Chapter 18:
Punch. Go.
Brandon raced ahead of Callie in the direction of Mariana's voice. Shoving past several people, Brandon cleared a path that Callie followed closely. Callie stumbled at first as she struggled to place her flip-flops back on her feet and finally just kicked them off leaving them in the sand.
"Let go of me!" Mariana's voice rang out across the night and Callie felt the panic rising up in her again.
Why, why, why? Please let them be okay! Callie thought.
After what had seemed forever, Callie pushed out into a small group of kids with Brandon and bumped into him as he stopped abruptly.
"Yikes! Square alert! Dudddddeeee, you look like a cop or something! Who invited you?!" a drunken girls' voice rolled out in an endless string of questions as Brandon backed up a little.
"Look, I'm not here for your stupid party alright? We heard screaming-"
"Hey! You've got to pay to play! Just like every-one-else." The voice rolled out the words in one slurred breath and as Brandon continued back into Callie in jerky movements, Callie realized that the girl was poking Brandon as she spoke or shoving him backwards.
Callie waited for a few moments, before realizing that the girl was so busy being hell-bent on preventing Brandon from breaking through the circle that she hadn't even seen Callie. This allowed Callie to step out from behind Brandon unnoticed and break directly into the tiki torch light of the group of people that were holding everyone's attention by the water. Callie's mouth dropped open when she saw what was before her:
About ten girls stood on the beach in a line by the water's edge. Some wearing shorts, jeans or mini-skirts, but they all had one thing in common: nearly every one of their shirts was lifted as they danced mindlessly. All around, people were snapping photos as they bounced along with the music and dollar bills were littered in front of them. Some girls were wearing their bras, but others were fully exposed.
Near the end of the line a guy who was not even pretending to be gentle was holding Mariana in place and Callie's first thought was to lunge straight for him…until she spotted Sophia. At the very end of the line was Callie's younger sister, who looked more than a little tipsy and was being egged on by some of the other girls and guys who were cheering on "Margo: Shirt go! Margo: Shirt go!"
Callie raced towards Sophia and leapt in front of her before she could lift her shirt, which it seemed as though she was just about to do. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Callie hissed as she yanked off her jacket and wrapped it around the inebriated girl's shoulders.
"I was…um…wasum…wasum…wasum…" Sophia started, and ended slurring her words. Callie noted that she was wearing more makeup then she'd ever seen her wearing before. "Um…fun?" Sophia finished, giggling up at Callie and breathing out what smelled like tequila into her face.
"Fun, nothing!" Callie chided and glanced over at the other girls with a sickening feeling gripping her throat. "Do you have any idea what could've happened to you?!" Callie turned towards the other girls and shook her head, gesturing angrily towards the photo-takers with mix of anger and disgust "This isn't right! They're obviously drunk and you need to stop this because you're taking advantage of them!" Turning to the half-naked girls, Callie said "And you all? You're better than this. You don't have to do anything just because they tell you to." Most of the girls just stared at Callie in a daze, although a few of them lowered their shirts with expressions of genuine confusion.
As much as she might want to, Callie knew she didn't have time to save everyone else at the moment and glanced back over at Sophia whose eyes held a similarly glazed look beneath her smoky eyeshadow. The makeup on her face definitely shaded her baby face and was clearly an attempt to look older than her 16 years.
No doubt the work of Mariana and her infamous makeovers, Callie thought and then remembered, Mariana!
Callie glanced back over at Brandon, as she remembered the boy who was holding back Mariana. Brandon, who was still doing his best to calm the clingy drunken girl-as she'd gone from trying to keep him out of the party to crying and begging him not to leave her because she loved him-and he seemed to be unaware of Mariana as of yet as his eyes turned to focus on Callie and Sophia now.
Callie's next thought was as to why Mariana had stopped screaming and when she looked over at her Mariana was still being held in place by the guy who was nearly twice the petite young woman's size. But Mariana was no longer struggling against the boy and instead she was pleading with him quietly and there was a look of hesitant fear on her face. For a second, Callie wondered why and then followed Mariana's eyes as they darted over to Brandon and realized:
In her mind's eye, Callie had a flash of being told that Brandon had lunged at Vico at a school dance, Brandon punching Liam at a cultural fair, and finally Brandon shoving AJ at her 17th birthday party. And she knew why Mariana was trying to talk her way out of things before Brandon noticed: because Brandon's temper when it came to his loved ones was pretty legendary.
Callie gripped Sophia tightly and tried to calmly walk her over to Brandon, hoping that handing her off would distract him long enough that she could get over to Mariana first. But, just as Callie walked towards Brandon, the guy must have tried something because Mariana yelped out
"You bastard! I said stop it!" and Brandon's eyes shot over to her.
Quickly shoving the drunken girl off onto someone else, Brandon's eyes darkened immediately as he rushed towards Mariana and her hulking captor. Callie tried to hold onto Sophia with one hand and reach out for Brandon with the other, saying "Brandon, Don't!" but before she could intervene, Brandon had zipped past her, and slammed into the guy who had been holding Mariana, using his entire body to knock him into the sand as the brute finally released Mariana clumsily.
The crowd drunkenly cheered now, shifting their energy from the hyena like chants for the girls to take off their clothes earlier, to a mob-mentality desire for a moonlight brawl. As Mariana rushed over to Callie, Callie handed off Sophia and headed towards Brandon who was now yelling at the guy to stay down or he'd punch him again.
"That's my sister, you prick!" Brandon shouted as Callie yanked him off of the guy whose hair was now covered in sand. Although he'd looked completely menacing holding Mariana, the same hulking guy now looked dazed and dumbfounded. Callie imagined that it was because-aside from being knocked down-he couldn't believe that a guy nearly half his size had taken him to the ground.
"Brandon, no! Stop it! We have to get back to the hotel!" Callie hissed, helping Brandon to his feet and turning to Mariana who was still holding Callie's jacket around Sophia. "Mariana, wave down a cab! Hurry up!" Callie said, pointing Mariana in a direction just beyond the circle.
Right above the party, there was a slope of beach that led towards the heart of the city. From where they were standing, they could see cabs, street market dealers and people bustling about. No doubt, the party was being held on this part of the beach because the kids had been able to jump from their cabs and quickly race down the slope to start their party again.
As they followed behind and tried to guide Sophia and Mariana in the direction of the city, Callie suddenly felt Brandon being yanked from her side and turned to see that the boy had got back to his senses and tackled Brandon and the two were now wrestling in the sand. "Oh my God!" Callie gasped, covering her mouth.
"Hank, Get. Off. Of. Him!" Mariana yelled as she hovered over the boys, and brandished her 5 inch wedge bashing the guy in the back after each word. Forcing Sophia to sit on the ground, Callie hurried over and yanked at the guy's shirt too trying to get him off of Brandon.
With the help of Callie and Mariana attacking the boy's back, Brandon fought his legs from beneath the boorish guy, apparently named Hank, and kicked him away from him. After he stumbled to his feet, as Hank lifted his face, readying for another attack Brandon pulled back and punched the boy again. Callie figured it must have been much harder because this time, he stayed down.
Callie wanted to feel remorseful, as she usually was no fan of violence, but she felt some small satisfaction at Brandon taking out the guy who'd been manhandling Mariana moments earlier. Her joy was short-lived as Brandon turned to Callie saying "We've really got to get them out of here!" motioning to Mariana and Sophia.
Callie nodded, remembering the bigger issues at hand and she pushed Mariana and Sophia towards the slope once more. As they made their way out of the crowd, Callie could hear some girl shouting and looked back to see a brunette girl shoving Brandon back into the party crowd as other kids swarmed towards the two of them.
Callie glanced over at Sophia who was too drunk to do about anything other than fall over. Then she looked to Mariana who seemed fully sober. "Mariana? Will you be okay to get back to the hotel?" Callie asked, already backing towards the riotous crowd again.
"Callie, Don't! Brandon can handle himself."
"Mariana just get a cab and get Sophia back to the hotel, okay?" Callie pleaded and Mariana's protest stopped as she noted the urgency in Callie's eyes.
Mariana nodded, "Okay." But added in a shout as Callie headed back towards the crowd, "But if you guys aren't back in an hour, I'm calling the police!"
Callie raced back down the slope and breaking through the crowd, she saw that Brandon was in a screaming match with some girl. Callie rushed up to him and heard the girl saying "-wasn't making them do anything that they didn't want to do! You might not know this, Mr. Goody two shoes, but girls take their shirts off sometimes! You didn't have to hit him!"
"But that girl was my sister!" Brandon countered as the girl gestured towards Hank and Callie glanced down to see with relief that the boy Brandon had fought with seemed to be conscious and okay, if a little bruised up.
"Brandon?" Callie said, as she stepped in between Brandon and the fiery-and clearly drunk-brunette "Forget this, alright? You don't have to explain things to her. We need to-"
"Excuse you?!" the girl said yanking Callie by her shoulder so that she was forced to face her.
"Hey, don't touch her!" Brandon yelled, leaping protectively in front of Callie.
"Oh?! So it's okay that you knock my boyfriend out, but I can't even touch your precious girlfriend?!" The girl said angrily.
Before Brandon could respond and continue the argument, Callie reached out from behind him grabbing Brandon's left hand. He turned to look down at their hands and then up into Callie's eyes "Come on, Brandon. Let's get out of here: this isn't worth it. It's not worth this." She said with a gentle squeeze to his hand, trying to silently remind him of his upcoming Juilliard audition. Brandon gave a quick nod. And turning to follow Callie, he called back to the girl "It was just a misunderstanding. No hard feelings, okay?"
Callie began to pull Brandon back towards the slope but again felt him being yanked back. Callie turned to see the girl beating Brandon viciously on his back. "Plenty of hard feelings, you Jackass!" she was screeching.
Without another thought, Callie let Brandon's hand fall and rushed towards the girl shoving her away from Brandon. With a quick gasp, the girl shook her hair from her face and leapt for Callie. Callie's steps faltered a little as the girl flew at her with both hands swatting in a frenzied manner, yelping like a banshee.
As Callie finally got her bearings the girl landed a final swipe to Callie's face and scratched her cheek. "Callie?!" Brandon yelled in concern, but Callie could barely hear him as all she was feeling was anger now. Callie felt the scratch on her left cheek in silence. And then like a flash, Callie reared back and smacked the girl square in the face.
The brunette seemed to sober up in an instant and yelled out in pain before falling to her knees in the sand. "Ow! She hit me!" She whined sounding like a kindergartener. And Callie backed up a little shaking her head with disbelief as several other girls swarmed to the fallen girls' side.
"Only after you hit me like 20 times!" Callie hissed down at her.
"Did she hurt you babe?! Are you okay, Roxie?" Hank said and he sounded like he was crying already too as he broke through the crowd of girls to comfort his shocked girlfriend.
Callie shook her head at the scene as the crowd of onlookers' awwwed as though Hank's concern was the most romantic thing on earth.
Yea, when he's not holding people against their will or wrestling guys like some lunatic! Callie thought before she felt Brandon gripping her hand again. "Callie? This is our chance and we need to go. Now." Brandon quickly whispered and Callie nodded as they turned away and fled while the now mutually sandy, dramatic couple reunited in a drunken, tearful hug that seemed to fully capture everyone's attention.
Finally, pushing their way through a few partygoers and up the slope, Callie held onto Brandon's hand for dear life. Just as they were breaking through however, Callie suddenly rammed into Brandon's back just as she had when they were coming to find Mariana and felt him yanking his hand away from hers.
"What is it now-?!" Callie started as Brandon turned around to face her awkwardly and his lips were nearly up against hers. Confusion rose as the sounds of the party below and the city above meshed into the night and Callie wondered for just a second if Brandon was about to kiss her.
If so, it'll be the most unromantic and ill-timed kiss in the history of…Callie began thinking as she abruptly noticed a tall Hispanic man over Brandon's shoulder who said "Policia."
Callie's eyes widened as she realized that Brandon hadn't turned around voluntarily. Instead he had been forced to turn around and was now being handcuffed.
"No! Wait, he didn't do anything!" Callie tried to yell, before another officer stepped out from behind Brandon and cuffed her as well.
Callie stared up into Brandon's eyes and said in a whisper "And how exactly are we going to explain this to our parents?"
"Well, the thing is Callie that we're over 18 now. Plus we're not just going to jail," Brandon said as the cops shoved them both up the slope roughly. "We're going to a Mexican jail."
"What is that supposed to mean?!" Callie asked, panicking.
"It means," Brandon said ruefully, as they stumbled up the slope. "We'll be lucky if we even get to explain it to them."