As we pulled into the drive, I stepped out of the car with my backpack andthanked her. She nodded and drove away, probably glad to be rid of me. Iturned to face the house, building the resolve to enter it. I had been sowrapped up in my own thoughts that I was almost on top of the car before Isaw it. It was one I hadn't seen before and was lacking a licenseplate. Realizing I didn't care to whom it belonged, I trudged up thedriveway and through the front door. Striker didn't greet me at the doorlike normal, but I barely noticed. All of my attention was focused insteadon the person sitting in the living room with Mr. and Mrs. Kinney. "It can't be..." I couldn't believe it. How in the world did he get here? Upon hearing mysurprised gasp, my father stood up from where he was seated on the couch.I glanced quickly at the Kinneys, who seemed to be unaware of the magnitudeof this moment. The last time I had seen my father he had shot me and thenput the gun to his head. I was convinced he was dead, that he had blownhis brains out all over our lovely tiled floor. But here he was all thesame. He looked worse than I remembered him. Instead of the clean-shavencountenance I remembered seeing every day at the kitchen table, his facewas covered in a scraggly beard, more gray than brown. His jeans werefilthy and had several tears. Though it had only been a short period oftime since I had seen him last, he seemed to have aged years. My mindabsorbed all of this and tried to process it. Unfortunately, my mind hadstepped out to have lunch with my heart somewhere in the vicinity of mythroat. We stood there staring at each other for almost a full minute. Strikerentered the room, but quickly realized that now was not the time for puppyexuberance. I could tell my father was trying to think of something tosay, but the only thing I wanted to hear was "goodbye." "Well, I was just telling the Kinneys here that I'm thankful they took careof you this week," he began, gesturing behind him to them as he spoke. "Myson doesn't deser-" He must not have revealed exactly who he was yet to the Kinneys as theyboth shot out of their seats when he mentioned his relationship to me.Mrs. Kinney gasped loudly and, seeming to have rethought her suddenmovement, sat back down heavily, a hand clasped over her mouth. Mr. Kinneyremained standing, and I saw something flash behind his eyes that seemedvery out of place. Was that fear? My eyes snapped back to my father, whohad turned to look at the sudden noise behind him. I heard a car roar pastout on the street. I had left the door open behind me after I had walkedinto the foyer. He looked as if he was about to pick up where he had beeninterrupted, but I beat him to it. "Your son?" I spat the words as if they were an abomination to my tongue."You may have taken part in my creation, but you sure as hell aren't myfather." I tried my best to keep my voice calm during all of this. Icould still feel the slight dull pain in my chest from the wound. He hadalready proven once that he was capable of attempted murder. I didn't wantto give him the opportunity to show he could pull it off. "Oh, so now you've got some balls, you little pussy faggot? You should bethanking me." In the background, I could see the Kinneys were holdinghands tightly, watching this unfold. I caught Mr. Kinney's eye and triedmy best to impart how sorry I was that I had brought this into their house.I wasn't sure he understood what I was trying to tell him, but it wassomething that would have to wait. "Thanking you?! For what? Almost killing me?" "For making you into more of a man than you've been your entire life.Always whining and pussyfooting around. At least now you seem to be ableto hold your own." I couldn't believe that he actually thought he deservedcredit for...anything. "You've got to be kidding me. I thought you were dead, and I was actuallyhappy thinking that. Why couldn't you have just pulled the trigger?" Iknew I was treading on dangerous ground here, but I couldn't stop myself.I had been trying not to think about what had happened to me, but now thatI was forced to look it right in the eye, I didn't have a choice. "I think you should be leaving." Both of us turned to look at Mr. Kinney,who was standing about 5 feet behind my father. "I'm not going anywhere without my son. And mind your own business." Heseemed to think that was enough. My father turned and started walkingtowards me. For a brief second, I almost panicked, but for some reason Ijust happened to look towards Mr. Kinney. The look of fierce determinationin his eyes steeled me against the rising fear. When my father got closeenough, he reached out a hand as if to guide me towards the door and awaywith him. I barked out a laugh, and he paused briefly. I have no ideawhat came over me, but in that moment a single thought reverberated aroundmy brain. I did then something I was going to regret for a while. As myright fist connected with, and broke, the nose on Thomas Oswald's face, Iwas not thinking that this was probably a big mistake. Blood spurted downhis face. Pain shot through my chest and right arm. I wasn't going toshow this of course. A look of absolute disbelief crossed his face. "You...you punched me?" The disbelief turned to anger. He reached backhis arm as if he was about to hit me back, but Mr. Kinney grabbed it. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't bleed all over my floor, Mr. Oswald."Twisting the arm, he guided my father towards the door and pushed him outonto the stoop. I guess he had had enough, because my father started towalk towards the car at the end of the driveway. I moved up next toMr. Kinney, who put an arm around me and the two of us watched my fatherstumble towards his car. I desperately wanted to believe that this was theend, but my mind just couldn't accept it. He had already come back onceafter I thought he was dead. I had a feeling this wasn't going to be thelast time I saw Thomas Oswald. We watched him get into the brown sedan and drive away holding his nose.As soon as he was out of sight I turned to Mr. Kinney, who was looking atme with great concern on his face. "Brandon...Brandon...? Are you all right?" His voice seemed to be comingfrom far away. Try as I might to concentrate on it, my mind was interestedin only one thing: the pain emanating from the right side of my body. Thelast thing I remember seeing before it all went black was Mr. Kinneyleaning forward trying to catch me. I woke up slowly, my eyelids feeling like weights had been attached tothem. My chest didn't hurt as much as it had, but I could tell it wasstill tender. My shirt was off and I could feel cold fingers gentlyprodding the right side of my chest. "When that Mr. Chase first told us about what had happened, I almost didn'tbelieve it. But after meeting that man..." "Me neither, Susan. Who could do something like that?" "Well, it obviously happened. Look at this scar. There's no way he'sgoing to be able to play football anytime soon." "Oh, Jack...he's waking up." I opened my eyes all the way. Both of theKinneys were kneeling over me, a look of intent concern on their faces. Iwas lying on the floor in the living room. "How are you feeling, Brandon?" "I've been better," I said. "How...?" "Mr. Chase told us the truth," said Mr. Kinney. "He told you about the caraccident thing so that you could tell us the truth when you felt you wereready. There's no way he could have lied about something like that duringan adoption process. I'm just sorry that it had to be brought up likethis." I nodded in agreement, and closed my eyes. Trying to absorb thisnew information was almost more than I could take. "Did he say how he got here?" I asked, keeping my eyes closed. It helpedme to focus on what was going on. "He told us that he was a relative who had heard what had happened and waswondering how you were. He was only here a couple minutes before youshowed up. To tell the truth, I almost didn't let him in the house...theway he looked. He looked almost like a homeless person." "I thought that my father was dead. He pointed the gun at himself afterhe...he shot me." Mr. and Mrs. Kinney looked stunned. They didn't knowthis part of the story...no one except me and my mom did before now. And Ihad no idea where she was. Wait...Mr. Chase said that only one car wasmissing from the driveway. I filed this piece of information away forlater when I could try to figure something out. They were both still kneeling down beside me, but weren't saying anything.Out of the corner of my eye I could see Striker making his way back intothe room, sniffing cautiously to see if it was safe. I patted my left handon the floor, trying to coax him into coming over. I could use some puppycompanionship right about now. Apparently determining that things wereunder control, he bounded into the room and jumped up onto my chest. Ohboy, did that hurt. Mrs. Kinney gasped and snatched him off as I rolledover onto my side in pain. It passed quickly but I needed to learn not todo stupid things like enticing a dog to jump on me. "Why does it hurt so much?" I asked. I had thrown the football justyesterday while at school. I hadn't remembered feeling this much pain whenI did it. Maybe that punch just twisted it the wrong way. Maybe I was sohappy things were going well that I didn't really notice it. Who knows? Isure was now. I remembered Dr. Carter telling me to take it easy and notstrain it for 3 weeks. It was still near the beginning of the season, so Iwouldn't miss too much with the team. They would be disappointed,probably, but not as much as I was. Just when things seemed to be goingbetter, he had to show up and mess things up again. "Well, I'm no doctor...but I'd guess you did something when you punched himthat tore what had been trying to heal," said Mr. Kinney. "You need totake it easy for a while. Feel like you can sit up?" I nodded and withtheir help managed to sit up and then move onto the couch. It seemed to befine so long as I didn't move too quickly or hit it with blunt objects. AsI was catching my breath, I heard the front door open. My head whippedaround to face the door to the living room just about as fast as Mr. andMrs. Kinney jumped up from their chairs. He wouldn't come back thisquickly, would he? "Hey, I'm home," Meric said, rounding the corner. He stopped short, hisbackpack still slung over one shoulder. "Uh...what's going on?" It musthave looked a strange scene, all of us alert and me without my shirt on. "Come sit down, Meric. We have some things to talk about." He slipped hisbackpack off and put it on the ground near the staircase before coming into sit on the couch beside me. Meric always had this way of fittingseamlessly into any and all situations. As soon as he sat down it was likehe had been here all along. I turned a little to face him. His eyestraveled down my chest quickly, stopping at the scar on the right side.His eyes widened a bit but he otherwise didn't say anything. I filled himin on what had happened that afternoon after I got home from Justin'shouse. He nodded when I was finished and seemed to be deep in thought. "Did you tell them?" he asked. It was obvious to me what he was talkingabout. I shook my head. "Not yet, I was just about to before you came in." I turned to faceMr. and Mrs. Kinney, who both had a slightly confused look on their faces.I was one for one so far on revealing my sexuality to those around me.Shot once, hugged once. Let's see how this one goes. Of course, I wasnervous, but I had a feeling it would work out this time. "Mr. Kinney...Mrs. Kinney..." I looked at each of them in turn. "I'm gay."I closed my eyes, uttering a silent prayer that they wouldn't freak out onme. "Ok," said Mr. Kinney like someone being told that a mile was 5280 feetlong. I opened my eyes to see them getting up and heading towards thekitchen. Meric patted me on the knee and got up as well. "That-that's it?" I asked. I was dumbfounded. Mrs. Kinney turned aroundand smiled. "Yeah. Now hurry up and get washed up for dinner." I grinned back andtook Meric's offered hand to get up from the couch. In one of the mostawkward set of movements I'd ever had to make, I managed to get my shirtback on without aggravating my side. After a quick stop in the bathroom towash up, I headed into the kitchen to have dinner with my new family, asmile firmly planted on my face. I woke up the next morning feeling much better. The previous few days hadbeen long ones. First I came out to Meric, got "drafted" to be thequarterback for the school football team (which I wouldn't be able to starton for a few weeks), managed to do something incredibly stupid while atJustin's house, punched my dad in the face and then came out to my newparents. I figured I'd take it easy today, for a change. I had decidedlast night before going to sleep that I wasn't going to worry myself toomuch over the bad things happening. It seemed to me that that was a sureway to get depressed. Instead, I was going to concentrate on the positivethings and deal with the negatives as they came up. A quick shower and hair-styling later I was sitting at the kitchen table,slurping the last of the milk in my bowl of Frosted Flakes. Today wasFriday, and we had a quiz in pre-calc that I was a bit worried about. Witheverything that had been going on, I hadn't had much time to study for it.I'd just have to hope I had absorbed something while sitting in classearlier in the week. No sense worrying about it now. "Oh, Brandon. We have a couple things for you to do after school today."Mr. Kinney was straightening his tie in the mirror that hung in thehallway. "You've got an appointment with Dr. Norris at 3:45 and we'regoing to go by the police station to fill out a report on your father." "All right, I don't think I have anything to do so that's fine."Mr. Kinney nodded and finished with his tie. Meric slapped his handagainst his forehead and I looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "The party!" he said. Oh no, that's right. Jennifer had invited us to goto a party at her house while her parents were out of town tonight. I hadforgotten about it with everything else that had been going on and I reallywasn't looking forward to it. Meric, at least, was going to be there.Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, and it would be nice to try to meet some ofthe other students at the school. I was determined to fit in the best Icould in this new town. "Party?" Mrs. Kinney didn't seem too happy at the mention of that word. "Oh, it's just a little get-together at Jennifer's house. She was veryinsistent that Brandon come." I could see her winding up to fire the usualquestions. Will there be any parents there? Alcohol, drugs, sex, barnanimals? You know the drill. She was cut short by Mr. Kinney, though. "Oh, let the boys have some fun. I think they've earned it." He wassmiling easily. I could tell Mrs. Kinney didn't want to give up thateasily, but didn't want to be seen as the "evil parent," either. Shefinally nodded reluctantly. I grinned, and with Meric, headed out to the4Runner and our ride to school. As we headed into the school building, I was amazed at how many peoplealready knew who I was. Word traveled fast, I guess. Dozens of peoplewere coming up and shaking my hand. I was pretty worn out just walkingthrough the hall to homeroom. Meric didn't seem to mind my getting all theattention. Of course, he had been popular here long before I ever showedup. And he wasn't the type to get jealous. I slipped into my desk in homeroom, realizing that even with all of thestops in the hall, I was still a bit early. Only a few people were alreadythere. I took out my math notebook and tried to do a bit of last minutestudying. It was amazing that people did this all the time. It wasunlikely they would actually learn anything 15 minutes before the test, butevery single day I saw people trying to cram before tests. As the minutesticked by, the room began to fill up. About three minutes before the bellrang, Jennifer bounced into the room, her blond hair flying everywhere andher mouth chewing the gum at a mile a minute. She smiled at me and slippedinto the desk next to mine. Great. "Hi Brandon!" Chomp, chomp, chomp. God, she was like a cow munching ongrass. I turned from my notes and smiled at her. "You looking forward tothe party tonight? I know I am it's going to be so much fun because myparents are out of town and everyone is going to be there and we'll playgames and get to know everyone and just hang out it'll be fun." I nodded,not having a clue what she had just said. "I'll be there," I said. "What time is it at again?" "Well, it starts at 8:00, but if you want to come early I can show youaround if you like." "Well, I don't know exactly what I'll be doing before hand, but if I canget there early, I will." "Great!" I smiled again at her incredible exuberance and turned back to mynotes. She must have noticed that I was trying my best to not fail a test,so she left me alone for the rest of homeroom. The bell rang much soonerthan I would have liked. I hadn't even gotten to read through all of thenotes. Oh well, too late now. The math quiz turned out to be easier than I would have thought. I guess Ihad paid attention enough during the week to do well. Meric, of course,didn't bat an eye at it. Was there anything this kid couldn't do? Afterthe bell, we all piled out of the room and Meric and I headed out to ournormal place outside for lunch. As usual, there were some kids playingfootball on the lawn. They asked me to join and I turned them down. Theyseemed disappointed, but didn't want to press the issue. "I need to head inside in a few minutes," I said to Meric after we hadfinished our lunches. "Okay, we've still got a while, you know." "Yeah, but I need to talk to Coach Thomas and tell him about my side."Meric nodded. I got up and picked up my backpack, wincing a bit. Itdidn't hurt all the time, but occasionally some movement would send somepain shooting through my side. It really sucked to be injured. "I'll seeyou in third period." I headed through the halls towards the gym. Along the way, I was greetedby several high fives and smiles. Would these people be as eager to be myfriend if they truly knew who I was? Probably not. I entered the locker room and headed towards the back to where CoachThomas's office was. He was in there eating a sandwich and watching somefilm on the TV. I knocked on the door, pushing it open a bit. He swiveledin his chair, hitting the pause button as he did. "Brandon! What can I do for you?" He looked so happy. I hated to breakthe bad news to him. "Well, Coach. I've got some bad news for you." His face sunk and thepiece of sandwich he was holding in his hand fell to the desk with a plop.Peanut butter and jelly. Good choice. "What?! Don't tell me you've decided not to play for me!" "No, no...I still want to play for Jefferson. It's just that, well...I'vegot an injury that's going to keep me out of physical stuff for about 3weeks." He seemed to brighten up a bit after I told him I was going tostill play and he wasn't as disappointed as I would have thought after Ibroke the news to him. "Well, that's not too bad, Brandon. We don't play our first game yet fortwo weeks, and it'll probably take you that long to get used to playing ina real game setting. You'll miss our opening game, but I'm sure Jack willfill in fine for you. You still need to come to practice, though. We'lljust take it easy." I nodded. "Of course, Coach." "How are you getting along with the rest of the team? They treating youall right?" I was getting on fine with them. I guess I had earned theirrespect pretty quickly. Well, except for their previous quarterback whoseemed intent on making sure I was miserable. I didn't want to mentionthis to the coach as it would make me seem like some sort of tattle tale. "We're getting along fine, Coach. Good group of guys." "Well, I guess now's a good time for this little speech." Uh oh. "You'regoing to be the leader of the team on and off the field. It's up to you tomake sure they are on top of their game. You need to lead by example.Don't get into any trouble. You seem like a good kid, so I'm not reallyworried too much." I nodded and told him I would be good and that I wouldkeep an eye on the team. Our next practice was Monday afternoon, and Itold him I would be there. The last two classes passed quickly. Justin wasn't in school today, so Ididn't have to deal with that particular problem until after the weekend,something I was very grateful for. I met Meric by his locker and we walkedout to the parking lot together to wait on whichever of his parents wascoming to pick us up today. On the way, I filled him in on what CoachThomas had told me. He nodded in agreement to the little speech I had beengiven. "Quarterback is an important position," he said as we sat down outside."Have to be in control all the time." I nodded. Mrs. Kinney pulled up shortly after that and we piled in. After confirmingthat we had indeed had a good day, Meric turned on the radio. We didn'thave that much time, since the doctor's appointment was very soon. Westopped briefly by the house to drop Meric and our bags off. I hopped intothe front seat and we hurried to the medical complex that was near thehouse. "Dr. Norris is a good man. He's been our family doctor a while now. I hadto tell him that you had been shot, but didn't go into any details. Hewon't ask, either, so you don't have to worry about that." To tell thetruth, I had been a little worried that I would have to explain what hadhappened. "Ah the newest addition to my favorite family of clients," Dr. Norris saidas we entered his office a short while later. He had several framedcertificates on the wall and with his white coat and glasses definitelylooked the part. I smiled a little. "Come on into the examining room andlet's see what we got here." I sat down on the raised bed that all medical examination rooms seem tohave and took off my shirt at his request. He spent a few minutes checkingmy vitals, and then focused in on the right side of my chest, poking everynow and then and asking "Does this hurt?" He finished his exam and pulledout a file folder from a cabinet and spent a few minutes looking throughit, nodding to himself. "Well, Brandon. After looking at the results from some tests and such fromthe hospital in Greenville and doing the exam here, I think you're going tobe just fine. You just need to give it a rest for about three weeks, whichI think you already know. I heard that you are going to be playing on theJefferson football team, but you need to take it easy for a while." "Thanks, Doctor. I knew about that and already told my coach that Icouldn't do anything physical for three weeks. Do you have any idea whythat one thing made it hurt so much, even after I had been doing otherstuff?" "Well, you're actually a pretty quick healer from what I can tell. Itlooks like the tissue and everything in your chest was well on its way toknitting itself back together. It was slowly being weakened piece by pieceby you doing those things, until it finally got bad enough that you felt ithurt. That part of the chest can be very sensitive. I'm amazed you didn'tnotice the pain before then.". "Well, I did notice it a little, but didn'tthink much of it. I guess that was pretty stupid of me." He nodded, butsmiled. "It's all right, just so long as you take care of it now. It should stillheal fine. But no football! Now, put your shirt back on and go enjoy yourweekend. I've got a son that goes to Jefferson, so maybe I'll see you playsometime. Lord knows that team could use some help." "I'll look forward to it, Doctor Norris. Thanks!" Mrs. Kinney was waiting for me out in his office. I filled her in on whathe had said, which really wasn't anything new, but it was good to get aprofessional opinion and to know that nothing was permanently damaged. Ournext stop was the police station, which I wasn't looking forward to at all.We spent about 30 minutes there filling out a report and giving adescription of my father to one of the detectives on duty. He told us thathe would be in touch with the department back in Greenville and would keepus updated as soon as he heard something. When we finally got back to the house, it was about 5:30 and I realized Iwas very hungry. Mrs. Kinney told me she'd have dinner ready about 6:30,something light since we'd probably be eating at the party, and I headedupstairs to find Striker and Meric. I knocked softly on the door to Meric's room when I got there, but didn'tget a response. I slowly opened the door and looked inside. He was drapedacross his bed asleep. Striker had thrown himself across Meric'smidsection, and was contentedly rising and falling with Meric's lightbreathing. I smiled and closed the door quietly, hoping not to wake themup. He had a bit longer to sleep and we'd probably need all our energy forthe party tonight. It was a little after 7:40 when we pulled into the driveway of the Zegushousehold. They had a really nice house, even nicer than the Kinneys. Icouldn't see exactly how much land they had as they had a fence blockingmost of the backyard from view. There were already a few cars here,probably from older students who could drive themselves. Meric and I weregetting pretty close to being able to do that, and I was really lookingforward to it. Maybe I could even get a job and get myself a car. Westepped out of the 4Runner and waved goodbye to Mr. Kinney, reaffirmingthat we would be ready to go at 11:30. I glanced over at Meric as we walked up the driveway to the front door. Hewas wearing a long sleeve light blue and white shirt from Abercrombie overa solid blue shirt. His dark brown shoes looked really good with the darkbut well worn jeans he was wearing. It was actually a little chillybecause of the cold front passing through, so I had dressed a little warmerthan usual as well. I had on a white turtleneck sweater and jeans similarto Meric's. I thought we looked pretty good, and we should, considering wehad spent the better part of 30 minutes picking out the outfits. Add thatto the time spent in the shower, shaving and getting our hair just right,it had been quite an ordeal. As a teenager, any social event called forsuch intense preparation. I barely finished knocking on the door when it was flung open. Jenniferstood on the other side, framed by the light hanging overhead in the foyer.She was...beautiful. "Hi guys! So glad you could make it! Come on in, there's already a fewpeople here down in the game room." We followed her inside and downstairsto the basement. I could feel the bass of the music playing long before weactually got near enough to make out the rest of the song. I didn'trecognize it, but I wasn't exactly up on the latest party music, either.There were three people already there playing pool and another coupletalking over by the bar. Wait, what? The bar? Uh oh. I guess I shouldhave expected this, but it was still a surprise. Meric headed off to thepool table to see if he could join in, leaving me alone with Jennifer. I'dhave to remember to get him back for this later. "So, let me show you around, Brandon. Do you want something to drink?"She had walked over to the bar and gone around behind it. She pulled out alarge bottle of vodka, and was mixing herself a drink. "Uh, just some water please." She seemed disappointed I didn't want tojoin her in something stronger. "You sure? My parents don't care. They bought this stuff for us." Soundlike great people. I shook my head and took my bottled water from her.Taking her own drink, we headed around the room, first introducing me tothe people that were already there. I had seen most of them in the hallwayat school at one time or another, and they all seemed to know me. She tookme back upstairs and showed me the rest of the house, as well as the backyard, complete with large swimming pool and deck. It really was a nicehouse, and I told her as much. "Thank you, Brandon! You're such a nice guy. I'm glad you could be here!"I smiled and looked down. Oh boy, she had already finished her drink. Ihad a feeling that it wasn't her first, and wouldn't be the last. Thisnight might get interesting. We ended up back downstairs after greeting a few more people at thedoorway. Bryce showed up about 15 minutes after Meric and I had. When weanswered the door, he seemed surprised to see me with Jennifer's arm aroundmy waist (this had happened almost immediately after we had been alone).He didn't say anything though, and we followed him downstairs to rejoin theparty. She had to go back upstairs occasionally to let more people in, andby the time the party was in full swing, there were easily 40 people there.I recognized quite a few of the guys from the football team, and we talkeda bit about me missing the first game and the status of the team ingeneral. They seemed genuinely excited that I was going to be their QBthis season. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. About 8:45, thedoorbell rang again. Jennifer seemed surprised that someone would show upthis late. She didn't seem very sure of herself when it came to movingabout, having downed at least two more drinks, so I offered to go let theperson in. If I had known it was Jack, I wouldn't have been so eager. "Oh...you're here," he said by way of greeting. I nodded but didn't sayanything else. I closed the door behind him and pointed towards thestaircase that led to the basement. He headed down and immediately went togo hang out with a group of football players. I was next up on the pooltable, and was looking forward to making a fool of myself. Sure enough, Imanaged to sink the white ball more times than anything else, but it wasall in good fun. Just about everyone seemed to be drinking alcohol of somesort. I noticed that Meric wasn't participating, as well as Tom and Brycefrom the team. They seemed to disapprove very much of their teammatesdrinking, but didn't bring it up. It had probably been argued about oftenin the past. Since there were still two weeks until the first game, Ifigured I'd not worry about it too much. Once we were playing, though, I'dhave to have a word with them. Coach Thomas had put his trust in me to bethe leader, and I was going to do my best. The one person drinking that I was worried about was Jack. He seemed to bethe kind of person that got angry when they were drunk, and he was gettingvery loud. Around 9:45 Jennifer turned down the music and got everyone'sattention. Apparently she wanted us to play a game together. It just sohappened that she had a giant twister pad, easily large enough for all ofus to play on. I wasn't too interested in contorting my body given the waymy side was feeling, so I offered to be the person deciding which bodyparts would go where. Jennifer seemed pretty disappointed that she wasn'tgoing to get to rub up against me, but I was pretty sure she'd think ofanother way to accomplish her goal. By this time Jack was pretty welldrunk and was getting even louder. A few people had moved to the otherside of the mat away from him. The game looked to actually be a lot of fun and I was sorry that I wasn'table to participate. But, it was amusing to watch people try to stay up,especially considering most of them probably couldn't see straight.Everything seemed to be going well until I heard a scream from the oppositeside of the mat. "Get...off!" I didn't recognize the voice, but it definitely belonged to agirl. Everyone had stood up to see what was going on, so I had to movearound the outside of the mat to see for myself. I wasn't ready for what Isaw. Jack was lying on top of some girl I didn't know and was trying tokiss her. Everyone seemed to be frozen in place, so I quickly moved downthere to help. I grabbed Jack by the shoulders and pulled him off. He hadbeen holding onto the shirt the girl was wearing, and part of it rippedoff, showing her bra. He stumbled backwards, unable to stop himself in hisdrunken state, and he fell over backwards with a loud "oof." I turnedquickly to see if the girl was all right. Jennifer had moved over by thenand had given the girl a jacket to put on over her ripped shirt. I turned back to face Jack just as his fist connected with my jaw. My headsnapped back and I stumbled, finally dropping to one knee to steady myself. "Don't you ever touch me again, asshole. Who do you think you are, comingin here and taking my team?" It was kinda hard to understand what he wassaying as his words were pretty slurred, but I got the general idea. Iknew everyone was watching us. I needed to be very careful about how Ihandled this. "Look Jack, I was just trying to help this girl. She didn't want you doingwhat you were doing." "Mind your own business!" He seemed to think that any more words wereunnecessary and took an unsteady step forward, trying to hit me again. Istepped aside pretty easily and he just fell over onto the carpeted floor.He moaned a couple times and then threw up. I just shook my head indisgust, and turned to face Jennifer. "I think the party's over, Jennifer." She had a very surprised look on herface, but she nodded slowly in agreement. Everyone was shocked at what hadhappened. A line formed as some of the kids placed phone calls to parentsto come pick them up early. Meric walked over to me and patted me on theshoulder. "I think you handled that pretty well," he said. I nodded, still keepingan eye on Jack. He seemed to have passed out lying in a pool of his ownvomit. The girl he had been groping was sitting in a chair quietly crying.I pointed her out to Meric, who immediately went over and sat next to her.If anyone could calm her down, he was the one. Meric and I were the last two people to leave the party. I wanted to makesure that Jennifer and the other girl, whose name was Theresa, were goingto be all right. One of the football players had agreed to take Jack home,and I knew that I was going to have to deal with that one on Monday. Wetold Mr. Kinney about what had happened on our ride back to the house, andhe agreed with Meric that I had handled the situation pretty well. I hadpromised myself that morning that I was going to take it easy this day, butI guess it just wasn't in the cards for me to have an easy day. I took ashower when we got back to the house and crawled into bed, glad the weekwas over.
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