"Get this bitch off me," David screams, a vein appearing on the side of his neck. The kitchen light beams down on them and illuminates the sweat trickling off his temples.

"Mary, you're in a dangerous mood right now, and this is enough to have you arrested," Judith reminds her. Kacey squeezes the chest of her burgundy satin minidress and flicks her eyes from one person to the other. "Just get off of him before you make matters worse."

"Why the fuck do you care, huh," she yells, and Judith recoils, then sits her hands over her chest. Her heart is pounding against her palms, but no amount of deep, steady breaths calms it. "You of all people should be glad I'm about to put an end to him. You used to cry about him abusing you, and yet here you are defending him!"

Is she drunk again, and why am I getting a dé·jà Vu feeling?

"Judith, let's bounce," Kacey insists, her voice wavering. Mary looks down at David. His eyes are closed, and he's talking under his breath.

"I can't just leave him like this." Kacey scoffs, then takes a step back, but before she turns to the door, she stops and stares past Judith.

Derek is standing over her, and when he sits his right hand on her shoulder, he leaves a heavy feeling on that side of her body. He shoves Judith to their right, and as he steps closer, she watches him with furrowed brows.

"Come any closer, and I'll slit his fucking throat," Mary shouts again, and a few onlookers take cautious steps away from the scene. When they reach the foyer, they sprint out of the frat house.

David looks up at Derek with an emptiness in his eyes that Judith recognizes.

He's not afraid.

"What the fuck is your problem," Derek asks, and with her lips in a straight line, Mary shrugs.

"I guess I've just reached my breaking point." He narrows his eyes at her statement. Judith and Kacey share a glance. "You men are all the same, and how ironic is it that I'm crazy when you're the reason I'm like this!"

"You were crazy before you met me, so don't pull that," Derek argues, and she scoffs incredulously, tears sitting on the brims of her eyes. "Fucking look at yourself! You're holding an innocent guy on the floor in the middle of a crashed party with a knife to his throat!"

With a deranged chuckle, she says, "Oh, he's far from innocent." Mary leans her face closer to David, and he curls his lips into a disgusted frown. "Tell them what you told me. Tell them why I'm so angry!"

"Get off me," he merely says, and she scoffs again. Her tears cascade off her cheeks, and she takes a deep breath as she sits up straight.

"Wanna know what he said," Mary asks Judith, but she doesn't answer. "I'll tell you. He said after he dropped me off last night, you two nearly had sex."

"Mary, enough," David sternly says, and a few more spectators make their way to the front exit. Judith's stomach practically drops with her jaw.

"I didn't believe it. The tattoo on your back, the way you scream. I mean, you two were a thing before me, so, of course, he knows how you are and how you look," she pauses and takes a shaky breath, her tears landing on her chapped lips. "But when he said that he only stopped because he saw you were on the rag, that's when I knew. I don't know how, but I did."

Justin, Jerome's twin, strolls down the stairs in jeans and a white shirt, and he stops beside Kacey. He and Derek lock eyes, and when Derek clears his throat, he approaches the arch.

He looks down at Mary in disarray. Her mascara is running, her curls dropped, and strands of her blonde hair stick to her clammy forehead.

He and Derek glance at each other again, then Justin quickly wraps his arms around her. She belts out an ear-splitting scream and flails against his chest. He tightens his grip on her like a snake with its prey before standing up with her.

"Let me go," she yells and kicks her legs. Judith exhales from relief, Mary drops the knife, and David stands to his feet. More members of the crowd leave, and Derek faces the rest.

"Everyone who doesn't live here, get out. Party's over," he announces. They groan and murmur phrases of disappointment, but they walk to the foyer. As he turns to the five of them, half of the crowd continues up the stairs, and the rest exit the building. "I said the party's over. We got her."

"Judy, come on," Kacey ushers her, but she doesn't budge. Judith stares at Mary as she sobs beneath her mess of golden locks, and she takes a deep breath.

"Let her go." David and Justin look at Derek, and he gives her a questioning glare. "I'll walk her to her room."

"Judy, are you crazy," Kacey asks, standing under the arch. "They said they got her. Now let's get out of here before word gets out that I was here."

"I can't leave her here alone with three guys, Kacey. I don't feel right about that." Mary slowly lifts her head and stares at Judith, her face tomato red and her nose running.

"She's fine," Justin assures her with a humourous scoff. "It's not like we're gonna run a train on her. She'll just sleep in my room and leave in the morning."

"See? She'll be okay." Kacey's visibly jittery, and Judith scans her from her head of finger waves to her black stilettos.

"I'm not leaving here until you let her go," she tells Derek. David kisses his teeth, and Kacey rolls her eyes.

"You're an interesting case," he tells her. "This slut betrays your friendship by fucking your boyfriend, but here you are, demanding to leave with her."

Judith steps to him and cranes her neck to look up at him. "Call her a slut again."

They stare into each other's eyes, seeking to intimidate the other into submission

"Let her go," he orders them without breaking away. Mary falls to her hands and knees and whimpers.

She pushes herself to her feet, finger combs her hair out of her face, and sniffles. Derek licks his lips, runs his hand down his face, and looks past her.

Judith turns her back to him, and they watch her limp toward Mary. They stare into each other's eyes, and her compassion makes her cry again.

"Come on." She takes her hand, and they trudge toward Kacey as she strolls to the doors. She opens the one on their left for them and walks onto the porch behind them. When they descend the steps, Judith stops and asks, "Wait, did Juniper leave?"

"She was here," Kacey asks, her voice high with surprise. She glances behind them when Judith nods and shakes her head.

"Okay, so she's probably by the pool." She releases her hand to ascend the first step. "I'll go get her. Wait here."

Judith steps into the foyer and hears David, Derek, and Justin discuss the altercation.

"She's insane. I knew I shouldn't have even started talking to her," David says. Judith looks through the living room arch.

"See, that's why I only fuck bitches that look like Pam Grier; I can handle them being crazy if they're a dime," Justin tells them. Derek furrows his eyebrows at the mention of the actress. He's never heard of her and Justin notices. "Black Mama, White Mama? Blacula? Coffy?"

He shakes his head at every movie listed with the confusion remaining on his face, and the two black men glance at each other. Judith continues through the kitchen, and they follow her with their eyes.

"What do you want now? We gave you Mary." She ignores Derek and pushes the sliding door back. The trio share glances and Justin crosses his large arms.

"Oh, my God, Juniper!" A small fire spread onto the chair Judith sat in from the dry grass behind it. Juniper is unconscious in the one next to it, her arms hanging off the sides.

She rushes toward her, and Derek sprints toward the back door. He catches himself with his hands on either side of the frame and his body jerks back.

He swears under his breath, then looks behind him and yells over the music, "Go upstairs and get the buckets! There's a fire by the pool!"

Judith stands at Juniper's right and stares at her in thought. When she notices her chest rising and falling, she leans down and yanks her off the edge and into the grass.

The fire gradually stretches toward the next chair as Judith grabs her underarms. She drags her away from the blaze, grunting and hyperventilating with thoughts of them burning flashing through her head.

David, Derek, and Justin race toward them with dented tin buckets, and when Judith notices them, she stops in anticipation. They proceed past them, and she scoffs with her jaw dropped.

You've gotta be kidding me.

She watches them scoop water into their buckets, rise, and toss it on the fire. When they return to their posts to repeat the action, she continues dragging Juniper toward the door.

She hauls her through the kitchen and the foyer. When she reaches the front doors, her back crackles when she straightens her posture.

She opens the left door and peeks her head out. Mary's sleeping on her back with her arms lying at her sides and Kacey's trembling over her, green fluid and chunks dripping off her dress and arms.

"I guess this isn't the best time to ask for help carrying Juniper?" She glares at Judith without shifting her head.

***

They step into Kacey's room with their arms tight around Mary and Juniper, and Veronica looks up from her Playgirl magazine. They lower them onto the floor and groan as they straighten their backs.

"Ronnie, I need your under-blanket," Kacey breathlessly tells her, sitting her hands on her hips.

"Hi to you too, Kacey," she says as she shuts her adult magazine. She sits it on the nightstand and stands up. She tosses the comforter to the foot of the bed, and as she yanks the thin blanket from between the fitted sheet and covering, she has her eyes on them. "Is that Juniper?"

"Yes," Kacey huffs. She removes it from the bed and faces them. "And for her sake – and ours – let's not tell Jennifer. By the way, where is she? It's past curfew."

"She went out looking for her." Veronica hoists the blanket into the air and gently lays it on the floor between the beds. "She'll probably be back soon."

"Does your bathroom work," Judith asks, and Veronica shakes her head no. She swears under her breath and sighs.

"Is that yours?" She nods her head towards the remaining clumps of bile, and they follow her gaze.

"No, it's Mary's, and it wouldn't have happened if Judith would've left when I asked her to," she says as she bends down.

"What's worse? A stain you can easily remove in the washer or knowing a girl was assaulted because you left her alone," Judith asks, and they don't respond. Kacey tugs Mary toward the blanket, and Veronica strolls past her.

"I'll carry Juniper. You should leave before our housemother comes back," she warns her. Judy watches Kacey straighten the blanket under Mary's feet, then nods.

"Do you know anyone who can drive me home? I missed the bus." Kacey pulls herself onto the edge of her bed and kicks her heels near her dresser.

"You might find a few professors lingering in the quads. They usually stay late." Veronica bends down, and as she picks up Juniper, Judith limps toward Kacey's wardrobe to undress.

***

Professor Chandler cruises through her cul-de-sac with his left arm relaxed on the window sill and his right hand at the top of the steering wheel. He reaches her house and stops on the side of the road.

"I'll walk you in," he says as she removes her seatbelt, and she chuckles. When he turns the key out of the ignition, her smile falls.

"Wow, okay, you're serious," she mumbles. When he tucks it into his pocket, they exit the Ford Torino. "Listen, I appreciate the lift. Not many folks would be so generous, but I think you walking me in is pushing boundaries."

"You know, for someone so appreciative, you haven't said much to me during the ride," he reminds her as they walk to her porch. Standing at the door, he continues, "and getting you to say what little you did was like pulling teeth."

"I'm sorry. I'm just not talkative." He firmly knocks three times, and Judith sucks in a breath. She looks behind them at his Mexican-sand-colored car, then forward when the door clicks.

Rembrandt opens the door and looks her professor up and down.

God, please not tonight.

"Hi, are you her father," Professor Chandler asks, and Judith narrows her eyes.

"No, I'm her uncle." Rembrandt folds his arms. Judith's heart begins to race, and phantom sweat digs at the back of her neck. "Who're you?"

"Oh, I'm her teacher. I wanted to introduce myself to her folks, so y'all can know who got her home safe," he explains with a smile.

"Well, aren't you kind?" Rembrandt glares at him as he slowly turns at the hips to look behind him. "Sheryl, Judith just got home!"

Like a mob of wild animals, her rapid footsteps boom toward the stairs. Judith struggles to swallow since her mouth is dry, taking faint labored breaths.

"Let her in." Metal clinks against metal, and when he steps aside, Judith's eyes widen at the thick leather belt in her mother's hand. Sheryl's scrunched face relaxes when she sees her teacher. "Oh, I didn't realize you were here too."

"I wanted to come in and speak, but if this is a bad time," he begins, and Judith looks up at him with pleading eyes that he doesn't notice.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but please don't leave.

"No, it's fine. Come in out the cold." She ushers them over and steps toward the kitchen. "I'll pour you some tea."