Annie--Snitch

SNITCH

            Leah walked into school with her head lowered and her gaze focused on the little black dots of old gum stuck on the concrete paths of her high school. She didn't want to be here, she didn't want to have to talk to these people, get their dirty looks, their judgmental comments. She already knew what everybody thought about her, she could sum it up in one word: snitch. Just last week, Leah was on top of the world, everything had been going so smooth and perfect. Her grades were awesome, she was having so much fun with her friends finishing off her senior year of high school, and preparing to move in with some of her best friends once she started her first year of college at her dream school. She told herself she never should have gotten comfortable, she knew that the other shoe always dropped sometime, “it definitely did, and it brought my entire world down with it.”, she whispered, as her thoughts drifted back to this day last week...

            Parker was just some guy this time a year ago, Leah had seen him all over school, but never once did she bother to pay attention to him or his annoyingly obnoxious football buddies. Parker was constantly flirting with everybody, always with a new girl on his arm walking to and from class; Leah was always waiting for these idiotic people she had to share a school with to wake up, but that day never came, and it wasn't her problem anyways. She saw him just then, walking through the hallways, as always with some poor girl in tow, and rolled her eyes but had to catch her breath when her best friend almost trampled her in the hallway. Renee was the same age as Leah and they had been best friends for almost 10 years; Renee was always excited or rambling on about something. This time, it was about the big party for the weekend that everybody said was a “must-go”. “Can we pleassssse go Leah? I don't want to do another movie night. No offense, but I'm getting stir crazy, and besides it will be fun for us to let loose for once.” Leah hated going to parties, she always felt out of place, and she was never the type to drink or do anything like that, so she felt she had no point in being there. It was on the tip of her tongue to say “no” to Renee, when suddenly Leah changed her mind, “Yeah I guess we can go”, she said as Renee almost fell over from how surprised and excited she was. Leah figured she could humor her best friend just this once, and besides she was a senior and it was time she let herself enjoy her last few months in high school.

            Leah and Renee had spent an hour getting ready at Leah's house and they both hoped that tonight was going to be fun. As the girls pulled up to the party, they could see a bunch of familiar faces and Leah thought that maybe this time, she might actually have fun and let loose, which she never did. The girls walked into the front of the house and immediately ran into Parker and a few of his pals that Leah could not stand. Parker's eyes went wide as he looked at the girls, surprise crossing his face, “Wow didn't expect you guys to come out of your shell that you hide in”, he laughed. Leah rolled her eyes and tried to walk around him but Parker excused both himself and Leah, pulling her down a nearby hall. She went to turn around and get Renee's attention so they could make an excuse to dodge the guys, but Renee was already surrounded by Parker's friends and Leah couldn't get to her.

            Parker grabbed Leah and they walked into the kitchen where she felt like there were waaay more people than should be squished in that tiny little area. When she looked to her left, she saw a guy she knew from her English class and began to make conversation when she heard Parker's buddies come up behind her, building a human wall. Leah stepped back just in time for Parker to come and through his fist at the front of Leah's classmate's face. Leah gasped and watched horrified as Parker and his buddies “went to town” on her classmate. She stood a few seconds frozen in shock before pushing her way through the group of boys, dodging punches and screaming as loud as she could. It was a waste of time, a group of people had gathered around the fight and were shouting, egging the guys on. Once she finally got to the middle of the circle, she saw Parker on top of the classmate and the victim's face all bruised and bloody. On instinct she threw herself on top of Parker, knocking him over, she couldn't believe the savages these guys were, and all for amusement. Quickly gaining her reigns, she stood on shaky knees and tried her best to drag her beaten classmate out of the party and on to the front porch, nobody offering to help her.

            By the time Leah got her classmate to the front of the house, she could see that he was spitting up blood and didn't know what to do. Her head and her heart were pounding, her pulse a million miles a minute. Where was Renee? Why wasn't anybody helping her? Why did this poor guy get the living hell beat out of him? Why did Parker pull her along to see it, did he want somebody to impress? She tried with unstable hands to dial 911 and ushered an ambulance over screaming at them to “Hurry!” She hated Parker and his friends for doing this to her classmate, no matter what the circumstance. Parker and his friends weren't small guys, Parker himself was 18 and stood at least a head foot taller than his fighting partner.

            When the emergency personnel arrived, a police vehicle pulled up at the same time. Leah knew what she needed to do, she had to protect her classmate. Parker was 18, he could be charged for this, and she was going to make sure he got what he deserved. She silently sent a thank-you up above, for allowing her to be there for the party, as she relayed her entire night to the police officer, who stood by taking notes, not missing a beat. She didn't care what people thought, if she was a buzz kill, a goody two shoe’s, or a snitch.  One thing was for sure:  she was going to make Parker’s life a living hell.