Free Romeo of the Streets by Taylor Hill Page B

of how lucky I was to have her in my life. What a star!). We were having so much fun that it was almost midnight by the time we were actually ready to go out.
    We made our way across campus to the frat house and we must have just missed Romeo and the other guys on their way in, probably arriving only minutes earlier than they did. I wondered afterwards if their little bust-up might have turned out any differently had we crossed paths with them before, instead of after. Unfortunately, a grim feeling told me probably not.
    We entered the party and immediately exchanged a glance that acknowledged our mutual misgivings about the whole unruly scene, before pushing on past the drunks and lunatics around us into the kitchen area. It was clear that neither one of us wanted to stay any longer than we had to—we’d said that we would stop by to check it out and we had done—but this wasn’t a party, it was a zoo. One in which the animals had long ago wrested complete control from their human masters.
    The music was absolutely pumping and it was impossible to even hear anybody speak, as a gyrating and sweaty impromptu dance-floor took over the whole kitchen. I looked over at Lisa and saw my own startled discomfort reflected back at me in her two big eyes.
    “ LET’S GET OUT OF HERE!” I shouted over the music.
    “ WHAT? ”
    “ I SAID… LET’S GET OUT OF HERE! ”
    At that moment there was a huge crash from upstairs and the undulating ocean of frat-boys in front of us looked up and began to cheer. There was another big thump and the sound of breaking glass and it became clear that whatever was going on up there wasn’t part of a regular good night’s partying. It sounded like a full blown brawl was taking place. At that moment someone cut the music and the dancers went wild with outrage, chanting and shoving around the kitchen space. I didn’t have to say anything this time to know that Lisa wanted out as much as I did and we began pushing our way back to the hallway, trying to escape before the crowd behind us turned into a trampling stampede.
     
     
    Everybody on campus knew about the Wild Cats—it was CCU’s worst-kept secret. Of course the fact that the gang was made up of the toughest, meanest football players the university had to offer ensured that it was the kind of secret nobody was in a hurry to pass on to anyone with the authority to actually do something about it. Few would dare.
    So imagine my surprise the following day when my friend Paulie informed me that not only had somebody taken on the Wild Cats (and put an end to the Delta Gamma party in the process) but they’d gone so far as to beat up the entire crew, and even broken Pete Van Diem’s hand in four separate places—thereby ensuring that the team’s football captain would be confined to the bench for the rest of the college year. My heart dropped at the news. When I’d seen Romeo and Lou the night before, especially hanging around with those other two creeps from the Grove (possibly the last two people in the entire universe that I would have expected to see at a CCU party), I knew that whatever trouble was taking place had to have something to do with them. But now… to find out that they’d taken on Pete Van Diem and the Wild Cats? I felt sick. Those football thugs meant serious business and they’d be out for blood after suffering such a humiliating insult to their reputation. Just what the hell were Lou and his friends doing there anyway?
    And Lisa, naturally she was distraught. I’d tried to warn here about what Lou was in to these days but she hadn’t listened, preferring to view his every move through the rose-tinted lenses of new love’s idealism. She’d told me I was paranoid, over-reacting, making mountains out of molehills. Sure he was no choirboy, but Lou was hardly a criminal , she said. Except now it seemed pretty clear that he was and nobody could deny it. So why did it feel like I was almost as shocked as she was?
    She