Page 16 of September Lessons
“My God. It never changes, yet it’s always pathetic. I knew some of y’all’s parents when they were your age and getting into this same kind ofstupidtrouble.” The deputy began pointing at individuals, as if to announce she remembered when they were in diapers. “I’m seeing at least ten rosy cheeks right in front of me, and twenty pairs of bloodshot eyes! Now, y’all are gonna march out of here and get someone sober to drive you home. I don’t care if that means sobering up in my car or calling your parents,” that was met with a round of gasps, “but I want this party cleared out right now, or else I’m gonna start bringing some of you idiots in for underaged vicin’.” She turned toward Christina, who was still nestled next to Dillon. “I gotta answer to your mama, you know that, Missy?”
Christina snored loudly enough to make everyone laugh.
“Although there are some here I don’t really recognize,” that was reserved for Carrie, who kept to herself on the side of the room, “that doesn’t mean I don’t know that some of you are legally old enough to be held accountable for your actions. If you are a day over eighteen, I want you to hang back for a quick minute so I can lecture your faces off!”
She would have done it, too, Carrie didn’t doubt. Except before people could start collecting their things and trip out the door, a voice came in over the deputy’s radio, alerting her that there was a barn fire over on the highway.
Dillon hopped off the couch and went to Carrie’s side. “Pretty lucky, huh?” he said, now that the deputy was too distracted to mess with some kids. “We should get outta here. Can I bum a ride off you? I was riding with Brent and I think he’s gonna be busy…”
Carrie grabbed her cousin by the arm and hauled him into the kitchen. They were one of the first out the door as soon as the coast was clear.
Chapter 8
LEIGH-ANN
Leigh-Ann awoke Saturday morning to the whispers of a party and a barn fire. She wasn’t sure what happened inwhatorder.
She wasn’t a big coffee drinker, but she made the exception for that bone tired Saturday morning.I was up half the night reading fanfiction.She couldn’t remember what intellectual property had captivated her this time. One moment she was browsing through Netflix, and the next?Browsing through AO3 and Tumblr for something interesting to read.Leigh-Ann may not drink much coffee, but she also didn’t make a habit of reading half the night. The last time she did that was when she decided to reread the Harry Potter series in one weekend. The librarian had laughed at her when Leigh-Ann checked out every paperback and hauled them home, but when she brought them back that following Tuesday, nobody was laughing.
Why didn’t I take them back Monday? Because that was my day of rest from so much reading.
There must have been enough caffeine in the scent of the coffee, for one sniff woke her up to the point she came into the parents’ mumbled conversation. Her mother flipped fried eggs on the stove while her dad scrolled through his phone and sipped his coffee. The only person stumbling around was Leigh-Ann, who was briefly chastised for staying up too late before her mother returned to her conversation.
“…Sandy Jones, hon,” she said to her husband, who kept asking her who the hell she was talking about. “She’s the one blowing up my phone about her daughter Chrystal. One of your classmates, right, Leigh-Ann?”
With a mighty yawn, Leigh-Ann slumped into the chair by the window and waited for her coffee to cool. An empty plate before her promised protein and carbs as soon as her mother was done cooking breakfast. “Yeah. She’s one of my classmates. Don’t know her as well as some of the others, though.”
“I know her mom pretty well. She’s telling me that some big party got busted last night. Deputy Greenhill waltzed through there to break it up before she was summoned to that barn fire on the other side of the town.”
“Another one?” Mr. Hardy asked. “What is that, the fifth one these past few weeks?”
“Apparently, a couple animals were killed in this one. Real shame. Whoever’s firebugging around town needs to stop before someone seriously gets hurt.” The stove turned off, and two eggs slid onto Leigh-Ann’s plate. “It’s bad enough they’re destroying people’s properties! The Longfellows are gonna hurt for a long while with the insurance, I hear. Apparently, the fire marshal has cleared them of any wrongdoing, but their company isn’t believing it. Even if they don’t need to rebuild it, they still gotta clean it up. Now they can’t use that patch of land for other things.”
Leigh-Ann yawned. “What’s this about the party breaking up?”
“Oh, I bet a lot of your classmates were there.” Her mom turned around without saying anything else. Her dad, meanwhile, looked up from his phone and right into her eyes.
“You didn’t go to that, right?” he asked.
“I was here all night, Dad. Besides, you know I ain’t into parties anymore.”
“Now, what do I do?” He rubbed his chin. Or, more like, he rubbed the stubble of the beard he had yet to groom that day. “These high-school parties are double-edged swords. On one hand, you get into all sorts of trouble real easily, even if you don’t go to them with the intent of stirring up trouble. On the other, it’s how you kids socialize outside of school. Real important memories to make at those things.”
Leigh-Ann couldn’t sip her coffee quickly enough. “I’ve played Seven Minutes in Heaven, Dad, but, that’s like…somiddle school.”
“You played that game?” her mom asked. “Is that the one where…”
Her dad cut back in. “Making out with strangers decided by some game or other. In the closet for seven minutes.”
“Sounds like either a dream come true or a total nightmare!”
Tell me about it.The two times Leigh-Ann ended up in the closet, she was either kissing Aiden or Digby. Blech. Both of them wereterrible.Best kiss ever did not happen in a closet.
“Sounds like it’s a good thing you didn’t go to this one,” Leigh-Ann’s dad continued.
“Apparently it was so loud that the neighbor called the police on them. Doesn’t that Aiden boy and his folks live all the way out of town a bit? That’s downright sad. Either that neighbor is super sensitive, or they made bigger fools of themselves than you have any business getting mixed up with. Sandy said her daughter was escorted home reeking of pot and booze.”
“The horror,” Leigh-Ann’s father muttered. “The same shit we were doing at that age.”
