Whispers

Chapter Three

“Where are you off to?” My mother asked when she saw me come downstairs and take my keys off of the key rack.

                “Zoe invited me to a bonfire at her house. I thought I should at least stop by.” I said.

                “Oh!” Mom exclaimed, surprised. No doubt she was pleased that I had decided to come out of my room and join the real world for once.

                “I will be home around 9.” I assured. I might be home a lot earlier than that if this went the same way as the rest of the parties I had went to.  Once the alcohol came out, and brought the morons with it, I always left.

                I owned an old red car. My brother and I would be sharing it once he got his license, but until then it was all mine. Zoe lived on the outskirts of town, by the small river that bordered the entire east side of our town. It did not take long to get there, but as soon as I arrived my nerves began to crawl.

                “Blaire!” Zoe shouted in surprise, “I didn’t think that you would actually come!”

                “Yeah,” I replied, shutting my car door and walking across the gravel driveway to meet her in her backyard, “I wasn’t so sure either.”

                She laughed, “I haven’t seen you in so long! How have you been?”

                Why was everyone so obsessed with how I was doing all of the time? All of them could not possibly care enough to know the answer.

                “Good,” I lied, “I have been very busy.”

                As expected, she took the lie and ran with it.

                “That’s great I’m so glad you’re doing better. I’ve been crazy busy too. We just got back from a family vacation to South Dakota.” She started walking towards the fire pit towards the woods at the far end of the grassy yard. It looked to me like everybody she had invited had shown up; there were a lot of people surrounding that fire. Nearly everyone looked familiar, probably because they went to the same school as me.

                “Hey guys, you all know Blaire?” That was Zoe’s way of introducing me. The group gave me a quick two or three second glance, nodded or said a quick hello, then resumed whatever it was they were doing. I probably had not had a real conversation with any of these people since middle school, and I was currently going into 12th grade after this summer was finished.

                Zoe made a place for me to sit on the left of the fire, between her and a boy I remembered as Mitch. There were metal prongs for roasting marshmallows scattered around throughout the grass. The bag for marshmallows was lying on the grass, empty. That was fine with me, I wasn’t hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast this morning.

                There were various conversations going, and I tuned into one that Zoe and her friend Elana were having. Elana was a beautiful tall girl with tan skin and long, blonde hair. She was extremely athletic, and very friendly to everybody. They were discussing a trip they both wanted to take after they graduated to Chicago. The conversation was soon bland for me, and I listened to what Josh, Mitch, and Maggie were laughing about. I didn’t understand why they were laughing, because their stories weren’t all that funny to me. Dumb stories about their classmates rebelling against teachers, and other less than pleasant things their classmates had done.

                It was twilight outside, but the clouds had overcast the previously clear sky, and the sunset was dull and barely visible among the thick, dark clouds. A rumble of thunder in the distance made the others jump, and before anyone could say anything, it began to rain.