Ally was a typical, average, American girl or at least she appeared so on the surface. At only 17 she had some academic achievements and a handful of friends, one could say she was pretty well off for her age. For all intents and purposes she was doing quite well entering into her senior year. She already had a school or two in mind for college so she could continue her softball career. However, that's a year away and her junior year just ended so Ally has plenty of time to think about all of that.
For the time being she was perfectly content to text friends for long hours and spend time at parties and social events. She'd get gussied up and head out, not to return for a couple hours, usually long past midnight. This was all to her parents discontent, but she made up for it by keeping her grades good and earning a few scholarships for herself already. A place here and a place there have already offered some sports based ones and others academic ones. Frankly for a 17-year-old girl, Ally Winsor had life pretty much figured out for now at least.
"Heyyyyy gurl :)" read the obnoxiously written text of a teenage girl, Emilee.
"Hay wuts up" she responded, the bright light of the screen burning her retinas in the dark.
The conversation went back and forth with the general chatter that consumes kids these days. There was gossip, relationships, and whatever else makes high school interesting. The conversation skipped around from topic to topic with very little coherence. After 30 or so texts back and forth the conversation reached the point that it was started for. Emilee had heard from Beth who had heard from Ryan that there was a party happening at Anthony's house while his parents were out of town. Ally may have been a straight-A student, but that didn't mean she was above teenage vices. In a short time Ally was dressed and meeting Emilee outside her fence in the backyard.
The girls giggled as they held hands and took off into the night. In 20 minutes they had finally arrived and they smiled as they readjusted each others outfits from the walk. Once everything was settled Emilee and Ally split up in search of their boy for the night. It was easily to get lost inside the small house with everybody crammed inside. Ally lost sight of Emilee soon after the split and for the first time she felt nervous, even if only slightly. Neither of them really knew Anthony all that well and this party seemed more crowded than usual, and with older people too. She stood towards the back of what she assumed was the dining room and fidgeted with her skirt. For whatever reason that nervous feeling kept nagging at the back of her mind and she grew uncomfortable. Ally began to scan around hoping to catch Emilee before it got too late.
"Hey, you feeling all right?" An unfamiliar man stood in front of Ally.
She looked up, a bit confused at first, but that soon faded when she examined his face. His slightly tanned skin and coy grin looked a bit off in the low light of the house, but it gave enough light so that Ally locked into his eyes. They were a color that seemed just to dark to be green, but held a familiar look that made it feel like she'd known him all along.
"You awake in there?" he gave a light laugh that snapped Ally back.
"Oh," she laughed in an unconscious response and looked away from him as she tried to hide her embarrassment, "Sorry bit distracted I guess."
"That's fine," he kept smiling, but his tone shifted lower as if the conversation was supposed to be secret, "I'm Paul by the way."
"Ally." She replied meekly, looking back up at him again. Paul was the classic definition of handsome: tall, dark colored eyes, straight smile, high cheekbones. In any other instance she would have been in awe that a man such as him was talking to her. She was beautiful herself, but not enough to attract a man who was at least 3 years her senior if not more.
"So, how old are you Ally? 20? 21?" he asked as he offered her a drink.
She blushed at the compliment, always thinking herself as mature, and replied, "I'm actually only 17." She took the cup taking a sip.
"Almost there." He commented softly, low enough that Ally didn't hear, and any question was quickly silenced by the follow-up, "So young, you're parents must be worried." He gave another soft laugh.
"What they don't know won't hurt them." She replied flashing a coy smile of her own taking another drink.
"That's the kind of attitude I like." He smiled.
They talked for a bit, but as the night progressed things began feeling more and more of. Ally started feeling more uncomfortable as Paul's face began looking distorted and blurry. Her head felt like it was in a fog and Paul's actions became increasingly aggressive. As she took steps towards the door he grabbed her hand and began leading her. She was too weak to fight back and too confused and foggy to call for help. To any bystander it looked like a helpful young man leading a drunk girl home.
The last thing Ally can fully remember was the sounds of doors shutting. Some were from houses and others with from cars. The gaps in between are all a blur of nonsensical noises and colors. She woke up back in her own house somehow trying to piece together what had happened. She was still dressed in her clothes from last night, she patted her pockets and found she had all of her belongings. Nothing seemed out of order, but she felt off. Something was different, but she couldn't figure out what as she held her head in her hands trying to piece it all together. Ally got up in a rush and ran to the bathroom feeling sick. She was disgusted with herself for whatever happened. She put a hand on her counter trying to balance herself and felt something crumple underneath. Her hand shook as she raised it to see what was underneath. In the second it took her mind flashed through every possibility of what it could be, each one avoiding the reality of what it was. She felt sick again falling to her knees as the realization sunk in that she had lost what she could only lose once. Her fantasies of how it would be were gone, there was no longer a chance of a romantic sweeping her off her feet. It would forever be tainted by a smarmy guy she'd never see again.
For a girl whose worst event in life was the time she broke a nail before prom, her entire life seemed over. She could easily hide it all and no one would know any different, Emilee had left before she did according to texts and no one else there seemed to really know her. She could hide her shame from everyone, but she had to live with it regardless. Whether or not people knew, she was broken, damaged goods. She sat there on the white tiled floor crying as her body slowly contorted into the fetal position. She softly cried trying to hold it back, anything louder might alert her parents and she'd have to explain what was going on. Ally could have stayed in that position for the rest of her life and desperately wanted to.
