The Fuentes Family

28

I ignore the last part of what she said. "Think I might join the anti-social club." Yasmin smiles and I stand up.

"Okay, I'm gonna go talk to hotty number six."

"Good luck." I make my way up the stairs to Marco's room, wondering how he deals with all of these parties. It must suck being so young and having to be around all these drunk teenagers. I wonder if he'll start drinking alcohol really young. I know some people who drank when they were twelve. It's crazy. I'm pretty sure I didn't even know what alcohol was at that age. I was one of those kids that took a while to come out of my childhood and grow up.

"Hot stuff!"

I spin around to face the green haired drunk delinquent. "Hi, Ethan," I fake smile.

"You look like you're having so much fun." He falls into me, and I stumble.

"You're really drunk. You should go home."

"Not until i've shown the pretty lady a good time," he twirls a lock of my hair around his finger, and I step back deeper into the hallway where no one is, regretting it straight away as he just moves closer.

"I'm good, and I was just about to leave."

"So soon?" He falls onto me again, making my back barge up against the wall beside Yasmin's bedroom. He stands in front with his hands held against the wall on either side of me. I can smell the strong stench of alcohol all over him, and it makes my stomach churn.

"Get back," I shove him and try to walk away.

He laughs coldly, then yanks my arm, making my body slam against him and pain spread through my arm. "I'm trying to be nice." He grits his teeth and his eyes fall down my body. Unexpectedly, he slips his hand into my jeans and I squeal.

"Stop!" I attempt to pull his hand away, but he's too strong. I think of kicking him but I can't move my legs because he's pressed against me. All of my problems are solved when he's pulled away from me and his body goes crashing into the wall on the other side.

Alex looks at me with alert eyes and they calm me. I can already feel my heart slowing down. He reaches his hand out to touch me, then pulls it back as if he changed his mind.

"Who do you think you fucking are?" Ethan moves to Alex and tries to hit him, but Alex easily dodges his punch and hits Ethan in the face four times until he has his hands up to shield himself, moving away down the hall.

"Leave right now before I do something really fucking bad," Alex says through gritted teeth. "You better hope I never see your face again."

Ethan coughs, holding his hands over his blood smeared face, and he walks away quickly down the stairs. Alex looks at me when he's gone, his features softening. I blink away the tears in my eyes, hoping that none fall.

"Are you okay?" He speaks again when I open my mouth. "You'll say yes, but you're not. You shouldn't have come here."

A lump forms in my throat when he says that, and I look away from him. "Wow. I guess I shouldn't."

"No, I mean," he sighs. "I'm glad you are here and I always want you to be here, but a lot of bad shit happens when you're near me. It's like i'm cursed. That even just happened right outside my room." He turns around to look at his open bedroom door. "I thought you'd never come back."