All I Ever Wanted

Chapter 21

~~Flashback~~

It was December of 2012, nearly a year ago. I was still best friends with Alex, and I was still crushing on Clayton. Obviously.

"Abby! Abby Abby Abby!" Alex squealed, running towards me.

"Hey, why so excited?" I raised my eyebrows.

"We - you, me, Haley, and Asher are all invited to Clayton's party!"

"Party? What party?" I inquired.

"The one he's having tonight! It's gonna be so much fun and we have to go!" Her smile didn't decrease in size. It was a huge smile.

"Party? Oh, I don't know..." I hesitated. We were in high school now, and I didn't doubt that people would be drinking and smoking - two things I swore to stay clear of until I was at least twenty-one years old. "I have to... uh, study. Yeah, that's it. Study..." I trailed off.

"Come on, Abby!" She pushed, pleaded, and whined. "You're such a buzzkill!" She groaned, scowling. and began walking off. I couldn't let her down! She was my best friend! I knew what to do.

"Wait!" I grabbed her arm and spun her around. Immediately, her smile returned hopefully. "I'll go. If you insist..." Nothing too bad could happen. Right?

***

"This party is awesome!" Haley called over the loud music. Clayton's large house was packed with people, lights were strung around the furniture, and he had installed some lights specially for tonight that moved around, shining colorful lights around the house. A DJ was playing fun, upbeat music and people danced in the living room to it, gulping down their drinks. We were freshman - why were they drinking? I shuddered. I slightly regretted coming just for that reason, but other than that I was having a blast.

"I know, right?" Alex yelled back. She looked at me and asked, "You glad you came?" I nodded quickly. The colorful lights that moved across the room were blinding me, and I was sure I was going deaf from the volume of the music, but I was having a great time.

"Woo-hoo!" Asher yelled, dancing wildly. A clear liquid splashed out of his red cup as he danced. Definitely not water. Alex, Haley, and I all seemed to notice this at the same time and we laughed crazily. Haley snickered and snatching the cup from his hands, dumping it in a flower pot nearby.

"Hey!" Asher whined. "I was drinking that!"

"Exactly, stupid!" Haley, Alex, and I cracked up. Asher just muttered something unintelligible and walked off, disappearing into the crowd of people.

"We'd better keep an eye on him," I suggested. He was probably going to get himself into trouble.

"You're right," Alex pointed at me thoughtfully. Let's go find him!" I nodded and turned around to go look for him, but I slammed into something hard. Or rather, someone.

"Watch where you're going, freshman!" A jock yelled down at me. The dude was huge! He had bulging muscles and broad shoulders, and he was at least six feet tall.

"Sorry!" I called up to him. He glared at me and stormed off. "Geez!" I whisper-yelled back to Alex. She shrugged it off and we kept walking. Haley told me to be careful or I'd get jumped. I just laughed nervously and kept searching.

"Guys, we should split up!" Haley suggested. Alex and I liked the idea, so that is what we did.

I looked in the kitchen, the dining room, the laundry room, both bathrooms, and the garage, with no sign of Asher. There were only three places left to look - Clayton's bedroom, Clayton's younger brother, Andrew's, bedroom, and their parents' bedroom. Due to my respect, I decided not to check the parents' bedroom. My mother had always told me it was rude to go into the bedroom of my friends' parents. There was no way I was going in Clayton's room, although I was very curious what it looked like. Andrew's bedroom it is, I thought to myself. I climbed the stairs quickly, and slowly opened the door in which Andrew's name was painted on vertically.

"Asher?" I whispered.

"Come in," his words were slurred.

"Yikes!" I mumbled under my breath as I entered. The room was a complete mess. Clothes were scattered across the floor, posters of sports players covered the walls, and action figures laid on the ground messily. Asher sat on the floor, his eyes half way shut. "Are you, uh, are you okay?" My eyes widened.

"Yeah! Never been better, man!" Asher's eyes flew open quickly, making me jump. He got up and walked over to me. "You won't tell Haley, will you?"

"Tell her what?" I inquired, a strange fear creeping in on me.

"About this," he slurred, stepping towards me clumsily. Asher slammed his lips on mine and I screamed, shoving him back. He stumbled backwards and his demeaner became filled with rage. Asher cursed at me, then

slapped me across the face.

I began to sob uncontrollably as I ran down the stairs. I slipped out the door and sprinted the whole way home. I'm still very shooken about what he had done. I shudder and want to bawl at the mere thought of it. I try to forget about it. I lied to Alex and Haley the next day at school, claiming I had gotten sick to my stomach and needed to leave immediately. I didn't talk to Haley or Asher for weeks after that, not that it was Haley's fault. I just didn't want her to be hurt - I was afraid I'd slip and confess that Asher had kissed me. Now that it'd happened twice, I thought it was time to tell Haley. To tell her Asher is not the caring, loyal boyfriend she thinks she is. But I didn't have the guts. I couldn't crush her. It was my darkest secret, and she was my best friend. But not all secrets should be shared. Especially not this one.