_____

"If Mama finds out-"

"She won't." Raylen says, picking up another twelve pack of beer and putting it in the cooler.

"You don't know that. I'm not going down for this, Raylen. If Mama and Daddy find out-"

"They won't." He snaps. "Shut up Noemie, fill the damn cooler."

I glare at my brother, picking up the twenty four pack of coke.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" My baby sister whispers, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

Okay, she's not a baby, she's ten, but I was four when she was born and I remember, therefore she's a baby.

"Yeah, this is a bad idea." Noah hesitates. He's twelve, looking at me and my older brother wearily.

"I agree. Let's just call it off, take the twenty Dad left and order a pizza." I say.

"No. There's over a hundred people coming to this party. Mama and Dad are in Chicago visiting Gwen. They won't be back until tomorrow night."

"But Dad said that Uncle Gabe was coming over to check-"

Raylen cuts off Caroline with a glare.

"He said that to scare us. Uncle Gabe isn't coming and neither are Mama and Dad. You guys watch. This is going to be great and tomorrow I will be the talk of the school."

"Raylen," Noah starts.

"Shut up." Raylen snaps. "If you're that fucking scared, call your Mommy." He sneers.

Noah hesitates and then runs his fingers through his brown hair.

"I'm not a snitch."

"Neither am I." Caroline says firmly, fiddling with the end of her blonde hair. "But if Mama finds out-"

"Dammit, stop being a baby." Raylen snaps. "Jake will be here in a few minutes to help. He's bringing the good stuff."

"I thought beer was the good stuff."

"It is, but he's bringing better stuff."

"Like what?" Noah asks.

"None of your business. Are you three going to stand there as decoration or are you going to help me set this up?"

This is a bad idea. Mama will flip her lid if she finds out about this. She will rip all four of us up.

There is nobody in the world that terrifies me more than her. Dad is strict too, but he's not nearly as terrifying at Mama.

We all start helping our big brother set up for the party, putting away any glass or anything Mama cares about.

"What are we going to do with Lucia?" Noah asks. "If you get so much as a fingerprint on her, Mama will-"

"You guys are pissing me off." Raylen snaps. "Just shut up, okay?" He shouts. "I'm handling it, just stop!"

Caroline looks down, and then she picks up Dad's drill and throws it at him.

Instead of hitting Raylen, she misses and hits the hood of Mama's Cadillac Escalade, making a huge dent in it. The alarm starts blaring.

"Oh no! No! Mama will kill me!" She buries her head in her hands. Raylen glares at her, sticks his middle finger up, and then goes storming into the house through the garage. He comes back with the keys, silencing the alarm.

"Go upstairs, Caroline." He steps towards her and she backs up, and then darts through the garage door, sobbing.

"You're a jerk." I snap at my big brother, picking the drill up off the floor. I put it on a shelf. "You were nice when we were kids."

"People grow up." He snaps.

"I'm going inside with Caroline." Noah mutters.

"Pussy." Raylen snaps.

Noah ignores him and goes upstairs. When they're gone, Raylen steps forward and reaches around me to slam the garage door shut. He pulls a pac of cigarettes from his pocket and lights one, taking a deep breath.

"You're sixteen!" I exclaim. He blows the smoke in my face. I start coughing.

"You know I have asthma!" I snap, waving my hand in front of my face.

"Go get dressed." He says. "Jake's here."

"Jake is an idiot and everyone knows he does drugs."

"Jake is a grown ass man, and so am I."

"Dad is a grown man." I snap. "You're a child and so is Jake."

He glares at me, and blows more smoke in my face. I feel my lungs tightening and I cough, walking into the house. I hear him mimicking my coughing and laughing as I feel the start of an asthma attack. I go upstairs to my bedroom and get my inhaler, taking a big gulp of the medicine.

When my lungs calm, I walk to my closet and pick out a pink dress I wore for Valentines Day. I pull it on and brush my hair. I brush back the top and braid it.

I look so much like my Mama. Everyone tells me all the time. I study my full pink lips, my brown eyes, and my wavy brown hair.

Sighing, I pull on the necklace Daddy got me for my fourteenth birthday and slip on some white sandals. I walk down the hall to my sisters room. Noah sits on her bed.

"Stay in the room you two, alright?"

"Okay."

I shut the door and go back downstairs.

Jake is sharing a blunt with my brother.

Jake puts it between his lips and grabs a handle of the cooler. Raylen grabs the other handle and pulls it into the house, elbowing me out of his way.

He's so mean.

I watch as they pull the cooler to the kitchen. Jake blows out the smoke to the marijuana in the house and passes it to my brother.

This is going to be bad. Really bad.

_____

"Fuck yeah!" My brother shouts, guzzling more beer down the funnel.

The house is covered in people, teenagers making out and touching each other inappropriately, people jumping into the ice cold pool.

It's freaking October! Who swims in a pool in October in Ohio?! It's like forty degrees outside!

The horses have been let out of the barn to wander the property and drunk people are trying to jump on them.

Raylen has smoked so many blunts, I lost count at nine. The whole house reeks of drugs and beer and sweat.

Raylen throws down the funnel after he gulps down the rent of the beer, and then stumbles over to me, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

"Hey baby sissy!" He says.

"Get off of me Raylen, you stink of drugs and alcohol." I snap.

He lets go of me, lighting another blunt. He shoves it towards me. I push his hand away.

"Take it!" He snaps, grabbing my face and forcing my mouth open. I bring my knee up to his boy parts. People start laughing as he keels forward in pain. I back up, but I can hear him threatening me.

This is bad. This is really bad. Raylen didn't even call dinner for us and I don't have a phone. It's almost eleven at night and I'm lightheaded and starving.

"Watch this!" Raylen shouts, sprinting across the lawn. People follow him. He runs to the garage and comes out with Mama's motorcycle. My eyes widen.

"Raylen!" I yell. "Don't!"

He grins at me.

"Watch me, brat!"

I need to put a stop to this. I need to call help.

I turn around and run into the house, up the stairs to my sisters bedroom door. I bang on it with my fist, tears streaming down my cheeks.

"It's me! Open up!" I yell when I find the knob locked. A moment later she opens the door, her brown eyes peeking out at me. She opens it wider for me to come in and I do. She shuts the door and locks it a moment later.

I pull my iPod from my pocket and open Snapchat, my hands shaking as I search for my Mama. She's my longest streak.

I swipe to the left and hit the phone icon.

I hear it ringing and I turn the volume all the way up, crying.

After a moment it stops.

"Why aren't you calling on Raylen's phone?"

Daddy answered.

"Daddy!" I sob. "Raylen is throwing a party and it's so messed up!" I wipe my tears. "He tried to make me smoke weed and he's drunk and high and he's trying to ride Lucia! I should have called hours ago but I was scared what he would do!"

"What? Button, slow down. What's going on?"

"Daddy, Raylen is throwing a party." Noah says.

"He's crazy Daddy. He's under the influence of drugs and alcohol and he tried to make Nemi do it too!" Caroline exclaims.

Silence.

"And he's trying to ride Lucia!" I sniffle, wiping tears.

"Well luckily for you guys, we are down the street." Dad says, his voice flat. I can tell he's really angry. "All of you be downstairs by your brother in five minutes."

The line clicks.

"We're in so much trouble!" Caroline whimpers.

"I know we are." I grumble. I wipe my tears and put my iPod on Caroline's bed, walking out of the room. I hold both of their hands as we go downstairs, weaving through sweaty bodies. We go out to the side yard where people are watching Raylen trying to kickstart Lucia, who just won't give.

"I've done it before!" Raylen slurs.

I see Dad's black Dodge Ram roll into the driveway, but Raylen doesn't notice.

Raylen runs his fingers through his dirty blonde hair and sighs. His leather jacket rests on his shoulders. He sticks his hands in his pockets for a moment, staring at Mama's bike.

And then he tries again. I feel a strong hand on my shoulder and I turn around. Daddy stands behind me, his lips into a thin line. Mama is with him, her eyes filled with a fire I've never seen before.

Dad looks me up and down.

"What the hell are you wearing? You are fourteen!"

"Daddy," I start, but then I notice Mama.

She's laughing at my brother trying to start Lucia. Daddy looks down at her and I see him bite his lip.

"Uh oh." He mutters.

She starts clapping loudly, the leather jacket framing her body. She's wearing her signature outfit. Heads turn when she starts clapping. Raylen looks up, and his eyes turn into saucers. Everyone falls silent, and the music stops in the house.

Mama smiles brightly at her eldest son.

"Mind if I try?" She asks.

"Uh..." Raylen's mouth opens and closes a few times. "Mama...I was just having a few friends over, um..."

"No really Raylen, let me try." The smile vanishes off of her face.

"Odeletta." Dad says quietly, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She marches over to her motorcycle.

"Step back children."

Everyone moves out of the way, their eyes wide.

She does something on the engine of Lucia, flips a switch on her handlebars and slams her foot down on the kickstart.

The bike roars to life. Dad is watching his wife silently.

She climbs onto Lucia and takes off the kickstand.

"Let me show you how it's done." She snarls.

The revs the engine loudly, so loudly that a few people cover their ears, and then she goes flying across the yard at a very fast speed, pulling back on the handlebars so Lucia lifts onto her back wheel, the engine screaming loudly at Mama's commands.

She goes around the yard, ripping up the grass, and she flies back towards my brother, coming to a complete halt with the front of Lucia an inch from my brother's knee.

She kills the engine and gets off, moving to stand right in front of my brother.

She's tiny, and he's over six foot already.

"Get your ass in the house." She snarls. "Now!"

He turns around and shoves his hands in his pockets, mortified as he stomps into the house. She looks around at the drunk teenagers littering the yards.

"If all of you are not off my property within the next minute, the police will escort you home!" She yells.

Everyone runs off the property. She watches them all leave, her lips in a snarl.

She glares at the three of us.

"Round up the horses." She hisses. "And get your asses in the house."

We walk off without a word. She turns to Daddy and I can hear her screaming, not at him, but at him about the situation. I round up all six horses with my brother and sister, locking them in their stalls.

When I shut the barn door, I see Dad is hugging Mama and rubbing her back.

Dad whispers something to her and they pull away.

"Come here." Mama snaps, pointing at the ground in front of her. We all walk over. She glares at us, her brown eyes reminding me of swords. I flinch away from her. "You guys did the right thing." She says finally. "While you called way too late, you still called." She says.

"Oh...um..." Caroline puts her hands behind her back. "I dented the Cadillac."

Her eyes widen slightly.

"On accident. Raylen was cussing at us and I got mad and so I threw Daddy's drill and I missed him, and-"

"You threw my drill?" Daddy asks, putting his hand over his heart. Mama looks at him and her eyes twitch like she's going to smile, and then she looks back at Caroline, and then Noah, and then me. She looks really tired and I feel guilty. She rubs her temples and blows out a breath.

"Just go in the living room." She says.

Guilty, all of us walk inside the house.