His Laughter

I made it into my class just in time to present my project. I think I killed it. Another class later was lunch, where I could finally find my friends who had been elusive in my trying to find them in the hallways. I sat at our usual table and waited until the rest of my group burst through the lunch room door and sat at the table. 

The first individual to walk in was Katie, the most popular resident of our table. She was a beautiful Scandinavian who had a passion for fashion and was dating a football player. The second arrival was Daniel, the only one out of all of us that played a sport. He played soccer. Then, there was Kyle, the emo artist. None of us were sure how he joined our group. No matter. We never regretted becoming friends with him. Matt was the last member of our cacophonous match up. He was our actor. He was in most of the plays as the main male lead and he could convey such emotion in the delivery of all his lines, we knew he was going to be famous one day.

“Hey, Della!” Katie said to me. 

“Hi!” I replied enthusiastically.

“Did you see the talent show flyers?” Matt asked. “You should sign up to sing!” 

“Mattie! You know I have kakorrhaphiophobia!”

“Yeah, Mattie!” Daniel said, mocking the name I had given Matt years ago. I had a habit of taking boy names and making them more feminine. It was fun. “She has kakorr-something!”

“You don’t know what that means,” Kyle said bluntly.

“Neither do you!” Katie laughed.

“Shut up,” he replied. Katie smirked in her victory. Then she frowned.

“Um, what does that mean again?”

“It means I’m afraid of failing,” I said. 

“Right!” Matt exclaimed. “I knew it!”

“Sure you did,” Katie said skeptically.

“Moving on,” Daniel said. “Why not? You’ll never be a singer if you don’t sing.”

“I’ll think about it,” I said nervously. 

“Yay!” Katie said happily. “Anyway, I have a problem I need you guys to help me solve.”

“You finally realized you have ketchup on your shirt?” Daniel asked.

“Haha, funny,” she said without humor. “I’m not falling for that again.” Daniel would always flick her nose when she looked down. “You guys know how I’m helping decorate for the fall formal?” We all nodded our yes. “Well, I’m in charge of the banner, but it’s kinda heavy and the rope keeps tearing holes in the sides. Solutions?” she asked.

“You could use a grommet,” I suggested. I was met with blank stares. “An eyelet.”

“Oh! That’s a good idea! Why didn’t I think of that?” Katie said.

“Cause Della is smarter than you,” Kyle said.

“Kylie! Be nice,” I said while Katie maturely stuck her tongue out at Kyle.

“I told you not to call me that,” he said sourly. 

“Hey! Why is it that when I call you that you try to hit me and when Della calls you Kylie you just lightly tell her off,” Daniel said. 

“Because Della is cuter than you,” Matt said obviously. Did I mention he was a huge flirt?

“It’s true,” Katie agreed. 

“Stop it guys,” I said bashfully. 

“Aw, are you getting shy on us?” Daniel said.

“Shut up Dannie,” I said, my face turning red.

“Why is Greyson Keller glaring at you?” Katie said suddenly.

“He is?” I asked, glancing behind me. Oh, yes he definitely was. I was surprised I didn’t feel his  glower on the back of my head.

“What does he want?” Kyle said, irritated. 

“Um, well…” I started.

“Madeline Hemmings, what did you do?” Katie said suspiciously. 

“I, um, bumped into him in the hallway,” I said.

“Oh,” Matt said. “That’s not that bad.”

“And then I laughed at his misfortunes,” I said. 

“What were his misfortunes?” Daniel asked.

“I’d prefer not to say,” I said, not wanting to tell them I had a poster of a shirtless man in my backpack. “Let’s just say he wasn’t happy.”

“He better not try anything,” Kyle said, suddenly more bitter. The other boys grunted their agreement. I loved how protective they were, but I could take care of myself. 

“You guys better not try anything either,” I said. I wouldn’t put it past them to try to threaten people to stay away from me if they thought it would help. They were pretty intimidating. All of them were relatively tall and muscular.

“Yeah, yeah,” Daniel said begrudgingly. The bell rang after he said that and I waved my goodbyes before going to class. The rest of the day passed by fairly quickly before I walked my way home. Making my way into the living room I spotted my little brother.

“Hi, Dean!” I said affectionately. He was three-years-old as of last week. Not that he cared much.

“Hi, Dean,” he repeated, flipping his hands, his usual habit. He had autism, but I loved him all the same. Even if he didn’t express it back, I knew he loved me too. After saying hello, I went upstairs and finished my homework. After I did that, I worked on writing a few lyrics before I got a call from Katie.

“Me and the guys are coming to pick you up now,” Katie said as soon as I picked up.

“For what?” I asked.

“For the celebration party some of the people on Daniel’s team are having. They won the championship. Remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, definitely,” I lied, rushing off of my bed and going to my closet and picking out the first thing I saw and shoving it on. Then, I rushed off to the bathroom to do some hair and makeup as fast as I could. I grabbed a bag, pushed my phone in and ran outside to wait for my friends. It was a bit chilly out and I debated going inside to grab a jacket, but Katie pulled up in her car, so I decided to forgo it. I hopped into the backseat and Daniel whistled.

“Dang, I didn’t expect that,” he said, his eyes on my body.

“What?” I looked down. “Oh.” Apparently the first thing I saw was a dress that Katie made for me. As a joke. Because she knew I would never wear it. It was a tiny dress that hugged my curves and cinched in my waist. My butt was barely covered and my boobs, which were pretty small, somehow managed to be practically spilling out of the red fabric. I was going to walk back inside and get another dress, but then Kyle said,

“Go change.” Then I was suddenly fuming. What right did he have to tell me to change? I knew it wasn’t what I usually wore, but I had a pretty nice figure and the dress was tailored to fit me. I looked great! Even if I felt a little uncomfortable.

“No,” I said defiantly. 

“Now isn’t the time to argue,” he said angrily. “Go change.” I wasn’t sure why he was so upset over what I was wearing. It’s not like it affected him.

“No!” I repeated.

“You don’t want to change? I thought you hated that dress,” Katie said questioningly.

“Well I like it now,” I said, crossing my arms over my dress. Consequently, my bust was raised and Daniel wouldn’t stop ogling. “Stop being a hirquitike, Dannie.”

“Sorry,” he said, tearing his eyes away from me.

“Dude, it’s not a big deal. If she wants to wear it then she can wear it,” Matt said.

“Thank you, Mattie,” I said. 

“Fine. But wear this too,” he insisted, handing me his jacket. “You might get cold.” While I was still slightly angered, I was also touched that he cared that much. I put on the jacket.

“Thank you,” I smiled. 

Katie drove to the party and parked on the street. We all got out of the car and walked into the house that was blasting music. The place was overflowing with people. I lost my friends in the crowd. 

“Beer?” a person offered me. I took the red cup and downed it. I was here to have fun! Walking around, trying to find my lost friends, my balance increasingly got worse. Which was strange, considering I only had one drink, but perhaps I was more of a lightweight than I thought. 

I stumbled around and the same guy who had given me the drink grabbed my arm. 

“Get off of me,” I slurred, trying to rip my arm away from him. He was suddenly looking very sinister. He tightened hand around my wrist and began dragging me upstairs. “Stop it!” I exclaimed. I was feeling so sleepy. Then, it hit me. I had been drugged. Fearful, I began struggling with renewed vigor, but my fading conscience actively opposed me. Looking around I grabbed the nearest person. “Help me,” I begged the stranger. 

“Wha-?” the guy questioned. I was so tired.

“Help…” I said faintly. I closed my eyes, but I could still hear everything going on around me. I felt my limp body being grabbed by the stranger away from the drugger. My relief was instant.

“What the fuck are you doing?” the stranger growled. But wait, I had heard this voice before. It was Greyson.

Gracie! That was his new nickname.

“Nothing, man,” the drugger. “I’m just taking her home. She had too much to drink.”

“Oh, and I’m sure you parked your fucking car upstairs,” Greyson said sarcastically. Language! Ignoring him the man attempting to assault me said,

“Just give her to me and I’ll take her home,” he tried to persuade.

“Leave, before I call the police,” Greyson said dangerously. Then, “Are you okay?” he asked me. “Della?” He knew my name? I couldn’t respond, but I wished I could tease him about that.