disgrace to his whole family and to our school as well. His parents, as ill luck would have it, were too busy with their own problems. Out of the blue they decided, after fifteen years of marriage, to divorce, as the son had kind of grown up and they had their second youth. So Sunny was almost alone in this fight, and I could not give him the necessary support. After all, I was only fifteen. I had no idea what to do. Best of all we have been able to pretend that nothing was happening.
3
One day after school, he came up to me. His cheeks flushed, his eyes glistened, and the pupils were of incredible size.
“Come with me,” he whispered, his voice was hoarse.
“Where to?” for some reason I also spoke in a whisper.
“One dude has a party,” he moved very close to me. “I want you to meet my friends.”
“Friends?” I asked trying to step back from him. I never liked then someone violated my personal space, even if it was him.
“You don’t know them,” he moved closer, “but they are awesome.”
I took another step back and felt the wall behind me. The way to escape was closed. Sunny looked at me waiting for an answer. His breath was heavy and hot. It seemed that he had a fever. I did not want to go with him, but I agreed.
He brought me to the other part of the town. He knew the area well and had no trouble finding the way among dozens of identical apartment buildings. We went into one of them and took an elevator to the fifth floor. Corridors were bright and clean, and there were flowers in pots on window sills. Somehow I imagined such places in a completely different way. Sunny knocked one of the doors. In a moment we heard hurried footsteps, the lock clocked and some guy appeared in the doorway. He was wearing jeans, his shirt was half unbuttoned and his hair was in mess. In short, he looked like an absolutely ordinary teenager.
“Hey, duuude,” drawled the guy smiling from ear to ear and patted Sunny on the shoulder.
“This is Walter,” Sunny introduced me.
The guy nodded and let us in. Sunny took off his jacket and walked into the living room. I hesitated a bit in the hallway. I looked at my reflection in the huge mirror that hung on the wall. I regretted that I came here and it was written on my face. My pupils we almost like Sunny’s, but I was not stoned.
The apartment obviously belonged to the rich people. In the living room, furnished with beautiful and expensive furniture, there were several teenagers. The other two boys and three girls. They were about my age, well dressed. Such teens are usually called “gilded youth”, children of rich parents who have everything and they just do not know what else to do to entertain themselves. Sunny, Sunny, how did you get here? We did not belong to this circle. We did not get expensive cars and apartments in the city as birthday presents.
They were happy to see Sunny. The girls immediately fell on his neck. When did he manage to become a part of their company? I felt a twinge of jealousy. After he finished his welcoming hugs and kisses, Sunny remembered, that I was still standing beside him. He began to introduce me, but I did not even try to remember their names. I hated them. I envied them. I could barely save money to buy a motorbike, and they had everything. Of course, Sunny couldn’t miss that chance. Of course, he couldn’t refuse to be the part of that society. Did it do anything good for him? No. On the other hand, I was not a good friend either since he exchanged me for them.
They were drinking cocktails, smoking, laughing, talking about some parties, plans for the holidays and that kind of stuff. I just sat there and watched them. I had nothing to say to them, even if I wanted to. I saw them getting drunk and felt disgust. I leaned back in the chair and closed my eyes. I was dizzy from the cigarette smoke. I must have dozed off, because I was brought back into the consciousness by somebody’s screams. It was one of the girls, who screamed. She was writhing in hysterics; one of the guys was holding her trying to shut her mouth. The second girl was slowly slipping off the couch. She was standing with one knee on the floor holding her hands to the coffee table. She was incredibly pale and seemed to be suffocating. Sunny was gently supporting her. Little by little he laid the girl on the floor. She was shivering, but I was not sure she was still conscious. She stared in front of her, but seemed to see nothing. Another guy was standing next to her on his lap and tried to measure the pulse. I rushed to them, but the third guy pushed me aside. He had something in his hand that seemed to be a syringe. Sunny rose to his feet, giving way to the guy and grabbed me by the elbow. He was pulling me to the door.
“Come, we should go away,” he repeated. “They know what to do. Come. Nobody should see us here.”
Sunny slipped my jacket over my shoulders and literally pushed me out of the door. I was trying to resist and couldn’t take my eyes off what was happening in the living room. They crowded around the girl, and I saw only her pale hand on the green carpet that seemed to be absolutely lifeless.
4
Next day Sunny didn’t show up at school, so I decided not to wait until the end of the classes and went to his home. Sunny opened almost immediately. He seemed to be ill and exhausted, barefoot, shirtless, in worn sweat pants. Sunny looked around, as if trying to make sure that no one followed me, and let me in. Without a word, he walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch. I took off my jacket and went after him. Sunny took a clicker and began to surf channels. He seemed to be scared, concerned, perhaps, even desperate. He was tapping his fingers on the back of the couch and biting his lower lip.
“You’re alone?” I asked.
He nodded nervously, still staring at the TV screen. I stood between him and the TV. Sunny leaned to the side to see what was happening on the screen. It was rather a mechanical move than the sign of real interest.
“What happened to her?” I asked.
He slowly raised his head, looked at me and bit his lip as if pondering over what to say.
“She’s in intensive care,” he said finally.
“Will she survive?” I asked.
“Gosh, I don’t know, Walter!” He threw the TV remote and rose from the couch. “If they find out that we were there, we would have a big problem,” he began to pace the room.
“You worry about our problems?” I asked after a short pause.
“Of course!” His voice was full of despair. “And you don’t?”
“That girl almost died right in front of your eyes and you fear that someone will know we were there?” I was frustrated. Her lifeless hand still cannot come out of my head.
“To hell with her, she’s a stupid… uh,” Sunny waved his hand.
“What’s wrong with you?” I went up to him, grabbed him by the shoulders and began to shake. “Who are you and where did you get Sunny? Huh?”
He pushed me away and sat on the edge of the coffee table.
“What can I do? How can I help her? Here everyone stands for himself, everyone is thinking about his own hide”
“Why the hell do you need all this?”
“What this?” He looked at me.
“Well, all of this!” I threw up my hands. “Drunken parties, drugs…”
“Dude, it’s cool!”
