I'm so sorry for not updating guys, I've had horrible writer's block for this story, but you guys are great! *huggles*
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Here's a new chapter:
College Dormroom Hallway- 4:57 pm- January 12, 1990
Sara groaned as Cassie led her down the hallways of her dorm building. Passing door after door, she looked around, her vision blurred as she was jerked around another corner. "Cassie, where exactly are we going?" Sara asked. It certainly would help if she actually knew where they were going.
"Somewhere," Cassie said. "You're going to have fun tonight. You've got to get out of this place, it's turning you into some isolated--"
"Whoa, hang on a second, I am just dedicated to my schoolwork and want--"
"This is what I'm talking about!" Cassie yelled, jerking them both to a stop. Turning to Sara and putting both hands on her shoulders, she looked into her eyes. "Sara...have you ever been to a party since you've come to college?"
Sara blinked. This made her think for a minute. No, actually, she hadn't been to a party since she had come to college, actually, the last party she went to was the Christmas dinner with Josh. Sara, still did not really want to answer the question. "Um..." Finally, she sighed, lowering her head and staring at the floor. "No..."
"Alright, then!" Cassie said, patting her on the shoulders. "Tonight you are!" she said, grabbing Sara's hand and leading her out of the building. Sara groaned again. She did not want to go to a party, mainly because she did not like to interact with the other students unless she was in one of her classes. The thought of interacting with them actually scared her a little bit- what would she say? What if they too resented her like the other kids had when she was in elementary and middle school? And on top of that, Sara wasn't even really sure how to interact with them.
Cassie ran outside with Sara, looking around, stepping on her tip-toes to give her a boost. She smiled, looking over at Sara. "Guess what Sara?" she asked.
Sara held her breath. The seniors' car broke down? she thought hopefully.
"The seniors just came back and they're inviting us to their party!" she said with a big cheeky grin. Sara couldn't help but feel like she had just been punched in the gut. Her smile slowly faded as Cassie finished that sentence and found herself being pulled along by her arm again and into the parking lot.
"W-Wait, Cassie!" Sara pleaded. "I really don't want to go! You just go, you'll have a good time! I just want to stay in tonight and get some rest!" she said as they came closer to the car.
"Not tonight, Sara! You need to lift your head out of those books every once and a while!" she told her. She pulled her around a tree and a few bushes and they found their chaufeurs. One of them was a tall boy, wearing black sunglasses and standing on top of the seats of the rusty old convertible. Pulling a pack of cigarettes from the back of his black jeans, he turned and looked over at Cassie and Sara, smiling at them as he slid a cigarette in his mouth.
"Hey ladies!" he said with a smile. He seemed quite flirtatious right off the bat, which was saying a lot. You should never judge a book by its cover, but right away he seemed like quite the charmer. "Dude, where's the lighter?" he asked, looking back down at one of the other guys in the car. In seconds he had a lit cigarette in his mouth and climbed over the seats, jumping onto the pavement and taking a drag from his cigarette. "So you two are going to join us?" he asked with a smile, holding the cigarette between his fingers and looking at both Cassie and Sara.
"We were thinking about it," Cassie said with a smile.
"No...she was thinking about it.." Sara muttered under her breath.
Cassie heard this, and cleared her throat, getting a death grip on Sara's right arm. "So, you guys got room for us?" she asked with a smile.
The guy smiled, revealing his pearly white teeth. "Of course we've got room," he said. "Jump on in," he told them both, motioning toward the car. He jumped in himself, getting in the front seat next to the driver. The driver of the car was a guy with dark red hair, also wearing dark sunglasses. Looking over at Sara and Cassie, he smiled, his jaw moving up and down as he chewed the gum in his mouth.
"Come on in!" he told them, one arm resting over the back of his seat.
Cassie pulled them over to the car and Sara just smiled nervously as she was forcefully pushed into the back of the seat. Cassie got in after her and closed the door, throwing her arms over the back of the passenger's seat. She started talking with the two guys, and Sara just watched the three interact. Cassie barely knew these guys and here she was chatting away with them like they were old friends. Sara did not trust people that easily, especially older guys, not after her experience...how was she able to tell by just looking at them that they were trustworthy? How did she know that they weren't going to do what Matthew did to her? Take advantage of her and use her as some tool for their amusement?
Cassie nudged Sara, bringing her out of her thoughts. "This is my friend Sara," she said with a smile. Sara looked over at the two older guys, shooting them a weak smile. It seemed the three of them had already met and it was her turn to introduce herself, though at the moment she didn't feel like an introduction.
"Hi.." Sara said quietly.
"Hey," the guy from before with the cigarette in his mouth said. "My name's Jeff," he told her. "And this guy here," he said, pointing to the driver. "Is Todd, but," he said, leaning over the seat and getting closer to the pair. "Bare with him because he's a little slow," he whispered.
"Shut up!" Todd yelled, whacking him in the back of the head. Jeff laughed, getting back into his seat. "Alright, buckle up everyone, so we don't get a ticket," he said, starting the car.
Jeff laughed again. "Ticket? Are you serious?" he said. Todd whacked him in the back of the head again as Jeff just laughed. Sara grabbed her seatbelt and buckled herself in, wondering for a moment if she was actually the only person in the vehicle who was going to be buckled in properly.
Jeff, turning to look at Cassie and Sara, moved a strand of his rather-long brown hair away from his face and held his torn pack of cigarettes up to them. "Smoke?" he asked.
"Thanks," Cassie said, taking a cigarette from the pack. Sara just shook her head quickly. "Got a light?" Cassie asked. Jeff nodded, taking a lighter from off the dashboard and tossing it to her.
Fire hazard. Being tossed around in the air like a toy. Fun, Sara thought to herself. She watched as Cassie put a hand in front of her face, covering the cigarette as she flicked the lighter with her finger. After a few moments, the cigarette was lit and she took a long drag, letting the smoke out of her mouth and holding it between her fingers like she was a pro at this, as if she had been doing it her whole life. And, Sara guessed, she probably had, too.
Sara watched as they drove around for a few minutes. She wondered where they were going, they had certainly travelled far away from the campus by now, and she wasn't feeling particularly comfortable being with two complete strangers and her roommate who had forced her to go wherever it was they were going. Finally, the car came to a stop in front of a house. There were some other cars parked around the building, Sara observed, which meant more people inside. Whoopee.
"Sara, come on!" Cassie said, throwing her door open.
"I'll just stay in the car.." Sara said quietly, looking down at the floor and finding the label on the empty beer bottle lying next to her seemingly fascinating.
Cassie rolled her eyes and slammed her door behind her as she walked around the car. Sara, still looking at the floor, thought for a moment that she was home-free. That she was actually going to be able to stay in the car. That thought was thrown out of her mind as Cassie threw her door open, unbuckled her, and pulled her out of the car by the loose ends of her shirt.
"Hey!" Sara said, balancing herself as she was jerked out of the car. Cassie slammed the door behind her and grabbed her hand, leading her inside the building. They walked through the doorway and the door was closed behind them as they entered. There was music playing, much too loudly for Sara's liking, and the house was swarmed with people. Sara could barely see anything- there was so much cigarette smoke, which also made it hard to breathe.
"Sit here," Cassie told Sara, leading her to a couch. Sara sat down on the couch obediently, folding her hands over one another and crossing her legs. Even at a college party she was still showing her manners. She watched as Cassie disappeared behind a corner and came back with two bottles of beer in her hand. Throwing one to Sara, she blinked as she caught it and Cassie ran and sat down next to her.
"I don't drink.." Sara said, slowly running her fingers over the bottle.
"Oh for god's sake, Sara!" Cassie said. "Loosen up and have a little fun. You can't tell me you've never had a beer before?"
Sara was hesitant. Her mouth opened in mid-sentence, but somehow she did not feel like telling her roommate that the first time she had alcohol was when she was 12, and her father had forced the bottles down her throat.
"That's what I thought," Cassie said. "Now come on! Let's drink!" she said, throwing the cap off of her bottle. Sara stared at her and watched as she gulped down half of the beer in seconds. Cassie looked at her. "What? Can you not get the cap off?" she asked. She snatched the bottle from her hands and took the cap off with ease, handing the bottle back to her. "Go ahead," she told her.
Sara looked up at Cassie and then down at the bottle. This single bottle brought back so many memories...memories of her parents, memories of her childhood. She just stared at it for a moment, as though she could see ever moment of her past through the clear liquid in the bottle. Cassie finally had left her alone with her thoughts and gotten up and walked around the house to do something else, and Sara sighed in relief, setting the bottle down on the end table next to her.
"Hey," came Jeff's voice as he plopped down on the couch next to Sara. "Having fun?" he asked, throwing his pack of cigarettes down on the table in front of them and holding his beer in his hand, resting it against his knee.
Sara shot him a small smile. "...Yeah," she said, but to even her this sounded lame and unconvincing. Sara tried to move further away from Jeff on the couch, she didn't feel any more comfortable than she did in the car.
"That's good," Jeff said. "Hey, I've got to do something, I'll see you around," he said with a smile and got off of the couch, walking off with the beer bottle still in his hand. Sara let out a long sigh, lowering her head and wrapping her arms around herself. It was going to be a long night. A long night of insecurities and discomfort.