The Primaries

1

"COME ON ADDISON, TAKE A SHOT," urged Hailey as I turned my back to her and walked away.

She forced me to come to some random senior's party. Look at me, a geeky sophomore who still packs a lunch for school everyday, at a party against my own will; never thought I'd be in this predicament. The only reason I'm here is to provide moral support for Hailey even though she doesn't seem to need it after some liquor. Several people who I've seen around school lined the "dance-floor" set up in the living room drunkenly grinding on each other; this really wasn't my scene.

As you can see, Hailey is the wild friend of the group. She grew up rough, but parties it out at least once a week. Tonight we came because we got word that her senior crush, Cole, would be here. She hasn't looked for him once and she's danced hooked up with a couple guys, completely forgetting about him.

"Sorry, excuse me," I muttered as I made my way through the crowd, heading for the door.

"You're not leaving already, are you pretty girl?" asked Kyle. Kyle Morgan. He's hosting the party while his parents are away in Europe. He's one of those rich, popular boys who gets away with anything; he's also Cole's best friend.

I brushed past him and hid in the crowd. I grabbed some punch and went to the bathroom that some really nice girl told me where to find. I figured I could hang out there until Hailey was done and somehow located me.

Sitting on the cold toilet, I take a sip of my punch and realize it tastes odd. I spit it out at first but as I saw how downhill things were going, I just chugged this strangely tasting liquid. Sitting lonely in the bathroom, all I managed to accomplish was to get tipsy. This was a first. With this newfound confidence the tipsy gave me, I left the bathroom in search of some fun. Without knowing it, I left my phone in the bathroom.

I walked out and immediately felt a whole different energy around me. Suddenly the loud music and dancing seemed more appealing, but thoughts of ruining my "good girl" reputation got the best of me and I knew I should leave. I had homework and a pile of books awaiting me at home and I figured I should get started on those.

As I walked around looking for Hailey to eventually make our way home, I noticed that my phone was nowhere to be found.

"Shit" I whispered to myself, checking the pockets on my jeans millions of times trying to retrace my steps, forgetting I had even been in the bathroom.

I roamed the party asking around for my phone, but no one seemed to even look in my direction.

"Have you seen a phone anywher-" I couldn't finish my sentence as Veronica Michaels scoffed and walked right past me. I didn't even have time to collect my thoughts before someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turn around and-

I clumsily bumped into some stranger, spilling his drink over the both of us. Keep in mind I was a virgin to alcohol, and basically everything else, and subsequently had a very low tolerance. I was waving my arms and falling all over the place but the stranger propped me up and still, snapping me out of my zone.

"I'm sorry were you leaving? I found your phone when I went to use the bathroo-"

"THAT'S WHERE I LEFT IT! Wait how'd you know it was mine or where to find me?"

"Well your lock screen doesn't leave much mystery to it and I asked around. Now here I am drenched in punch."

"Sorry about that..and I'll be taking this," I said shyly reaching for my phone trying to cover my face. The lock screen is an embarrassing selfie of me and Hailey that I didn't think anyone would see.

"What's a girl like you doing at a party like this? You clearly don't handle alcohol well," he said, laughing it off.

"I actually came to keep my friend company. Clearly she didn't need it, and now I can't find her and I'm trying to get home, do you happen to know where she may be? She's the other girl in my lock screen, Hailey."

"Well if I could have another look.." he said jokingly.

We searched and searched and Hailey was nowhere to be found. We went to the bedrooms and walked in on things I had yet not wanted to see. We migrated to the kitchen where all the liquor was. The backyard consisted of a bunch of people dancing and twerking on each other. We even went to the basement where some people were sitting in a circle passing around some form of illegal drugs. Eventually, I grew tired of dragging this random guy through Hailey's shenanigans and let myself disappear into the crowd.

Suddenly, it all went quiet so Kyle could make an announcement. "TO THE ONLY SOPHOMORE I KNOW WHO CAN PARTY!" and some girl was crowd surfing as the silence broke into loud screams. I'm pretty short so I couldn't really see who it was. I gave a few hops and a couple jumps and still, nothing. Without warning, some random stranger grabbed me by the waist and lifted me up to see. I was about to freak out and scream but I saw the girl crowd surfing and realized it was Hailey. She came to a stop and I urged this stranger to put me down already. When I hit the floor, I ran to her.

"Where have you been?" I asked angrily.

"Here and there, all over"

"What? Are you drunk? I've been looking for you all night!"

"I swear to drunk I'm not God"

"Hailey, pull it together! Just follow me," I screamed, simultaneously taking her up the main stairs to find a vacant room to speak.

I find a slightly opened door. I knock before entering because I've seen quite a couple of things tonight. I didn't hear moaning, yelling, or anything that points to someone being in there so I take myself and Hailey inside. We sit on the champagne colored covers and all I wanted to do was tell her about the guy who found my phone and helped me look for her all over this party.

"So I met a guy tonight," I started.

"One sec-" she replied running to the bathroom, probably to throw up. She was so drunk she could barely finish a sentence.

I know I should've gone to hold her hair back but I was exhausted from running around after her and she wasn't exactly a good friend tonight either. I lay on the bed just trying to relax and the tipsy in me intensifies.

I hear rummaging and assume it's just Hailey. I carry on with my drunken thoughts and didn't feel a need to go home anymore. I was so relaxed on this bed I let myself float away. I've heard that being drunk makes you want to party but I was just so tired. I fell into a half-conscious slumber.

There were suddenly hands running down my body but I dismissed them with a slurred murmur of the word "stop." This escalated to wet lips on my neck and I felt hands trying to pry off my shirt. I was beginning to feel unsafe and unnerved. I tried to turn over, rationalizing this as a bad dream but couldn't move a muscle. I shoot open my eyes to see Kyle pinned over me.

His hands were holding my arms and he moved lower. I try to free my arms from his grip but he was incredibly strong. I remembered Hailey was in the bathroom down the hall so I yelled for her as loud as possible.

"No one's gonna hear you. You're yelling for a girl and this is the "sex floor". Put two and two together, they'll think two random girls are scissoring in here-" he said, giving me a sly smirk.

"Why are you doing this to me," I screamed and he ignored.

He freed my arms only to capture them above me with his right hand. His left was occupied with the attempt of removing my jeans. My dad was a drunk but this was no ordinary wasted guy. He either mixed liquor with another substance or he has experience doing this.

"Kyle please don't do this. I'm begging you," I cried out.

"Baby, you can't lie about wanting this," he said, slurring everything out completely.