Chapter 4 - Corrupted

As Jillian had suspected, Savannah was attending the keg party. So Kenzie threw on some of her more dressier clothes (again hoping she didn’t bear too much skin; for one thing, she didn’t find it flattering, and for another, it was like forty degrees outside, a record low), and prepared to go.

Once it started to get dark, she headed out, traveling on a scooter issued by the school rather than her car, which she’d left back in Riverview for fear of it being recognized.

And, considering Savannah would undoubtedly recognize the unique car, this was proving to be a good decision.

Once Kenzie arrived at the fraternity house, she parked her scooter and scampered inside, eager to get out of the crisp evening air. There was a pungent smell of alcohol and smoke in the air as soon as she entered the door. Hopefully no one noticed her look of disapproval.

She knew this would be a keg party, but the term “keg” was used lightly. Kegs were everywhere, with people being tipped upside down to drink the juice inside (though Kenzie highly suspected the juice was spiked), and other people were pouring the liquid into plastic cups.

Someone sidled up to Kenzie and thrust a cup full of the stuff into her hand. Kenzie slyly sipped it into her mouth...

...and then spit it back into the cup. No way was she getting drunk. She had a job to do, even if no one around here knew it.

“Drink! Drink! Drink!” The frat guys were chanting like animals. Nearby, other patrons bounced ping pong balls into cups on a table, playing the ever popular game of juice pong.

Kenzie rolled her eyes. This is what college kids did to have a good time? She was never much of a party girl, but this seemed like way too much.

Kenzie spent her time surveying the room, mingling with unsuspecting party-goers, and trying not to let the foul aroma overwhelm her senses.

And then she spotted Savannah Swansen. She was wearing quite the odd, if not cold due to the weather outside, getup, and, to Kenzie’s horror, she took a drink from one of the many plastic cups scattered about.

Kenzie marched over there and scolded, “Savannah, what are you doing?”

Savannah lowered the glass and looked at Kenzie as though she were an alien. “I’m drinking. What’s it look like?”

“You’re underage. You’re only eighteen.”

“What business is it of yours, Mindy?”

“I just don’t...”

“Look, it’s my business what I do, not yours. So back off.”

With that, Savannah set her cup down and jumped up onto a precarious-looking table, grinding the air when a new song began blasting on the stereo.

Kenzie sighed as some of the other party-goers, particularly those of the male variety, began hooting and hollering. There was no reasoning with her. Jillian had asked her to keep an eye on her youngest sister, but again, there was only so much that she could do, if anything at all. She was a legal adult, though of course she was too young to be drinking. But everyone else was doing the same thing, and she wasn’t there as a detective or enforcer of the law.

Yet, as she looked up at Savannah dancing so freely, without a care in the world, she felt a pang of another sort – a green-eyed monster that she’d last experienced in Starlight Shores when she first saw Austin and Cheyenne together, before she’d met Hayden.

Jillian had said that Kenzie and Savannah were a lot alike in high school, with the exception of the latter being a cheerleader and more involved in sports. But at this age, Kenzie was focused solely on her studies (though she did have a certain guy in her life too). She never partied, never drank, and never did any of the things that Savannah was doing now.

Seeing her living it up like that made Kenzie realize that, for twenty-six years, she hadn’t actually fully lived at all. Her biggest devotion had always been to her career. Fun and hobbies always came second.

Had she let life pass her by? Even though Savannah had fallen downhill drastically, was she still “living” better?

No. Kenzie couldn’t believe that. But the panging sensation was still there, threatening to expose its ugly face at any moment.

But that feeling was quickly brushed to the side when she realized that keeping an eye on Savannah was a synonym for baby-sitting her. She was getting more and more tipsy as the night wore on. It got really heated when she had someone tip her upside down to take a long swig of the spiked juice keg, and in her drunken stupor, she didn’t notice, or perhaps didn’t care about, the effect this had on her miniskirt. Thank goodness she was wearing briefs and not a thong, or she would have exposed much more than she should have (though she was exposing too much now anyway).

At one point, she could hardly walk across the floor without colliding with someone or something. She didn’t even have a drink in her hand, but it was likely that if she did, it would be sloshing all over the floor.

“Savannah!” Kenzie chastised when she reached her after she lost her balance and hit the ground. “You’ve had way too much to drink. Come on, let’s get back to the dorm.”

“No!” Savannah hiccupped. “I’m just getting started!”

“No, you’re just getting finished. Get up.”

“Screw you! You’re not the boss of me! You can’t tell me what to do!”

Sadly, that was true. And now a small congregation was staring at them. Wonderful. Discretion was not being achieved at the moment.

Kenzie reached down and grabbed Savannah’s wrist, but like a stubborn child, she wouldn’t budge. It looked like Kenzie was dragging her across the floor.

“Stop it!” Savannah whined.

“Hey, back off,” a new voice said. Kenzie spun around and found herself staring at a girl dressed in an even more eccentric outfit than the girl on the floor. Her dishwater-blonde and red dyed hair was up in several dreads with beads dotting them, and she wore an expression of disapproval.

Kenzie was not amused.

“Stay out of it,” she told the girl. “She’s had too much to drink, and I’m getting her out of here.”

“She can do whatever the hell she wants,” the girl retorted. “You ain’t her mom, and if you want to leave, then kindly get out.”

“I’m not leaving without Savannah.”

The girl’s face contorted into a frown. “Look here, bitch. Savannah’s my girl, and we look out for each other. You just back up.”

“Your girl? What, are you two dating or something?”

“Hell no! We ain’t like that. We’re just best friends, and we’ve got each other’s backs. So you stay out of it.”

Savannah chose that very moment to lean forward, make a ghastly heaving sound, and spew the remnants of all the drinks she’d consumed onto the carpet.

“Oh, just lovely,” Kenzie sighed. One thing she hated was anything that had to do with vomit. It made her nearly gag herself.

“Damn, girl,” the other girl said, “you drank way too much for your own good.”

“That’s what I just said,” Kenzie muttered sarcastically. “Come on, if she’s your girl, help me get her home.”

“Fine, but it’s for her, not you.”

So Kenzie and this complete stranger each placed one of Savannah’s arms across their shoulders and stalked out into the cold. The girl thankfully had a car, so they loaded Savannah into it and Kenzie followed them back to the dorm on her scooter. Once there, they wordlessly half-carried, half-dragged Savannah upstairs to her room and placed her across her bed. She passed out instantly.

“Thanks,” Kenzie mumbled.

“No problem.”

“Look,” Kenzie said as the girl turned to go. “I’m sorry if we got off on the wrong foot. What do you say we start over?”

“Okay...what’s your name?”

“I’m Mindy Chandler. You?”

“Renata Draycott.”

Kenzie saw an opportunity. “So, you and Savannah are best friends?” she inquired.

“Yeah, we started hanging out not long before those bitches at the sorority ditched her.”

“What happened?”

“A long story, and it’s not mine to tell. Look, I have to bounce. I have something I need to do.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks again.”

Renata left, and Kenzie, seeing the time, changed into her pajamas. She hoped things would go better in the morning. She had a plan in mind to start cracking down on the real reason she was here in the first place. So far, the only thing she’d been able to ascertain was that Savannah Swansen was corrupted. She wasn’t that sweet, innocent little girl anymore. It was unnerving, but not something that Kenzie could help.

It was only as Kenzie was about to drift off to sleep that she realized the noises Savannah made while throwing up were identical to the ones she’d heard in the bathroom that very morning.

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