Emma
finally stopped crying long enough to realize the state of her house.
There were about 20 empty Smirnoff bottles, and tons of plastic cups.
The empty bottles of Malibu, Absolut, and Jack Daniels still stood on
the kitchen counter. They walked around with two garbage bags,
picking up every bit of trash they could find. Finally, the house
bore no evidence of a party. The girls walked down to the garage can
at the end of the driveway, quickly realizing the full bags wouldn't
fit inside.
"Maybe
we should just leave them next to the garbage can," Manny
suggested. "That's what we always do if we have too much trash."
"But
what if my mom sees the bottles?" She groaned. "I'm so
screwed!"
Just
then Chuck came waling around the corner.
"Need
help, ladies?"
"Yeah,
what should we do with all of this?" Emma asked. Manny seemed to
be avoiding his gaze.
"How
much room do you have in your trash?"
"It's
about half-way full. But I can't put all the bottles on top, the next
time Snake takes out the trash he'll see them!"
Chuck
kicked over her garbage can, trash spilling out everywhere. He took
some of the bottles and put them at the bottom of the garbage can,
covering them with the rest of the trash. Emma marveled at his
genius.
"Now
we do the same at our house."
"Your
house?" What Emma really wanted to know was, did this involve
seeing Chester?
"Yeah."
They
walked around the corner to his house, covering up the rest of the
bottles, and most of the plastic cups. Chuck stood back to admire his
work before turning back to the girls. "Now as for the rest of
this crap... Manny how far away do you live?"
"What?"
She took a minute to answer, still not looking him in the eye. "Oh,
not far. Ten blocks, maybe?"
"Well,
lucky for you, I have a car." He went over to the garage,
entered the security code, and started a red Toyota Camry. He
beckoned for them to get in.
They
cruised along to Manny's house, emptied her garbage cans, and piled
the cups and other trash into it, covering it up with her regular
garbage.
"Now
what?" said Emma.
"Now...
we go home and take a shower." He laughed. "Manny, are you
coming back to Emma's?"
"Umm...
no, It's fine."
"But
Manny all your stuff is there!"
"I'll
come by and get it later. My parents will be home soon."
"Okay...
bye." Emma got back in Chuck's car and they drove to his house,
parking in the garage. Chester was waiting.
"Chuck,
where have you been I needed the car!" he saw Emma. "Oh.
Chuck, she's getting with you now, too?"
"Stop
being an ass. I was helping her clean up last night's mess." He
stepped up to Chester and glared at him. Chester grabbed the car keys
from him, got in, and sped away.
Emma
started walking home. She saw Darcy walking into the corner store
down the block. Tears sprang to her eyes. She walked up to her house
to find Joey dropping off Spike, Snake, and Jack.
"Bye
Joey!" Spike waved as Joey drove off slowly. "Emma! I'm so
glad to be home."
"Why
was Joey here?"
"He
drove picked us up at the train station. You must have wondered why
the car was in the garage," Snake told her.
"Oh,"
she said flatly. "I didn't check."
"Em,
what's wrong, baby? You look upset." Spike could always tell
when something was wrong. "Here, Archie, take him." Snake
took Jack and went inside the house.
"It's
nothing, mom." Emma's voice was shaking. "Just the normal
drama."
Spike
gave her daughter a hug, knowing not to pry anymore. It was just what
Emma needed.
That
night Emma could hear the distant sound of music coming from
Chester's house. Was he throwing a party? Maybe. Not that he would've
told her. She lay awake, tossing and turning, pulling the
covers over her head. Anything to drown out the laughter and music.
Suddenly, she heard a tap on the window. She sat up, breathing
heavily. She slowly turned to face the window, and saw Chad motioning
wildly for her to open it. She walked over to it and slid it up.
"Hey
Emma," Chad slid into her room. "You feel like partying
tonight?"
"At
your house? Chester wouldn't want me there."
"It's
not just his party. It's mine and Chuck's, too. And we want you
there."
She
smiled. "The neighborhood is gonna hate us. Two parties right
after each other?"
"So
are you coming or not?"
She
thought for a minute. "Yeah."
He
grinned. "Meet me out front in ten minutes."
Chad
went back outside, leaving the window open for Emma to sneak out of.
She found a pair of jeans on top of the dryer, and opened her drawer
and put on a white Hollister shirt with pink lettering. She put on
some eyeliner and mascara, and snuck out.
She
met Chad out in front of his house, as planned. He grabbed her waist,
and led her in the house.
It
was busier than Emma's party had been, but then again there were
three groups of people- Chester's friends, Chad's grade 12 friends,
and Chuck and his friends, who spent every night partying and getting
ready for college. Emma was in kind of a daze; there were so many
people here she didn't recognize, and it seemed as if every time she
saw a girl and guy together, they were hooking up. In front of
everybody. Someone handed Chad two Mike's Hard Lemonades. He opened
them and handed one to Emma. She took a sip, vowing not to get drunk
two nights in a row. She would control herself tonight.
"I
would've told you about the party earlier, but Chuck kind of
surprised us," Chad explained. "He said he was gonna have
his friends over, and so me and Chester decided to have people over,
too."
Emma
nodded. Speaking of Chester, where was he?
"You
wanna go downstairs?" Chad looked so hopeful Emma couldn't say
no.
They
walked through a crowd of slutty girls doing body shots off each
other while a few excited guys looked on. Two girls started making
out with each other, clearly pleased with all of the attention they
were getting.
Chad
lead Emma down to his basement. There was another full living room
down there. People were dancing to blasting hip-hop music, there was
even a strobe light going, making everything seem to be going in slow
motion. A couple was heavily making out on the couch. There was a
closed off room in the corner. Chad opened the door. It was just a
small laundry room. A washer, dryer, and two huge baskets, one filled
with clean clothes and the other with dirty ones. He closed the door
behind them.
Emma
hopped up onto the dryer. Chad was so tall they were exactly
face-to-face. He leaned in and kiss her, she kissed him back. It was
warm and sensual, but soon got very heated. She slid off the dryer
and into his arms. For some reason there was a beanbag chair in the
corner, and they moved their make-out session onto the chair. it was
even better than the last time; for one thing, Emma was much more
sober and could appreciate their connection.
They
emerged upstairs a half hour later, smiling. The two girls who had
been making out with each other were now on top of some "lucky"
guy, taking turns making out with him and stopping every few minutes
or so to make out with each other again. Chad pulled her to a less
pornographic area, the kitchen. There were a few people in there,
drinking from plastic cups. Paige and Hazel stood by the fridge
talking to Jimmy and Marco. Emma could hear bits and pieces of their
conversation.
"Marco,
Dylan's ready for a commitment with you. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Yeah,
Paige. Wanted. Past tense. He didn't want to be exclusive. And I did.
But now I'm just fine without him."
Paige's
reply was interrupted by a loud yell.
"YOU!"
Emma
turned around; Chester was in the kitchen doorway pointing at her.
Chad stepped protectively in front of her. "Lay off. I invited
her."
"Chester
stormed over. "How dare you bring her here! After what she did
to me! And Darcy!"
"Look,
Chester. You and Darcy hooked up, me and Emma hooked up."
"The
only reason she hooked up with you was to get me jealous!"
"Well,
then it's working because you seem pretty jealous to me!" Chad
said hotly.
A
small voice came from the doorway. "You do seem jealous,
Chester."
Emma
turned again. Darcy, just great.
"It
was a nasty thing to do, yelling at us," she said, stepping
forward, "but why do you care so much if she hooks up with Chad?
Unless you like her." She cocked her head quizitively to the
side.
"No...
no, of course not, Darce." He seemed to be tripping on his
words.
"Then
let if go. If you don't like her, then you shouldn't care so much."
"Right.
Absolutely right. Let's go." He grabbed Darcy's arm and they
headed downstairs.
Emma's
face burned. She walked over to the fridge and opened it, taking out
a Smirnoff. She could feel Paige and Hazel's eyes following her. Why
did the two biggest gossipers in DeGrassi history have to witness
every pivotal moment of Emma's summer?
Emma stayed long enough to finish her Smirnoff and give Chad a hug before she headed home. She snuck back in through the basement window and changed into an over-sized tee. She laid on her bed, expecting another sleepless night analyzing Chester's actions, but she was so tired she fell asleep as soon as she hit the pillow.
