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I look up into his angry face and shake my head. "I didn't. I swear."
But it's too late. These guys are looking for a fight, and there's no sign they're going to back down. They have me blocked in.
"Donnie, knock it off," the girl says through gritted teeth. She's embarrassed. So am I. I also get the feeling from her frustrated tone her brother Donnie does this all the time. "Oh my God! This is so embarrassing." She laughs. She laughs like it's funny. I thought she was nice, but she's not. She's just like the rest of them.
Donnie grins and nods at the other guy, who I guess is her boyfriend, and pushes me back toward him. "Sorry," he says, sarcastically.
I hold my hands up with palms flat. "Hey, guys. Please. It's cool. Let's just…"
"Sorry," the boyfriend says again as he tosses me back into Donnie. "She's fifteen, asshole." People have cleared out around us and both guys are smiling with the joy of taunting me, loving the panic they must see on my face.
I want to fight. I want to be angry, but I can't. They're bigger than me and much more powerful. If I took a swing at one of them, they'd for sure pile on and stick my head under the water.
I'm going to hyperventilate. I'm going to pass out and they're going to kill me while I'm unconscious. Something knocks my feet out from beneath me, and I'm falling. I'm flying andwater gushes around me. My glasses come off. Stupidly, I open my mouth to scream and water chokes me.
I'm sinking. There is no light, no sound, nothing. Just the depth of the water engulfing me. I always knew I'd die by drowning and it's happening. I'm only seventeen and I'm going to die.
My feet hit something solid. Reflexively, I push up and my head pops up above the water. I suck in a huge breath through a stinging cough. I'm alive. I didn't die.
That's when I hear the laughter. They're all laughing at me. I'm the waiter in the fishbowl.
They keep laughing at me as my arms flail around looking for my glasses. Luckily, I catch them in my hand near the steps. There's something else in my hand too, but I don't have time to look. I climb out and stumble toward the door. Luckily, Donnie and her boyfriend don't follow me. On my way out, I catch a glimpse of the girl. She's at the other side of the pool with her hands over her face. I can't see her mouth, but I know she's laughing at me too. She's looking to the side like she knows she shouldn't be laughing but she can't help it. I rush out the door and slip down the slope to the catering tent. My clothes are stuck flat clinging to my body, and I'm dripping onto the grass.
"What the hell happened to you?" The head of catering stops working and stares at me.
"I fell in the pool. I'm sorry. It was an accident. It was narrow, the walkway… I slipped." I learned a long time ago not to tattle when someone bullies me because it will only come back to make me look like the bad guy.
"Get out of here." He points to the gate that leads to the front of the house.
"Aren't you going to pay me?" My voice squeaks. I really need this money to pay for a hotel room for the night.
"Pay you for ruining this gig for me? Do you know how hard I worked to land this deal? And you're running around breaking glasses and falling into pools? Worthless. Nuthin' but worthless." He's got that harsh New York accent too that makes you feel like the goodfellas are scolding you.
Damn. This night keeps getting worse.
Over by the pool house, a group has gathered on the steep hill to stare at me. The girl is in the middle. Her brother and her boyfriend stand on either side of her with their arms around her.
She's not laughing anymore. Her face is sad and she looks like she's been crying. Beside them, an older man peers down their sloping lawn at me.
The man, presumably her father, has bushy eyebrows too, and they are drawn in anger as he stares at me. They're a family and a tight one. No one penetrates their network, and she is the center of it all.
I've ruined their big party. I've humiliated them.
I turn and run. I run as fast as I can with my wet clothes slowing me down.
I pump my legs till I'm out the gate and down the long driveway past all the fancy cars to the curb. My heart is pounding so fast. What should I do? Where should I go? I walk away down the hill to get out of the view of the party and sit down on the curb. My hair is hanging in my face and I must look like a wet rat.
Why didn't I fight back? I know why; I can't win in a fight.
Man, this sucks and I didn't even get paid.
I wipe off my glasses and put them on. There's a bracelet in my hand too. Little puppy charms on a chain. I don't even remember picking it up. Great. Now, they're going to blame me for stealing. Is it hers? Shoot. Do I have something of hers? An excuse to see her again? I tuck the bracelet in my pocket and head down the hill with water drops blocking my vision.
Ten minutes later, I'm trekking down the street and getting cold. It's a mild summer night but there's wind and with these wet clothes I'm turning into a shivering, wrinkled worm.
An ancient Buick pulls up and stops. An old man rolls his window down. "Everything all right here?"
"I'm not going to cause any trouble."
