Chapter 27: Late Friday Evening Part 2

We were only about five minutes from home when Dan’s phone started ringing. He pulled over to the side of the road and answered it. His side of the conversation made it really hard to figure out what was going on. After a bit, he turned and looked across Pearl at me.

“It’s Mum. She says Tara hasn’t come home yet. She was supposed to be at the mall and it would’ve closed ages ago. Mum’s asking if you know where Tara would be. If you do, we’re to collect her and bring her home.”

I bit my lip. She’d told me after school that they were going to a party at the top end of Power Street. Tara had wanted me to cover for her, but I didn’t think I was going to be able to get her out of this one. I nodded to Dan. “I know roughly where she was going. I can show you.”

Dan told Mum we were going to go fetch Tara and we’d be home soon. He hung up and apologized to Pearl about the detour. She shrugged and made it clear she was having fun whatever happened. I thought to myself that it sure wasn’t an ordinary date for her.

It didn’t take us long to get to Power Street. I told Dan to head up to the top end, then to slow down because we were looking for a party. I didn’t know exactly what house it was in but I figured if we drove up and down, we’d be able to hear it. We found the party really quickly. It was the only house at that end of the street with cars lined up outside and with all the lights blazing and with music pumping out.

Dan pulled his car across the end of the driveway. I told him to wait there and I would fetch Tara out. I opened the door and slid out of the car. I figured if I went in and brought Tara out, then Dan wouldn’t find out that it was a party for high schoolers. It was mostly to try and make me feel better about not having covered for her like she asked me. That plan came unstuck immediately, because a couple of high school boys came out of the house and staggered off down the street.

Dan was out of the car like a shot. “What sort of party is this? Get back in the car and lock the doors. I think I’d better go find her.” Dan headed towards the house with a pretty stern expression on his face. I decided to stick with him. Maybe I could calm him down a bit and stop him from yelling at Tara in front of all of her friends.

Dan walked straight in through the front door, and I followed right behind. Inside, it was really noisy and I could smell cigarette smoke and something else. There were a couple of teenagers leaning against the wall of the entry hall, hugging and kissing each other. Dan turned left into the main living room and I started to follow him, but then I saw an open door on the right that lead into a sort of sitting room, with a quarter-circle of armchairs and couches facing a blank TV screen.

Tracey – that’s Laura’s Robot Number Two – was sitting in one of the armchairs. More accurately, she was sitting on the lap of a guy at least three years older than her, who was sitting in one of the armchairs. Tracey looked pretty uncomfortable. As I got closer, I saw that the guy had one arm wrapped around her waist and was groping her boob through her opened blouse, while the other hand disappeared up inside her skirt.

“Tracey!” She saw me and started to blush. “Do you know where Tara is? I have to find her.”

Tracey’s eyes, flicked to the side, then back to me. Then she started twisting and pushing as she tried to remove the hands that were attached to her. I took two more steps forward and I could see a guy lying face down on the couch. Except that there were a couple of extra, pale little legs underneath him – it was Tara being half-squished, half-groped and thoroughly kissed. I was a tiny bit relieved to see that her panties were still on. I was more than a bit shocked at how easily I could see that her panties were still on. The ridiculously small miniskirt she was wearing was rucked up around her waist.

This went through my brain while I called out to Tara and tried to drag the guy off her. It was amazingly easy – I don’t think he was expecting to be grabbed by the back of his shirt and by his belt and dragged sideways. He slipped off Tara and thumped onto the floor. I was calling him a lot of names and he sounded a bit cross at me for what I’d done to him. Tara lay on her back with her skirt around her waist and her top all pushed up to her collar-bones. Her boobs aren’t that big and lying on her back like that had made them flatten out until they were almost invisible – but what was visible kind of wobbled as her body shook. She looked up at me with really big eyes and her mouth was gaping open like a fish.

“What are you doing here?” Her voice was kind of small – I think she was a bit embarrassed.

Dan poked his head through the door and I called him over. Before he got there, though, I quickly pulled Tara’s top down to cover her chest. It didn’t go down very far – it was a really short top. I also managed to flip her skirt down enough to cover her panties before Dan saw them.

Tara saw Dan come to stand beside the couch and her eyes started to leak tears. The boy who’d been all over her had got to his feet and was calling me names for interfering with his so-called date. I ignored him and concentrated on getting Tara onto her feet. That was a bit harder than I expected because she was all uncoordinated.

I felt a hand grip my arm and pull me away from Tara. She slumped back onto the couch. I spun around to glare at the idiot who’d grabbed me. I didn’t get to say anything though because Dan got in first.

“Take your hands off my sister.” His voice was quiet and controlled and sounded very, very dangerous.

“What are you going to do about it?” The idiot was sneering at Dan and squeezing my arm. It kind of hurt.

“Don’t worry about me,” smiled Dan. “All I’m going to do is hit you a few times until you fall down. What you should really be worrying about is what she’ll do to you. She can get a bit feisty when she’s crossed and right now she’s looking seriously pissed.”

The guy looked down at me and I glared at him. I guess I tried to look extra-pissed. It wasn’t that hard to do because I really was getting mad. I jerked my arm back and he let go enough for me to get my arm free. What was it with guys trying to grab me tonight? I was completely sick of it. Okay, maybe Dan thought he was messing with the idiot’s head, but right then I was ready to do some serious damage.

Fortunately it didn’t come to that. The idiot muttered about needing a drink and made a very fast exit. Tara was sitting on the couch giggling.

Giggling? “Are you drunk? Have you been drinking?” I asked.

“No! Well, just the punch.”

“Come on, we’re taking you home,” said Dan. He swooped down and picked her up under her knees and shoulders. We headed for the door.

“I think they spiked the punch,” a little voice spoke up behind me. I turned to see Tracey who’d managed to fight free of the octopus that had been holding her. She was watching us leave, with a frightened look in her eyes. I couldn’t blame her, the octopus was emerging from the armchair and was reaching out for her with at least four hands – well maybe not, but that’s what it looked like.

To my amazement, I actually started to feel sorry for her. “Would you like a lift home?”

The grateful look in her eyes shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. I guess I wasn’t used to thinking about her as anything other than a mindless Laura-clone. I gestured for her to follow me and started to leave. Dan was already out the door with Tara.

“Hey, don’t I even get a goodbye kiss?” muttered the octopus. Tracey hesitated, then turned and reached up to peck his cheek. The octopus was having none of that and grabbed her then mashed his mouth down over hers. I grabbed Tracey’s arm and literally wrenched her out of his grasp then I dragged her out of the room.

“Where’s the other Laura-clone?” Okay, that might not have been polite, but I wasn’t feeling polite.

“What?”

“Tara, you and the other one – the three Laura-clones,” I explained. “I don’t even know her name. Where’s the other Laura-clone?”

“She went home. She had to baby-sit.” I notice that Tracey didn’t complain about my label for them. I wondered briefly if clone number three actually had to baby-sit, or if she’d come up with a believable excuse for getting out of coming to the party. I hadn’t let go of Tracey, I was still dragging her all the way to the car. Dan was arranging Tara in the backseat and fastening a seat-belt around her. Tara was trying to help but I think she was being more of a hindrance than a help.

“Dan, we’re taking Tracey home too.”

Dan grunted and glanced back at Tracey. Tracey squirmed under his gaze and tried to straighten her too-short skirt.

“Damn right we’re taking you home too. You had no place being in that party either.”

I knew I was going to hate myself for asking this, but I couldn’t help myself. “What happened to Laura?”

“Um, she had a bit too much punch. One of the seniors took her upstairs to sleep it off.”

I cursed to myself and headed back into the house. Don’t ask me why I went back in for Laura, I honestly don’t know. I think it’s a character flaw or something.

I marched into the house and up the stairs. There was a group of people, boys and girls, sitting on the stairs about halfway up. Their legs were blocking the way and I had to step over them to get up the stairs. I had to hold my dress – my jersey – tight around my legs as I stepped over them. It felt a bit awkward and one of the boys made noises like he was disappointed he didn’t get to see my panties. All three of the girls sitting there reached over and punched him. Another of the guys had whistled at my legs, but he didn’t get punched. I was tempted to go back and punch him myself so that he didn’t feel left out, but I was on a mission to find Laura.

Upstairs there was a line outside what was obviously the bathroom. One of the bedrooms – it was obviously a guy’s room – was open and had a group of people hanging around in it. I put my head in and looked around. They all stopped their conversation and stared at me. I couldn’t see Laura anywhere so I pulled my head back and walked away. I tried to open another door but it was locked – from its position in the house, I assume it was the parents’ bedroom.

I skirted around another group sitting on the floor of the hallway and opened another door. A bed lamp lit up what was obviously a girl’s room. A naked girl lay flat on her back, sideways on the bed with her legs draped over the side. A guy stood between her legs with his pants down around his ankles. His naked bum pushed backwards and forwards in a kind of quick one-two rhythm. Each push forward was accompanied by a wet slapping sound and a quiet little gasp from the girl.

I blushed bright red and started to back out of the room – then I had a horrible thought. Grimly I fought the blush down and stalked over towards the bed. Sure enough, it was Laura lying there. I won’t say she was being raped because she was lying there with a big smile on her face and letting out these happy little sighs every time he pushed his penis into her. On the other hand, she was probably drunk, she was fourteen and he looked like he was about eighteen, so yeah, I will say she was being raped.

By this time I was right beside the bed and getting a close up education about what sex looks like. The guy had noticed me and leered at me.

“Hey, some fresh meat! Lay yourself down beside her, doll, and you can be next.”

I leaned back and clenched my fist. Then I flung it forward as hard as I could, putting all my weight behind it like Dan taught me to. My fist connected squarely with his nose and I felt something squelch inside his nose. There was a spray of blood and he staggered back from Laura. His slimy penis waved in the air, sticking straight out, then it started to shrink and droop. He clutched at his nose and started to swear. Then he fell backwards as he tripped over the pants around his ankles.

He was lying backwards on the floor with his legs all spread out. That left his little droopy penis and testicles dangling there all exposed. I was really tempted to step forward and stomp on them as hard as I could. I hesitated though because the feeling of his nose squishing and all the blood had scared me a bit. I did that. I hit someone and hurt them and made them bleed. Stomping on his private bits would probably hurt him a whole lot more and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to do that to a person. I grabbed Nana’s locket and glared down at him and started telling him what I thought about people who would have sex with drunk fourteen year olds.

There was all this muffled cursing and name calling coming from him and I think at one stage he said something like, “I dink you broke my dose!” (I left out all the swear words). I was yelling back at him and calling him a rapist and a few other things – just because I don’t use those words very much, doesn’t mean I don’t know them.

He was struggling to get to his feet and he finally managed to do so by kicking his pants off. Then he came charging at me like a rhino with his fist raised ready to hit me. At this point I kind of regretting not stomping on his private bits while he was lying there, because that might have stopped him from getting up and therefore saved me from what was about to happen. Running was out of the question, because I had the bed directly behind me. Laura was still lying flat on the bed. I don’t know what she was thinking. I screamed and flinched but then I decided that if he was going to hit me, then I was going to do as much damage to him as I possibly could. I had nails, I had teeth, I had knees – all I had to do was stay alive so I could use them.

Somehow, I managed to duck under that first flailing fist. That was one advantage of being half the size of the person attacking you – I’m not sure if there are many others. It also might have helped that his other hand was still holding his nose. I could clearly see several lines of blood dripping down his naked chest – it makes me feel ill now as I think about it, but at the time I didn’t have much time to think. I dodged sideways to get away from the bed and backed off from him.

He took a step towards me and reached out with his free hand ready to grab a hold of me. Then suddenly he seemed to learn how to fly. He lifted up off the ground and flew sideways quite a few feet without touching the ground. He did touch the wall though. He slammed into it quite hard – I think he even made a hole in the wall-board.

I blinked and Dan was standing in front of me. I could see his eyes track up and down my body to check that I was okay, then he went over to the naked guy slumped against the wall. Dan pulled him upright, and I heard the guy mutter something like, “you better let me alode. I de quarterback of the school foo-ball deam. You hit be and you’ll hab de whole varsty deam afder you.” I think he was having trouble talking because of his nose.

I heard the smack of a fist hitting naked flesh and an “ooof!”

“I’ll see your varsity team and raise you a college team, you little...” Okay, so Dan knows some of those words too. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by that.

At that moment there was a yell from the doorway. It was a girl with long black hair – she looked about seventeen or eighteen. Okay, I’ve been trying to avoid using the words people were using but with this girl, I kind of have to.

“What are you doing to my fucking boyfriend? Leave him alone, you fucking overgrown brute.” She was heading towards Dan in a hurry with her claws extended. I wanted to object to her description of Dan – he’s not overgrown and he’s not a brute. I stayed silent though.

By that time she was close enough to see more of her boyfriend. “He’s fucking bleeding, you bastard ... and where are his fucking clothes?”

Dan had to let go of the boyfriend so that he could fend off the girl’s attempts to scratch his eyes out. Dan pointed to me and managed to mutter “He was trying to...” before he had to dodge again.

I think she got the wrong idea, because she immediately headed towards me and started calling me a slut (and worse) and accusing me of trying to steal her boyfriend.

“Not me!” I gasped out as I stepped back from yet another attacker. I pointed at Laura. “Her!”

I think I must have been blocking her view, or something, because when I stepped to the side she seemed to see Laura, still lying flat on her back on the bed, for the first time. Laura’s legs were spread apart and draped over the side of the bed, so basically both of us were looking right up inside of her. I thought it was a bit obscene. But if I’d had any questions about what a girl’s private parts looked like from that angle, then they were all being answered. The girlfriend hesitated long enough for all of us to hear a soft snore come from Laura.

I was tempted to say, “She’s the slut who tried to steal your boyfriend,” but I couldn’t bring myself to say that.

“I think he got her drunk or something, and then he brought her up here. And she’s only fourteen.”

The girlfriend screamed with rage, but this time directed at her boyfriend. Dan quickly stepped out of the way so she could get at him. “Fucking fourteen? In my fucking bedroom? You were fucking that kinder-slut? You were fucking that kinder-slut in my bedroom? I’ll fucking kill you.”

She stepped up to where he lay slumped against the wall and swung her foot straight up between his legs. He seemed to twist at the last minute, so I think she mostly hit his thigh rather than his testicles, but it obviously still hurt a lot as he immediately curled up into a little ball and started gasping. During all this she continued her tirade which now included phrases like, “get out of my fucking house,” and “you fucking pedophile,” and “I should cut your fucking dick off.”

It was kind of entertaining in a way, but I was tempted to teach her some new swear words – she only seemed to know the one.

At some point, the girlfriend had grabbed a softball bat out of her closet and proceeded to chase her boyfriend – well I should probably say her ex-boyfriend – out of the room. He had to weave his way through the audience that was crowded into the doorway – I hadn’t realized that we had an audience up until that point. They spread out and made a path for him to stagger through. The girl waving her bat was hot on his heels. I could hear her tirade continue all the way down the stairs and out the front door. The audience disappeared from the doorway as they followed the entertainment.