Leslie's Journal by Allan Stratton Read Free Book Online

say.
    “I better freshen that up, then,” he says, pouring me another. Seeing as I’ve just made out I love the stuff, I can’t very well say no.
    We spend the next half hour drinking and talking about parents and teachers and kids at school, and I discover that scotch is a lot like swimming in the lake in May: it’s okay once you get used to it.
    Soon I’m on my fourth. It doesn’t taste so bad anymore.
    By the time Jason pours me my fifth, I’m telling him about Katie’s sleepovers. He laughs, especially about the facials and fashion shows. I tell him how I hate Ashley and the others. He says I’m way out of their league. They’re still kids, and I’m practically a woman. Coming from a senior who had his pick at Port Burdock, that’s saying something.
    When the pizza arrives, he says, “Let’s eat down in the rec room.”
    I stand up. I fall back in my chair. “Whoa, what did they put in that scotch?”
    “Scotch,” he says, which for some reason we both find majorly funny.
    “I think I better stick to beer.”
    He gets me a beer and we go down to his rec room, which is huge, with wood paneling and parquet everywhere. It’s full of stuff—leather furniture and a pool table and a dart board and another flat-screen TV and a sound system. It’s even got its very own minibar. Not to mention a bathroom. I go in and splash my face with cold water because I’m starting to feel a bit out of it.
    I have a slight gap in my memory after that. We must have eaten the pizza, because I remember being back in the bathroom throwing up. I think the puking was after we smoked the joint, because that’s when we decide we’re too wasted to drive to a club and we’ll just stay in his rec room. We start doing a little kissing. After all my worrying, kissing doesn’t make me feel tense at all. It makes me feel great.
    Then, just when I’m all relaxed, Jason starts to undo my pants. I say, “Maybe we should take a break.” He says, “Why?” And I say, thinking fast, “So I can show you the stuff I bought at the mall.” Jason gets this smile on his face and jokes how if I wasn’t going to be doing a fashion show at Katie’s, maybe I should do a fashion show for him. “Really?” I say. And he goes, “Yeah. I’d like that. Watching’s fun.”
    Jason blasts hip hop out of the sound system, and suddenly I’m back in party mode. I go into the bathroom, change, and make my big entrance. Jason’s turned the lights down and switched on this color wheel. Reds, greens and yellows swirl around the room. We’re in our own private club.
    Jason’s on the couch. I prance up and down in front of him, twirling the Day-Glo boa. He’s holding up his cell phone, making a video.
    “Jason?”
    “Keep going,” he shouts over the music. “We’ll watch it together. You’re great!”
    All of a sudden, I feel sexy. I’m, like, a professional dancer. I flirt for the cell. Wiggle around. Step backwards. Out of nowhere, I’m woozy. So woozy. I feel myself falling.
    Next thing I know, I’m on the floor. The lights are still low, but the color wheel’s off. The music too.
    “Jason?”
    He’s gone. I’m alone. I’m cold. Cold? Oh my god, I’m naked! My clothes are all over the floor. Now, for the first time, I feel this soreness. This throbbing ache. Down there. There’s blood and stuff caked on the inside of my legs.
    What’s going on? I can’t remember.
    I see his cell phone on a cushion. Oh no. It suddenly hits me. He was making a video.
    I panic. Scramble over. Fumble with the buttons. Press play. There’s me on the screen, dancing like an idiot. I see me fall. Hear him call my name. Then it stops. Thank god. He turned it off. Whatever happened, there’s no record.
    The lights go bright. Jason’s in the doorway, yelling, “Get dressed. You gotta get out of here.”
    I squint. He’s pulling my dress on. I try to say something. I can’t. He wipes the floor with a towel and sprays air freshener. He hauls me up