“Next question! If a man with a white van pulls up next to you and asks you if you want some candy, what do you say?”
“Why of course I’ll love some candy, kind man! Could I also take a spin in your sweet ride? I heard there’s nothing like cruising in a white van with no tags, I’m sure you won’t unalive me,” I deadpanned.
They both glared at me, but neither could stop the grin that took over their faces afterward. My mother slapped my arm.
“My Child, oh God help me,” she managed to get out between laughs.
“Okay in all seriousness, I left the emergency numbers on the fridge. If you need anything, call us and if you’re unable to reach us, Beatrice is also just a call away. Don’t open the doors for anyone you don’t know. You can have a few friends over, but don’t go crazy. Be safe and make smart decisions, Mercedes.” Dan was all business now as he handed me some money and with a kiss on my cheek, headed out the door.
Mom walked up to me and held me in a tight embrace, “I love you darling, and we’ll see you soon.”
And just like that she was out the door.
I ran to the window and watched Dan's BMW i8 speed out the driveway. I waited a full 15 minutes before I called Keisha.
“Hey girl,” answered Keisha's raspy voice.
“The parents are gone and the party tonight is a go!”
—-----------------------------------------------
I don’t know what I was thinking when I decided that throwing a party was a good idea. All three of my closest friends had shown up to help make sure this was a night to remember, and that was chaotic in itself. When my mom married Dan three years ago, my life was uprooted from Boyz n the Hood to Clueless, and my friends reflected that.
Keisha had been my girl since I was 5 years old when some boy had been tugging at my hair and she pushed him off the swing set in retaliation. Ten years later and Keisha still didn’t mess around when it came to me, she was my ROD and my sister, no blood was necessary.
Olivia and Tracey were the two blonde girls that took me in when I transferred to East Middle School in seventh grade and had no friends. I had sat alone at lunch for two months as with my background, I was even too black for the black kids that had grown up in the suburbs all their lives. One day, my mom grew tired of my sulking and forced me to go to a cheerleading interest meeting, and being the only two girls that could do a back handspring, Olivia and I bonded. After that day, she invited me to her lunch table which sat Tracey and a few other people. Olivia, Tracey and I soon became inseparable. Olivia and I ended up making the team and just like that I became very known, and with my new friends, the new school wasn’t so terrible anymore.
I remember introducing them to each other thinking since I loved all of them they would love each other. That was so far from the truth. Olivia and Tracey were uncomfortable with Keisha, always flinching when she was too loud and seemingly unable to hold her gaze. One time they told me they thought she was too aggressive. Keisha claimed they’re racists and are only tolerable of me because I’m a pretty rich black girl that waves pom poms for fun. I think they all need to get over themselves. And for the sake of this party, that’s what they were doing.
“Ahhhhh, omg omg! Cedes, Nathan just rsvp’d to the party,” exclaimed Olivia referencing the cute musician I had recently found myself crushing on.
“No way, let me see!” responded Tracey as they both knew I had it bad for the Latinx hottie.
“It’s no big deal,” I said with a wave of my hands, refusing to look up as the huge smile on my face would give up the nonchalant act.
“Who’s Nathan?”
“Shut up! Shut up! You know you loveeeeeee him. Nathan is so cute! ‘Do you think Nathan noticed me today? I wore this outfit just for him,’' Olivia mocked me. I hadn’t been able to shut up about him for months now. That boy was the finest thing high school had to offer.
“WHO’S NATHAN,” screamed Keisha. Olivia and Tracey went silent immediately but I didn’t miss the roll of Tracey's eyes.
“It’s nothing Keish, just some boy I like,” I responded gently.
“And I your best friend am just hearing about this, wow. He better not be white.”
“He’s not,” I defended.
“And why does that matter?” asked Tracey, full of annoyance.
“It just does, and I ask that you please stay out of black women's business, Mercedes understands,” Keisha rebutted without sparing the girl a glance.
This was not going well at all, and with the party only a few hours away, I needed them to not fight. I knew there was only one thing that could do the trick.
“Girls follow me to my closet for a pleasant surprise.” Everybody was on edge but they followed me anyway. When I revealed what was in my closet, eyes widened, and smiles broke out. Bottles filled with tequila, rum, vodka, and any liquor I thought to tell the cute senior with a fake that had obtained these precious commodities for me.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about, let's get this party started!!” screamed Olivia, and we all, including Keisha, cheered.
—--------------------------------------------
After hours of drinking, games, and dancing, the last of my guests left the party around 3 a.m., and my girls and I found ourselves alone again. The party was a success and I knew it would be the talk of the school come Monday morning. I almost couldn’t wait to ride that high of endless praise that was sure to come. First I had to tackle the mess that the party had left behind.
Thankfully, my girls had all told their parents that they were sleeping over at mine. And as they were my ride or dies, they were helping me out with cleaning. I was on backyard duty, Olivia was on kitchen duty, Keisha was on living room duty, and Tracey was on bathroom duty.
I was picking up garbage in the backyard when I heard a blood-curdling scream come from the bathroom. I dropped everything and ran as fast as I could. Was Tracey okay? Both Keisha and Olivia had also heard the scream and were in front of the bathroom when I arrived. Olivia pushed the door open and what I saw made me stop in my tracks. Tracey was crying hysterically next to a girl that was slumped over on the bathroom floor. She had light brown skin and looked to have been throwing up in the toilet before she passed out. The stench was all-consuming and the girl was unmoving. I recognized the girl. She was from my old neighborhood. I tried to rack my brain for a name but couldn’t come up with anything.
“Is she…” asked Olivia hesitantly as her voice trailed off.
“I don’t know! I don’t know,” responded Tracey still in hysterics
“Calm down,” demanded Keisha. “Move out the way and let me check her pulse.” She put two fingers to the girl's neck.
“She’s breathing but it’s extremely faint,” came Keisha with the final verdict.
We all gasped in relief. At least she was alive.
“Okay that’s good, I’ll call the cops so they can get her to the hospital,” I said while beginning to dial the number on my phone.
Olivia hit the phone out of my hand. “You can’t do that,” she exclaimed. Tracey and I looked at her in pure shock, mouths agape.
“What the fuck do you mean that I can’t do that Liv, what do you want me to do?!”
“I don’t know! Just not that! This is bad, like really bad, Cedes. If we call the cops and she doesn’t make it, there’s no going back from this,” said Olivia with a crazy look in her eye that I had never seen before.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Olivia. We can’t just let a girl die,” Tracey burst out.
“Not let her die, just….” Olivia faltered.
“She’s right,” Keisha spoke up. “If this girl is found dead in your house, we’re fucked. Me and you, Cedes, more than the others.”
If this were another situation, I would’ve jumped for joy. Keisha and Olivia had never agreed on anything. I, however, was mortified. Who were these people and what did they do with my best friends? What they were suggesting was unimaginable, actually, what were they suggesting?
Tracey voiced my thoughts, “What are you guys saying?” Keisha and Olivia looked at each other like they finally understood the other and said in unison, “No cops!”
“You guys are crazy. There’s no way we could not involve the cops when there’s a person in this condition in my house,” I said.
“Exactly. Your house. And not even your house. Dan’s house. How quickly do you think it’ll take Dan to toss you and your mom aside when the news is reporting a dead girl found at his house during his stepdaughter's party? Forget that. Do you think you’ll be able to continue living in this town, finish high school, and go to college? Hell, you may even end up in jail especially if the cops were to check your alcohol level. This would be bad for all of us, but it will absolutely ruin your life, Cedes. This is your house,” said Olivia looking me in the eyes without missing a beat.
Tears filled my eyes because she was right. This scandal would ruin everything my mom worked hard for, the better life she always wanted for me.
Keisha took a sharp intake before continuing Olivia’s monologue, “Not only that, Cede, but you’ll be the black girl from the hood that threw a ghetto rave and got somebody killed. That’s what they expect of us, don’t give it to them.”
“I don’t agree with not involving the cops at all but they’re right, this falls on you, Cedes. Whatever happens, you’ll get the worst of it. The decision is yours,” added Tracey.
I always viewed myself as a good person that made moral decisions, but I somehow found my mouth moving, and the words that came out discredited any good deed I’d ever done in my life. “Okay, no cops”
Tracey and Keisha audibly gave sighs of relief.
“So what’s next,” asked Tracey
“We have to get her out of here,” responded Keisha.
“And do what with her exactly?”
“Okay, I got it. She’s still alive and I doubt she’ll die. She probably just drank too much alcohol. We could drop her at the hospital, and they’ll just have to, like, pump her stomach or something. Everything works out, we don’t have to call the cops to your place and get in trouble for underage drinking, and she’ll be good as new tomorrow,” exclaimed Olivia.
I looked at her in disbelief, did she think this was a Disney movie? I seemed to be the only person that hadn’t completely lost my mind because the other girls were nodding their heads in approval.
“Okay so we drop off a half-dead girl at a hospital, and just drive away, no regard for cameras, just vibes?” I pointed out the gaping hole in this plan.
“We don’t need to worry about cameras, Cedes. I know her, she’s from home, and nobody will be looking for her,” said Keisha solemnly, “And when they find out what’s wrong with her, it’ll be obvious that there’s no foul play involved.”
The sad thing was I believed her. Whatever happened to this girl, nobody would care.
“Alright, so let's do this. I’m going to start my car and make sure it’s good to go. You three bring the girl to the car. After that, Tracey, you stay here and clean, we need a cover just in case. Keisha and Cedes, come with me to the hospital.”
“Why I gotta go?” Keisha protested.
“I need you to drive. Tracey can’t drive yet. Cedes and I will stay in the back with the girl and make sure she’s okay, and when we get to the hospital, we’ll carry her to the bench as we’re the strongest, got it?
“Got it.”
“Got it.”
“Got it”
—----------------------------------------------
Keisha checked the girl's pulse before we left, and she still had a heartbeat. We sped on the freeway to get to the hospital. I kept praying that everything would be okay. Keisha cut the trip in half getting to the hospital in eight minutes rather than the usual 15.
When we pulled up to the edge of the white hospital building, the girl looked more gray than brown and her body felt cold to the touch. I had never felt a human being that cold. I copied the move I had seen Keisha pull earlier and checked for a pulse. I couldn’t find one.
“Guys Guys! I don’t feel a pulse! Why don’t I feel a pulse? Am I doing something wrong? Keisha, please check!” I almost screamed at the top of my lungs. Keisha felt around for her pulse and tears filled her eyes.
“She’s fine, go put her on the bench,” whispered Keisha urgently, not sounding like she quite believed her own words. Olivia also had silent tears streaking her face and had been whispering to herself that we were doing the right thing the entire car ride to the hospital. I pretended that I didn’t hear her.
I looked at the girl knowing this image would forever be frozen in my mind. This girl’s last memory would be of a party of someone who couldn’t even remember her name. Olivia and I struggled to carry the girl to the wooden bench fifteen feet away from the entrance that read in bright red letters, Emergency. She seemed to have gained a hundred pounds in the last ten minutes, as though she were weighed down by our sins.
The two of us attempted to prop her up on the bench, but the girl’s body didn’t cooperate so we ended up putting her in an awkward laying down position where her legs hung over the side and it appeared as if she would fall over and topple onto the ground at any moment. I glanced at the two empty ambulances not far from the benches, and the various cars spread throughout the parking lot, and realized that time wasn’t on our side. In the dark of the night where our faces were only being illuminated by a sole street light, it felt as if we were alone, but looking at the building of finality, I knew that was far from the truth. It would only take one heartbroken mother coming out for air, a nurse coming out for a smoke break, or a security guard patrolling the area, for our entire world to crumble.
Olivia and I locked eyes, and I knew she had come to the same conclusion. We turned our back to the girl and ran away without a second glance convincing ourselves she would be saved and that we were good people.
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