A/n: Hey, guys. I am so sorry I haven't updated in months, and I'm sort of sorry I'm giving you a new story rather than a much overdue update. I've had a really rough few months, I became sort of ill over the summer and I'm still struggling to overcome a few things, but I won't dwell on it as I am getting better and I'm learning to deal with things, better. This may not be up to scratch, I'm probably rusty and it might take me a while to get back into writing in character. Anyway, I hope this isn't too bad and I'll try and work on updates over the next few weeks. It'll give me a break from coursework! A little about the story; it's going to be a Carchelle pairing, slightly AU, quite dark, I won't give loads away.

Last Friday night.

I wasn't supposed to be here. I hadn't felt right from the start. I didn't fit in, I was too young, I wasn't even supposed to be out. I can't even contemplate my mother's reaction if she happens to ruffle my blankets only to find them tucked around a stack of bunched pillows, though maybe it's because my head's fuzzy with alcohol. It's quite an elite little gathering, just six of us altogether. I'd only agreed to go because I thought…I don't know what I thought, I'd been naïve in thinking that somehow this would make me seem more approachable at school, someone worth talking to. That, and Tom, the ringleader, he'd asked me personally, looked me right in the eye and I couldn't say no. You just don't say no to a person like him. But I didn't have to actually turn up, and maybe I wouldn't have, but she was there, too. And we were sort of friends, so I thought we'd hang. It was supposed to be a party, a laugh, fun, celebrating the first Friday of the beginning of my summer.

I think they thought I was older, and that's why he'd asked me, but I could have been anyone, I was just there to equal the boy-girl ratio. I was sort of excited as I started to get ready, I hadn't been to one of the proper parties before, I'd tried on so many different outfits. Eventually, I settled on a tight pair of grey, stonewashed skinny jeans, a sloppy white top which was slightly too short and my cropped leather jacket- just in case it became cold when it got dark. And things did get dark. And cold.

I was halfway to the house when I'd bumped into her, also on her way there. I didn't know her brilliantly, my older brother had taken her out a few times but had soon given up, claiming she was too much like hard work. I smelt her before I reached her; the gentle breeze sending her long, dark hair billowing in my direction, coconut shampoo and some sort of sharp floral scent. Maybe that was her hairspray.

"Oh hi, Michelle. I forgot you were invited, too!" She gave me a friendly smile and slowed her pace so I could catch up.

"I'm not actually sure why I'm invited…I don't really know Tom that well, we've only spoke a few times when everyone goes down to the patch."

"Maybe he likes you? It wouldn't be a totally unreasonable explanation!" There was a hint of torment in her voice, I think she was just messing around. He was far more likely to go for someone like her. Besides, he was too old for me, and I doubt he'd want someone so young.

I remember us chatting comfortably along the way and when we reached the house, we were taken through into the living area and given access to unlimited drinks. The house was tiny, but somehow looked expensive.

I would explain the rest of the night, but I'm not quite sure of it, I was dancing, getting more and more drunk, just the six of us, entwined together, the dancing got heavy. Then the last girl, Alice or someone, I didn't know her, she disappeared upstairs with Daniel, and must have later snuck off out of the house with him, because they were nowhere to be seen after it happened.

In the end I was sat on a pristine, black leather couch and Tom was beside me, his hand resting on my thigh. Across the room, Kyle was entwined on the chair with Carla, her curtain of hair blocking their presumably joined lips. I couldn't see properly by this point and when Tom mumbled, I just nodded and he left the room, returning with a small clear packet of white powder. Oh.

"I don't do that…" Shaking my head, I shuffled back slightly, and he shrugged. "I'm not going to force you. It only means there's more for me." I saw him calmly make a line of it across his hand, just at the bottom of his index finger, and then, bringing his hand upwards, his thumb resting on his cheek, took one deep breath, and it had vanished.

"Sharing is caring." Kyle's voice came from across the room, and he shifted himself from Carla, whose lips were very pink, swollen, her cheeks flushed. She looked almost pleased with herself.

I watched Tom hold the packet to him and Kyle repeat his earlier actions. I was tired by this point and I really wanted to go, but I didn't know how to go about leaving. Not that I had the chance to anyway, because Tom's lips came crashing down on mine, and I found myself crushed against him. I tried to twist my head away but he had me fast, and he wasn't gentle, his teeth crashing against mine, before sinking into the soft flesh of my lower lip. I struggled, tried to cry out, my hands pushing at his hard chest.

"She doesn't want to!" I was grateful at first that Kyle had intervened, grabbing the back of Tom's collar and pulling him away. From the corner of my eye, I saw Carla move closer to me, as though she was coming to check that I was alright. I ran my tongue over my bruised lip and was almost knocked off my feet when Tom gave Kyle a rough shove, sending him stumbling into me. I knew what was going to happen as soon as he brought himself up onto his feet. Or at least I thought I did.

Clenching his fist, Kyle's hand swung and connected with Tom's nose and I heard the crack around a second before a fountain of blood began to pour from it. Screaming in agony, Tom retaliated, and they began to fight. With Tom in a headlock, I heard Carla screaming at them both to stop, and at first, I thought they'd listened. Kyle seemed to freeze, a shocked expression on his face, though also slightly dazed. I thought he'd come to his senses and realised what he was doing. Now able to pull himself from the headlock, Tom turned and watched as Kyle dropped to his knees. A dark red patch began to stain his pale blue shirt, widening rapidly like a giant blot of ink, it spread across his chest and started to drip down his abdomen. I felt the bile rising in my throat when I watched him choke on his own blood, watching it bubble and drip from his lips like he was gargling red wine.

Time seemed to stand still and he was looking at us bewildered, his eyes begging us to help even though he knew it was too late and we couldn't do anything but watch him die, painfully. When his eyes became glassy, he was half laid on his side, the black handle of the blade sticking out of his chest. In slow motion, I watched Carla move across to the body and kneel down, her hands trembling as she felt in his pocket for a phone.

"We need an ambulance, someone do something!" She cried, shaking so badly that she couldn't even hold the phone in her hand, let alone punch in the numbers. Tom swooped down, and at first I thought he was going to take over in retrieving help. Instead, he wrenched the blade from Kyle's chest with a sickening sound of flesh being torn, and held the blade in front of Carla.

"Nobody is calling anyone." He stated, quite calmly to say he'd just stabbed someone to death while coked off his head. "We're going to sort this mess out ourselves."

((I know there's not a load of description here, and not much interaction between Carla and Michelle, but the next chapter gets a whole lot darker in an ordeal that will bring them closer together!))