47. Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Sloane
" T here you are," I say to Amber. I look at the two guys. "Thanks for taking care of her, I've got it from here." I grab Amber around the shoulders and pull her from their clutches, steering her back toward The Summit. Thankfully, the boys appear to be caught off guard and aren't following us, yet, but I'm too scared to look back. Unfortunately, Amber is like dead weight and even though she's a foot shorter than me, her tiny, athletic body feels like dragging an anchor down the beach, made harder by our height difference.
"Wha’s happ-ning?" Amber slurs. "I'm so…tired." She moves to take another sip out of her cup, and I smack it out of her hand. "What'd choo do tha' for?"
I don't think she knows who I am right now, and I’m glad about it. I’m trudging down the beach in a sweat, and I see the lights of The Summit up ahead, but at the beach, everything looks closer than it really is. Amber is getting heavier and heavier, and she's getting to the point where she can't put one foot in front of the other. I'm certain that those boys put something in her drink because the way she's getting worse is not typical of someone who is just drunk. I don’t want to turn back to see if they are following us, so I say a silent prayer for protection.
The wind blows Amber's long hair across my face, and through it, I see a tall, dark figure walking our way. We're still in the dark, remote area on the other side of The Summit. I can't see well with Amber's hair whipping my face, but am determined to trudge on past this person coming our way. As the dark figure is steps away, Amber's hair falls from my face and relief washes over me. "Tyler!" I scream over the crashing waves.
The dark figure stops just feet from us. "Sloane?" He jogs toward us, his face contorted in confusion. "Amber?" She moans in response as Tyler hurries over to her right side and relieves the weight, then scoops her up. He looks at me with fearful eyes. "What happened?"
I shake my head as we start walking faster now that I’m not weighed down by my nemesis. "I don't know. I was at the bonfire and went down to the water for a bit. I saw her with two guys that aren't from our school, and she looked like she was in trouble. I pretended like she was with me and that I had been looking for her and just took off with her. It was like fight or flight. I just started walking back this way." I explain. "I think they put something in her drink."
"Dang," Tyler says. "She's lucky you were there."
I shudder just thinking about what they were going to do to her and inhale a deep breath. "I didn't see any other kids from Dunwoody there, but there were tons of people. I just assumed she's staying here," I explain as we approach the giant condo complex, "but obviously I have no idea."
"She is," Tyler says as we make our way from the sand onto the pool deck, "but I have no idea which room she's in." He stops. "Can you check her pockets and see if she has a key?"
I nod, and he sets her feet on the ground, his forearms under her armpits to support her. Amber's head is drooping, and I can tell she's fully out of it now. "Amber? I'm just going to check your pockets, okay?" No response. I fish my hand into her left pocket, but it's empty. I move to her right pocket and feel a key on a ring. I pull it out, and the large plastic keychain for The Summit is attached. "Looks like room 1206," I hold up the keychain so Tyler can see.
"Can you come up there with me?" he asks. "Help me open the door and get her into bed?"
"Of course, "I reply as we head to the doors for the lobby.
When we get to room 1206, I put the key in the lock and open the door. "It sounds like the TV is on," I whisper to Tyler. I can't walk into a condo where I'm not staying without announcing myself, so I call out, "Hello?"
We walk in and I recognize Amber's mom walking toward us from the family room. "Oh my gosh, what happened?" Her mom rushes over to see her daughter.
"We think someone put something in her drink," Tyler says. "Where's her bed?"
Amber's mom scurries to a bedroom and we follow her. Tyler sets Amber on the bed, her mom immediately at her side. Tyler wipes his brow as he stands. "Sloane saw her with two guys she didn't recognize and Amber was slurring her speech and out of it, so she got her out of there. I saw them when they were halfway back here."
Amber's mom turns to me, her eyes search my face reflecting both concern and relief. "Oh, Sloane, thank you so much. I haven't seen you since Brownies in third grade. Amber is so lucky to have a friend like you." Then, she focuses back on her daughter, checking her vitals.
I feel my eyes go wide at the word ‘friend’ but smile. "Us girls have to look out for each other." I explain, "She had a plastic cup in her hand, and two guys were groping her. I grabbed her and got her out of there, but I have no idea what might have been in her drink."
Amber's mom looks back at me and clutches her chest, then shakes her head. "She is so lucky you were there. I'm a nurse, so I know what to do."
I had forgotten that Amber's mom was a nurse. Brownies and third grade seem so long ago. Things were different back then. Kids were pretty much nice to each other in those days before puberty, hormones, and the caste system of middle and high school. I smile, "That's right. We'll get going, unless you need us."
"No, I've got what I need, thanks you two," Mrs. Gates says, then turns back to her daughter.
When we leave Amber's room and head to the elevator, Tyler says, "You look like you could use some water."
"Yeah, I could," I say as I wipe my forehead. "I definitely got a workout lugging her down the beach."
"Are you staying here?" Tyler pushes the down arrow for the elevator.
I shake my head. "No, we're down at Edgewater."
The elevator doors open and once inside, Tyler pushes the button for the seventh floor. "Let's go to my condo," he says as the elevator doors start to close. "I'll get you some water."
When we arrive at Tyler's condo, we walk into the small kitchen. He opens the fridge, grabs a jug of water, then opens a cabinet and gets two glasses out. He pours a glass, hands it to me, and I chug down the ice-cold water. "Ahh," I say when I come up for air. "Thanks, I needed that."
Tyler smiles as he sets the jug on the counter then does the same, drinking half his glass in one long gulp. "That was really nice of you to help Amber," he says, then wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Especially since she was so rude to you the other night."
I huff out a laugh. "What?" Tyler asks.
"Amber Gates has been rude to me for half my life, if not longer," I explain. "Like her mom said, we used to be in Brownies together, but after, like, fourth grade, she became a mean girl and has something against me."
Tyler's eyes go wide. "Wow, then it's even cooler what you did for her."
"She may be a total witch, but she doesn't deserve what those guys were doing to her. No girl does." I feel anxious just thinking about it, and my voice cracks. I can't help it, but tears stream down my face as the adrenaline of the event wears off. I wave my hand in front of me. "I'm sorry, it was just so sc-scary." I'm trying to stop crying, but the enormity of what happened is washing over me as I finally have time to process it.
Tyler wraps his arms around me and hugs me. "You're a really good person, Sloane." I hug him back and cry into his shoulder as I let out the stress of this evening. There is nothing romantic about this hug, no electricity or heart-pumping feelings, just gratitude and comfort. I settle myself and take a deep breath then release the hug and wipe my face. "I'm sorry, that was a lot. I didn't mean to break down in front of you."
Tyler smiles down at me. "It's okay. I can't imagine how scary that was for you." He walks over to the sink and grabs a handful of paper towels then runs them under the water and hands them to me.
I take the towels and wipe the tears off my face. "Thank you for helping me. I don't think I would have made it much further without your help." I say with a smile, then think about where he was going. "Were you heading to the bonfire?"
Tyler nods and I notice a muscle in his jaw clench. "Yeah, Sara went out with her friends.” He runs a hand through his hair, then briefly drops his gaze to the floor, then looks back up. “Some of the guys were going to the bonfire, so I thought I’d check it out."
"Shoot," I say, "Your last night here and I—"
Tyler holds up a hand stopping me. "You did the right thing and helped someone in need, and I happened to come along at the right time." He smiles ever so slightly.
I grab his forearm and my chest constricts with worry. "Wait. Is there any chance Sara and her friends went there, too?
Tyler starts to shrug as I release his arm, then realizes the same thing I just did. “Crap!” He looks at me, his eyes now filled with worry.
“Before we went down there, I gave my friends my paranoid mom reminder about accepting drinks in open containers. But, would Sara and her friends know to be careful? Heck, we need to get back there to warn any other girls are there.”
Tyler heads to the door. "You’re right; let's go."
***
As Tyler and I jog onto the beach just in front of The Summit, we see a group of kids running down the beach toward us. "Look!" I point down the beach where blue lights are flashing.
Tyler stops a kid running by us by grabbing his arm. "Hey! What's going on down there?"
A boy about our age with red cheeks and sandy blond hair stops and Tyler releases his hold. "Cops busted the bonfire, man." He jogs past us and up to the pool deck behind us.
"Shoot!" I say. "I hope our friends got out of there."
We start jogging toward the bonfire. "We have to find out," Tyler says.
About twenty yards down the beach, I spot my friends. "Maggie!" I shout, then wave my arms.
Maggie, Beth, and Annalise jog toward us. "Oh my gosh, that was crazy," Annalise says between winded breaths and laughter.
"Did you see Sara there?" Tyler asks as worry shines in his eyes.
Annalise nods. "Yeah, she was there. She should be right behind us."
"Thanks," Tyler says then waves at us and jogs down the beach to find his girlfriend.
"Oh my gosh, what happened?" I ask my friends.
"The cops showed up and everyone scattered," Beth says a little less breathless than Annalise. "I think the real question is, what were you doing down here with Tyler Finlay?"
I roll my eyes. "Definitely not what you think." I fill them in on what happened with Amber and how Tyler helped me, though I don't divulge her identity. "We were just heading back to warn y'all and any girls who were there."
Annalise play-punches me in the arm. "Mama Sloane was right. Thanks for reminding us to be careful."
Maggie is more serious. "Is the girl going to be okay? That had to be so scary."
I nod. "Her mom is taking care of her. And, yeah, it was super scary. I think I'm ready for spring break to be over."
Beth puts her arm around me. "I agree, let's take this party back to our place and start planning for prom."
I smile as we trudge through the thick, sugary sand toward our condo. "Sounds perfect."