I take another sip, and smile like an imbecile.
“Come on,” Carolina says. “Let’s go dance with Meredith, she’s all alone over there.”
We make our way through the party. Meredith shakes her baked potato booty around to the music.
For a moment I just stare. She is an aluminum foil goddess, all shiny and round and reflective. I want to slather her with sour cream and butter and bring her to my hungry lips. Meredith Luna has permanently changed my mind about the sexiness of the baked potato.
I just have to say something. I can’t keep it in; my feelings just want to come out. I try to keep my mouth shut but it’s greater than me. She turns her luminous body towards me, stops for a moment, and smiles.
“Shake and Bake!” I shout out.
Shake and Bake? What is she, fried chicken? I am such an idiot. No one should ever let me drink.
Meredith pushes past me through the crowd. Carolina gives me a little shove. “You idiot, you embarrassed her.”
My body is frozen like a popsicle. But if I’m a popsicle, how come my face feels so hot?
There is a moment of silence as a song ends and everyone looks at me.
Here’s when I make a big mistake. Instead of going to find Meredith and apologizing, I just stand there. Carolina stares at me.
“Go talk to her,” she says.
I have to pee. I’m wrapped in athletic bandages from head to toe. And everyone thinks I’m the biggest jerk in the freshman class.
At least they don’t know who I am.
I feel a shove from behind. “Dork!”
I stumble, try to steady myself, overbalance, and push back hard with my legs.
And slam into the table. Which turns over, pouring punch all over the floor. Someone screams; someone yells. But it’s hard for me to concentrate on the punch, the table, or the noise, really, because I’ve fallen on my face a couple of feet away. My side hurts, too, where I smacked into the table before I fell to the floor.
“Are you all right?”
I look up and Carolina is reaching out to me. My bandage loosens, and falls away from my face as I take her hand and stand up. I flex my knee, ever so slowly. Still no pain. But my hands are shaking; my lips swelling, I can taste blood.
“Oh my God, it’s Stanley.”
She backs away from me. Everything goes silent.
Blood pumps in my ears. The desire to growl and bite and slash, to howl and rip and tear fills me up and threatens to overwhelm. I’ve got to get outside.
Everyone moves out of the way for the mummy, the pretend monster, the geek.
If they only knew what I really am, they would run for their lives.
Chapter 17: A LATE NIGHT SNACK
Out in the cold street there is no one. From inside music plays once again. Is it just my imagination, or can I hear Meredith crying, too?
I pop a pill and my shaking subsides, but it’s not enough to quiet me. My hunger and rage build with every step I take away from the house. I walk under a tree and let my anger out. I kick the tree and clench my fists. My jaw locks, and it’s a wonder I don’t bite off my tongue.
First Karen, and now Meredith? What is wrong with me?
From above me I feel a pressure. I look up, and my eyes are caught.
A huge, solid globe glows red above me. The full moon.