The Smith's Reasons (13RW)

The Party

"Another party?" I asked Hannah.

"No," Tony said. "Not after what happened last time." He took my hand in his and tangled his fingers with mine, which made me look up into his coffee-coloured eyes and simply smile. It was little gestures like this that made my heart flutter.

"I think we should go," Clay said.

"I agree with him," Skye said and we looked at her.

"Can you please explain?" Tony asked.

"Natasha needs to get over what happened in the last party. Trauma will only get over if you face the situation as soon as possible."

"And this time, we will all be there," Clay said.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to," Tony whispered to me.

I was still processing it. My hand was still healing as the bruise had been directly on the bone. That's how hard the grip on it had been. If I backed out from this, nobody would blame me. But will I regret it or not? "I can't be afraid of Bryce Walker anymore."

I was having nightmares about that night but I didn't tell anyone about it except for my Mom. She had studied psychology in college before she went towards law. She told me the same thing that Skye had.

I had to get over my fear by facing it upfront, and the only way to do that was to attend another party. "Okay." I nodded. "I'm in."

"Are you sure?" Hannah asked me.

"I am." I told them what Mom told me and they confirmed one more time whether I was okay with it. I reassured them that they weren't forcing me to do anything that I didn't want to do.

So, that night, we went to Jessica's house to attend the party. It was the talk of the school that day, being the last day of the academic year. 

There was a light rain in the evening, which made the roads very slippery. Jeff had to go to work and he put himself on speed dial on my phone in case I needed his help. "I will take care of myself and I will stay away from everyone." I told him but he was concerned.

"Don't drink and drive." 

"Of course not."

Clay and I met Hannah at her house. Her parents were very happy with the increase in her grades and how happy she was. She gave me credit for it but I don't think that I really did anything. So, we went to the party in her car.

"Can I drive?" I asked her.

"Are you sure?" She asked me after tossing me the keys.

"Should I be scared?" Clay asked me.

"Don't throw up," I joked.

We drove to the party. Tony and Skye were on their way and asked us to go ahead, and so, we went inside the party, which was similar to the previous one - loud howls and cheers, drinks being passed around, drunk games going on, smooching in corners and on and on and on.

We sat down on an empty couch and just sat there. We couldn't talk because the songs were really loud. I was surprised at how the cops hadn't raided the house yet. "Do you want to go somewhere else to talk?" Hannah screamed over the music.

I kind of got the hidden meaning in what she said even if she didn't mean anything. "You guys go ahead," I said and Clay looked at me all confused.

"I'm going upstairs."

After she was walking up the stairs, Clay turned to me. "What are you doing?" 

"It's now or never, buddy," I said and he looked mortified. "Go!" 

He was confused but he went anyway. I looked around and saw my brother from the french doors in the living room. I walked out of the house and into the backyard. "What are you doing here?" 

"Came to check on you," he said. "And to deliver these." He pointed to the pizza boxes.

"I'm good." It felt good not to be shouting. "Thank you."

"I'm just gonna hang around for a while before I go for my next delivery. I can have one beer after all. I will even ignore the fact that I am supposed to be the adult here." 

I left him to hang out with his friends and walked back into the house. If I ever found out who selected the music, I was going to strangle them. I was so glad that Tony and I had similar taste is music because I hated the thing that they called music these days. Thank you, Tony! We spent an entire weekend sharing our playlists with each other. That was fun!

I got myself a pizza to eat and when I finished it, I climbed upstairs to find the washroom. But as I started up, I banged into Clay as he was heading for the front door. "Hey!" I said as I stopped him. He looked like he was in a hurry. "You have lipstick on your face." I tried to wipe it off but he pushed my hand away. Something had happened between him and Hannah.

"I need to get out of here," he said, his voice cracking up.

"Are you okay? Where's Hannah?"

"She's upstairs. I-I'm just gonna home."

"Jeff is in the backyard." I informed him. "He will give you a ride."

"Okay. Thank you." 

I looked at the ceiling and walked upstairs, taking two steps at a time. Does anyone else do that? It's actually kind of fun! The first floor had about five doors, which were all painted white. I didn't know which one would lead me to Hannah and so, I tried all of them. Some were locked but some opened up. I knocked on the locked ones but got angry voices in response.

"Woah!" Finally, I came to one room which was really silent and locked as well. I knocked. "Hannah?" I heard something clatter to the floor. "Hannah, it's me. Please let me in."

The door opened and you will not believe who walked out. "Natasha Smith."

I was so sure that my lungs were constricting on itself. Every inch of me wanted to punch Bryce Walker and kick him in the shin but I knew that I couldn't do it with a sprain on my hip. I had no idea how that happened but it did and it hurt very much.

He walked away before I could do anything. I shook my head and entered the dark room. There was someone lying on the bed with the bed sheets covering them. "Hannah?" I called out for her.

"Nat?" I heard a whisper come out from the cupboard on my right and Hannah walked out of there to hold onto me. She was crying and shaking.

"What happened? Who is that? What was Bryce doing here?"

"It's Jessica!" Hannah spoke through her sobs. "Justin brought her here because she was drunk and.....I heard him.....I heard him let.....Bryce in for......" She broke out crying and I hugged her, trying to calm her down.

"Let's get out of here."

I led her out of the party and when I reached the bottom step, I saw Justin on the sofa, looking worried. "Wait here," I told her and walked up to Justin.

He looked at me in surprise and I punched him across the face. Loud gasps filled the room and music was the only thing that I could hear. "How could you do that to her?" I asked him and headed out of the front door with Hannah.