It has been said that there's no more destructive force in the universe then clumsy teenagers. Especially when there's alcohol involved. When you gather 65 of them in one place, and there are no parents (i.e., the enemy) to keep them in check, you can expect a heck of a raucous party.

And yet Dana was keeping everything in check, somehow. I watched her from a corner of the room, flitting from group to group, gently reminding folks that it was her house, and that she'd be in killer trouble if anything happened, but still letting folks have a good time. Her pony-tailed head bobbed as she laughed along with a joke offered by one of her classmates, and tossed a little double entendre back that had everybody in the group roaring with laughter. With a toss of her hair, she jokingly flounced away, and the laughter followed her. She was doing her best to make sure every person at her party had a good time.

Too bad she wasn't having a good time herself. She could hide it from 99% of the people, but I knew better. We had grown up best friends and next door neighbors, and even though we had slightly drifted apart in high school (we were in different cliques), we could still read each other like a book. She was wound tighter then a delicate Swiss watch powered by a Porsche engine. And I think I knew why, Dana was without her other half.

Her boyfriend, Johnny, was supposed to have been there about an hour ago, as he had helped her plan this party weeks ago, when they realized her parents would be in Acapulco for a week. The fact that it was her 17^th birthday this week just added to it. His absence was noticed, but not questioned by most. After all, they were the perfect couple. The football hero, and the captain of the cheerleading squad. They looked so damn CUTE together, like they were saying "Yeah, we're every cliché in the book, but we make it look new and fun". There was an ongoing project by the in-clique to have them preemptively declared the King and the Queen of the Senior Prom, and one had to admit that there weren't many better choices.

As Dana finished a circuit of the main room and headed for the table with the drinks on it (mostly soda and water, but in homage to the teenager-created tradition, there was also a bowl of fruit punch that was probably spiked three or four different ways from discreet bottles and hip flasks), I decided to leave my corner, and see if there was anything I could do to help.

As she poured herself a soda (she never drank alcohol it seemed, unlike just about every other kid in our school, I had a glimmer of an evil idea, and waited until she set the soda bottle down, and gave her a soft poke in the back, and whispered "And what's a nice girl like you doing at a crazy party like this?".

She barely suppressed a shriek of surprise as she half jumped; half twisted away from my joking poke, and turned to face me, ready to swing at the guy who'd dare proposition her. Her face relaxed when she saw who did it. "You are such a GOOBER, Hopkins!" she said quietly, but the grin on her face took the sting away from her words. It was a welcome respite from the growing look of worry in her eyes, but it was only a brief respite, as a noise by the door, caused her to look over at there anxiously, before turning back to me.

"So, where's Tall, Dark, and Prone to eating opposing Halfbacks", I continued, my tone light, but I saw from the look on her face that she was wondering the same thing, and she sighed, making sure nobody was watching her, so to keep all the gossips from commenting about how lost she was without her PRECIOUS Johnny. She might have been the most popular girl in the school, but all that meant is if she fell, she'd fall from a greater height. And the gossips were always willing to pull somebody down.

Apparently convinced that none of the gossips in the room were paying attention to a couple old friends talking over a couple sodas, her façade slipped for a second, and she looked both worried and vulnerable. "I don't KNOW, Mike..." she said, her hand absently playing with a couple strands of her hair, curling them around her finger, a nervous habit that she had ever since she was young, and one that normally I would have taken great pleasure in teasing her about it. At the moment it seemed kind of like I'd be piling on if I teased her.

Taking a deep breath, she continued. "He left me a message on the cell phone that he would be a little late, that he had to pick someone up, and to do something, before he could make it, but he'd be here.". The furtive look she gave the door made me think something ELSE was going on, but I didn't inquire further beyond a slightly raised eyebrow. Dana was NOT good at keeping secrets from me. She was a mask to most other people, but we had been friends long enough for me to pick up the signs. If she wanted to say something, she would.

Apparently, her need to talk to someone, anyone, about her issues and her lack of practice in keeping secrets from me meant even that small bit of pressure was enough to make her yield. "It's just that... that tonight was supposed to be big for us. He's been telling me we should take the relationship to the next level, and for the past few weeks, we've not been able to find a time to BE together... and I was going to see if we could do something after the party."

Well, THAT rocked me back a step or two mentally, that was unexpected! But I was able to fallback on a joke while my mental thought processes realigned. "Greeeaattt... remind me to pull my shades. If I remember correctly, your room and I look out on each other." I half laughed, half groaned. Inwardly, a bit of my psyche wished that I could see that, see her body twisting in desire; hear her groan in pleasure... but down that road lays madness, so I ruthlessly suppressed that thought. I've had a crush on her for years, since I've been able to understand what that meant, but I've never acted on it. Why try if you're doomed to failure, you know? We're still friends after all this time, and that's pretty cool, isn't it?

She laughed under her breath while giving me a speculative eye as I had trailed off while trying to stomp down the part of me that was making blood flow to places they shouldn't while in public. I shrugged. "Cool. Should I assume that means you two haven't been... err... intimate as of yet?" I knew it was a bit of an indelicate question, but I couldn't think of anything else to keep the conversation going, and I wanted to keep her from worrying about where Johnny was.

She knew it was an indelicate question, but she didn't even flinch. "Well... it's been everything but, really, but he really wants to go further, and show how much he loves me... He's been saying that it's like ordering a sundae full of toppings, and then just eating the toppings and leaving the ice cream to melt..." Her voice tailed off as she looked at me. I'm sure my face shown my disquiet at the topic.

"So, he's been setting the pace... has he? Are you... no... ? Not my place to say." I forced a smile to appear on my face, and desperately cast around; trying to find a safe subject that wouldn't lead to me asking her if she had any choice on how far they were going. After a couple seconds, I was able to come up with SOMETHING. "Listen, do you need a cleanup crew after the party's over, or something? My folks know I'm over here, and as long as things aren't too out of hand, I'd be glad to pick things up".

"Nah, that's ok... Johnny and I will clean up..." and her voice just died completely as she froze, looking over at the doorway. Right then and there, I knew something was so wrong. So wrong, in fact, things would never be the same. I slowly turned my head to the doorway to see what had affected her so completely, and would have done a spit-take, had I been drinking.

Standing in the door way, like a King and Queen, hand-in-hand, was Dana's boyfriend Johnny, and one of the biggest snobs in school, the self proclaimed "rich bitch", Judy Williams! They smiled at each other, obviously proud of having up-staged Dana's party with their entry. She was even wearing his letterman's jacket, for god's sake. As they walked over to wear Dana was standing, shock obvious on her face, I saw a glint from a necklace that drooped down over her dress, and peeked out from underneath the way too big letterman's jacket, and felt a double shock.

It was a class ring, presumably Johnny's, hanging on a heavy gold chain designed to attract attention, and I felt a surge of anger build inside of me. They had obviously planned this for weeks, and Johnny had taken advantage of her, by pushing her into sexual situations, while hoping to destroy her, both socially and emotionally in one fell swoop.

Dana knew a setup when she saw one, and kept her emotions under check as much as possible, but she was really upset about this. Not waiting for either of the two lovebirds to throw it in her face, she went on the offensive "Well, hello, Johnny. When you told me you had to pick someone up before you showed up, I thought you meant someone who's welcome at my house. Did you have to search many street corners to find her?". There was an audible "oooooooh" from the folks who could hear her comment, and they slowly edged away from the four of us.

Johnny looked to reply, but Judy stepped in front of him, and launched her own attack. "Oh don't worry, we won't be staying long, we just thought it would be polite to tell you to your face that he had decided to break up with you to be with some one better. It's not OUR fault that you've been avoiding him, and we had to deal with it in public, is it?"

To me it sounded like two cats yowling at each other, bearing their claws, but I saw how deeply Dana had been hurt, even though she maintained the half-smile on her face and didn't flinch once. "Oh, he's had plenty of opportunities to tell me he prefers a horse-faced shrew like you to me, but he never got around to it... But then again, I think he's ashamed of making that decision, isn't he? I wonder when the lure of your money will wear off..."

The crowd drew another half breath of shock and surprise, and I was doing the same. In a war like this, usually it was fought in muttered asides and whispered innuendo, and no fight ever got to this level of hatred before somebody stepped into to defuse the situation. This was different. This was no brushfire conflict that would quickly flare up, and just as quickly die down. This was nuclear war.

Neither Judy nor Dana's reputation would survive this, but neither cared any more. Judy's plans had supposed that Dana would play the role of victim, and Dana might have been lost, hurting, but if there was one thing Dana was not, was a victim. From the level of the glares they were leveling at each other, they were seconds away from physically attacking each other, and I swallowed my anger long enough to decide that shouldn't happen.

Before Judy could recover, and continue throwing insults at Dana, I stepped in between the two of them, and they both transferred their glares to me, and I think they were both a bit surprised. While I wasn't totally invisible at school, I was certainly one of the less active troublemakers (or as the case may be, peacemaker) in the school. To step between these two was a major step out of character for me. I think I was even shocked, but I knew where this would end, and wanted to at least keep it from getting to that final confrontation. My voice was level and calm, but even to my ears, my voice had its own edge. "You've shown up, you've made your point, and I think you know you're not welcome here. I think you'd better leave. You're ruining a good party with your petty tactics."

Judy seemed ready to launch an attack on ME for daring to get between her target and her, but Johnny laid a protective hand on her shoulder, to keep it from getting worse. This was his first physical reaction to the argument. He just stood there, with a smile on his face, as if he was PROUD that he, the football hero, had two girls fighting over him. Johnny just smirked at me, and said "And if we didn't want to leave, who's going to make me? You, wussman?"

I didn't even dignify that with an answer, just looked from him, to the doorway pointedly. I was so angry that I WOULD attack him, despite the differences in size and weight. I was in pretty decent shape, but I was giving him four inches and twenty five pounds. But I wasn't going to move one inch. Not for that asshole Johnny. I didn't care if he had the whole football team with him.

Johnny had expected me to back down, just like everyone else did to the football hero type. But when I stood firm, there were a couple angry murmurs from the crowd, even one or two fellow members of the football team, and he judged the lack of support he was getting, and shrugged. "Ok, ok... We're heading out." He half-turned away, and then if something had just crossed his mind, looked back at Dana. "Nothing personal babe, you're good looking and all, and would have been real good, if you weren't such a frigid bitch."

Something deep inside me snapped at that point. I think the only reason Dana didn't attack him first was it had taken a second or two for his attempt at a last word/attack to sink in for her. By that point, I had taken 3 of the 5 steps between us, and lowering my shoulder, barreled into him with a roar of outrage. He only had enough time to semi brace for impact before I knocked him down. He had much more experience on the giving end of that kind of tackle then the receiving, and I think he was shocked that I would actually DO something about it.

The instant we hit the ground I was swinging wildly at him, punches glancing off every part of his face and shoulders. I heard a couple indistinct feminine shrieks behind me, but my vision was filled in a red haze, and all I cared was battering that handsome nose into a bloody pulp. Johnny fired back a few good ones, catching me under my left eye with a punch that rocked my head back for a second, but I was like a machine, I didn't feel any pain. Soon he abandoned all attempts at offense and just tried to avoid my punches or deflect them, his eyes wide with shock as he tried to fend me off.

I felt hands trying to pull me off of him, and I struggled mightily. The first time they pulled me off, I managed to somehow break free and jumping back on him, continued to attack, but the second time, there were three of them. One had me by the waist, and the other two hand my shoulders and arms... And I was still attempting to break free.

I heard a girl whisper... "Geeezz... He just kicked Johnny Antonucci's ass!" to a confederate, as I looked down on him. Indeed, Johnny was still looking up at me, though he didn't look so hot, with blood trickling from both his nose and a split lip, and the beginnings of a good shiner underneath his right eye.

Now that HE had the advantage, he shook off the dizziness, and advanced toward me, only to have someone ELSE stop him. Hank Kartsen, who was known as "Hank the Tank", for his skills on the gridiron (and the fact that he resembled a tank, despite being a gentle giant) stopped him before he could get close enough to where I was to return the favor I did him. Hank spoke slowly, but every word was measured. "Not gonna happen, Johnny. Turn around, and walk away."

Johnny tried to push past him, but Hank easily kept him at arm's length. Johnny knew that his reputation had taken a major hit, and tried to salvage what he tried to push Hank away, with one hand, looking past him, and screaming at me "You better watch your ass, because next time I see you, Hopkins, I'm going to put you in the hospital..."

His angry words turned into a shriek of pain, as Hank reached down, took Johnny's wrist in one of his huge paws, and SQUEEZED hard. I think, even from where I was standing, I heard bones grind against each other. Hank's voice was softer then before, but there was no softness in his words. "You do that, Johnny, and I'll tell them exactly where to look. That is if I don't find you first. I said, turn around... And WALK AWAY." He finally gibbered his acceptance, and Hank let go. Obviously defeated and shaking his hand, gingerly made his way toward the door. Judy followed her defeated man toward the door, thankfully silent

As the door shut behind them, the folks holding me back finally got me to sit down, and just like that, all the adrenalin that I had in my body just evaporated, and I was left wondering what had happened, and how I had in the words of that unknown girl, "Kicked Johnny Antonucci's ass". I barely had enough energy to raise my head, and look at Dana, who was looking back at me like I had grown antlers or something. Hank checked out the window, and apparently satisfied that Judy and Johnny were NOT coming back to cause more trouble, turned to the crowd. "Listen, I know we had a good party going on before those two jerks ruined it, but I don't think it'd be polite to bother Dana any further. I think we should all pack up our stuff, and call it an evening."

There was a quiet, subdued round of murmurs, and the party began breaking up. Hank walked over and whispered something to Dana, who was beginning to go through shock at this point, and she mechanically began to pick up items and putting them away. He then ambled over to me, and crouching a bit, so he could look me in the eye, spoke quietly. "Don't worry about that windbag Johnny. If he tries anything, he'll lose any chance of a scholarship and catch himself a beating at the same time. We knew he was a scumbag for a while now, but we thought Dana over there was civilizing him"

I looked at him as if he was from another planet or something. All we ever heard was how the football players acted together, but in this thing, Hank had not only worked against the football team's hero, he had told him that if anything happened to me, not only would he make sure the authorities knew about it, he would offer a bit of private justice for me.

He smiled slightly. "Dana said you offered to stay and help, but I think she needs some time by herself. She's going to need to cry... and she's going to think. And soon... she's going to realize how you feel about her... I mean how you REALLY feel about her... and then she'll understand why you did what you did."

He must have caught my look of panic, and Hank chuckled to himself. "Listen man, I may be no genius with the ladies myself, but I saw the way you stood behind her when it all started, when other folks would have stepped away. And I saw the look in your eyes when you took a run at him. It wasn't because he was insulting you that you got mad. They tried to twist the knife in her emotional wounds, and you were defending your friend. Don't worry... I think she'll understand." Fortunately, she was cleaning up the kitchen, while Hank and I chatted in the den. I took advantage of the chance to get out without talking to anyone. Folks gave me sidelong glances and really didn't talk to me that much, and then again, I was glad for the silence.

I spent the rest of that night, staring out the window toward Dana's house. I could see lights go on and off from various windows around the house as she cleaned up. About midnight, or when the party was supposed to wind down, I noticed the light go on in Dana's room. Even at a distance, I could see the tear tracks on her face. She came up to the window, and we spent a good half minute just staring across the gap between us. I'm not just talking about a physical one. The sad smile she gave me showed me how much of an emotional gap there was as well. There was a feeling of disconnection between us, underscored by the fact that she eventually waved slightly, and lowered the shade, breaking off contact.

I wished it hadn't happened, of course, but I wish that it happened during the school year. That way I could have kept busy at the books or whatever, and not brooded about it. The more I thought about it, the worse I felt. Sure I had done the right thing to protect a friend, but I basically usurped her right to take care of it herself. Or at least that's what I kept telling myself.