Halloween had always been one of Gillian’s favorite holidays. There was a childish side of her she enjoyed allowing to come through. She had big plans for the gym on Halloween. Gillian enlisted the help of her two assistants, several of the teachers she had gotten to know, and a few seniors. The night before Halloween they worked like demons turning the gym into an enormous haunted house. Gillian had brought some of the supplies with her, and bought the rest in town. There were giant cobwebs hanging from everywhere and partitions created with bolts of black cloth. Giant rubber tarantulas were all over the place, and plastic skeletons, an oversized ghoul she’d had for years, witches, and goblins. She had a CD of ghostly sounds with screams. By midnight they had the gym ready to terrify and delight any willing student, and Gillian put a sign on the front door that read “Beware! Enter at Your Own Risk!”
They had no basketball or volleyball practices scheduled there that day, and the students were allowed to wear costumes after classes. Gillian had been told that the day had always been fairly lackluster before the arrival of the girls, who threw themselves into it heart and soul. She made an announcement in the cafeteria at lunchtime that there was a haunted house on campus, but only the bravest should enter, and be prepared to be terrified. She posted a few signs around. A willing crew of seniors showed up to guide the freshmen through. The costumes were varied and creative, everything from Superman and Catwoman to gladiators, Vikings, Julius Caesar in a bedsheet, and one freshman girl had brought a Minnie Mouse costume from home, just in case. It looked adorable. There were several Barbies, a Hello Kitty, Batman and Robin. The costumes were both bought and homemade. Several of the teachers showed up at the haunted house in costume too. Gillian wore a Frankenstein costume and had the height to look seriously frightening. Maxine Bell, the school counselor, came as the Bride of Frankenstein. There were several pirates, and many witches, and kids from every grade were thrilled to go through it, screaming at every twist and turn. Everyone had a great time, and Nicole smiled as she walked by on her way to a meeting with Taylor. The haunted house was a huge success, and the freshmen went through it again and again. Gillian had smoldering cauldrons, and giant bowls of candy which she handed out liberally. She was planning to keep it running until senior curfew at ten P.M. They could have fun with it for an hour on their own, after the younger students had to be in their rooms at eight and nine P.M. Her crew of willing helpers had agreed to stay as late as they had to, to help her take it down.
They had lots of visitors all through the afternoon and evening, before and after dinner. It was even scarier as the night got darker. Taylor and Nicole showed up and went through it too and thanked Gillian for doing it. Everybody loved it. Simon Edwards was working the door then in a Darth Vader mask that said in a robotic voice “Don’t make me destroy you!” which he had brought from New York, and worn at his previous school. Everyone had gone all out to make the haunted house a success, and it was the hit of the campus. One of the sophomores who had been there the year before—“B.G.” as the kids were calling it, “Before Girls”—said that this was the coolest year ever, and Taylor and Nicole smiled when they heard him say it.
The seniors had gone through the haunted house trying to seem cool, but even they jumped and started and screamed, as witches, who were teachers with painted green faces, leapt out at them unexpectedly. Rick Russo and Steve Babson had gone through it together, with Gabe not far behind them. Rick whispered to Steve on their way out.
“Trick or treat,” he said meaningfully. Steve frowned at first, wondering what he meant, and then understood that Rick had something to share with him. They had split a pint of bourbon once, and a bottle of wine, and hadn’t gotten caught. “Behind the tree line,” Rick whispered again. It was where they had done it before, and Steve nodded, looking pleased by Rick’s suggestion, as he helped himself to a handful of candy on the way out. There were miniature Snickers bars and KitKats, M&M’s, Tootsie Pops, and Hershey’s Kisses. The new athletic director had gone all out and spent her own money on it, as a gift to the kids.
Gabe came up behind them then, and Steve passed the message to him. “Behind the tree line.” Gabe got it immediately, and the three of them headed toward a seldom-used path that was a shortcut to some maintenance buildings. It was more frequented this year, because it was also a shortcut to the girls’ dorms, which some of them had discovered. But there was no one walking there now.
The trees provided a solid wall, beyond which there was a clearing, and a cluster of tall old trees with heavy roots. It was a secluded spot that no one ever went to. All three boys were strong enough to push through the bushes that reinforced the tree line, and with a few leaves sticking to them here and there, they walked into the clearing and laughed in anticipation of what they were about to do.
“So what’s the treat?” Steve asked Rick, keeping his voice down, so no one venturing down the path would hear them. But the maintenance staff was off by then, and most of the girls seemed to travel the more obvious paths to their dorms.
“Courtesy of my father’s bar,” Rick said, pulling a silver flask out of his jacket pocket with a grin. He was wearing a black sweatshirt and windbreaker and black jeans that had been part of his pirate costume a little earlier. They could see the flask clearly in the moonlight.
“What’s in it?” Gabe asked, as Rick took the first swig himself.
“Vodka,” Rick answered and handed it to him. Gabe took a swallow and handed it to Steve, who drank from it too.
“Trick or treat, gentlemen,” Rick said and all three of them laughed, and then stood still and listened as they heard voices on the path. They were male voices, and they recognized them immediately. Steve ran over to the tree line, peeked through a narrow opening, and called through the bushes in a stage whisper.
“Hey!” Chase and Jamie were on the other side, and stopped walking when they heard him. “Trick or treat!”
“What are you, a freshman?” Chase said with a grin.
“Come on in,” Steve invited them.
“What are you doing in there? We were heading there too.” Without hesitating, Jamie and Chase pressed through the trees and bushes as the other three had, and looked at them smiling. “You’re having a party and didn’t invite us?” Chase was carrying a backpack, and all five of them walked away from the bushes and went to sit under the enormous tree with the gnarled roots. Steve almost tripped over one of them, as the vodka started to take effect. They all sat down on the ground, and Chase set down his backpack and Steve handed them the flask. Both newcomers took a drink.
“Sissy stuff,” Chase said as he handed back the flask, opened his backpack, and pulled out a full bottle, while the others’ eyes grew wide. Rick slipped the flask back in his pocket.
“What is that?” Rick asked, intrigued at the prospect.
“Tequila. I figured maybe we could have a little farewell party before graduation and it might come in handy,” Chase said with a grin. “But we decided to have a few shots tonight. Looks like you had the same idea.”
“And you had it in your room?” Gabe looked shocked. He wouldn’t have dared bring alcohol to the school or hide it in his room. He thought Chase was gutsy to do it.
“Locked in my trunk. I carry the key. We figured we’d give it a try tonight and save the rest for later. Everyone’s so busy with the haunted house, no one’s going to notice anything.” He and Jamie had talked about it before they left their dorm, their rooms were side by side, but they wouldn’t dare drink it there. The clearing behind the tree line was the perfect location for a little mischief. Having a few drinks on Halloween sounded like fun to them.
Chase opened the bottle and handed it to Jamie, who took a drink and made a face as it seared his throat. It was the strongest drink he’d ever had, and a lot stronger than the vodka.
“Not bad, huh?” Chase commented. “I tried it last year when my parents told me they were getting a divorce.” He looked serious for a minute, took a swig himself, and passed it to Rick, who took a longer drink and passed it around. It made him feel manly and confident.
“Wow, that’s strong stuff,” Steve said and took another swallow of the liquid in the bottle. It made the rounds again between the five of them. By their third drink of it, they were all starting to feel a buzz, and then stopped dead when they heard a high voice singing on the path.
“Shit, girls,” Rick whispered, and they all sat quietly waiting for the voice to pass, and then realized that it was a male voice singing in Chinese. They recognized it immediately.
“Tommy,” they all said in unison and laughed as they ran back soundlessly to the tree line, peeked through the bushes, and saw him carrying his violin case.
“Hey, Yee!” Jamie said through the trees. Tommy nearly jumped a foot, and for a minute thought it was a ghost. He was on his way to practice at the music lab, since he had promised his parents he would every night.
“Who is that?” he asked, looking terrified, talking into the bushes.
“It’s us, get in here,” Chase said boldly, and they were all grinning. Tommy had gone through all four years with them and they liked him, and once in a while he hung out with them, when he wasn’t studying. They pushed the bushes apart for him, and pulled him through, as he looked around the group and grinned. He saw that he was among friends.
“I thought you were a ghost,” he said, smiling at them. “What are you doing in here?” But he could guess. He’d been at the wine party with them in the same place the year before. They only broke the alcohol rule about once a year, for a special occasion.
“A little trick or treating.” They all went back under the tree and sat down. This time, Rick and Steve stumbled over the roots. The tequila had begun to give them a warm glow. It was a cold night and none of them cared. Chase handed Tommy the tequila bottle, and he looked impressed.
“Whoa, you guys have upgraded, that’s strong shit.”
“Try it,” Chase said. Tommy took a cautious sip and made an awful face.
“I’ve got vodka if you want it,” Rick offered. He held out the flask again, and Tommy took a sip of that too. They continued passing both bottles around between the six of them, but eventually they stuck with the tequila. It tasted worse, but the effect was stronger. They hadn’t intended to get drunk, just to get a little buzz on, but sharing it among them, they’d had more to drink than they realized. Rick was lying on the ground with his head on a tree root, grinning to himself and then at the others.
“Man, I feel great!” It felt like a rite of passage, now that they were seniors, to impress each other with how much they could drink.
“Yeah, me too,” Gabe said, took another swig, and they passed it around again. Jamie was laughing to himself, and then they heard female voices, for real this time. It was a bunch of girls, taking the shortcut to their dorm. The boys waited silently for them to pass. It sounded like there were a lot of them, and they didn’t want them to discover their secret hiding place. As far as they knew, no one else ever used it. There wasn’t much opportunity to party at school. They were pretty well supervised, and none of the others would have dared bring alcohol to school. Jamie had been planning to save the tequila till graduation, and Rick had taken his father’s flask when the opportunity presented itself.
They were about to start talking again after the girls had gone by, when they heard another female voice humming on the path. She wasn’t talking and they guessed she was alone. Jamie went stealthily back to the bushes and peered through as best he could. The bushes and trees were thick, but he recognized who it was immediately. It was Vivienne Walker. She was wearing a witch’s costume she had thrown together with a short black skirt, a big black sweater, and a witch’s hat Gillian had loaned her to take the freshmen through the haunted house. She had on thick black stockings and flat black ballerina shoes. She still looked pretty even as a witch.
“Pssst!!!” Jamie hissed at her, and she turned with a startled look. He didn’t want to scare her. “It’s me, Jamie. Do you want to come in?”
“Come in where?” She looked confused.
“Back here.”
“What are you doing there?” She looked suspicious and uncertain, but she was happy to see him. They were becoming friends in the past six weeks.
“It’s just me and the guys, Chase, Tommy, Steve, Rick, and Gabe. We’re trick or treating.” It sounded so ridiculous that she laughed. He was slurring his words a little and she wondered if he’d been drinking, but she was flattered to be asked to join them, like being part of a secret club, or an initiation of some kind. It made her feel like “one of the guys.”
“Okay,” she agreed, and he parted the bushes for her and pulled her through. She had to grab her hat, and an instant later, she saw them all sitting under the tree, and walked over to them with Jamie, who was pleased to see her too. He liked her, but hadn’t decided what to do about it yet. He wanted to ask her out, but didn’t want to spoil their budding friendship. She had told him that she had just broken up with a boy in L.A., and he thought it might be too soon. He was thinking of calling her over Thanksgiving in New York.
“If you tell anyone you saw us here, we’ll have to kill you,” Rick said, trying to look ominous, but he was already drunk and looked goofy more than scary. He seemed drunker than the others, but she could tell they’d all been drinking. She wondered if she should leave, but didn’t want to seem like a sissy or a poor sport. And she and Zoe and Lana had gotten drunk once on a bottle of wine in L.A.
“I wouldn’t tell. So where’s the trick or treat?” For a minute she thought they had stolen a bunch of the candy from the gym, which seemed funny, and then Chase handed her the bottle of tequila and her eyes opened wide. “Oh, that kind of trick or treat,” she said, startled. She made a quick decision and wanted to look cool. She liked the idea of being friends with them. They were the big stars on campus. She took a swig, which sealed their conspiracy if she was drinking with them. It burned like fire as it went down her throat and she made a face.
“Yerghk, that stuff is awful,” she said about the tequila.
“We had vodka too,” Rick volunteered, “but I think we’re out.” He checked the flask and it was empty. “We’ve only got tequila left.” The boys had another swallow, but Tommy didn’t. He was sitting slumped against the tree, looking glazed. The others still wanted to party, and Vivienne had just gotten there. It seemed too soon to leave. They handed her the bottle again and she took another fiery drink. If this was some kind of initiation into their friendship, she didn’t want to flunk.
“That shit is strong,” she commented, and already felt slightly dizzy. She hadn’t had time for dinner and it was hitting her fast, faster than she’d realized it would. She’d never had anything that strong to drink before, nor had they, except Chase, who’d tasted tequila that one time, but he’d only taken a sip then. That night they had all had a lot more, and the effect was more powerful than they’d expected, or even realized.
And then with no warning, as they all sat together, Jamie leaned over and kissed her. The amount of alcohol he’d consumed gave him the courage to do it, and it suddenly seemed like a good idea. It did to her too and she kissed him back. Vivienne was glad he’d kissed her and she didn’t see Chase staring angrily at them. His eyes looked huge and intense and he was furious at Jamie. Chase wanted her too and he didn’t want Jamie to have her. He’d been thinking about her for a while. He gave Jamie a hard shove, and raised his voice.
“Why did you do that? She’s not your girlfriend.” And the next moment, Jamie took a swing at Chase and the two boys were wrestling on the ground. Vivienne wanted to stop them, but she suddenly realized she was too drunk to try. She felt unsteady on her feet. The other boys couldn’t move at first either. They stood up unsteadily and Gabe and Steve tried to pull them apart. While they were trying to stop the fight, Rick staggered over to Vivienne and before any of them knew what had happened, Rick had grabbed Vivienne, pushed her down, pulled her tights and panties down, opened his jeans, and plunged into her. She was too drunk and dizzy and shocked to make a sound. Tommy had his back turned to the whole scene and was throwing up, and didn’t know what had happened. Steve saw it first and pulled Rick off her, while Gabe fought to separate Jamie and Chase. Steve took a wild swing at Rick and fell himself. Rick was already zipping up his jeans, and Vivienne had passed out. Jamie realized what Rick had done, when Gabe finally pulled him off Chase. Jamie took a swing at Rick too and landed a punch to his jaw and Chase looked at the scene in horror. Everything had gotten out of hand within minutes. Their harmless drunken Halloween night had turned into a brawl and a rape. None of them could believe what Rick had done, they turned on him and he tried to stagger away from them. He was crying by then, and shouted at Chase and Jamie.
“She’d never have wanted me if she wasn’t drunk. She only wanted you two!”
“You bastard!” Chase shouted at him, tried to land a punch in his face and missed. They were all too drunk to know what to do next, as Vivienne lay on the ground, deeply intoxicated from the tequila. The boys could barely stand up, only slightly sobered by the turn of events. The tequila was in full control by then, the bottle was nearly empty.
“What do we do now?” Chase asked them, fighting back tears as he looked at Vivienne.
“We’ll all go to prison,” Gabe said with a look of terror, “we have to get out of here.”
“We can’t just leave her,” Jamie said. He had pulled up her panties and tights, crying while he did it. He could see she was breathing, but she was deeply unconscious, more than likely from the tequila.
“Let’s go back to our rooms and figure it out, we can call campus police and tell them we heard suspicious activity back here and they’ll find her. I have a blocked number,” Chase volunteered, despite the fog in his head. He could barely think straight and felt dizzy.
“Don’t tell them it was me,” Rick begged them, with tears streaming down his face. “I didn’t mean to do it.”
“But you did,” Jamie said, almost sober for an instant.
“Get Tommy,” Chase told Gabe, as they all gathered up their things and staggered toward the tree line. They all felt sick as they pressed through it. They had lost track of time while they were drinking, and it was two hours past curfew. Chase called campus police before they reached their dorm, said he’d heard suspicious activity behind the trees and thought someone might be hurt, and hung up, as they walked quietly into their building and went silently to their rooms. No one heard them. Rick went to the bathroom and threw up, as the others retreated. None of them had ever been that drunk. Chase passed out as soon as he sat down on his bed. The room was spinning as Jamie lay on his, thinking about Vivienne and what had happened to her. He felt even sicker when he thought about it.
The campus police had already found Vivienne by then and had called for an ambulance. There was no sign of the rape. All they knew was that there was an unconscious girl on campus. They didn’t know if she was drunk, had fallen and hit her head, or been attacked by a stranger or someone on campus.
The six boys who knew what had happened, those who hadn’t passed out yet, heard the siren of the ambulance ten minutes later. They were relieved that Chase had called for help. And the boys had promised Rick not to give him up, but they were all trapped in the nightmare with him. Their lives and futures had been thrown away with a single bottle of tequila and a flask of vodka if they got caught, and an innocent girl had been the victim of Rick’s momentary insanity.
By the time the ambulance got to the hospital, all six boys were in a deep, drunken sleep, and Vivienne was still unconscious. And this was only the beginning. Their Halloween had changed all of their lives forever.
It was just after midnight when Adrian Stone, the resident geek, snuck back from the computer lab. He knew that everyone was busy with the haunted house that had stayed open late, and he crept into the lab sometimes. He knew how to work the lock, and he went there at night. He’d been doing it for all three years he’d been there and had never gotten caught.
He didn’t know what they’d been doing, but he had seen the six boys stumbling and running after they came out from behind the trees. He had been hiding too, and he had an eerie feeling that something was wrong and they had done something bad. It was none of his business but he was curious, and they were gone. They were all the big heroes on campus who didn’t know who he was or that he was alive anyway. He liked watching them, wishing that he was like them, and they could be friends one day, but he knew that would never happen. He wondered if they had a secret meeting place or a club of some kind, and he decided to slip through the trees and check it out before going back to his room. He saw the big trees and the clearing, and stumbled over the empty tequila bottle lying on the ground. And then he saw Vivienne, lying still in her witch costume. He knew who she was too, the most beautiful girl on campus. He approached slowly, and she looked like she was sleeping peacefully. And then he thought he knew what had happened. They had killed her. She looked dead to him. He didn’t know why they’d killed her, but they had. She was ghostly pale in the moonlight and she looked dead to him. Adrian didn’t dare touch her to see if she was breathing, but he was sure she wasn’t.
He didn’t know if he was supposed to tell someone, but it didn’t matter anyway. He was sure she was dead. She wasn’t moving, and didn’t make a sound. She was definitely dead. He saw the violin case leaning against a tree, and all of a sudden he felt a wave of terror wash over him. What if someone thought he did it? If someone had seen him the way he saw them, and later they said he had killed her. And if he told about anyone who had been there before him, they’d come back and kill him.
He backed out through the bushes from where he had come and ran as fast as he could all the way to his dorm. He was panting when he got there, snuck in through a back stairway the way he always did, and slipped into the room he shared with two other boys. They never talked to him anyway and went to sleep early every night. They never knew when Adrian slipped out or when he came back.
Adrian climbed into bed with all his clothes on, shaking. By morning someone would find the dead girl, and whatever happened, he wasn’t going to say a word. If he did, he was sure he’d get blamed and probably go to prison. He heard the ambulance siren five minutes later, and was glad he’d left as fast as he did, or they would have caught him at the scene and blamed him. He was sorry she was dead, but he didn’t want to go to prison for it.
The campus police called Nicole Smith right after they found Vivienne behind the tree line. Nicole was asleep, but woke up and answered quickly.
“We have an unconscious girl on the grounds. She’s alive, she has no ID on her. It looks like it could be alcohol.” They told Nicole where she was and that they had called for an ambulance. “There was an empty tequila bottle on the ground under the tree.” Nicole felt a shiver run down her spine. Alcohol and kids could be a lethal combination, and at some point had been a problem at every school where she’d worked.
“Oh my God. I’ll be there in two minutes.” She leapt out of bed, stepped into shoes, put a coat on over her pajamas, grabbed her bag and phone, and took off at a dead run across the campus. She was breathless when she got there, right after they put Vivienne in the ambulance. Nicole recognized her immediately. Nicole climbed into the ambulance with her.
They sped to the hospital with sirens shrieking. The paramedics said Vivienne was alive. They suspected alcohol poisoning. Nicole was sure that everyone on campus must have wondered what had happened when they heard the siren, what teacher had a heart attack, or student had a burst appendix. She still had no idea what had happened or who was involved. The campus police said there was no sign of violence. She was just lying there unconscious, fully dressed, and they thought it unlikely she’d been drinking alone. And for now, all Nicole wanted was for Vivienne to survive. Kids died of alcohol poisoning. It wasn’t unheard of. They’d figure out later who else had been there, and left her passed out.
As soon as they reached the hospital, the paramedics ran her into the emergency room, and a team rushed to tend to her. They very quickly confirmed that she was dangerously inebriated and her blood alcohol level was high. They came to tell Nicole they believed Vivienne had alcohol poisoning and were going to pump her stomach. She could die of it, and still might. It had happened at other schools, but never at Saint Ambrose. And they said that as a matter of course, to be thorough, they were going to examine her to see if she’d been raped. There were signs of intercourse when they undressed her. There was dried semen on her abdomen. The police had already been called by the paramedics and arrived ten minutes later. They were from the rape detail, and informed Nicole that given the circumstances, it was a possibility they had to consider. It could have been consenting sex, but she was a minor. And since she was unconscious, anyone could have raped her. A sergeant and two patrolmen had already been dispatched to tape off the area where she’d been found as a possible crime scene. Nicole felt as though she were living a nightmare, but if they were right, she thought it highly unlikely that any boy at the school would commit a rape. But it had happened at other schools, and anything was possible with alcohol involved.
They asked Nicole if she knew any of the details, and she said she didn’t, the campus police had gotten an anonymous call from a blocked phone reporting suspicious activity and had found Vivienne when they checked it out.
“If she was raped, it could have been by an intruder, a sex offender in the area recently released from prison, a staff member, faculty, another student. We’ll be able to narrow it down when we can talk to her.” Nicole nodded and waited for the doctor to speak to her. She didn’t want to call Taylor or Vivienne’s mother and father until she knew more about Vivienne’s situation.
It was almost an hour before the senior doctor in the emergency room came to talk to Nicole and report on her condition.
“She’s stable, the alcohol level in her blood is excessively high, and she did have intercourse. We won’t know if it’s rape or not until we talk to her. There are no obvious signs of violence. She may have been coerced or unconscious. Or she may have gotten drunk with another student and had consensual intercourse. Does she have a boyfriend at school?”
“Not that I know of,” Nicole said somberly. She still couldn’t believe Vivienne might have been raped. The alcohol she’d consumed was bad enough, almost enough to kill her and it still could. The ER doctors used the rape kit they kept on hand, so they had all the samples they needed if it turned out to be a rape. They preferred to assume the worst and prepare accordingly. Nicole couldn’t believe it. They told her that the police toxicology and DNA units would analyze the evidence later. “She’s sleeping off the alcohol now,” the doctor told Nicole.
“Will she be all right?” Nicole meant would she die, but she didn’t want to say it.
“Yes. We’re watching her closely. She could have died if no one had called it in. Kids die of alcohol poisoning all the time. How old is she?”
“Seventeen.” He nodded. He had a daughter the same age. “We have full authorization for her, do you want me to sign anything?” He shook his head with a serious look.
“We know the school. You can sign the admitting forms while she sleeps it off. She must have had quite a night. You’ll call the parents?” Nicole nodded.
She checked on Vivienne before she went to call Taylor. Vivienne was still unconscious. One of the detectives left with the sperm and DNA samples for the police lab to keep for future identification, if it was a rape. She called Taylor immediately after, and woke him out of a sound sleep. It was almost two in the morning by then.
“I don’t have good news,” she said in a somber voice.
“It never is at this hour. I heard the sirens over an hour ago. I figured you’d call me if it was serious. We have a sick kid?”
“Worse than that. Vivienne Walker has alcohol poisoning and may have been raped. I’m at the hospital now. They’re not sure of anything yet. She’s alive. Thank God someone called it in, so campus police found her. We need to call her parents.”
“Oh God.” Taylor was wide awake now, and thought about the difficult calls they had to make. There was silence at his end for a few seconds while he absorbed it. “If she was raped, we’d better goddamn well hope there is a serial rapist in the area, or all hell is going to break loose if it was someone on campus.” Nicole knew it too. If a faculty member, employee, or fellow student had raped her, it was going to be the scandal of the century, and terrible for Vivienne to have gone through, whoever it was.
“It may not even have been rape, it could have been consensual. There was no sign of violence or injury,” she said. “We’ll know more when she wakes up and can talk to us, if she even knows who did it, and remembers. She may have been so drunk, she didn’t know what she was doing. She may not even have seen him, if it was a rape by a stranger. She may already have been unconscious. But let’s not assume the worst here. Alcohol poisoning is bad enough.”
“Poor kid. I’ll call her parents.” He had instructions to call both of them if there was an emergency. It was another messy divorce with warring parents. Her father had made it clear that he was not fully on board with Vivienne going to Saint Ambrose. Her mother had talked him into it.
Taylor called Nancy, her mother, first, and told her what he knew as simply as he could, without judgment. That she’d drunk to excess, and there was evidence of intercourse, but not of rape. Nancy burst into tears and then composed herself, and sounded intelligent. She asked him questions he had no answer to, and wouldn’t until Vivienne was conscious.
“I’ll drive up right away,” she said, sounding devastated. It was a five-hour drive from New York, and she’d be there by morning. Vivienne might still be asleep when she arrived. Taylor told her how sorry he was. He had a feeling this was only the beginning. Whatever had happened, they would have a lot of explaining to do about how something like this could happen on campus. It was an ugly first for them, and a terrible way to start their first co-ed school year. He was thinking of the school, and all the staff members who had been worried about their going co-ed. And he hated to see Larry Gray be right. He hoped nothing terrible had happened to Vivienne before or after she passed out.
Taylor called Christopher Walker next, Vivienne’s father. He cried like a baby. He asked the same pertinent questions, and said he’d be on the next plane from L.A. He also said that that did it for him. She was coming back to California to live with him. Taylor didn’t get into it, the poor man was so distraught he was barely coherent. Her mother had been calmer, but both parents were heartbroken by what had happened to their daughter, even if it was “only” alcohol poisoning and she’d been left unconscious by whoever she got drunk with, and knowingly had sex with someone. She could easily have died after they left her, or even before. Both parents said the whole episode was so unlike her. She was a responsible person, had never gotten drunk before, and wasn’t promiscuous. But Taylor also knew that parents didn’t always know their children as well as they thought they did.
Nicole Smith stayed at the hospital all night, waiting for Vivienne’s mother to come. She arrived at seven in the morning, and must have driven over the speed limit the entire way. Vivienne still hadn’t regained consciousness. But she opened her eyes when her mother walked into the room, said a few incoherent words and went back to sleep. Nicole left the room quietly and took a cab back to school. They had lots to do that morning. Until they knew more, they would have to increase security to protect all the females on campus. If there was a rapist lurking somewhere, they couldn’t take any chances with the girls on campus now. Although since Vivienne had been drinking, if she was raped, it was more likely to be someone she knew, and not a random stranger.
As soon as Nicole got home, she sent an urgent email to all students and faculty. There would be an all-school assembly at nine A.M. Nicole wasn’t looking forward to it. Vivienne’s identity would not be revealed, but the entire school needed to move around the campus with extreme caution, in case Vivienne had been raped. When Vivienne didn’t reappear it would be obvious she was the victim, but there was nothing else they could do. It was a terrible situation, and for Vivienne most of all. Nicole’s heart ached for her, as she got into the shower, and let the hot water pelt her body. It had been a devastating night, and now they had to find out what had happened, and if she had been raped, who the rapist was. And if she had been coerced into having sex by someone who got her drunk, they needed to know who that person was too.