Hannah says and
reaches out, letting the blonde take her hands so she can pull her to her feet. "Are you
okay?"
Grace stares at Hannah and shakes her head, "I don't... I don't know. I drank something
and then this guy started touching me and I just ran until I couldn't run anymore and then
I called yo-"
"Shh, come on," Hannah whispers and wraps an arm around Grace's shoulders, leading
her to her Hyundai and helping her into the passenger seat. She hates herself just a little
bit when her stomach flutters at Grace's hand holding onto her neck for dear life. This
isn't the time, Hannah.
They ride in silence for the first few minutes of their trip, the only sound being Grace
picking at her fingernails nervously.
"I'm sorry about this... I don't know why I called you," Grace says and pulls her jacket
tighter around her body.
"It's fine, I'm glad you called. You can always call me, you know that, right?" Hannah
asks and there's something about the calm and resolve in her voice that makes Grace
believe her. "Thank you," Grace whispers and exhales, "Hannah?"
"Yeah?"
"Can I stay with you tonight? At your house?" Grace asks and when she notices Hannah
tense up, she immediately clarifies, "It's just... my parents are out of town again this
week and Tim is at a sleepover and John is... well, I don't know where John is." Grace
pauses and bites her bottom lip, "I don't really want to be alone tonight."
Hannah nods, "Yeah, of course. Whatever you need."
"Hannah?"
"Hm?"
"I'm sorry about the other night. You were really nice to me and I shouldn't have just left
like that," Grace apologizes, her voice breaking slightly towards the end of her sentence.
Hannah looks over at the blonde, "Let's not talk about that right now, alright? We can
talk later. Tomorrow."
"Alright," Grace sighs and rests her head against her passenger window, letting her eyes
flutter shut before whispering a faint "Thank you."
When Hannah looks over, Grace is already sleeping peacefully with her knees curled to
her chest. A soft breath escapes the blonde's lips and Hannah's heart contracts.
"You're welcome."