Trouble now and troubled past

Times have changed,

They've rearranged

And little girls grow up so fast.

---

The Catholic girl

Her soul is saved

But now of course it comes to this

If only I…we had behaved.

Or ever stopped at just one kiss.

Bare

Teri stood in the middle of Lydia's street. She was too tired to run and she had lost her breath. Teri was hiccupping now, brought on by her sobs. She looked both ways; cars lined the street which had no streetlamps. Her home wasn't far away so she began to walk, the faint sound of the party behind her mixing with her frequent hiccups.

Spot saw her. At first he felt anger, than pity, and finally remorse. "TERI!" he screamed. She kept walking and Spot gave up-back to anger he went. It was in his nature to do so, never had he fought for anything. Unlike his friends Spot didn't have humble beginnings; he had money just like the Elitists. He never had to ask for anything before, and he wasn't about to start with her.

"Spot, what the fuck is going on?" Sam asked. He turned and he saw a clearly drunk Sam with David who was also drunk…and clearly not used to it.

"None of your goddamned business," Spot retorted.

"TELL ME," she called out, "NOW."

It was late October, near to Halloween, and frost had begun to settle on everything. Their breaths where white as they exhaled in and out. Despite this, every window and door had been open. To let out the smell of pot, and to keep the drunks cool.

"Come off it Sam…I'm not telling you shit," upstairs Skittery and Bumlets lay in each others arms. They heard the yelling through the window. Shirts went on and they ran downstairs to see what was up.

Along with everyone else. Fights have a strange way of drawing crowds-especially in high school. The second angry voices are raised or tension begins there is a sudden flock of teenagers. It's the weird fascination we all inherently have and this was the perfect example of it.

"Sam I'm not in the mood for you to bitch at me," Spot continued as Sam demanded answers.

"Don't call me that," she screamed. Her drunkenness was even clearer her now. As she yelled her words were slurred.

"I didn't call you it. But you are a bitch," he remarked. There was a sudden silence, which was strange, seeing as bitch is a common word among teenagers. Sam pounced, both vocally and physically and began to "bitch" slap Spot.

The crowd stood, half amused and half worried, as Sam continued to wale on Spots back and face.

"You little man whore!"

Now Spot's true character was revealed. He was a violent little boy, and Sam's incessant smacking and squealing caused him to break. He forcefully took her arm and threw her on the ground.

Something inside David snapped. It had been funny up to now but... Boys don't hit girls.

He stepped in front of Spot and punched him straight in his left eye. For a second he looked defeated as he bent down holding his face.

A chant of "FIGHT FIGHT" began and even more people spilled out of the tiny house, desperate to see what was going on.

David threw a good punch but retaliation was inevitable. Spot ran into David's stomach, hurling him to the ground.

Specs made his way trough the crowd and pulled Spot off David's back. Being drunk made him complete dismiss how intimidating Spot was and he had no fear. Maria tried to get them all to stop, but it was to no avail. Race was now trying to break it up, but his short stature made him look elementary in comparison to David and Specs and he was quickly thrown out of the brawl. The last punch thrown was from Spot to Specs…straight to his nose and blood began to spew down his face and onto his navy blue shirt.

And that's where it ended. Police sirens were heard and it was every teenager for themselves. The crowd made mad dashes in every direction and David Jacobs had one thought.

FUCK!

As cars sped off down the street, the police stopped their cars and silenced their sirens. The house seemed quiet to them now, the only light on was an upstairs bedroom.

Blink sat in the basement, the fight was of no importance to him. He was one part high, one part drunk and one part tired. He sat listened to music lightly, as April 29, 1992 played on the small stereo. Blink also had one thought.

Sublime fucking rocks.

The police knocked on the front door, to no answer. Lydia and Blink were alone in the house and both were unable to move.

"OPEN UP!" a pounding started in Lydia's head until she woke up and realized she wasn't dreaming-this was a real pounding. She stumbled halfway down the stairs to find perfectly sober Teri explaining the situation to the two policemen. Whatever she said, they bought it and were on their way.

"Stupid pigs," Teri mumbled. Lydia heard her and burst into fits of laughter. She sat down on the stairs and continued to laugh uncontrollably-despite the fact that it severely hurt her head. Teri pushed her back up the stairs and into bed.

She went down to the basement for Blink; he was the reason why she had come back.

"Teri, don't you love Sublime?" He asked groggily, his eye patch off center. She could see his second blue eye and he almost looked handsome through all of his stoner qualities.

"Do you have all your pot? All the pot that ever was in this house?" she asked in a motherly tone of voice. He nodded and she went back upstairs and collected all of the evidence of illegal and underage activities. The house wasn't too bad-it was messy to begin with. Lydia would be able to pull it off. She shoved all of the illegal substances and Blink into his car and drove off.

Pregnant or not, she had always been a mother.

By the time the truth gets on its feet, the gossip has already gone around the world

-Mark Twain-

NPHS was all buzzed about Lydia Mayer's kegger. She was not grounded…or even caught. Her parents did think there was something up with her so she got yelled at.

And then she went into her bedroom and silently prayed that she did not have sex with Mush Meyers.

Monday was NPHS's annual blood drive. For some reason, perhaps the lack of any other events, this was a big deal. Lydia, over achiever that she was, was off classes to volunteer all day.

And nurse the hangover she still had from Friday night.

David Jacob's stomach ached every time he moved. He was lying on what looked like a lawn chair in the gym. It had been reinvented as a makeshift hospital. He was ready to give blood-despite his fear of needles.

"Ok Davey, I have to ask you some questions," Maria stood very stately with her clipboard, a pen tucked behind her ear. "Have you ever had sex with a prostitute?"

"No."

"Have you been out of the country in the past three months?"

"No"

"Have eaten meat from the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland in the past five years?"

"No…I've never been out of the country, you know that. Not even to Canada, which is basically like America"

"HEY! I resent that!" Specs called from his lawn chair.

"Shut up you! I have to ask…did you have a blood transfusion in the 1980's?"

"No"

"Do you get into ridiculous fights with my idiot boyfriend?"

David looked at Specs who was mocking Maria and rolling his eyes, "Yes."

Across the gym Lydia was being asked the same questions by Jackie Josey. Jackie had not gotten hooked on phonics when she was younger. Her reading was slow, and her voice annoying. Lydia winced every time the blonde took a breath.

"Are you scared?" Jackie questioned, trying to spark conversation.

"No, I've had blood taken before."

"I heard about the party…did you get in trouble?" Jackie asked innocently. Lydia knew that she only asked so that she'd have something to relay back to the cheerleading squad.

"No I didn't get caught."

"That's good. I heard about Mush and you! I think it's cute," Jackie chirped. Oh the ugly high school rumor.

"What's cute?"

"Well, I guess you guys are dating now," Jackie lowered her voice, "and I don't think you're slutty."

"What would make me slutty?"

"Well you know you and Mush…did…it,"

"NO WE DIDN'T" Lydia screamed, nearly falling off her lawn chair. The nurse then came and tested her blood. Lydia sat in silence, her face burning. The nurse advised her not to move until the drop of blood was cleared and she obeyed. Tears began to stream down her face-not because everyone was talking. But because she didn't know if what they were saying was a lie or not and she was starting to think it was the truth.

"Lyd, what's wrong?" Bumlet's cooed, once he saw the salty drops on Lydia's face.

"Is it true?" she asked gently, wiping her tears.

"I don't know, I don't think so," he looked at a loss for words, "Don't worry about what everyone is saying, ok?"

Lydia could not give blood, hers was too anemic. She left her lawn chair in pursuit of Mush.

She passed Jill and Race who were busy stealing bagels from the free food table. Both of their faces were covered in cream cheese.

"That looks wrong!" Race observed.

"Shut-up…I'm not that kind of girl!" Jill called back as she put more cream cheese.

"Anthony what are you doing here?" Mr. P demanded again.

============

((This chapter is so true that it's…scary. This is almost done!

Sapphy- no one can be friends because its high school…and its stupid. Will this chapter be part of your contest? This is my favorite one, this and the next one.

Dreamer- ha-ha I'm glad you like it.

Erin- my goal in life is to spread the love of the Skittslets.))