The Stars Will Catch Me

Chapter 12

Willow’s snores fill up the silence of the room. We said goodnight about an hour ago but my mind isn’t on the same page of my body. Our sleepover may have ended but my night feels far from over. I’m lying awake replaying memories that fade in and out of my head in an endless cycle of laughs and tears. Charlie seems to be the main character of them all. 

The stench of sweat tucked under a thin layer of cologne collides with my nostrils like hitting a brick wall. The music has a steady pulse to it that makes the room appear to be a living creature of its own - like a whale breached the overgrown lawn and swallowed up the entire baseball team and its groupies. Wispy clouds of white smoke rise and evaporate from mouths that pucker like mini volcanoes. I don't have any time to stand in the doorway because there is a sea of limbs moving in and out like the currents, jabbing their elbows into my ribs and stepping on my toes. 

I get knocked around for a whole song, not quite walking but stumbling through the tiny slivers of space in the living room. Still, the light feeling doesn't leave my head and the bolts of electricity don't stop running up and down my skin. 

Something big is going to happen tonight. 

I know it. I've known it since I got out of the shower, the ends of my hair dripping onto the bathroom tiles and fog concealing my reflection in the mirror. I've known it since I sat down in the back row of the bleachers and had to squint to see the pitcher throw the ball. 

Something is going to change. 

No one has talked to me all day. Not a peep from my parents who didn't bother to look up from their breakfast this morning or from the student volunteer who took my ticket at the front of the baseball field. That's why when a girl with a neon tank top and an overflowing cup of beer tells me she's never seen me before, I nearly burst into a ray of sunlight.  

"Oh, I'm new. I started school here last week."

She tilts her head to the side, squinting like I'm waving at her from across the street. "Right. Have you seen my boyfriend?" 

I blink at her. She's still squinting and I start to think she might have forgotten her glasses or something. "I'm new . . . so I don't know who your boyfriend is. My name's Dovie." 

I stick out my hand but she's peering over my shoulder with her neck outstretched like a giraffe. 

"Dovie - yeah. See you around."

She shuffles away, leaving a trail of beer behind her. I have nothing to do with my hands so I figure I'll grab myself something to drink but once I get to the table I realize there's nothing but beer and empty Coke cans. I take a cup and fill it up with no intention of drinking its contents. When I hold it up to my nose it has a copper coin smell and I picture someone pouring their pee in the keg as a prank. 

The corners of the room are the safest to navigate. The only people here are the ones making out so they tend not to shove. I linger here, the shadows cast by the Christmas string lights dancing up and down my arms as people cross them. 

The hair on the back of my neck stands on its end. The electricity that has been coursing through me since the beginning of the night grows stronger - I can picture lightning scraping across my veins to get out. I realize someone is watching me from across the room, mirroring my stance against the wall with shadows concealing the sharp features of his face. 

A group of girls come in from the kitchen, snapping photos with the flash on. The light is almost blinding, giving the appearance of lightning touching down in the midst of a storm. It illuminates the mystery person, giving me a good look at him. I recognize him from the baseball game. He's number 7.