falling in love... with Farm Boy part 4

Chapter 4: Partying with the Bad Boys1

The gossip died down after about three days when Greg from my science class got arrested along with four other boys that were all on the football team as well for, or so I hear, doing drugs. The very next night I made one of the worst mistakes of my life.2

“Hey Lilah,” Freddy called that day between classes, “You wanna go to a party tonight? It’s outta town.”3

Freddy and I were friends, not the best of friends, but we had hung out and danced at the barn a few times. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal. I got along fine with him and all the people that he hung out with. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal so I agreed to go.4

Later after school George and I were talking it over.5

“No! You can’t go hang out with Freddy. Delilah, are you crazy?” He yelled as soon as I mentioned it.6

“What’s wrong with Freddy?”7

“Well- I don’t know. He’s just bad news. Everything seems to go wrong around him.”8

“What’s that mean?” I asked now genuinely interested.9

“Well, like last year, him and Georgia were dating and after two weeks she was hooked on drugs. Her parents found out and they all moved outta town. We haven’t seen her since.”10

“That doesn’t mean that Freddy made her do drugs. I’m sure she had her own decisions in that!”11

“What about-”12

“No!” I screamed, “Just forget it George. I’m goin out with Freddy and his friends tonight.”13

“Delilah!” he yelled but by that time I was already slamming the house door behind me.14

Jesse was driving by in her pick up truck on her way over to Freddy’s house. I ran to the side of the road and waived my arms.15

“Need a lift?” she asked stopping the car.16

“Yeah, thanks.”17

“Delilah!” I heard George yell as we drove away.18

“Troubles in paradise?” a sly grin crept upon her face as she asked.19

Laughing I said, “He’s hardly what I’d call paradise, but he’s skeptical about me hangin out with you guys tonight.”20

“He always was a pansy.”21

“Hey, he’s not a pansy! He just doesn’t want me to get into trouble. You guys aren’t exactly the most innocent bunch.”22

“You got that right,” she smiled, “we like our life to be more interestin than rodeos and pig wrestlin.”23

We didn’t go to Freddy’s house. I was taken aback when we passed his road completely.24

“I thought we were heading over to Freddy’s.”25

“Nah,” she said with a smile, “his parents are mad at him right now for setting Mary-Lou’s bedroom on fire. He has to sneak out later and meet us at the county fair.”26

“Why did he set Mary- Lou’s bedroom on fire?”27

“He didn’t set in on fire; he caught it on fire. There’s a difference you know.” she said now defensively.28

“Okay,” I started again taking a deep breathe, “How did he catch her bedroom on fire?”29

“I’m sure if you thought about it, you’d get it,” she laughed, “You know, two teenagers alone, some candle light to set the mood-”30

“Alright. Anyways, where’s the fair?” I asked hoping to get that awful picture out of my head.31

“Oh, it’s right around the corner, but we’re just meeting hi there. We can’t actually spend a few hours at some stinkin old fair. Right now we’re goin to Jen’s house. Her parents are away and there are a lot of people hangin out there tonight. Supposed to be a hell of a party.”32

I just smiled. It had been a while since I had a lot of real fun. Fun it was, at first. The party at Jen’s was amazing. It was full of people dancing and drinking and just having fun like teenagers should.33

“ComeonLilah,” Jesse said, “LetsgogetFreddy.”34

She was stumbling and I knew that she had to many drinks to be driving. I didn’t have a car so I never sent out to get my license. It just wasn’t a priority, especially in such a small town, where I could walk anywhere that I needed to get to.35

“I’ll drive,” I offered despite the facts.36

“No,” she said nearly falling as she walked, “Igotit.”37

We fought for a few minutes about it, but she wouldn’t give in. I tried hard to at least get the keys from her, that way even if she was mad at me I knew she couldn’t drive. In the end she won. I didn’t want her to get hurt, which was the only reason that I got in the truck with her.38

After many near-misses of the same tree as we pulled out of the yard, I knew I had made a huge mistake. Jesse could barely keep her head turned towards the road, and I knew that she wasn’t able to pay attention.39

“SoLilah,” she said looking at me and nowhere near on the road, “whatsgoinonwithyouandGeorge?”40

“Jesse, are you sure you don’t want me to drive?” I asked grabbing the wheel anyways. The fair was in the middle of nowhere. There were no trees and the ground was as flat as the dirt road. If it weren’t for the cops being out, I wouldn’t have minded that we were completely off road.41

“No,gimmethewheel.” she yelled, “Imyourfriend,youcantellmewhatsgoingonbetwixtthetwoofyouyouknowthat?”42

“Yeah, we’re great.” I said still trying to grip at the wheel despite her attempts to push me away.43

Freddy was already at the fairground- and as drunk as Jesse. Jesse pushed over and Freddy drove. It was a miracle that we got to the party without crashing. Jesse and Freddy screamed in delight as I gripped the door and we played chicken with an unsuspecting young couple. If they hadn’t turned off the road and crashed themselves, everyone would have been worse off. We didn’t stop to see if they were okay, we just kept going.44

At the party, it was the same as at Jen’s. Everyone was drunk, dancing, and having fun. Everyone, except for me.45

I didn’t know anyone. Some guys were climbing on top of girls that were too drunk to object and others were chugging beer and passing out. One guy turned me around and shoved his tongue down my throat before I could say anything. I tried to push him away and when nothing was working and it was apparent that no one was going to save me I bet down-hard. Alien blood poured into my mouth as the guy who kissed me slapped me and called me a whore.46

I fell hard on the floor and Jesse came stumbling towards me. “Youknowwhat? HesalothotterthanGeroge.” she said and tried to stand back up. I saw another guy grab her by the back of the waist and “help” her walk away.47

I left the house and the guy whose tongue I bit, followed me.48

“Hey!” he yelled, but I ignored him, “Hey! You whore, I’m talkin to ya.”49

He grabbed my shoulder and whipped me around. After hitting me a few more times I grew too weak to stand. I first fell to my knees, and then he pushed me again onto my back. He laid down on top of me and I knew what he was doing.50

I screamed and kicked and fought back as much as I could. Freddy came outside with some girl and the guy on top of me shoved his hand on my mouth. I tried to scream, and I know that I made noise. Freddy looked at me for a second and waved. “Lilah! You havinfun yet?”51

The guy on top of me continued to try to tear my clothes off. Another car pulled up. I recognized it immediately as George’s.52

“Get off of her!” he yelled running to my rescue.53

“Hey man, she’s the whore. Don’t worry. I got this under control.”54

Grabbing the guy, George pulled him off of me. I don’t know how the fight went. I ran to the truck and locked myself in it. I saw the both of them get in a few punches and then the sirens started. Everyone who was sober enough to realize what was going on scrambled out of the house. I unlocked the door for George and he sped away.55

“Are you okay?” he asked putting his hand on the back of my head.56

I shook my head and looked away. I was too ashamed to look in his eyes. He was right all along.57

The rest of the ride was silent. Somewhere along the ride I fell asleep. When I woke up, the sun was shining in my face and George’s arms were wrapped around me.58

“George,” Rich said opening the door, “I need ta talk taya.”59

He kissed me on the cheek and left the room.60

Outside they were yelling. They didn’t walk away from the door and I heard everything that they were saying.61

It started out calm. They were talking and all I could hear was mumbling coming through the walls. Then they started yelling. Rich was upset that I had left and gotten myself into so much trouble. George was yelling about how I didn’t know any better of the people around here. It was a short argument and then Carla interrupted them.62

“Boys, it’s Sunday. Get ready for church and stop this non sense arguing. We’ll discuss it tomorrow. George, wake up Delilah and tell her to get ready.63