DETENTION

Chapter 6 - The Party is Over

Author’s Notes

I'll leave it to the final notes, so...
Good reading, my babies!

Josh POV

the moment Josh arrived at the party

I leave the house in a hurry, as soon as I get a message from Noah that Taylor had taken everyone from school to Joalin's house.

Taylor was the first person I really liked. I admit I still like her, but after I stopped talking to my best friends, I began to notice more about the person she really is. Taylor is the kind of person who if she cannot control you, she will control the people who are close to you. Though younger, she is smarter than me and many other people my age, but she only uses intelligence to hurt people.

After a few minutes of driving at high speed, I park my car near Joalin's house, not specifically in front of, because the street of the house is full of parked cars, which I deduce belong to the other students at the party. I have a little trouble getting into the house, because even the backyard is packed with drunk teenagers.

"Hey!" I bump into someone. "Sina?"
"Ah, it's you." she looks at me and staggers back, but Bailey holds her, who was with her and Krystian, a Chinese boy who takes math, philosophy, English and chemistry classes with me and who seems to be as drunk as Sina.

"Are you drunk?" I ask her.
"It doesn't maller to you, Judas." she says, piling up the words and holding Bailey and Krystian in her arms. "Come on, real friends." she says emphasizing the word "real" and walks out with the boys next.

I sigh and return to my struggle to try to get inside the house. I love parties, but I hate that people bumping and puke on others.
Finally, I enter the house, the living room is as crowded as the backyard, but people are less attached. I look around for Noah, but I'm surprised when someone grabs the back of my neck and seals my lips. I know this kiss very well.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" I ask as soon as I pull her off her shoulders.
"I think we should get back together again." she says hurriedly.
"What?" I get confused.
"Hey, Josh!" She caresses my breastplate. "We both know that one time we'll be back together... Why not now?" She looks into my eyes. "I love you. You love me. So why do we insist on staying away from each other?" she sighs. "I think we should get together."
"And I think you're very drunk and I should take you home." I laugh weakly and I grab her arm, leading the girl out of the house.
"No." She pulls her arm. "I cannot go now!"
"Why cannot you?" I ask without understanding.
"Well" she laughs "my dad has some soothing pills he takes whenever he's stressed from work. These soothing pills, if taken to excess, make you very, very dizzy, and..."
"Taylor, what did you do?" I ask, worried. She just stares at me, laughing. "I'm serious, Taylor! What did you do?" I ask
"I gave to the newbie passion fruit juice" she says.
"AND...?"
"And I dissolved about five pills in the juice." she says with a funny facial expression.
"Did you drug her?" I ask, looking incredulous as she laughs. "Taylor, where is she?" she does not answer and keeps laughing. "TAYLOR!"
"She's somewhere with..." she pauses and looks at me with a smile on her face. "Wallace Herman."
"Wallace Herman?" my heart beats "Did you leave her with Wallace Herman? Taylor, what's your fucking problem?"

I walk past her, bumping her shoulder, and out into the house, looking for Any.

Wallace Herman is the captain of the basketball team, and he is the dumbest guy in school. He has already spread compromising pictures of the girls he dated with, took advantage of them while they were drunk... My heart clenches at the thought of what he can do with Any, especially in the state she should be.

I bump into Taylor's best friend, Evie, and ask her to look for Taylor and take the girl home. Then I look back for Any.

"Any?" I start calling, looking around. No one gives me attention. "Any? Any where are you?" I call, but everyone keeps dancing, like I'm not there. I feel someone grasp my shoulders and turn around, hoping to be Any. "Noah?"

"Dude, what's up?" he asks, looking concerned.
"Any!" I say desperate. "Did you saw Any?"
"I talked to her about an hour ago." he shrugs. "But why are you looking for her?"
"Taylor, she..." I swallow and stop talking, running my hand through my hair.
"Josh, what happened?" He looks at me with concern.
"Taylor drugged Any." Noah widens his eyes "Wallace took her somewhere and..."
"What? Wallace Herman?" Noah drops his beer glass and I sign. "Josh... We have to find her!"
"Yes..." Noah's phrase takes me out of my reverie. "Yes, let's find her."

Noah and I went looking for Any all over the first floor. She's not in the pool, not in the tree house... I think Wallace took the girl home.

"Josh, calm down." Noah says, realizing I'm about to go crazy.
"I can't calm down, Noah." I say hurriedly. "If anything happens..."
"Nothing's going to happen to her, because we'll find her, all right?" he puts his hand on the nape of my neck and looks right into my eyes. "We'll find her, Josh. I'm sure she's in some room upstairs."

I nod and climb upstairs. We entered the rooms with some difficulty, as there are many rooms in Joalin's house and more than one hallway, plus the amount of couples making out does not help.
We opened several doors, and all we found were empty rooms or couples in bed. Lucky for us, we heard a scream, and I have no doubt that it is Any. Noah and I looked at each other, and then ran out of the room we were in. We started opening all the doors until we finally found the girl.

"What the fuck...?" I say when I see Wallace on top of Any, while two of the boy's friends watch the scene, having fun.

I can't help myself and I pull Wallace off Any, roughly knocking him off balance. He stares at me, a funny expression on his face.

"Chill out, man. She can handle five." Wallace says, making the other two boys laugh.

I clench my fist and hit him hard in the nose, which causes him to stagger backward. Noah follows me, punching one of Wallace's friends, Nate, and kicking the stomach of Jack, the other friend. They both run, probably not for fear of us, but afraid they will not get away with it. Noah rushes to Any, trying to calm her down, because the girl is crying so loudly and so desperately that it makes my anger increase.

"You are three bastards!" I say, holding Wallace by the collar and hitting him one more punch. Every hiccup from Any is a punch in Wallace's face. "Never touch her hair again without her permission! Never touch any girl again if you don't have permission, got it?" I scream, hitting him one punch after another until I get tired. "You'll still screw yourself, you son of a bitch!"

I release Wallace and he runs off. I plan on going after him to kill him at once, but Any's crying and sobbing keep me from leaving the room.

"It's okay, Any." I approach and climb into bed, heart pounding. She is so weak she can't even move right, so I take the liberty of holding her against my chest, laying her on my lap. "It's okay, they already gone." I try to calm her down. "You don't have to cry anymore, no one else will hurt you, okay? I promise. I'll protect you, I promise." I hug her body harder but she keep crying. I sigh and look at Noah. "Try to find Joalin, Diarra, or Sina... anyone." I say.

Noah nods and quickly leaves the bedroom. Gradually, Any stops crying, but keeps sobbing. I feel her body relax in my arms and look at her.

"Thanks." she says between hiccups. "Thank you, Josh."

Her saying that relaxes me in an inexplicable way. I would not forgive myself if I let something happen to her, if I arrived too late. I really hope she does not remember anything. It will look terrible if you remember everything that happened.
I keep stroking the girl's hair until she falls asleep, and suddenly Joalin comes into the room, panting. Just behind her, I can see Diarra, Heyoon, Sabina, Sofya, Hina, Shivani and Lamar.

"Any!" they exclaim, coming quickly to us.
"Shhhh!" I look at her, bringing my index finger to my mouth.
"Is everything okay with her?" Sofya asks, sitting next to us.
"Close, yes." I answer.
"Did Taylor really drug her?" Lamar asks, looking downcast.
"Is what it seems." I reply, making a move to lie on Any in bed. Before I pull her off my lap, Diarra straightens a pillow so I can lay her head on it.
"And you didn't know?" Sabina asks suspiciously.
"What?" I look at her incredulously.
"Didn't you know Taylor had drugged Any?" she crosses her arms and I'm letting out a weak laugh, shaking my head, not believing what I just heard.
"Friend, stop." Heyoon scolds.
"What?" I ask laughing, discredited.
"Well, you're like Taylor's lackey." Sabina says. "You and Noah. Maybe you got the drug for her."
"Sabina!" Joalin scolds indignantly.
"Maybe you set this up to look like you saved Any. So you would be seen as good guys and..."
"Oh My God, Sabina!" Lamar exclaims, placing his hands on his face.
"I know, stop it!" Diarra says at the same time as Lamar.
"We would forgive you, wouldn't we?" Sabina says at the same time as Diarra and Lamar.
"Sabina..." I mumble and laugh weakly. "Fuck you."
"What?" she says annoyed.
"That's right you heard. Fuck you." I say, staring at her. "You can say whatever shit you want about me, you can say I'm Taylor's henchman, I'm chicken, and I'm a terrible friend." she swallows hard. "As bad as I am, I would never drug a person to hurt her. Never. You know all my flaws and you know this isn't one of them." I look at Sabina. "I would never cover a rape, Sabina. I would never be part of something like that, okay? Never. Besides, I arrived shortly after Taylor drugged Any." I say all this and the girl blinks a few times. She has a habit of doing this when she has nothing to say.

"But Noah was already at the party, he..."

"Sabina, go fuck yourself up." I cut her speech. "Noah would never do that. In fact, he warned me that Taylor brought half the school here. If it was not for him, I would not come here, I would not find out that Taylor drugged Any and no one knows the cruelties. That would happen to her if Noah had not warned me about the party. No one knows what would have happened to her because Noah and I prevented it from happening, okay?" I say. "So instead of coming up with theories to look like the villains of history, you can stop talking shit, forget what Noah did to you and Sina, even now, and thank you for saving your friend from a holy trauma?" I ask her. "Not that we need thanks, that wasn't a favor. It was our obligation to prevent something like this from happening." I am silent for a few seconds. "We saved Any just as we would save you if you were in her shoes."

That said, everyone is silent, including Sabina, who just looks away and swallows hard. Joalin lies next to Any, tears in her eyes. Shivani strokes Any's hair as she sleeps, while Hina watches her sleep with teary eyes lying on Sofya's shoulder. The pills really did work; Any is sleeping like a rock, even with the loud music playing.

"I did not make it!" Noah arrives in the room. "I couldn't tell them to leave. I tried everything, but it's like they're not listening to me."
"Great..." Joalin sighs.
"We have to get them out of here somehow." Heyoon says.
"I already know." Sabina says and looks at Joalin. "Do you still have that megaphone?"
"I have..." Joalin sits suspiciously.
"Where is it?" Sabina asks.
"Inside my trunk." Joalin answers and Sabina leaves the room.

We looked at each other and everyone left the room. Except me.
I grab a blanket and I cover Any before following them.
There are still several couples making out in the corridors, and they do not care what some other couples are doing in their rooms. I see Sabina walk out of Joalin's room with a green water megaphone, and she follows with the others. She stops at the top of the stairs with the megaphone on.

"Hey losers!" immediately she catches everyone's attention. Everyone stares at her, the couples stop kissing and even the sound of the music fades. "I don't know if you know, but my dad is a cop and..."

Sabina need say no more for everyone to start running out of Joalin's house. We have to make room for couples to run down the stairs; inclusive, there is a couple coming down the stairs completely naked. In a few minutes, everyone is gone, leaving only trash.

"They still messed up my whole house!" Joalin says indignantly, watching from the top of the stairs to her messy house.
"We will help you to clean it up." Shivani says, laughing.
"Of course you will help, you messed up too." she says as if it's obvious.

And so it is done. We split into pairs to clean the house. Lamar and Joalin clean upstairs. Heyoon and Diarra clean the back of the house where the pool is. Shivani and Sofya clean the kitchen. Noah and Hina clean the yard and Sabina and I clean the living room.
The house was so messy that it took us about two hours to get everything reasonably tidy.

When I finish my part, I sit on the couch, closing my eyes and throwing my head back. I feel someone sit down too and open my eyes, seeing that it is Sabina.

"Excuse me." she mumbles and looks at me. "I shouldn't have said those things."
"It's all right." I sigh. "I would also be suspicious of people like me if I were you."
"No Josh. Your reputation is no excuse for me accusing you of something so serious. As stupid as you and Noah are, what I said was not cool, it was cruelty. I know you, and I accused you... Even knowing you would never do something like that." she says.
"You're right. We would never do something like that." I agree with the girl. "But I think you girls grow up suspicious. Even the men you trust can hurt you... I don't blame you for suspecting me." I look at her. "It's ok, Sabi."
"Thanks." she smile. "Thank you for saving Any."

I smile weak and straight.
It is great to be with them again. My best friends and some new friends; Shivani, Sofya and Hina. I think it would be great if Krystian were here, he makes everyone laugh, at least in the classes I have with him. Sina and Bailey too, of course. I know they think I am a jerk. I know I really am an asshole. I know they do not consider me as their best friend anymore, not even just a friend... Maybe they do not even consider me as a colleague. However, they will always be the best friends I have ever had, and they may never know that.

"They had condoms thrown on the floor." Joalin scowls down the stairs.
"It was disgusting." Lamar appears next, right behind her.
"We're done here." Shivani appears in the living room with two trash bags. Sofya appears behind, with two more bags of trash.
"I hate parties." Sofya sighs tiredly. She looks pale. Or is that your skin color anyway?
"Dude... I even had cups in the pool." Diarra says, entering the house from the back, carrying a full black plastic bag. Heyoon appears next.
"We cleaned up outside, guys." Noah enters the house with an arm around Hina's shoulders. "Need help getting all this junk out?"

We put all the trash out of the house, and then threw ourselves on the living room floor and couch.

"Guys." Sabina says, "Just me that realized that Sina, Krystian and Bailey are gone?"
"Ah..." Joalin pats her forehead. "Bailey left to take Sina and Krystian to buy hair dye."
"For what?" we asked in unison.
"Krystian argued that he wanted to platinum hair, just like Sina's, and she invented she would platinum his hair for him." Joalin explains. After a while in silence, Diarra opens her mouth to answer, but Joalin seems to have remembered something else. "Oh, really, they were drunk. But that's just a detail. So Bailey had to go with them, he had to drive Sina's car."
"And now where are they?" Diarra asks.
"Platinizing Krystian's hair at Sina's house." Joalin replies, "I think they'll be back soon."

After that, they start talking to each other and I start talking to Noah and Hina, who is undoubtedly the cutest girl I have ever met.

"Any..." Lamar mumbles, getting up.

Any goes down the stairs holding onto the railing. She seems to be a little dizzy, but in better condition than before.
Joalin runs to help her and Sofya runs to Sabina.

"I'm fine, Jo." Any laughs weakly as Joalin helps her to the couch.
"How are you feeling?" Heyoon asks, kneeling in front of her.
"Well I think." Any answers, his voice weak. "I'm feeling a little soft, you know? And I'm a little dizzy, but I can survive."

"Right here." Sofya comes back from the kitchen holding a glass. Any swallows hard, staring at the glass. "It's just water, Any." she says, but Any keeps staring at the glass without blinking. "There's nothing, it's just water." Sofya drinks some of the water. "Saw?" she hands the glass to Any, who sighs and takes it.
"Do you remember anything?" Sabina asks while Any drinks the water.
"Uh." she responds and finishes drinking the water. "I remember everything."
"Ah..." Sabina swallows hard. "I'm sorry, Any."
"I shouldn't have left you alone." Joalin says, biting his lip.
"Don't blame yourself for anything, okay?" Any says. "I was very naive to have accepted something from Taylor, and this is not your fault. And besides..." she looks at me and Noah. "It looks like I have guardian angels." she smiles at both of us, and we return the smile back.

Before anyone can say anything else, someone screams outside the house. We soon recognized the scream, it was Sina.

"Looks like they arrived." Joalin sighs, clapping his hands on his thighs.

We faced the hallway of the house entrance, waiting for them to enter. Sina stumbles into the house.

"Guys..." she looks at us, leaning against the wall and pointing to nothing. "I present to you my creation!" She looks down the short hallway behind her.

"Oh my God..." everyone says in unison when Krystian appears, parading with platinum hair. He is very handsome indeed.
"I'm fabulous, sluts." He poses for us with his hands on his hips.
"I have to register this." Shivani says, with his cell phone raised, ready to take a picture of Krystian.
"Are you still drunk?" Diarra asks indignantly.
"They drank more while we were at Sina's house." Bailey arrives, right behind the two. He frowns when he sees Noah and me in the room, then looks at Joalin, not understanding. "What happened here?"
"It is true." Sina staggers into the middle of the room. "What are these two energumens doing here, huh?" She looks at Joalin while pointing at Noah and me.
"It's a long story, Sina. Quiet that ass and don't start scandaling." Sabina pulls Sina to sit and she shows her tongue to Noah and me.
"Where's Heyoon?" Lamar asks. It is true; Heyoon is not at the living room.
"On here." she comes out of the kitchen holding a cake with several lit candles. "Let me say, I managed to save the cake from everyone..." she laughs weakly and everyone gets up. "So..."

Joalin smiles happily and runs to Bailey's side. Everyone gets up and goes to Heyoon's side, clapping and singing happy birthday to Bailey.

"Make a wish, little Bailey." Sina says excitedly.
"I think my wish is already done." Bailey blows out the candles. "Having you all reunited on my birthday, with no fights... That's all I wanted." He smiles at Joalin, who is hugging his waist with both arms and he wraps his arm around her shoulders. "Thank you, you're the most amazing girlfriend in the world. I love you, Jo." he gives Joalin a long peck.
"The bedrooms are upstairs." Lamar warns and Joalin shows the middle finger to the boy. Everyone laughs.

We gathered in the kitchen to eat the cake and drink only soda. We talk and laugh at stupid things, but the party is over as soon as Sina and Krystian start throwing up.

"Oh my God!" Joalin exclaims, running a hand through his hair. "You disgusting! We just cleaned it up, filthy."
"Heyoon, can you take us home?" Sofya asks, patting Krystian lightly on his back.
"Of course yes." Heyoon says getting up. "It's late. I need to go home too."

Noah goes to Sina, who is feeling so bad that she does not even reject the boy's help. Instead she leans her face into the crook of the boy's neck and mutters an "I hate you". Noah smiles weakly and picks her up, leaving the house and taking the girl to her car, which Lamar will drive.

"I'll take you home." I say, looking at Any.
"Okay." she says and leaves, going to get her backpack.

Bailey decides to sleep at Joalin's house, and Any, Noah and I are the last to leave the Finnish house. I give Noah a ride to his house; the three of us pass the path in silence.
Then I take Any to her house, she goes all the way in silence, looking out the car window and I decide not to say anything.

"We have arrived." I say and see on my cell phone that it is only fifteen minutes until midnight. "I hope your mother doesn't kill me." I laugh weakly, but Any doesn't answer me, she keeps looking out the window. "Any?" I call, but she does not look. I sigh and put my hand on his shoulder. "Any?"
"What if they try to do something to me at school?" She looks at me, tears streaming down her eyes. "What if you're not there to help me?"
"Any..." I mumble, letting out a breath. I reach out and loosen her seat belt, as she always has difficulty with him. "I'll always be there to help you, okay? I'll always protect you." I look into her eyes.
"And if you are not..."
"Any, it's a promise." I say, twirling a strand of her hair on my finger. "I promise I'll always protect you, okay?" she sniffs and nods, staring at my finger playing with her hair.

I watch her distractedly, and realize how beautiful she really is. She is so ... her. People like that fascinate me.
She notices that I am watching her and she starts to look at me, the same way. I lower my gaze, admiring every detail of his face, until it stops at his lips. This is undoubtedly the most beautiful detail, and at the moment it is what catches my attention. I approach until our faces are so close that our breaths mingle, our lips are inches apart. With each passing second, we make a point of breaking this short distance. She bites her lip, and it makes my heart race.

"Don't do that..." I whisper.
"I..." she whispers and is silent for a few seconds. Soon the silence breaks when she clears her throat. "I have to come in." she walks away. "My mother must be worried."
"Yes, you're right..." I agree and sigh.
"So thanks for the ride and all the rest." she smiles weakly and I return the smile.

She gets out of the car and I try to hold on, but I do not hold back and open the car window.

"Hey Any!" I call and she looks back.
"What, Josh?" she asks in a tired tone of voice, but she still has a smile on her face.
"Aren't you really in love with me yet?" I ask
"Fuck you, Josh." she laughs and runs into the house.

I laugh and continue to drive toward my house. Apart from the episode with Wallace, all other events make me come home with a smile on my face. They were all my best friends again, even if it was just for tonight.
After a few minutes of driving, I get home. The sight of this little house haunts me even before I enter it.

I enter the house, trying to make as little noise as possible. I turn on the light and take off my shoes so as not to make so much noise. I stare at the empty ashtray and sigh in relief.
I go to my room and get scared to see my mother sitting on my bed, wearing her purple bathrobe, with messy hair and dark circles. She is shaky and pale, as usual.

"Mom?" I go to her.
"I... I was waiting for you." she stutters, swallowing hard. "I was worried." she says, clutching her robe to her body.
"I'm sorry, mom." I say "Today was Bailey's birthday... do you remember Bailey? Joalin's boyfriend?" I ask, trying to calm her down.
"Yes, yes... Bailey is a good boy." she swallows hard. "Joalin too, she is a very good... she is very beautiful." she says to herself. "You weren't with Taylor, were you?"
"No mom..." I say. "We are alone?" I ask softly and she looks at me with teary eyes and trembling mouth. She nods. "All right mother." I sigh and hug her, stifling her cry. "Fine, don't cry..." I run my hand through his hair. "Shhhh... I'm here, now."

As my mother cries in my arms, I stare at the window behind her. The white curtains are flying, and the whole street is silent. At this time, my greatest wish is that time had stopped when I was at Joalin's house with all my best friends.

Or when I was in the car, with Any.

Final Notes

So what did you think?
I feel it will not please much, I got excited writing but... HAHAHAHAHA, I hope you enjoyed, uh?
If I’ve committed any spelling mistake, forgive me, I will correct it as soon as I read.
Kisses, I hope to see you in the next chapter.

Translator's Final Notes

Hi guys all right? This time it did not take so long, it was only a week, hahahaha.
I would like to say that I love you and I love reading your interactions, keep commenting and favoring it, it makes me very happy and I am taking this job very seriously. I am translating this entire chapter during a Wednesday afternoon while I am enjoying my vacation trip.
Anyway, hope you can apologize me if I made any mistake while I was translating this from Portuguese to English.
XOXO, I LOVE YOU ALL!!
-Mônica.