Chapter 15

Who says drinking helps anything?

The music thumps through my chest as my whole body moves to the beat. I'm dancing with one of the random football players. I think his name is Dexter, but I don't remember. He's got his arms around my front as I slide my butt back and forth against him. I can tell he's totally into me, and my mind is too muddy from alcohol to care about the trouble I can get into.

His lips trace the back of my neck and a goofy grin forms on my face. Then suddenly he's raking his warm tongue across my ear.

Ew.

I shove away from him and head over to the opposite side of the room where they've got all those little shot thingies I tried earlier. I don't know what's in them, but they are super yummy.

"Hey, Amy!"

I blink a few times, looking for whoever is shouting my name. Things are way fuzzy. Like, I'm really trying to remember how I got here.

"Huh?"

"Body shots! Get your hot ass over here!"

That sounds like fun! But I don't know where I am. The room is kind of tilted or something.

I take a step and next thing I know I'm flat on my face.

"Amy?"

Strong hands clasp my upper arms and pull me up. Bad move, buddy. Stomach turns and I think I'm gonna…

"You okay?"

Yeah, I know he asked me a question. My brain goes on rewind, but my reactions are so slow. I can't think straight with all the stomach sloshing and stuff.

"I gotta find my friends." At least I think this is what I say. It probably came out like, "I gosha feen ma frindsh."

I scan the room to find the girls. Someone who looks like Mina is making out with a guy on the plush couches near the DJ. And it looks like Shade's flirting with about three different people by the bathroom. Instead of going to either one of them, I go straight to the kitchen. I want another drink, damn it. I still haven't forgotten what happened with Sonic, or what happened with Scourge, and I want it banished from my memory.

Alcohol will do the trick if sex won't.

Some kid slaps the shot in front of me. I give him a knowing grin, which probably looks stupid since I'm hammered, and toss the plastic cup back.

"I think that should be your last one," someone says in my ear. I roll my eyes, which is a bad idea because the room shifts, and I end up toppling to the floor.

I hear someone laughing, but a different someone than whoever it is that keeps helping me off my ass.

"Come on, Rose. I'll take you home."

Shadow? I look up and sort of make out his face. Yeah, I think it's him. There is a guitar strapped to his back. I feel the earth shift again, and I stumble even though I was just standing there.

"Whoa. Let's get you out of here."

I nod, the slush in my head slopping around. That actually sounds like a good idea. I'm not feeling so hot.

He leads me to his car… I think. And I pass out on the seat.

x.X.x

"Hey." Someone slaps me across the face. "Hey, wake up."

My eyes flutter open. The world is blurry, but I know I didn't take my contacts out last night.

Wait a second. Where am I? Whose car is this?

"Is this your house?"

I rub my face before pressing it against the car window. Yeah, that looks like my house.

"Uh huh."

"Oh good." Shadow sighs, and I hear him undo his seatbelt. "I couldn't really understand you when you gave me your address."

Huh. I don't remember that.

"Come on."

Hey, when did he get out of the car? And when did he start carrying me?

Oh gosh, I don't like that. It's making my stomach churn.

"Put me down!"

I push him off, kicking and screaming slurred obscenities.

"Okay, okay." He sets me down, but doesn't leave my side.

No. No. No. My parents cannot see him.

"You can go home now."

"I want to make sure you get in okay."

I growl at him before opening my front door a crack. "I'm fine. I don't want my parents to wake up."

Please tell me he understood that through all the slurs.

"All right…" He hesitates, then takes his sweet time getting to his car.

I wait till I see his headlights disappear before opening my door all the way. Everything is still so blurry and spinning and something's not sitting well. It's really hot.

Oh shit.

Bolting off the porch I make it to the bushes in time to spew all over them. Sick. Sick. Sick.

More vomit sprays the ground and I fall to my knees until it passes. Forget drinking. This stuff sucks.

When I stumble back to my feet, I take a few breaths and wipe my chin before going inside. Gosh, I hope Mom is in bed and Dad is still at work. They'll kill me if I'm caught totally smashed. It's dark in the entryway, and everything blurs when I flick on the light and makes my head pound a little. I trudge upstairs and head straight to the bathroom.

Must. Brush. Teeth.

Someone's in the shower. Maybe it's not as late as I thought it was. And it's my shower, so it's probably Rosy. Mom and Dad use their own bathroom. I go in anyway. She's seen me drunk before and I've seen her naked. So nothing new here.

I shuffle through the cabinet, looking for my purple toothbrush, but the one I find is green, and kind of looks like the Werehog is plastered on it. Maybe my drunk eyes want to freak out right now.

As I brush away all the filth from the upchucked alcohol, a voice echoes through the bathroom.

"Is someone in here?"

My stomach shrinks to the size of a peanut. Sonic is in my shower?! What the hell?!

He peeks out from behind the shower curtain and his eyes bug out of his face. "A-Amy? What are you doing?" He whips a towel off the rack and climbs out not bothering to shut the shower off.

"What am I doing?" I shriek. "What are you doing? Get out of my house!"

"Are you drunk?"

I guess he didn't understand me through the slurs. But he's got to get out of here! He can't see me like this, and no way will my parents be cool with a na*ed boy in my shower. I flail my arms, trying to push him out of the bathroom. I kick and yell, making a big fool of myself.

He wraps his hands around my middle, pinning my arms down. "Amy! You've got to calm down."

I keep yelling, struggling against his wet torso and praying to Shahra, the Genie of the Ring, the towel stays around his bottom half.

I hear him growl, and he whips the shower curtain back open and tosses me under the water. He turns it to chilling cold and some of my senses jolt back into focus.

Wait. The shower head is on the wrong side. And the shower curtain has glow-in-the-dark Black Night Enterprises on it.

Oh sweet mother rings.

He leaves me there. Gosh, I hope he's getting dressed. I start shivering and turn the water back to warm.

Holy hell. How did I get here? Someone took me home. Shadow? Right after I… wait… Did I have sex tonight?

No. I'm pretty sure Shadow stopped me from making that huge-o mistake. Then I drank way too…

Oh my gosh. I almost had sex! With someone I don't even really know. What in the name of Secret Rings was I thinking?

I feel sick. Not like vomity sick—got rid of that for now—but dirty. And I immediately try to scrub off the filth. I know I'm still dressed. I don't care. I soak my body, dress too, with soap.

Despair crawls all over me, and I fall into my knees. I try to remember how it felt to be happy. Like really happy. I mean, I thought I was. I thought being popular and going to parties and hanging out with Mina made me happy. And that stuff does because it keeps me from bawling my eyes out when I hear people are talking about me, but then I think about my books on my shelf. The Comic-Con tickets from a few years ago. The Nintendo games and speaking Japanese and all my awesome sweaters I wish I could wear in public.

That stuff makes me happy too—even happier when I can share it with someone.

And no matter how hard I try, I can't run away from myself.

A knock comes at the door as I sit in the tub letting the water rinse me off. The soap didn't work. I still feel like crap. And I'm crying which doesn't help my head.

Sonic peers in, catching me sobbing like a fool in the tub. He checks over his shoulder and shuts the door behind him before climbing in next to me. Dressed and all.

I tuck into his side and let it all fall out. I'm babbling, telling him how dirty I am, that all I wanted was to forget. To erase everything I've done to him, to me, to everyone. I'm not even sure if I'm making any sense with all the alcohol in my system. It doesn't matter though. He just runs his fingers through my wet hair and doesn't say a word.

x.X.x

YUP, I lied the chapter is where it all begins!

The part that will change everything and bring this story to its climax.

The question is, what's Amy going to do now? Let the games begin!