Tradition by Brendan Kiely

Author:Brendan Kiely [Kiely, Brendan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

* * *

JULES DEVEREUX

The noises from the rest of the party were gone and all I could hear was Ethan’s breath against my neck. “We’re all alone,” he kept saying. “Come on, for old times’ sake.” He grabbed my waist and kissed me.

“No.”

“It’s okay.” His face was close to mine. He was smiling, and he brought his hand to my cheek.

“No, Ethan.”

He kissed me and pressed down against me. I tried to push him but he was too strong. “Come on. We used to have so much fun.”

“No.”

“Don’t worry. Nobody has to know.”

“Please stop. I said no.”

“We are all alone,” he said again, as he grabbed my chest and squeezed. “We had more fun, you and me.”

“You’re hurting me.”

“Stop worrying.”

His hand went down my pants and into my underwear. His hands were everywhere and I couldn’t move, pinned by his weight. I couldn’t see anything because it was so dark, and my breath squeezed from my lungs. I couldn’t breathe, and everything hurt, and I tried to choke out the word “stop.” But it was barely a whisper. I didn’t know if he could hear me. “Please.” I was crushed, all the air pushed out of me, and I couldn’t feel anything. I began blacking out into nothingness.

“Hey!”

Everything eased for a second, and I felt my vision refocusing, air stinging my lungs as it rushed back in.

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Nothing,” I heard him say, speaking away from me, moving away from me.

I slipped to the ground, and when I hit the dirt I felt all the pain in my body come pouring back, a fire breaking through a wall and blowing through me.

“What are you two doing?”

“Nothing. Calm down. Jules, tell her. Tell her nothing was happening. I’m just drunk. She was helping me so I wouldn’t puke.”

“What?”

“Come on, Jules.” His hand was on me again, pulling me to my feet. I couldn’t stand. When he let go of me, I fell back down. “The hell.”

“I saw you.” It was Gillian. Through my tears, I could see her yelling.

“No,” Ethan said. “What? No. There was nothing to see.”

“Oh my God.”

My throat was raw. I couldn’t speak, but at that moment I was so grateful that Gillian had interrupted before he’d gone any further. I couldn’t think. My pants were still on, I knew that. Or mostly. The top button was undone. The zipper was down. I still couldn’t speak. I swallowed.

She’d seen it. She knew. I wasn’t alone. We hadn’t been alone. Gillian had been there. She’d seen what Ethan had done.

But she was stomping off and Ethan was chasing her now. Then they were gone and I was alone again. Me and my tree. I needed to get to my feet. I looked up but everything felt like it was spinning, the sky, the stars, my tree, me, everything was spinning and falling.

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