A Little Closer to Home by Ginger Zee

Author:Ginger Zee [Zee, Ginger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2021-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

In broadcast news, you learn early that you cannot make a claim, even when there is video evidence, that a crime is attached to a person. The word allegedly makes its way into scripts even when it sounds so wrong—because we can all clearly see that the crime happened, we know who did it, but we still can’t say it until they are convicted. In this chapter, I will use the word likely before I use the word rape, not because I don’t believe that I was raped, but because I can’t prove it in a judicial way. This is one of those times when it sounds very wrong every time you read it, and that is intentional on my end.

I’ll never drink Captain Morgan rum again. Ever. You hear people say it all the time. “I can’t drink tequila because one time . . .” or “Vodka really affects me, as in makes me mean.” Well, that’s my relationship with the Captain.

It was the end of the second semester of my freshman year of college, and all my friends were planning to transfer, so this wasn’t just the last hoorah our freshman year; it was the last party we would all have together ever. Michael and I were no longer dating, but we were close friends. He had moved on to a beautiful blond, and I was back together with Leo. There were farewell-to-school parties in almost every dorm room, but our group was doing the next-level blowout by starting a preparty in a room on the second floor of Alumni Hall. I lived on the fifth floor, so it was an easy jaunt down the stairs once I was ready. My prep for a party routine had become more elaborate now that SEXY GINGER was alive and well. I even wore foundation.

The music was so loud I could hear it as soon as I entered the fifth-floor stairwell. The thin wooden door was vibrating from the sound. I knocked but no one could hear me, so I slowly pushed down on the door handle to reveal a hidden oasis.

The room was not one I had spent much time in and I was impressed at how much work they had put into decorating it. There were lots of plants, posters, and they had stacked the beds to create a separate “living area” in the three-hundred-square-foot space. Very HGTV for freshmen in college.

Not thirty seconds after I walked in and started saying hello, someone handed me what smelled like a Captain and Coke in a red Solo cup. There must have been at least twenty people in that tiny space, and everyone was loud, dancing, and drunk already. I took a sip of my drink, trying to ease myself into the vibe of the party. I’d never had a drink this strong before but had come to think of myself as a “professional drinker” who could handle anything. Plus, I’d eaten a pretty big dinner, so I didn’t think there would be any trouble.

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