Chapter 29

STACY

I left Jess' house feeling like a horse had kicked me in the gut with both hind feet. My hands were shaking so badly that I had a hard time getting my key in the ignition and starting the car. I hated to leave Jess like that, but there was no way her mom was gonna let me back in the house, not in her current state of rage, no way. I can't believe she how she talked to me though. It took every ounce of my willpower not to talk back to her, and to keep walking when Jess screamed my name like that. Oh, Jessica. How can you still want me when I let you down so badly?

I drove straight for home, just wanting to lock myself in my room and listen to music and not talk to anyone for a long time. God, I could only imagine the rumors that must have already been running through our scene about what happened tonight. What the hell possessed that crazy chick Angel to do such a hideous thing? Yeah, I always knew she liked me but she really wasn't my type, so I always kinda avoided her. This is gonna sound bad, but girls like her have chased me since elementary school, so I've been used to that kind of attention for years now. For the most part they're cool and seem to understand that nothing's going to happen, but this one obviously didn't get the hint. Well, I'm gonna make sure that Jess presses every charge imaginable and gets that vile creature into court. She will do hard time if there's any justice in this world. Jumping a girl just because I like her…what is this world coming to?

When I got to the top of the hill where I live, I saw Nathan Pratt and two other neighborhood kids skating in the street. I pulled up in front of my house and parked. Nathan was standing impatiently by the driver's side door when I got out.

"Hey man, I heard your girl was in a big fight at the Civic tonight. What the hell went on? Is she ok?"

"It really wasn't a 'fight'. She was jumped, Nathan. By three girls, one of whom had a knife and stabbed Jess in the leg," I explained. The other two kids skated over and demanded to know about the incident, too, so I repeated it again.

Nathan grimaced and sucked in his breath. "Ooh, that's harsh. Three on one? Classy," he added sarcastically. "So where is she now, did she have to go to the hospital?"

I told him about the trip to the emergency room, the interview by the cop and what went down after I dropped Jessica off at home. Even the part when her mom called me "scum" and threw me out of the house.

Nathan grimaced again. "Damn, what a bitch," he muttered from underneath his bushy mustache. One of the kids, Marky, suggested that I "shoulda hauled back and decked the ol' bat," belated advice that I chose to ignore.

I sat on the curb in front of the house and hugged my knees, feeling too dejected for words at the moment. Nathan parked his board in the gutter and sat down on it as the two kids kept goofing off on theirs, but staying within earshot in the hope of picking up some more juicy details. I didn't really care at this point.

"Man, I don't think I could have stood there and let her mom unleash on me like that," Nathan said with a disgusted shake of his head.

"Well, she kinda had a point – I was supposed to be looking out for Jess and she gets beaten up right under my nose," I confessed, but it didn't make me feel any better. Worse, if anything.

"Ahh, come on man, you had no idea that something like that was gonna go down," Nathan protested. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

But I couldn't stop thinking of the alternatives. "If only I had gone with her…"

"What, and waited for her outside the bathroom like she's four years old? Or would you have stood right by the stall? I don't think she would have appreciated that, dude."

"I know," I countered lamely, but Nathan wasn't done yet.

"Anyway, if Angel didn't get to her tonight then it would have been some other time. You can't watch Jess twenty-four hours a day, even if you did know about the threat. Which you didn't. So knock it off with the self-pity already, man."

I had to admit he had a point. Jess had told me the first time we went to Vista Point that she'd been warned to stay away from me, but I never in a million years thought that Angel would take it that far, or I would have been a lot more vigilant.

"So what are ya gonna do now," Nathan asked, tugging on his moustache like he always does whenever he's thinking hard or feeling concerned. Since he's a pretty laid-back guy who just lives to surf and skate, that's not very often.

What I wanted to do was somehow go back in time to two hours ago and stop the attack from happening, but what was done was done. Now Jess was injured, her mom hated me and three girls were in jail. And somehow it still felt like it was all my fault. I made a despondent sound and put my head down on my knees so my hair fell forward and blocked the world from view.

When I didn't answer his question, Nathan made a suggestion of his own: "Dude, you should go back there right now while it's still early." He picked up my wrist to look at my watch. "It's not even eleven yet. She's probably still awake, crying in bed and wanting some comforting, ya dig?"

"You know something? She didn't cry even once tonight that I saw. Not even when her mom threw me out. She was screaming, but not crying." I don't really know why I said that, just that Nathan's suggestion made me think of it all of a sudden.

Marky skated by us again. "Hey, is she hot? I'll go comfort her if you don't want to," the little smartass said, then rolled away before Nathan could grab him.

Of course I wanted to go back, but the thought of running into her mom again tonight – or ever – made my skin crawl. The way she looked at me when she was throwing me out made me feel about two inches tall. "I don't know if it's worth the risk of going there tonight," I told Nathan. "If her mom catches me anywhere near that house then there'll be hell to pay for me and Jess. And she's got it bad enough as it is."

"Hey, you just gotta roll up quietly and sneeeeak it, man," Nathan counseled. Oh yeah, easy for you to say, Nate. You don't have to get past the Dragon Lady.

I sighed again. "Poor Jess. She does have it bad. I mean, jumped and stabbed on her 18th birthday, that's gotta-" I cut myself off and brought my head up from my knees as a sudden realization hit me. "Oh shit, her present! I didn't give her her present yet!"

"Well, that settles it. You gotta go back and give it to her. Trust me, she'll be happy to see you." Nathan peered at me like he was trying to see into the back of my brain through my eyes. "You do want to see her and try to make things right, don't ya?"

I nodded yes. And I did want to see her. I just wasn't sure if she wanted to see me and told him so. Nathan just rolled his eyes. "If she has half a brain then she'll never blame you for what happened tonight. If she does blame you then she's as crazy as her mother. Now will you quit moping and get your ass down there already?"

"All right, all right, I'm going," I half-shouted as I jumped up from the curb and pulled my keys from my pocket.

"Yeah!" all three of the guys shouted, cheering me on as I jumped back into my car and started the engine. Just before I put it into drive, Nathan tapped on the window. I rolled it down. "Hey, you need some protection? I got some extras that I didn't get a chance to use with my girl tonight," he offered with a boorish grin.

"Aw, for god's sake Nathan," I said, rolling the window back up fast before he could actually chuck any rubbers in the car. What a doofus. Of course I have protection. If you were going out with a nice looking girl who was about to give up her virginity to you any day now, you'd carry it too. I hit the gas and pulled away from the curb, just missing Marky with my front left bumper, more's the pity.

As I made the five minute drive back to Jess' house, I began thinking about our date and wondering how it would have gone if it hadn't been so rudely interrupted. Or more specifically, how far we would have gone. The night of her 18th birthday would have been the perfect time for us to score a home run, given that both of us were now officially at the age of consent. I haven't minded waiting for her to give me the green light, mainly because she's not a major league tease when we do make out. Anyway, it's a moot point for tonight, I thought as I turned onto her street and slowed down to cruise past her house and look for signs of activity. It was dark, even the outside light was off. I continued down the block, turned left on the next street and found a parking place in front of a vacant lot about a block and a half from Jess' house.

By the time I walked back to her place my heart was pounding like crazy. Hell, maybe I was crazy, but I had to see Jess. Even if she threw my present back in my face – I quickly patted my jacket pocket to make sure the little box was still there – I wouldn't regret doing this. At this point I just wanted to see her and make everything ok, if at all possible.

I ran across their front lawn and flattened myself against the side of the house where I thought her bedroom window might be. Ahh, but which window is it? I stopped at the gate in the low chain-link fence that ran along the side of the house and tried to think. Jessica had only taken me into her room a couple of times and I really wasn't thinking about where it was located, just what we'd do when we got there. So sue me.

I jumped over the gate instead of opening it in case it was squeaky, then hunched over and crept down the side of the house until I got to what I hoped was her bedroom window. I also hoped that her neighbors went to bed early and brought their dogs in with them. It must have looked pretty suspicious, a longhaired teenager creeping in the shadows outside a dark house. I looked up at the window and saw a very dim light peeping through the narrow slats of the blinds. Then I stood up and carefully put my ear to the glass. For a second I couldn't really hear anything, but then I caught the very faint sounds of a stereo playing something gentle. After listening closely for another minute I realized it was "Echoes" by Pink Floyd. Ok, that had to be Jess' room. It was do or die time. I closed my eyes for a couple of heartbeats and sent out a prayer to the powers that be, who or whatever they are, then softly rapped on the window with my knuckles.