AMERICAN HONEY
Meet Jake DeLangley, a third year, Undeclared Major at New York University, who has just been put on probation and has lost his full-ride financial scholarship due to a prank at an illegal campus party that he and his friends were part of. Most would think this would be a wakeup call to change their ways of life, but not Jake. Jake, the never studied for anything but still got straight A’s in class, loved his lazy way of life, and didn’t see any reason to change. So when Jake’s parents refuses to pay for college and become fed up with his party life, they set him up with a paying summer job with his Uncle John-Thomas that he’s never met before, and with two missions: make enough to pay for college on his own and get his life straighten out.
Now more than 750 miles away from New York in the little town of Batesburg-Leesville in South Carolina, Jake is learning what it means to work for your money, and that the summers in the south are not to be taken lightly. Just when he thought his days couldn’t get much hotter, he ends up crossing paths with Bethany Shealey, who in his eyes is the definition of a classic southern belle. However, Bethany isn’t as perfect as she may seem, for she has secret burdens of her own, and with a new boy in town with the reputation of being a bad boy, can Bethany learn to control her instant curiosity and attraction towards him? Can Jake pull in the reins of his party life in order to stay in school? Will Jake’s uncle be able to teach him what it means to be a man, to own up to his mistakes, and take on the challenges of life? Last but not least, will Jake learn what it means to protect the things he loves and the people he cares about? Find out in this sizzling teen novella. |
EXCERPT from AMERICAN HONEY
Chapter 1
New York City, also known as the Big Apple, is a place where most come to either love or hate the busy way of life, but for me it’s the biggest and greatest playground in the world. This is where my story begins, the story how I, Jacob DeLangley, had pretty much the easiest lifestyle known to man and blew it because of the name of fun. It all happened about two weeks ago when my two best buddies, Aaron Rodchester and Robbie Smiley knocked on my dorm room door and had a certain look that I knew all too well.
“Hey Jake!” Aaron and Robbie exclaimed out loudly as they slapped my shoulder and barged into my messy man cave of a dorm room.
My eyes instantly going to every piece of mess and knowing my mother back in our family apartment in East Village would be yelling at me and disappointed at my lack of manners, even if these guys were two guys I had been friends with since orientation of freshman year at NYU. Sure I guess it’s only been three years, but for us, it seems like we’ve been friends since we were kids. Our friendship was just easy, we laugh, goof around, chill out, but most of all we didn’t try.
Aaron was just one of those guys who played sports, mostly basketball and soccer, but didn’t want to pursue it here at NYU, not that we had a good team or anything. However when it came to watching ESPN on Monday and Tuesday nights, the tall six foot seven Scottish American, buzzed red head, Aaron was nothing but the perfect dude to hang with. He knew just about everyone’s stats and pretty much could figure out how the game would end. I guess that’s what got me into always getting into a good bet with a bookie. With three years of gambling on almost every single basketball game with the Nicks or a Yankees’ baseball game, I think I’ve only lost a total of ten bets, pretty nice right? I know what most must be thinking, winning a lot of bets, I’d be rich, yeah I guess I am until Friday and Saturday nights come around, and then by Sunday afternoon, I’m left wondering what happened the nights before and what happened to that five hundred bucks I had just won. I didn’t care though; I didn’t have to worry about having to pay for school, having to pay for my meals, transportation, etc. I had gotten a full ride scholarship to NYU because of my grades and SAT scores back in high school, and it’s been pretty nice to just roll out of bed about ten minutes before class starts and get there on time, or at least almost on time.
Life here in college was pretty good, I never really studied for any of my classes, and I still made straight A’s, which like Robbie, I enjoyed playing Call of Duty in that spare time than having to cram my face inside of a boring Calculus II book like most students did. This was another reason why Robbie and I were good buds. He was in my opinion, my twin in all areas except his appearance. He was shorter than me and Aaron, but being five foot seven Italian-Irish American mix blooded, he could probably win any fist fight he ever got himself into, and from his crazy family holiday stories, he could hold his own. Robbie was a fun guy around at the parties and bars, especially when challenged into a beer pong game or something of that nature, when he took advantage of his Italian and Irish sides and could consume alcohol as if it were water. Yeah, Robbie was pretty much me like I said, however one other thing made us different, he was actually about to graduate with a duel bachelors degree in computer science and in graphics design, where as I was still a third year Undeclared Major.
Sure I had thought about what exactly would I want to do for the rest of my life, what would I want to major in or at least get some degree in. But the way I saw it, we spend our entire college lives and money going after a degree that we most likely won’t even be doing for the rest of our lives. In fact the only reason why I am going to college now is because I didn’t have to pay a dime, and a non-stressful college lifestyle suited me just fine in my opinion, as I went over to the mini fridge to grab them a couple of Gatorades.
“So, what’s good? What are we doing tonight?” I asked as I cleared a spot on my futon that was sitting up right into a sofa at the moment, and was covered with CDs and Sports Illustrated Magazines.
“Ah nothin’ much man, you know just chillin’ as always.” Aaron said, like always, before sitting down flipping the channel to ESPN 2 watching the last bit of some golf tournament game, which he probably had a bet on.
“Dude Jake, what you got goin’ on tonight?” Robbie asked as she took he pulled over my bean bag chair and took his normal spot in front of the tv and by the futon. However, I was smart enough to hear the meaning behind his question…he or both Aaron and Robbie had something planned, I could tell the moment I opened the door.
“What are we doing?” I asked as I leaned back and looked from Robbie to Aaron who both exchanged a grin and laughed before turning their attention to me.
“Well, seeing as it’s not a school night, I think we could very easily say ‘that tonight is gonna be a good good night’…” Robbie said finishing in the lyrics of a Black Eyed Peas song. I couldn’t help but let the grin spread across my face, he had something planned other than just going to the normal bar or club, the question was what was it?
“Jake, what do you think of when you hear the words: Dark, Glitter, Sweat, Music, Forks, and Toilet Paper?” Aaron said as he glanced back over to Robbie with a smirk on his face.
“Um a really bad time at a drag queen strip club….dude what you got planned?” I said with a bigger smile spreading across my face.
Finally Aaron pulls out his phone and forwards me a text message, causing me to reach down and grab my vibrating phone with "The Office” ringtone blaring out loud. I flipped it open to read the text message which said:
“Library, 3rd floor, midnight, become invisible. State the words: Happy Meal, when you reach the 4th book stacks.”
My eyes narrowed with confusion at first, when I was trying to read this choppy worded text message, but then I grinned. We had been invited, well sort of; we had been forwarded the text message to the secret biggest party of the school year. This was where anyone who was anyone went to, and what made it crazy awesome was that if you got caught at one of these, most likely you’d be suspended, or even worse expelled from school. Not only were we breaking and entering into school, we were about to have the wickedest time of our lives. So I got the Dark and Glitter part of Aaron’s words, but Forks and Toilet paper?
“Ah this is tight Arod. When did you get this and from who? And what about forks?” I asked as I jumped up and headed to the kitchen to toss my empty bottle in to the trash.
“Um yesterday, from a friend, but the forks come in after the party….I just so happen to know for a fact that Sexton will be in his office tomorrow. We are going to toilet paper the outside of his office building door, and then fork the lawn around it, and possibly do a few other things.” He said as he grinned before turning back to glance at tv. This was Arod’s classic way of saying, we are doing something illegal and fun, so be on board.
“Aight well, I’m in. If this thing starts at midnight though, we should probably get a move on getting ready for this thing. It’s a little after eleven now.” I said as I looked down at the clock on my phone. However it made me take another glance over at Arod and Robbie, who were both dressed in all black, and even carried a black book bag with them.
Become invisible sounded in my head again. As I thought about the clothes and the text message, before heading towards my closet to pull out my black jeans and hoodie, along with my black masquerade mask. Ten minutes later I was all ready to go, and my own black book bag packed with forks and saran wrap and toilet paper. The saran wrap became a last minute addition in Robbie and Arod’s prank idea, which I had to admit, seemed really funny. Ironic enough before we left my dorm room I prayed that we wouldn’t get caught.
The walk to the library was a breeze, my adrenalin was pumping because of the fact we were actually going to this party, and the fact that we were going to pull a hilarious prank afterwards. And when we finally opened the already unlocked library door, I couldn’t help but take a quick look for the security camera in the far left side of the space. Luckily enough I had my mask on already, because I saw the little red light on the side of the camera, stating that the camera was indeed still on.
Who’s watching right now? I wondered to myself as we started up the stairwell towards the third floor. As we began to climb the stairwell, I began to wonder if the party was a fake or had been moved, but as soon as we approached the 4th set of book stacks, four large dark hooded cloaked figures stepped out from all sides of us. My defensive side began to take over, as my body was immediately started to feel threatened, but I was able to remain calm.
“Phones.” One of the hooded figures spoke out in a low baritone voice holding out his black gloved hand towards us. I took out the phone and flipped to the invite and held it up to him, before stating the words Happy Meal, like the text message had said to do.
As soon as we all stated the words, the guys escorted us to the back staircase which lead to a door towards the old part of the library, that was off limits to everyone. Just like that and five flights of stairs later, we were in the basement rooms and enjoying the hottest underground party of the year. Lights flashing, music blaring, and the dancing wild. Not to mention the sight of at least a two hundred or more people dressed in all black, some with and without masks, all having a great time as we partied for the next several hours.
The night was crazy. Several times open bottles of champagne exploded in the air and showered us with its alcoholic liquid, and other times besides dancing beside Robbie and Aaron, I broke off to dance with one or two girls who both had masks on. Other times you could hear the sounds of something else breaking, either by accident or on purpose I didn’t know, I didn’t really care, I was having a blast. However, the party didn’t stop once we were told we had to leave. We had convinced several others to help us prank John Sexton, the president of the university, and we were taking full advantage of our tipsy state of mind.
Two hours later Robbie, Arod, and I were walking back to my door, laughing, yelling, dancing, singing, and just enjoying our very drunk state of mind, as well as swinging our empty book bags around. We had managed to have the party of our junior college lives and prank the president of our university all before five in the morning, which in my opinion was pretty impressive. We had been able to saran wrap the entire front door shut, as well as, forked the entire lawn in front of the building and put toilet paper everywhere. Not to mention my little addition to the whole scene, with a Walmart smiley face sticker in the middle of the whole door prank scene. We had a blast, and again I couldn’t help but to pray that we wouldn’t get caught.
However, the next morning I realized just how much God did not answer my prayer. I woke up with the sound of banging at my dorm room door that matched with the painful pounding in my head. This was a weekly consequence because of my fun party life, and I just accepted it as I reached over to take and swallow two aspirins that were already beside my bed.
Bang Bang Bang
“Jake DeLangley, open up it’s the police!” A loud male voice called out on the opposite side of the door. My heart was pounding. The police? Seriously? I scrambled to grab a shirt to put on and opened the door to reveal the sight of two campus police officers as well as a very guilty looking Robbie who was held by the arm and in handcuffs by an officer of the NYPD.
“You, Jake DeLangley?” The tall police officer asked as he looked at me with intense eyes and a serious face, his radio going off every two seconds by a dispatcher.
“Um, yeah, I mean yes, Yes sir.” I said as I stuttered and took a instinctive step back from the door, allowing room for the officers to enter. One by one the officers entered, with the last one pulling Robbie inside. I shut the door quickly, already knowing that most of the other students’ were probably hearing what was going on, and would be nosy.
“Jake DeLangley, where were you last night from the times of midnight until around five in the morning?” An older woman in a cop uniform asked from across the room as she glanced quickly up at me after accessing my living environment, which was still just as messy as yesterday.
“Um, I was with my friends, why?” I said honestly, but trying to avoid answering with the complete truth.
“Jake we have a security camera with you and your friends vandalizing the university property outside the Administration building. You’re going to need to come with us. As well as your other friend here.” The woman officer stated as she glanced over to Robbie before pulling out her handcuffs and stating the Miranda rights as she put them on very tightly around my wrists which were now pulled behind me.
So many thoughts were going through my mind, like how did we get caught because we never took off our masks, or did we? How was this happening? Was I going to jail? Getting expelled? What was going to happen? One thing was for sure, my parents were going to be pissed, and in a way I felt a little bit of sadness that I disappointed them like this. However, I felt the blow of guilt as I did the walk of shame down my dorm hallway, every door pretty much was opened, and the whispers were growing louder, and when I stepped out of my residence building more people stopped and stared as they put Robbie and I in two separate cop cars and drove towards the campus police station.
Sure enough the walk of shame didn’t still continued as Robbie and I were escorted into the police station and into the back, with all eyes staring at us. Some were surprised, probably wondering who we were or why we were here, but others full out glared or gave us the look of disappointment, knowing why we were here. Crap Crap Crap, was really all I had going through my mind, as I tried to stay calm and not freak. I had never been arrested, or anything like that, despite all the pranks that I had been a part of, and when they finally seated us inside the interrogation room, at least that what it looked like from all the “Law and Order” episodes that I had scene, my heart started pounding faster as all we could do was wait.
I looked over at Robbie, who was sweating a lot and looking around frantically. Neither of us said a word, all we could do was try to calm ourselves. In my mind I still couldn’t figure out how they had caught us, I had become fully positive in the fact that we hadn’t taken off our masks. However not but several moments later, all of my questions were answered, when the police chief alongside John Sexton, president of NYU, entered into the interrogation room wheeling a tv and an old VCR that was playing the security camera footage.
Several others from our prank group last night had looked straight at the camera, without a mask, and had confessed that they were part of the prank, however what I still couldn’t understand was how they figured Robbie and me out, and where was Aaron, did he not get caught? Everything was becoming blurred in my head until Mr. Sexton spoke.
“DeLangley, isn’t it?” Mr. Sexton looked directly at me before taking a seat in front of us on the opposite side of the table.
“Yes…yes Sir.” I said, trying to stay as calm as possible in this situation.
“I must say, you two have some guts trying to get away with a prank like that, not to mention attending the party that went on last night in the library. Oh yes, I am well informed of that, especially after all the damage it caused.” He said with a serious face.
I began to open my mouth to apologize, but Mr. Sexton cut me off, looking over at Robbie.
“Mr. Robert Smiley, was this prank your idea or his?” Mr. Sexton asked as he nodded over in my direction.
“Um, well….” Robbie started to stutter, I couldn’t let me take all the blame. It was just as much my fault as his, and Aaron’s, but I couldn’t let Robbie ruin his chances of graduating in two months, when I still had another year.
“It was my idea Sir. Robbie had nothing to do with the idea.” I said confidently as I prayed he would believe me. Robbie looked over at me about to object, but Mr. Sexton interrupted.
“Your idea, huh? That’s mighty brave of you to take the blame of something, however I have information that states that it wasn’t either of you two’s idea. In fact, I have another gentlemen here that states claim that the whole thing was his plan, and that you two wasn’t even there, and on top of that has requested that he be expelled and charged with any felony charges, and leave you two out of it.” Mr. Sexton said with a knowing expression. Who would take the blame? How did they still catch us? I still wondered.
However not but a moment later, Mr. Sexton nodded to the police officer who was still standing in the room, and the police officer knocked on the closed door. However, my eyes grew in shock as Aaron walked through the doors in handcuffs, and a sorrowful expression.
“Aaron? What happened? How did you? Why would you?” Robbie blurted out as he attempted to stand, but was forced back down to his chair by the police officer.
“Ah so you three do know each other.” Mr. Sexton said with a smirk on his face. Didn’t he just say that we knew each other; however I quickly gathered that it had been a trick to reveal that some part of a story was proved to be a lie.
“Officer O’Brian, will you excuse us four.” Mr. Sexton said, not breaking his gaze over the three of us who were now seated on the same side of the table.
“Yes Sir.” O’Brian responded before exiting the room, leaving the three of us to talk to Mr. Sexton alone.
“You three boys, I hope you know have caused a whirlwind of damage to my school. However, you are probably wondering how I found out it was you three involved….does this look familiar to either of you?” Mr. Sexton held up a black cell phone, as I looked at it closely I realized it was mine. Crap! I thought loudly to myself, which I guess could be expressed all over my face, because Mr. Sexton instantly handed it out to me.
“Next time you try to pull off a prank, don’t leave evidence behind, especially a cell phone with the first three text messages stating about the secret party, and supplies to grab for the prank.” Mr. Sexton said with an almost smirk on his face. Had I really not deleted those? Ugh this sucks. I said to myself, before Mr. Sexton continued.
“Now, I know you weren’t the ones responsible for the making of the secret party, I assure you, if you were, we wouldn’t be talking know and you would be expelled and behind bars, however, I must assure you, you have caused at least two thousand dollars worth of damage, because of forking the lawn in front of my office building. Not to mention the amount of money I had to pay to get all that crap removed from the trees and everywhere else. So, is there anything you would like to say to me, before I continue on?”
I couldn’t help but to look over to Robbie and Aaron, was this a trick question? Do I apologize? Finally Aaron was the first to speak up.
“Sir, I really do apologize for everything. We shouldn’t have done what we did, but I would still like to take full responsibility, and have any repercussions, be taken out on me.” Aaron stated as he sat up straight, knowing what he was saying. Then one by one, Robbie and I apologized.
“Very well, Aaron Rodchester, you are hear by suspended from this university for one year, during which you will serve as maintenance janitor, working free of charge to pay off the damages you have caused and for being the main mastermind behind the prank. Robert Smiley, you shall owe a total of two thousand dollars and be put on probation for six months, therefore you may not graduate until the following semester. Do you object to my decisions?” Mr. Sexton asked, before stating, “Notice how I think this is a fair trade from me expelling you and pressing charges against the both of you.”
“No…no Sir, thank you, Sir.” Robbie said with a little bit of a shock, stressed, but a hint of relief facial expression.
“Yes, thank you.” Aaron said with a grim face.
“Good, you two may go, I would like to speak with your friend here alone. I will have these decisions be made effective immediately.” Mr. Sexton said as he stood up and knocked on the door, which was immediately opened by a police officer who escorted them out. Then once he closed the door back he turned towards me and his face drew into a hard grim face.
“Mr. DeLangley…I must say, I am disappointed in you the most. You come to my school, on a free ride, in fact we actually give you a small extra stipend, and you just waste it away but not applying yourself. What do you expect to do five years from now?”
“I really do not know Sir.” I replied honestly.
“Jake, you’re smart, you are one of the brightest at this university and you are throwing away a unique opportunity all for the name of fun. I think it’s because you have been given too much, and perhaps if you actually have to work towards something, you’d appreciate things more. Do you disagree?”
“No…no sir.” I said, not really knowing where he was getting at.
“Jake, I personally choose you to be offered the full-ride scholarship, and now I am taking it away, and giving it to someone who will actually be grateful for it and use it to its full potential. . You have been officially suspended from this university for the remainder of the semester. and also have been put on probation for your reminder time at this university, which means, one mess up, either by failing a class next semester, by trying to pull off another prank, and you will be expelled from this university Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, yes sir.” I stuttered out again, was he really not pressing any charges? I wondered to myself.
“Jake, the summer break is just a few weeks away, I suggest you take that time, and figure out what you want your life to be like. You can be anything you want to be, especially with a mind like yours, you just have to apply work and common sense towards it.” Mr. Sexton said as he stood up.
That was the last time I saw Mr. Sexton, before I knew it I was being escorted back to my dorm to pack my things, and sent back home, where two much older DeLangleys stood looking as pissed as ever, with a letter in their hands which stated my suspension.
“Jacob Anderson DeLangely, what in God’s name, were you thinking! Do you have any idea how gracious President Sexton has been to you, and how are you planning to afford school next year?” My mother said in her somewhat southern-northern mixed accent and her hand on her hip.
I couldn’t help but look down at the floor as I took in her words. I deserved every bit of it as she ranted on telling me how lucky I was not to be expelled or be behind bars right now, which I couldn’t disagree with her about.
“Jake, your mother and I need to talk about some things, put your stuff in the office for now, and you can find the air mattress and put it in your sister’s room for now.” My father said with a tired and frustrated look as he avoided looking at me and went towards the kitchen. I had forgotten that they had converted my room in the office, which left only my younger sister’s room. I hated sharing a room with her, mostly because she was still in high school and had to wake up to catch the bus or a taxi really early in the morning. Hopefully I could get my room back after a few weeks of living here, I thought to myself as I went off to Vikki’s room, to avoid whatever my parents were discussing in the kitchen about.
It wouldn’t be until three hours later after my sister was already home, and it was dinner time that I would find out my fate of being back at home, suspended from college, and on probation.
“Did you really get kicked out? Amanda said that there was a huge party that pretty much destroyed the basement of the library at NYU…were you there?” Vikki said as she looked over at me with a smile, trying to rub in the known facts, as she took a bite of her pasta that our mom and made while talking to my dad earlier in the kitchen.
“I didn’t get kicked out Vik! No one did, at least not anyone that I knew anyway. Anyway, yeah I did go. I went with Robbie and Arod.” I said as I looked at her before looking at my mom and dad, who had stayed quiet the entire first part of dinner. However at that moment my dad cleared his throat, trying to get our attention.
“Jake your mom and I have been discussing about your situation. How are you going to pay for tuition next semester?” My dad asked as he put down his fork.
“Um well, I was kind of hoping you guys would help me with that, since you still have that saved up money for college, before I got that full-ride scholarship.” I said as I looked at him and then to my mom.
“Ha, is that so, actually that money has gone towards your sister’s college fund. Considering she’s graduating from high school next year and tuition prices has gone up.” What? They just gave all of my money away to my sister? I thought to myself. How was I going to pay for tuition? I had been planning to just use that money.
“Jake you’re going to need to find a job that will pay for your tuition, however with the economy the way it is, I just don’t see how you’ll be able to get settled in a job fast enough to be able to make enough before Fall classes start.” My dad said then looked directly at my mom, who had stopped eating and began looking over at me.
“Okay…well I mean I know I need to get a job, so what am I suppose to do, if you’re saying it’s a lost cause for me even to start looking for work?” I said, as I became a little frustrated with the thought.
“Jacob, I talked with my brother J.T., do you remember him? It’s been since you were very little since he’s last seen ya.” My mom said with a little bit more of twang in her voice, which always happened after she got off the phone with one of her friends or family members from down south.
“Anyway, I was telling him about your little situation…”
“Mom, why did you tell other people about this? “ I said in a huffed voice, interrupting her.
“Jake, just listen, he has a job opening at his business, and said that you could come down and work for him. You would staying with him and from what he was saying about the pay of the job, there shouldn’t be any worries about you not making enough to pay for school, but you have to Work.” My mom said putting an emphasis on the word “work”.
“Oh um, well gee thanks mom, but I don’t think I would want to move so far away for the summer, I could just get a job here you know…” I said trailing off with the thought as she exchanged a look of “please” with me before turning towards my dad to help support what she was saying.
“Look, Jake. I think you should really consider this, you’ll get a chance to meet some of your other family members that you haven’t met yet, and plus Jake, I think you need to get a change of scenery…I hate to admit this, but Jake you need to get your life together. You’re a junior in college and still haven’t picked a major. You threw away a great opportunity all for a stupid party and prank, and now you really don’t have any options. Oh and don’t you even think about not going back to school…not going to college is out of the question in this family.” My dad said with an intense gaze and raised his voice a little. I looked over at my sister, Vikki, who was just sitting quietly with an amused expression on her face, the same one she always had when I got in trouble, yet I knew she didn’t want me to move either.
“How long do I have to think about this?” I asked softly as I looked over at my mom.
“I want an answer by tonight, because he needs to hire someone by the end of this week.” She said as she stood up and grabs some of our plates and took them into the kitchen.
“Jake, as much as I hate to see you not here to entertain me for the summer, I think you really should take Uncle J.T.’s offer. I mean it’s sad that I’ve seen him more times than you have, and plus it’s a guaranteed job.” Vikki said as she stood up to help mom in the kitchen leaving me and dad in silence. I knew I really didn’t have a choice in this matter. It was either hopefully find a job or move and have a guaranteed job…hmm sounds like fate already knew which one I was going to pick.
About three days later, I was being dropped off at the JFK airport, with one way ticket from New York to South Carolina and two duffle bags in my hands. I hugged my family, gave my mom and sister a kiss on the cheeks, shook hands with my dad, who almost seemed a little relieved I was being sent to my mom’s brother, and before I knew it, I was on a four hour flight to Columbia, South Carolina. Four hours of my mind going crazy with thoughts, guilt, questions, and most of all realizations of how stupid I had been. How I had the easiest lifestyle in the world and gave it all up in the names of fun, forks, toilet paper, saran wrap, and a stupid Walmart smiley face sticker. One thing I was certain of, this summer was going to sure be interesting with a big city boy like me going to a small southern town of my Uncle J.T.’s. I made myself a promise at that moment, that as soon as I made enough to go back to school, I was going to leave that stupid town, and I wasn’t even going to think twice about it.
New York City, also known as the Big Apple, is a place where most come to either love or hate the busy way of life, but for me it’s the biggest and greatest playground in the world. This is where my story begins, the story how I, Jacob DeLangley, had pretty much the easiest lifestyle known to man and blew it because of the name of fun. It all happened about two weeks ago when my two best buddies, Aaron Rodchester and Robbie Smiley knocked on my dorm room door and had a certain look that I knew all too well.
“Hey Jake!” Aaron and Robbie exclaimed out loudly as they slapped my shoulder and barged into my messy man cave of a dorm room.
My eyes instantly going to every piece of mess and knowing my mother back in our family apartment in East Village would be yelling at me and disappointed at my lack of manners, even if these guys were two guys I had been friends with since orientation of freshman year at NYU. Sure I guess it’s only been three years, but for us, it seems like we’ve been friends since we were kids. Our friendship was just easy, we laugh, goof around, chill out, but most of all we didn’t try.
Aaron was just one of those guys who played sports, mostly basketball and soccer, but didn’t want to pursue it here at NYU, not that we had a good team or anything. However when it came to watching ESPN on Monday and Tuesday nights, the tall six foot seven Scottish American, buzzed red head, Aaron was nothing but the perfect dude to hang with. He knew just about everyone’s stats and pretty much could figure out how the game would end. I guess that’s what got me into always getting into a good bet with a bookie. With three years of gambling on almost every single basketball game with the Nicks or a Yankees’ baseball game, I think I’ve only lost a total of ten bets, pretty nice right? I know what most must be thinking, winning a lot of bets, I’d be rich, yeah I guess I am until Friday and Saturday nights come around, and then by Sunday afternoon, I’m left wondering what happened the nights before and what happened to that five hundred bucks I had just won. I didn’t care though; I didn’t have to worry about having to pay for school, having to pay for my meals, transportation, etc. I had gotten a full ride scholarship to NYU because of my grades and SAT scores back in high school, and it’s been pretty nice to just roll out of bed about ten minutes before class starts and get there on time, or at least almost on time.
Life here in college was pretty good, I never really studied for any of my classes, and I still made straight A’s, which like Robbie, I enjoyed playing Call of Duty in that spare time than having to cram my face inside of a boring Calculus II book like most students did. This was another reason why Robbie and I were good buds. He was in my opinion, my twin in all areas except his appearance. He was shorter than me and Aaron, but being five foot seven Italian-Irish American mix blooded, he could probably win any fist fight he ever got himself into, and from his crazy family holiday stories, he could hold his own. Robbie was a fun guy around at the parties and bars, especially when challenged into a beer pong game or something of that nature, when he took advantage of his Italian and Irish sides and could consume alcohol as if it were water. Yeah, Robbie was pretty much me like I said, however one other thing made us different, he was actually about to graduate with a duel bachelors degree in computer science and in graphics design, where as I was still a third year Undeclared Major.
Sure I had thought about what exactly would I want to do for the rest of my life, what would I want to major in or at least get some degree in. But the way I saw it, we spend our entire college lives and money going after a degree that we most likely won’t even be doing for the rest of our lives. In fact the only reason why I am going to college now is because I didn’t have to pay a dime, and a non-stressful college lifestyle suited me just fine in my opinion, as I went over to the mini fridge to grab them a couple of Gatorades.
“So, what’s good? What are we doing tonight?” I asked as I cleared a spot on my futon that was sitting up right into a sofa at the moment, and was covered with CDs and Sports Illustrated Magazines.
“Ah nothin’ much man, you know just chillin’ as always.” Aaron said, like always, before sitting down flipping the channel to ESPN 2 watching the last bit of some golf tournament game, which he probably had a bet on.
“Dude Jake, what you got goin’ on tonight?” Robbie asked as she took he pulled over my bean bag chair and took his normal spot in front of the tv and by the futon. However, I was smart enough to hear the meaning behind his question…he or both Aaron and Robbie had something planned, I could tell the moment I opened the door.
“What are we doing?” I asked as I leaned back and looked from Robbie to Aaron who both exchanged a grin and laughed before turning their attention to me.
“Well, seeing as it’s not a school night, I think we could very easily say ‘that tonight is gonna be a good good night’…” Robbie said finishing in the lyrics of a Black Eyed Peas song. I couldn’t help but let the grin spread across my face, he had something planned other than just going to the normal bar or club, the question was what was it?
“Jake, what do you think of when you hear the words: Dark, Glitter, Sweat, Music, Forks, and Toilet Paper?” Aaron said as he glanced back over to Robbie with a smirk on his face.
“Um a really bad time at a drag queen strip club….dude what you got planned?” I said with a bigger smile spreading across my face.
Finally Aaron pulls out his phone and forwards me a text message, causing me to reach down and grab my vibrating phone with "The Office” ringtone blaring out loud. I flipped it open to read the text message which said:
“Library, 3rd floor, midnight, become invisible. State the words: Happy Meal, when you reach the 4th book stacks.”
My eyes narrowed with confusion at first, when I was trying to read this choppy worded text message, but then I grinned. We had been invited, well sort of; we had been forwarded the text message to the secret biggest party of the school year. This was where anyone who was anyone went to, and what made it crazy awesome was that if you got caught at one of these, most likely you’d be suspended, or even worse expelled from school. Not only were we breaking and entering into school, we were about to have the wickedest time of our lives. So I got the Dark and Glitter part of Aaron’s words, but Forks and Toilet paper?
“Ah this is tight Arod. When did you get this and from who? And what about forks?” I asked as I jumped up and headed to the kitchen to toss my empty bottle in to the trash.
“Um yesterday, from a friend, but the forks come in after the party….I just so happen to know for a fact that Sexton will be in his office tomorrow. We are going to toilet paper the outside of his office building door, and then fork the lawn around it, and possibly do a few other things.” He said as he grinned before turning back to glance at tv. This was Arod’s classic way of saying, we are doing something illegal and fun, so be on board.
“Aight well, I’m in. If this thing starts at midnight though, we should probably get a move on getting ready for this thing. It’s a little after eleven now.” I said as I looked down at the clock on my phone. However it made me take another glance over at Arod and Robbie, who were both dressed in all black, and even carried a black book bag with them.
Become invisible sounded in my head again. As I thought about the clothes and the text message, before heading towards my closet to pull out my black jeans and hoodie, along with my black masquerade mask. Ten minutes later I was all ready to go, and my own black book bag packed with forks and saran wrap and toilet paper. The saran wrap became a last minute addition in Robbie and Arod’s prank idea, which I had to admit, seemed really funny. Ironic enough before we left my dorm room I prayed that we wouldn’t get caught.
The walk to the library was a breeze, my adrenalin was pumping because of the fact we were actually going to this party, and the fact that we were going to pull a hilarious prank afterwards. And when we finally opened the already unlocked library door, I couldn’t help but take a quick look for the security camera in the far left side of the space. Luckily enough I had my mask on already, because I saw the little red light on the side of the camera, stating that the camera was indeed still on.
Who’s watching right now? I wondered to myself as we started up the stairwell towards the third floor. As we began to climb the stairwell, I began to wonder if the party was a fake or had been moved, but as soon as we approached the 4th set of book stacks, four large dark hooded cloaked figures stepped out from all sides of us. My defensive side began to take over, as my body was immediately started to feel threatened, but I was able to remain calm.
“Phones.” One of the hooded figures spoke out in a low baritone voice holding out his black gloved hand towards us. I took out the phone and flipped to the invite and held it up to him, before stating the words Happy Meal, like the text message had said to do.
As soon as we all stated the words, the guys escorted us to the back staircase which lead to a door towards the old part of the library, that was off limits to everyone. Just like that and five flights of stairs later, we were in the basement rooms and enjoying the hottest underground party of the year. Lights flashing, music blaring, and the dancing wild. Not to mention the sight of at least a two hundred or more people dressed in all black, some with and without masks, all having a great time as we partied for the next several hours.
The night was crazy. Several times open bottles of champagne exploded in the air and showered us with its alcoholic liquid, and other times besides dancing beside Robbie and Aaron, I broke off to dance with one or two girls who both had masks on. Other times you could hear the sounds of something else breaking, either by accident or on purpose I didn’t know, I didn’t really care, I was having a blast. However, the party didn’t stop once we were told we had to leave. We had convinced several others to help us prank John Sexton, the president of the university, and we were taking full advantage of our tipsy state of mind.
Two hours later Robbie, Arod, and I were walking back to my door, laughing, yelling, dancing, singing, and just enjoying our very drunk state of mind, as well as swinging our empty book bags around. We had managed to have the party of our junior college lives and prank the president of our university all before five in the morning, which in my opinion was pretty impressive. We had been able to saran wrap the entire front door shut, as well as, forked the entire lawn in front of the building and put toilet paper everywhere. Not to mention my little addition to the whole scene, with a Walmart smiley face sticker in the middle of the whole door prank scene. We had a blast, and again I couldn’t help but to pray that we wouldn’t get caught.
However, the next morning I realized just how much God did not answer my prayer. I woke up with the sound of banging at my dorm room door that matched with the painful pounding in my head. This was a weekly consequence because of my fun party life, and I just accepted it as I reached over to take and swallow two aspirins that were already beside my bed.
Bang Bang Bang
“Jake DeLangley, open up it’s the police!” A loud male voice called out on the opposite side of the door. My heart was pounding. The police? Seriously? I scrambled to grab a shirt to put on and opened the door to reveal the sight of two campus police officers as well as a very guilty looking Robbie who was held by the arm and in handcuffs by an officer of the NYPD.
“You, Jake DeLangley?” The tall police officer asked as he looked at me with intense eyes and a serious face, his radio going off every two seconds by a dispatcher.
“Um, yeah, I mean yes, Yes sir.” I said as I stuttered and took a instinctive step back from the door, allowing room for the officers to enter. One by one the officers entered, with the last one pulling Robbie inside. I shut the door quickly, already knowing that most of the other students’ were probably hearing what was going on, and would be nosy.
“Jake DeLangley, where were you last night from the times of midnight until around five in the morning?” An older woman in a cop uniform asked from across the room as she glanced quickly up at me after accessing my living environment, which was still just as messy as yesterday.
“Um, I was with my friends, why?” I said honestly, but trying to avoid answering with the complete truth.
“Jake we have a security camera with you and your friends vandalizing the university property outside the Administration building. You’re going to need to come with us. As well as your other friend here.” The woman officer stated as she glanced over to Robbie before pulling out her handcuffs and stating the Miranda rights as she put them on very tightly around my wrists which were now pulled behind me.
So many thoughts were going through my mind, like how did we get caught because we never took off our masks, or did we? How was this happening? Was I going to jail? Getting expelled? What was going to happen? One thing was for sure, my parents were going to be pissed, and in a way I felt a little bit of sadness that I disappointed them like this. However, I felt the blow of guilt as I did the walk of shame down my dorm hallway, every door pretty much was opened, and the whispers were growing louder, and when I stepped out of my residence building more people stopped and stared as they put Robbie and I in two separate cop cars and drove towards the campus police station.
Sure enough the walk of shame didn’t still continued as Robbie and I were escorted into the police station and into the back, with all eyes staring at us. Some were surprised, probably wondering who we were or why we were here, but others full out glared or gave us the look of disappointment, knowing why we were here. Crap Crap Crap, was really all I had going through my mind, as I tried to stay calm and not freak. I had never been arrested, or anything like that, despite all the pranks that I had been a part of, and when they finally seated us inside the interrogation room, at least that what it looked like from all the “Law and Order” episodes that I had scene, my heart started pounding faster as all we could do was wait.
I looked over at Robbie, who was sweating a lot and looking around frantically. Neither of us said a word, all we could do was try to calm ourselves. In my mind I still couldn’t figure out how they had caught us, I had become fully positive in the fact that we hadn’t taken off our masks. However not but several moments later, all of my questions were answered, when the police chief alongside John Sexton, president of NYU, entered into the interrogation room wheeling a tv and an old VCR that was playing the security camera footage.
Several others from our prank group last night had looked straight at the camera, without a mask, and had confessed that they were part of the prank, however what I still couldn’t understand was how they figured Robbie and me out, and where was Aaron, did he not get caught? Everything was becoming blurred in my head until Mr. Sexton spoke.
“DeLangley, isn’t it?” Mr. Sexton looked directly at me before taking a seat in front of us on the opposite side of the table.
“Yes…yes Sir.” I said, trying to stay as calm as possible in this situation.
“I must say, you two have some guts trying to get away with a prank like that, not to mention attending the party that went on last night in the library. Oh yes, I am well informed of that, especially after all the damage it caused.” He said with a serious face.
I began to open my mouth to apologize, but Mr. Sexton cut me off, looking over at Robbie.
“Mr. Robert Smiley, was this prank your idea or his?” Mr. Sexton asked as he nodded over in my direction.
“Um, well….” Robbie started to stutter, I couldn’t let me take all the blame. It was just as much my fault as his, and Aaron’s, but I couldn’t let Robbie ruin his chances of graduating in two months, when I still had another year.
“It was my idea Sir. Robbie had nothing to do with the idea.” I said confidently as I prayed he would believe me. Robbie looked over at me about to object, but Mr. Sexton interrupted.
“Your idea, huh? That’s mighty brave of you to take the blame of something, however I have information that states that it wasn’t either of you two’s idea. In fact, I have another gentlemen here that states claim that the whole thing was his plan, and that you two wasn’t even there, and on top of that has requested that he be expelled and charged with any felony charges, and leave you two out of it.” Mr. Sexton said with a knowing expression. Who would take the blame? How did they still catch us? I still wondered.
However not but a moment later, Mr. Sexton nodded to the police officer who was still standing in the room, and the police officer knocked on the closed door. However, my eyes grew in shock as Aaron walked through the doors in handcuffs, and a sorrowful expression.
“Aaron? What happened? How did you? Why would you?” Robbie blurted out as he attempted to stand, but was forced back down to his chair by the police officer.
“Ah so you three do know each other.” Mr. Sexton said with a smirk on his face. Didn’t he just say that we knew each other; however I quickly gathered that it had been a trick to reveal that some part of a story was proved to be a lie.
“Officer O’Brian, will you excuse us four.” Mr. Sexton said, not breaking his gaze over the three of us who were now seated on the same side of the table.
“Yes Sir.” O’Brian responded before exiting the room, leaving the three of us to talk to Mr. Sexton alone.
“You three boys, I hope you know have caused a whirlwind of damage to my school. However, you are probably wondering how I found out it was you three involved….does this look familiar to either of you?” Mr. Sexton held up a black cell phone, as I looked at it closely I realized it was mine. Crap! I thought loudly to myself, which I guess could be expressed all over my face, because Mr. Sexton instantly handed it out to me.
“Next time you try to pull off a prank, don’t leave evidence behind, especially a cell phone with the first three text messages stating about the secret party, and supplies to grab for the prank.” Mr. Sexton said with an almost smirk on his face. Had I really not deleted those? Ugh this sucks. I said to myself, before Mr. Sexton continued.
“Now, I know you weren’t the ones responsible for the making of the secret party, I assure you, if you were, we wouldn’t be talking know and you would be expelled and behind bars, however, I must assure you, you have caused at least two thousand dollars worth of damage, because of forking the lawn in front of my office building. Not to mention the amount of money I had to pay to get all that crap removed from the trees and everywhere else. So, is there anything you would like to say to me, before I continue on?”
I couldn’t help but to look over to Robbie and Aaron, was this a trick question? Do I apologize? Finally Aaron was the first to speak up.
“Sir, I really do apologize for everything. We shouldn’t have done what we did, but I would still like to take full responsibility, and have any repercussions, be taken out on me.” Aaron stated as he sat up straight, knowing what he was saying. Then one by one, Robbie and I apologized.
“Very well, Aaron Rodchester, you are hear by suspended from this university for one year, during which you will serve as maintenance janitor, working free of charge to pay off the damages you have caused and for being the main mastermind behind the prank. Robert Smiley, you shall owe a total of two thousand dollars and be put on probation for six months, therefore you may not graduate until the following semester. Do you object to my decisions?” Mr. Sexton asked, before stating, “Notice how I think this is a fair trade from me expelling you and pressing charges against the both of you.”
“No…no Sir, thank you, Sir.” Robbie said with a little bit of a shock, stressed, but a hint of relief facial expression.
“Yes, thank you.” Aaron said with a grim face.
“Good, you two may go, I would like to speak with your friend here alone. I will have these decisions be made effective immediately.” Mr. Sexton said as he stood up and knocked on the door, which was immediately opened by a police officer who escorted them out. Then once he closed the door back he turned towards me and his face drew into a hard grim face.
“Mr. DeLangley…I must say, I am disappointed in you the most. You come to my school, on a free ride, in fact we actually give you a small extra stipend, and you just waste it away but not applying yourself. What do you expect to do five years from now?”
“I really do not know Sir.” I replied honestly.
“Jake, you’re smart, you are one of the brightest at this university and you are throwing away a unique opportunity all for the name of fun. I think it’s because you have been given too much, and perhaps if you actually have to work towards something, you’d appreciate things more. Do you disagree?”
“No…no sir.” I said, not really knowing where he was getting at.
“Jake, I personally choose you to be offered the full-ride scholarship, and now I am taking it away, and giving it to someone who will actually be grateful for it and use it to its full potential. . You have been officially suspended from this university for the remainder of the semester. and also have been put on probation for your reminder time at this university, which means, one mess up, either by failing a class next semester, by trying to pull off another prank, and you will be expelled from this university Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, yes sir.” I stuttered out again, was he really not pressing any charges? I wondered to myself.
“Jake, the summer break is just a few weeks away, I suggest you take that time, and figure out what you want your life to be like. You can be anything you want to be, especially with a mind like yours, you just have to apply work and common sense towards it.” Mr. Sexton said as he stood up.
That was the last time I saw Mr. Sexton, before I knew it I was being escorted back to my dorm to pack my things, and sent back home, where two much older DeLangleys stood looking as pissed as ever, with a letter in their hands which stated my suspension.
“Jacob Anderson DeLangely, what in God’s name, were you thinking! Do you have any idea how gracious President Sexton has been to you, and how are you planning to afford school next year?” My mother said in her somewhat southern-northern mixed accent and her hand on her hip.
I couldn’t help but look down at the floor as I took in her words. I deserved every bit of it as she ranted on telling me how lucky I was not to be expelled or be behind bars right now, which I couldn’t disagree with her about.
“Jake, your mother and I need to talk about some things, put your stuff in the office for now, and you can find the air mattress and put it in your sister’s room for now.” My father said with a tired and frustrated look as he avoided looking at me and went towards the kitchen. I had forgotten that they had converted my room in the office, which left only my younger sister’s room. I hated sharing a room with her, mostly because she was still in high school and had to wake up to catch the bus or a taxi really early in the morning. Hopefully I could get my room back after a few weeks of living here, I thought to myself as I went off to Vikki’s room, to avoid whatever my parents were discussing in the kitchen about.
It wouldn’t be until three hours later after my sister was already home, and it was dinner time that I would find out my fate of being back at home, suspended from college, and on probation.
“Did you really get kicked out? Amanda said that there was a huge party that pretty much destroyed the basement of the library at NYU…were you there?” Vikki said as she looked over at me with a smile, trying to rub in the known facts, as she took a bite of her pasta that our mom and made while talking to my dad earlier in the kitchen.
“I didn’t get kicked out Vik! No one did, at least not anyone that I knew anyway. Anyway, yeah I did go. I went with Robbie and Arod.” I said as I looked at her before looking at my mom and dad, who had stayed quiet the entire first part of dinner. However at that moment my dad cleared his throat, trying to get our attention.
“Jake your mom and I have been discussing about your situation. How are you going to pay for tuition next semester?” My dad asked as he put down his fork.
“Um well, I was kind of hoping you guys would help me with that, since you still have that saved up money for college, before I got that full-ride scholarship.” I said as I looked at him and then to my mom.
“Ha, is that so, actually that money has gone towards your sister’s college fund. Considering she’s graduating from high school next year and tuition prices has gone up.” What? They just gave all of my money away to my sister? I thought to myself. How was I going to pay for tuition? I had been planning to just use that money.
“Jake you’re going to need to find a job that will pay for your tuition, however with the economy the way it is, I just don’t see how you’ll be able to get settled in a job fast enough to be able to make enough before Fall classes start.” My dad said then looked directly at my mom, who had stopped eating and began looking over at me.
“Okay…well I mean I know I need to get a job, so what am I suppose to do, if you’re saying it’s a lost cause for me even to start looking for work?” I said, as I became a little frustrated with the thought.
“Jacob, I talked with my brother J.T., do you remember him? It’s been since you were very little since he’s last seen ya.” My mom said with a little bit more of twang in her voice, which always happened after she got off the phone with one of her friends or family members from down south.
“Anyway, I was telling him about your little situation…”
“Mom, why did you tell other people about this? “ I said in a huffed voice, interrupting her.
“Jake, just listen, he has a job opening at his business, and said that you could come down and work for him. You would staying with him and from what he was saying about the pay of the job, there shouldn’t be any worries about you not making enough to pay for school, but you have to Work.” My mom said putting an emphasis on the word “work”.
“Oh um, well gee thanks mom, but I don’t think I would want to move so far away for the summer, I could just get a job here you know…” I said trailing off with the thought as she exchanged a look of “please” with me before turning towards my dad to help support what she was saying.
“Look, Jake. I think you should really consider this, you’ll get a chance to meet some of your other family members that you haven’t met yet, and plus Jake, I think you need to get a change of scenery…I hate to admit this, but Jake you need to get your life together. You’re a junior in college and still haven’t picked a major. You threw away a great opportunity all for a stupid party and prank, and now you really don’t have any options. Oh and don’t you even think about not going back to school…not going to college is out of the question in this family.” My dad said with an intense gaze and raised his voice a little. I looked over at my sister, Vikki, who was just sitting quietly with an amused expression on her face, the same one she always had when I got in trouble, yet I knew she didn’t want me to move either.
“How long do I have to think about this?” I asked softly as I looked over at my mom.
“I want an answer by tonight, because he needs to hire someone by the end of this week.” She said as she stood up and grabs some of our plates and took them into the kitchen.
“Jake, as much as I hate to see you not here to entertain me for the summer, I think you really should take Uncle J.T.’s offer. I mean it’s sad that I’ve seen him more times than you have, and plus it’s a guaranteed job.” Vikki said as she stood up to help mom in the kitchen leaving me and dad in silence. I knew I really didn’t have a choice in this matter. It was either hopefully find a job or move and have a guaranteed job…hmm sounds like fate already knew which one I was going to pick.
About three days later, I was being dropped off at the JFK airport, with one way ticket from New York to South Carolina and two duffle bags in my hands. I hugged my family, gave my mom and sister a kiss on the cheeks, shook hands with my dad, who almost seemed a little relieved I was being sent to my mom’s brother, and before I knew it, I was on a four hour flight to Columbia, South Carolina. Four hours of my mind going crazy with thoughts, guilt, questions, and most of all realizations of how stupid I had been. How I had the easiest lifestyle in the world and gave it all up in the names of fun, forks, toilet paper, saran wrap, and a stupid Walmart smiley face sticker. One thing I was certain of, this summer was going to sure be interesting with a big city boy like me going to a small southern town of my Uncle J.T.’s. I made myself a promise at that moment, that as soon as I made enough to go back to school, I was going to leave that stupid town, and I wasn’t even going to think twice about it.