Bite Your Tongue

8:16 A.M.
Korinne;;

My hand gripped the lock tightly, hoping to everything I could think of that the damn thing would just open. I heard three tiny clicks as I twisted the combination, and my jaw fell open as the locker door finally lost its never-ending battle with me.

I did a small victory dance and began to put books in my locker. Now I wouldn’t have to find Brian every morning to open it—though that was something I didn’t mind. Any time I was able to spend with him was a blessing, and nothing made me happier than gazing upon his smiling face whenever possible. For a while now, he’d driven me to and from school and usually stayed until my mom kicked him out after, since we didn’t see each other that much during the day. Whenever he held my hand, he sparked tingly nerve reactions up and down my arm. Whenever he kissed me, for a moment, everything around us vanished. He was everything I’d ever wanted wrapped up into a ridiculously attractive body.

A smile found its way onto my face as I thought of him; a smile that grew wider when I felt a familiar pair or arms wrap themselves around my waist. I happily released the Spanish textbook in my hand and let myself fall backwards slightly into that glorious chest, the one I would gladly have laid my head upon for the rest of eternity.

“Hey,” Brian said, his breath tickling my ear. I turned to face him and was delighted to find his face only inches from mine.

“Hey,” I replied. He pulled me closer to him and sealed my lips with a kiss; one of the kisses I had grown so used to and doubted I would ever be able to live without.

He placed his forehead against mine after the kiss ended and looked at me like I was the most important thing on earth, while I marveled at the sensations that simple physical contact had on me. Nothing compared to the feeling of standing this close to him.

“Having a good morning?” he asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be? You’re here.”

He smiled. “So, about tonight…”

A small flutter of worry formed in the pit of my stomach. I was instantly afraid he was going to cancel our plans to hang out at his house, watching crappy horror movies and gorging ourselves on pizza. We had only been dating for two weeks, and it was becoming slightly eerie how he fit perfectly into my life. I felt strange when he wasn’t around—which was why a change of plans terrified me.

“What about it?” I asked nervously.

“Jimmy’s parents are going out of town and he’s decided to see if he can get away with throwing a party. But he wants the band to play, so—”

“So you have to cancel?”

Brian’s brow furrowed, and his chocolate eyes swam with confusion. “Why would I cancel?”

“Because you’re playing with the band…”

His features relaxed into a carefree smile as he cupped my face in his warm hands. “Don’t be silly. You’re coming with me, of course!”

“I am?”

“If you want to.”

I smiled, relieved. “I definitely want to.”

“Good. I’ll pick you up at seven.”

+++

6:42 P.M.

“Stevie, I’m not going to overdose on drugs,” I said into the phone, laughing as I tried to decide what to wear.

“I’m just saying, there might be drugs there. And or alcohol.”

“So? It’s not like I was expecting it to be a family-friendly party. This is Jimmy we’re talking about, after all.”

Stevie sighed. “True. I don’t want you to get into anything that might corrupt your innocent brain, that’s all.”

I snorted and appraised the two shirts I had laid out on my bed with a hand on my hip. “Right. Well, you’ll be there, so I’m sure you’ll steer me away from the road to self-destruction.”

“Korinne--”

Stevie’s reply was cut off by the loud sound of a horn honking from outside. I walked to the window and peered through the glass, diving into panic mode once I caught sight of Brian’s car in the driveway.

“Shit!”

“What?” Stevie asked.

“Brian’s early picking me up, and I’m not even dressed yet!” I exclaimed, hurriedly grabbing one of the shirts at random and yanking it on.

“Oh. I’ll let you go, then. See you later,” she said.

I hung up the phone and grabbed the pair of ballet flats Stevie had let me keep for my birthday—I’d just put them on in the car. A quick glance in the mirror told me that my hair was presentable, and I thanked every god I knew of that I had done my makeup a while ago. I seized my purse and all but flew down the stairs, nearly crashing into Elias on his way out of the kitchen. He eyed me curiously as I ran by, but said nothing.

I hurried outside and clumsily threw open the passenger side door, throwing my purse and shoes inside before jumping in myself. Brian raised an eyebrow at me.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, straightening out my shirt in case it had gone askew. “I just thought you said seven, that’s all.”

He frowned slightly. “But I left you a message.”

“Oh…” I took my phone out of my purse and glanced at its screen. Sure enough, I had one new message. “That explains it. I was on the phone with Stevie. Sorry.”

He laughed. “It’s okay. Nothing can combat Stevie’s craziness.”

The ride to Jimmy’s wasn’t long, and once we arrived, it became apparent that Jimmy had, indeed, gotten away with throwing a party. It seemed that every teenager in the state of California had gathered inside, outside, or around his house. Ridiculously loud music could be heard from inside, where, through the open front door, I could see what looked like hundreds of people shimmying and shaking to the music. Several guys were taking turns doing back flips into the Olympic-sized swimming pool at the side of the house, while a few bikini-clad girls cheered them on with colorful drinks in their hands.

Brian had to park four houses down, on the other side of the street, since the driveway was already full. He grasped my hand as we walked back to the house, giving me the feeling of comfort I knew I would need at such a large party.

We found Zacky by the pool, manning the barbecue, which seemed like an unbelievably bad idea.

“Zacky, what the hell are you doing?” asked Brian. “Are you trying to poison all of these people?”

Zacky looked up from the burgers he was cooking and rolled his eyes. “I can cook, you know.”

“Yes, but usually, the things you cook aren’t edible.”

The spatula in Zacky’s hand came dangerously close to smacking Brian in the stomach, but it was intercepted by Delia appearing out of nowhere and grabbing Zacky’s arm.

“Chill, okay?” she said soothingly. She turned to Brian and me. “He’s a little cranky. No one else was willing to barbecue stuff, so he volunteered, and the requests have been nonstop.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” said Brian. He led me away from Zacky and the dangerous barbecue, weaving through the enormous mass of people inside the house until we reached the kitchen. Stevie stood at the counter, opening up bag after bag of chips and pouring them into various bowls.

“I’m going to go find Jimmy and see when he wants to start setting up,” Brian said.

“Okay.”

He kissed me quickly and left. For a moment I was quiet, watching Stevie, who was in a sort of chip-induced trance.

“Stevie?”

She jumped and looked at me like I had randomly burst into existence right that second.

“Jesus! Don’t scare me like that!”

“I thought you saw me! I’ve been standing here for like, two minutes!”

She rolled her eyes and resumed filling a bowl with sour cream and onion chips.

“There are way too many people here,” she said. “It’s practically a fire hazard.”

“And if that’s not a fire hazard, Zacky cooking on the barbeque definitely is,” I added.

“This is so stupid. Matt and I were supposed to go see a movie tonight.”

“You and Matt?” I asked, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, me and Matt,” Stevie replied irritably. She smiled a few seconds later, though. “Yeah…we’re kind of…going out, now.”

“Stevie!”

“What?”

“How come you didn’t tell me!” I shrieked.

“I thought you knew!” she stated.

“How on earth would I know something like that? You guys weren’t like Zacky and Delia, making out all over the place.”

“Well, not all over the place. Just…in my room…” she threw in, giggling.

“In your room?! When did this happen?”

“At your birthday party, right after everyone went to sleep.”

I leaned back against the counter. “Huh. Well, at least I won’t have to deal with you two arguing all the time anymore.”

“Who ever said we were going to stop arguing?”

Delia joined us a few minutes later, shoving a handful of salt & vinegar chips into her mouth.

“The guys are gonna be performing soon,” she said. “Just FYI.”

“Okay.”

The three of us ventured out into the living room, where the bulk of the partygoers were located and where the band had set up their equipment. I caught Brian’s eye as he was tuning his guitar and he winked at me, making me laugh and Stevie snort.

“You two are disgusting,” she complained.

“I doubt you and Matt are any different,” I countered.

She stuck her tongue out at me and sauntered over to Matt, who looked happier than I had ever seen him look when she approached.

“Where’s Zacky?” asked Delia, scanning the crowd.

“No idea.” I looked around too, finding nothing but a random guy in swim trunks with an interesting red mark on the side of his head.

“Dude! What’s up with your face?” wondered the guy next to him.

“That crazy bastard at the barbeque slapped me with a spatula when I asked him to melt some cheese on my burger,” the guy said.

“Uh oh,” Delia muttered. She pushed past the guys and ran out of sight. I held back a small laugh and glanced at the guys, who looked like they were still getting things set up. I decided to go get some food before they started to play and pushed my way through the crowd.

After helping myself to a heaping plate of junk, I found a spot on the floor where I was out of the danger of getting stepped on but could still see everything that was going on. I sat against the wall and dug into a burger, one of the burgers from the tinfoil-covered plate in the kitchen, since I figured that asking Zacky to make me one would probably result in some sort of grill-related injury.

The dance music that had been playing came to a halt suddenly as Jimmy stepped up the microphone.

“Listen up, fuckers,” He waited until everyone was quiet. “Okay, whatever dumbass decided it would be cute to spray silly string all over the upstairs bathroom needs go to clean that shit up before I rip their balls off and toss them into the Pacific. I’m not kidding.”

The crowd twittered. Satisfied at delivering his message, Jimmy moved back and sat behind the drums. Matt took his rightful spot behind the mike. The band immediately launched into a song, sending the crowd into a cheering frenzy. I sat back, content, and let the music wash over me. I was so into the performance that I didn’t notice the person standing in front of me until they spoke.

“Hey, Korinne. Are you thirsty?”

I looked up and had to blink a few times to make sure I was seeing things correctly. Because if I was, then Zoe was smiling cheerfully at me, balancing a tray of drinks in her hand. She looked gorgeous as usual, her blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail and her perfect body looking poured into a blue minidress.

“Uh…” What the hell?

“I just noticed that you didn’t have a drink,” she said, gesturing to the almost empty plate beside me. “A lot of people didn’t notice the cooler full of soda in the kitchen.”

“Yeah, I forgot one,” I said slowly.

Zoe brightened.

“Well, I have Coke, and Sprite, and a bunch of other sodas I forget the names of, and beer, but you probably don’t want that,” she rattled off.

“Um…I’ll have a Coke, I guess…” I took the glass of soda she handed me and gazed at her questioningly. I couldn’t understand her kindness towards me. I expected her to charge at me with a spear, or something along those lines. But this? This was just plain weird.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” I blurted out suddenly. Crap. Stupid! You should have kept your mouth shut!

Zoe sighed and set down the tray before joining me on the floor. “Look, Korinne, I just think we shouldn’t be enemies. I mean, I can’t help the fact that Brian likes you better than me. I’m not going to hate you for it. I’d like for us to be friends, actually,” she explained, looking at me hopefully.

Friends? With Zoe?

Was that loud crash from outside the apocalypse commencing?

“Friends?” I asked skeptically.

“Yes,” Zoe confirmed.

I would have laughed, but she looked completely serious. Maybe she really did want to be friends.

Or maybe she’s turned into a serial killer and she plans to set the house on fire.

Not helping.

“I guess that’d be okay,” I found myself saying, even though I had never really decided one way or another.

Zoe smiled and hugged me quickly before getting to her feet. “That’s great! I’m so glad you forgive me!”

Uh, okay. I never said I forgave you, but whatever.

“I have to go see if anyone else wants something to drink. But I’ll definitely see you around, okay?”

“Okay…”

She walked off; pausing briefly to ask each person she passed if they were thirsty. I shook my head and had a sip of the Coke before turning back to watch the band play. They were even more energetic than I had seen them be at practice, which I hadn’t thought was possible. I loved watching Brian play—his fingers moved so fast they were almost a blur.

He’s pretty talented with those fingers, eh?

Stop. You’re disgusting.

I’m just a voice inside your head. This is all you, Korinne.

I started to feel weird a while later, right after the band got back from taking a short break. I was suddenly inexplicably fatigued, and had to fight to keep my eyes open. I also began to feel nauseous, which was odd, because the only food I was allergic to was shrimp, and I hadn’t eaten any tonight.

I stood up slowly, placing a hand against the wall as a wave of dizziness swept over me. I remembered Jimmy saying that there was a bathroom upstairs; it was just a matter of locating said bathroom before things got ugly. I made my way to the stairs, grateful for the crowd of people around, because they prevented me from falling.

I tried to think of what could have brought this on as I climbed the stairs, stumbling once or twice. I peered into the cracked door first room I saw, hoping that it was the bathroom. Instead, I saw a couple engaging in a liplock on the bed, their limbs twined together in a soon-to-be-intimate way. The girl sat up slightly in order to peel off her shirt, and through the sliver of light from the hallway, I could see that it was Zoe.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” she whispered.

“Me neither,” the guy agreed gruffly.

I turned away, disgusted; as Zoe straddled the guy and leaned down to kiss him again.

I pressed on in search of the bathroom and began to panic when I couldn’t find it. Why does Jimmy’s house have to be so goddamned big? In my confusion, I collided with a guy who was walking out of what appeared to be Jimmy’s room. Through the half-opened door I could see several guys lounging in there, gathered around the TV while they played some sort of video game.

“Oh, sorry,” the guy said. He was way taller than me, with light hair and…a face. I couldn’t really see any more of him; for some reason my vision was starting to blur and the hallway itself seemed to be swaying, like I was on a boat.

“Do…Do you know where the bathroom is?” I asked. My tongue felt thick and heavy in my mouth, and it sounded like I was talking in slow motion.

“Yeah. The last door on the right,” he replied, pointing.

I smiled—or tried to smile, anyway; my muscles didn’t seem to be working so well—gratefully and headed in that direction. Each step I took seemed to grow in difficulty. My legs were so heavy that it felt like I was dragging them through wet sand, and by the time I reached the bathroom, they were so weak that I simply pushed the door open and collapsed on the floor.

A few seconds of looking around told me that this was, in fact, not the bathroom. There was a desk and a bookshelf and nothing at all bathroom-related. Fuck. I pushed myself up on my hands and tried to get to my feet, but that proved to be impossible. I managed to turn around and was planning to crawl out into the hallway to give that guy a piece of my mind. That wasn’t necessary, however, because he appeared in the doorway a second later.

“You…You said this was the bathroom,” I mumbled.

He laughed. “Sorry again. I think I got mixed up,” he said, reaching out a hand to help me up.

I glared at him. Once he realized that I wasn’t going to take his hand, he sighed loudly and scooped me up in his arms. I pushed against his chest, wanting him to put me down, but he just looked at me like I was being silly and said “Relax. I’m just taking you to the bathroom.”

I let him carry me into a room I had completely overlooked before. He set me down on the counter with the sink and I waited for him to leave, but he didn’t. I felt his hands on my thighs suddenly and I leaned away from him, knocking my head against the mirror.

“What are you doing?” I tried to ask. It came out sounding unlike any language I had ever heard before; an incomprehensible garble.

“We’re just going to have some fun, that’s all,” he replied, leaning closer. His face loomed closer to mine and I knew what he was going to do; he was going to kiss me. But he couldn’t—I had Brian. I had—-Where is Brian? I needed him.

The guy must have sensed my resistance—he grabbed my face in his hands and pulled me closer to him. Out of panic, I pushed against him with all my might and was supremely satisfied to see him stumble backward a few steps. Those few steps were enough to send him tumbling into the nearby bathtub.

I hurled myself off of the counter and angled my body towards the door, because I knew I would fall and I wanted to fall out into the hallway rather than inside the bathroom. The side of my face connected with the doorknob as I fell, prompting a searing pain in my eye. I landed on the carpet with a thump and somehow managed to move myself away from the door, despite the world spinning out of control around me. I saw a pair of shoes rushing towards me, seemingly out of nowhere. Then there were voices.

“Korinne?”

“Oh my god, what happened?”

“Shit, Stevie, go get Brian!”

I was suddenly looking up at the worried faces of Delia and Zacky. And that was the last thing I saw before the world spun one final time and everything went dark.