The Kids Don't Stand A Chance

“Hey Zack,” I said on Friday, two days after the game was finalized. I had been dreading the return to English, in fear that I wouldn’t be able to look at my partner the same way. Yet I had no choice, and I knew that for the sake of the game and my chances of winning, I was going to have to play it off like nothing was wrong.

“Hi, Ava,” he greeted, smiling as I sat down at my assigned seat. “You do the homework last night?”

I nodded, digging through my bag for the paper I had written. “Yeah, it’s in here somewhere,” I mumbled, wishing I was as organized as Kylie, who kept each assignment in a color coordinated folder based on class. I, on the other hand, just threw my work into my bag. “Oh, here it is,” I said, pulling out a now wrinkled sheet of paper.

“Wow, you wrote a lot more than I did,” Zack mumbled, taking my paper and beginning to look over it. While his concentration was focused heavily on my work, I took the moment as an opportunity to scan his body for what I needed most: his set of keys.

Kylie was right when she said that most guys in our school carried around their keys from a piece of lanyard with our school colors on it, but she was wrong about Zack. Zack carried his keys and school I.D. card on an orange carabineer that clipped on to the back of his jeans. I bit my lip in anticipation – it would be one thing if I had to pull a lanyard out of his pocket, but to unclip something so silently and carefully, well, that could be a problem.

“Damn, Ava, you’re going to get an A for sure,” Zack commented after he had handed me back my page.

“You really think so?” I questioned, my proud grin stretching across my face.

“Definitely.” He smiled at me one last time before our teacher began class. However my mind continually switched back to the party tomorrow night, and my gaze consistently averted to the clip on his jeans. I wondered if he was a good kisser; hell, I wondered if he would even want to kiss me. Maybe it would be good to break rule number two and get him a little more drunk than he would already be. So long as Kylie wasn’t watching, it wouldn’t make much of a difference, right?

Oh, who was I fooling, she’d be watching.

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“Alright,” Kylie said, grabbing my hand and pulling me behind a tree. Julia’s house was packed with teenagers, and we could hear the music from nearly four streets away. Kids were hanging around on the porch and on the front yard, but I was too nervous to be phased by the crowds. “Keep your phone on, and remember, you’ve got to get Zack’s keys tonight. 1:30 in the morning; that’s our deadline.” I nodded briskly, glancing back towards the house. Zack was in there somewhere, and I could feel the butterflies kicking in my stomach.

“Got it. Good luck,” I replied, and she wished me the same before we walked inside.

The music was pounding as I entered the house, the bass thumping up my legs and through my stomach. I glanced behind me, wondering if Kylie was still there, but she was already gone. Taking a deep breath, I made my way through the crowds of people and towards the kitchen.

“Hey, baby,” a voice said, catching me off guard. I spun around, taking in the appearance of Kevin Furey, one of the captains of the baseball team. “Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Uh,” I mumbled, noticing the plastic red cup that was in his grip. The liquid that sloshed around inside looked brown, but smelled harmless. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

“Perfect,” he replied, walking a few feet past me and stopping in front of a table with more alcohol than I had ever seen. I watched carefully as he mixed together a drink that was part vodka, part soda pop. Juvenile, I supposed, but it would do. I graciously accepted the drink, taking a small sip. The alcohol burned my throat as it went down, but after the first sip the second just tasted merely like flat coca-cola. “So how come I never see you around school?” Kevin asked, flashing me a bright smile.

Finding my confidence, I twirled a strand of my blonde hair around my finger. “Oh, I don’t –“ I paused suddenly, looking over Kevin’s shoulder and seeing Zack standing with another girl. His eyes shot up, connecting with mine, and I was immediately brought back to reality. I wasn’t here to flirt with a baseball player, I was here to kick ass and take names. I looked back up at Kevin, finishing my previous response with, “I don’t know, I guess you’ll just have to look out for me.” I winked at him, trying to be as cute as I could as I walked away towards Zack. I didn’t look back, too afraid of what Kevin’s reaction would be. But in the back of my mind, I knew I had done well.

Where had this boost of confidence come from? Was it the alcohol? Was this the reason why so many kids at our school drank as often as they did?

“Hey, Zack,” I said, approaching him just as the girl he had been speaking with walked away to refill her drink. She must have taken the hint that I wasn’t going to be leaving him alone anytime soon, because she didn’t come back to try and reinstate their previous conversation.

“Hey Ava. I’m really glad you came,” he responded, taking a swig from his drink.

“Yeah, me too,” I replied, adjusting the stack of bracelets on my wrist.

“So what’re you drinking?” Zack asked, obviously trying to make small conversation.

“Vodka and coke, I think,” I answered, eyeing the now half-empty cup. “Kevin mixed it for me.”

Zack chuckled, taking one last gulp of his drink. “That’s for pussies. Here, try the last bit of mine.” He handed me his cup and I took it without putting up much of a fight. Zack was definitely right, whatever he was drinking was much, much stronger than what I had been given.

“Whoa,” I muttered, clenching my jaw and squeezing my eyes shut. I could hear Zack laughing again, and I felt the cup being gently lifted from my grasp. When the only part of the alcohol left in my mouth was the taste, I regained my composer and, feeling brave, asked, “How about a tour of the house?”

With a small smirk, Zack cocked his eyebrow but lead the way up the stairs anyway. “Well, it’s not really my house, but I’ll do my best,” he said about halfway up the steps. “Um, it looks like this is a bedroom,” Zack began, opening the first door on the right. I poked my head in and laughed when I saw a guy and a girl nearly tearing each other’s clothes off on the bed. “And this is the bathroom.” When he opened the next door we were greeted with the same image. Finally we proceeded to a third door, and upon looking inside I was pleased to see that this room was unoccupied.

“This is a cool room,” I muttered, taking a step inside. Alright, so maybe calling it ‘cool’ was a bit of an exaggeration. Obviously, by the way it was scarcely decorated, it was just a guest room, but I could hear Zack lock the door into place, and I knew it didn’t matter.

“Yeah,” agreed Zack, as he set down his plastic cup. I set mine down, as well, looking at Zack out of the corner of my eye. Or, at least I was looking at the keys on the right side of his jeans. He seemed to be looking at me, but I had other things on my mind. Without giving him much notice, I sauntered up to him and just pressed my lips against his. He didn’t fight back, instead pulling me close and licking my bottom lip in a plea for entrance. As I pulled him towards the bed I granted him what he wanted. With one of my hands tangling itself in his hair, the other slowly began to make its way to his back.

I could feel the cold metal of the clip on my fingertips, and just as I was about to unclip it, I could also feel something else: Zack’s hand cupping my breast. With the hand that was supposed to be taking his keys I gently pushed his hand off my chest. He didn’t pull off of my lips, nor did he protest in any other way, and instead just put his hand back on my waist. I finally moved my hand back to the carabineer, slowly unclipping it as his tongue continued to explore my mouth. When the clip and all the keys attached to it were no longer connected to his jeans, I gripped the keys against the clip, slowly bringing them towards me while making sure they made no noise in the process.

When his keys were safely in my pocket, I was finally able to enjoy kissing Zack. Or, at least realize now what it was like to be kissing him. To put it kindly, he used way to much tongue. It was like I was choking on him. There was nothing even remotely romantic about it, and in my mind I was trying to figure out a way to politely stand up and walk away.

When I could no longer stand it, I finally pulled back and stared him in the eye. He looked at me with a goofy grin that I tried to reciprocate, but couldn’t fully. “I have to go,” I said softly, and he just nodded.

“I’ll see you in English on Monday?” He asked, and I nodded. When I stood up I could feel the weight of his keys weighing down the pocket of my green cardigan, but I exited the room before he could notice anything.

I felt a gush of cold air when I shut the door to the house. The party itself was still in full swing, but now that I had what I needed, I had no desire to stay there. Pulling out my phone, I quickly opened the screen so I could type a text to Kylie.

To: Kylie

i got what i needed. im going home.

I didn’t even keep my phone on incase she was going to text me back. I just turned it off and began walking home.