"You're Brandi, right," one boy said. He didn't tell her his name. "Come here," he added and led her by the shoulder to the sofa in the centre of the room. This house looked richer and more well-appointed than Melissa's or her own apartment. The couch and carpets were covered in a rough clear plastic for the most part but there was a large TV set and a set of bookshelves. In fact, Brandi had never seen so many books outside of a library.
"That's the whore's daughter," another boy said to his friend, rather too loudly. Brandi got the feeling that the boy who had guided her to her seat might live there. Kevin was nowhere to be seen. She wondered if this boy might be his brother. It was hard to tell, as he looked awfully close to Kevin's age.
Brandi began to feel quite embarassed and uncomfortable, especially the way the other boys stayed around the edge of the room while the boy who had brought her in was getting something out of a cabinet.
"Where's Claire?" she asked him.
"Claire and Kevin fucking in the bathroom and they've locked the door," the boy promptly offered.
"Are there any other girls?"
"Maybe some more will come later," said another boy she vaguely recognized from the sixth grade class. A snicker passed through the room.
The boy who had let her in and still hadn't introduced himself plopped down on the couch right next to her and placed his arm around her in a rather proprietary fashion. More snickers.
His other hand held two glasses containing what appeared to be Coke. He handed one to Brandi and she immediately began to drink, relieved that there was some distraction from the dozen or so eyes observing her every motion. She coughed, nearly spitting the drink out. She knew that some kind of alcohol must have been put into the drink.
"Drink it faster," the boy suggested. "It'll go down easier that way."
Brandi hesitated. "I don't drink this stuff," she started to say.
"C'mon," the boy said, "everyone's drinking it at this party."
This statement appeared to give license to the other boys who finally took their eyes off Brandi and began pulling bottles of differently-coloured liquids out of a cupboard in the living room.
"Just one glass," the boy sitting next to her said. He drained his own glass.
Her heart nearly at the back of her throat, Brandi downed the glass's contents in a long gulp. She dropped the glass and began coughing and gasping.
She felt a little woozy.
Wondering what would happen next, Brandi felt quite relieved as Claire came down the stairs.
Mon Jan 14 18:57:10 2002