CHAPTER 1- Before the Party

-"Hmm, another fucked up day in paradise. I've got my shitty apartment,

some crazy friends, some warm beer in the fucked up fridge, a pack of smokes,

some dope to sell and some money to make. Yep livin' la vida loca what more

could I ask for...?" Staring at the ceiling St. Jimmy speaks aloud as if someone

actually cared enough to listen. St. Jimmy was a skinny guy, with blonde hair

that had black streaks in it, he had ocean blue-grey eyes, was 5'9", with a punk

rock style, a rare smile, a sacastic "I don't give a fuck" attitude, some

tattoos on his forearm and back, and snakebites.

He shared an appartment with his friend Johnny, who was never there. Johnny

was always out at a party tryna drink away his sorrow ever since he lost

Whatsername. St. Jimmy and Johnny hadn't talked much they only partied together

and that was it. Ya see St. Jimmy had convinced Johnny to do drugs and live a

"care-free life." Some party that turned out to be, Johnny was lonely and stuck

with an addiction to being artifitially happy. But he knew it was time for a

change.

Johnny came into the apartment, and Jimmy spoke "hey man how was the party

last night? I would have gone, but I ended up getting laid. I swear whores will

do anything for some free dope. But of course they only want me because I'm

fucking sexy." Johnny ignored the question, and just headed to the one room in

the tiny apartment. In the apartment there was one bedroom, a couch, a fridge

with no kitchen, and one bathroom with barely enough room to turn around in./P

PJimmy stood up and followed Johnny to the bedroom " hey man what's up, are

you alright?" Johnny slowly turned around from facing the bed. St. Jimmy could

see a bag of clothes and wondered what was going on. Johnny spoke with an even

tone "I'm going home, this isn't the life I wanted, I'm sick of the partying and

meaningless sex." Jimmy was suprised by this and protested "what the fuck? You

can't go home we are having fun, you're my bestfriend and you're just going to

leave me?!" Johnny spoke again but with less patience this time "well its either

I go home and try to start over, or I end it all right here right now!"

PSt. Jimmy stood aside as Johnny walked past him heading to the door, he just

accepted Johnny's decision and knew he would rather be lonely then let his

bestfriend kill himself because of insanity. St. Jimmy couldn't handle it, the

pain and regret are too much to go through again. Jimmy sat back down on the

couch and started smoking. Eventually he passed out, and Johnny left without

goodbye.

Jimmy sat silent as he watched millions of people walk by, but all he could

see was her face. The love he once had, the girl that was suppose to be the love

of his life. She suddenly began to fade, and Jimmy leaped from the couch to stop

her from leaving this world again, but it was too late.' Jimmy woke from his

nightmare in a scream, he put his head in his hands. After a moment of thought

Jimmy got up and went to the fridge for a beer. After drinking the beer in one

drink he headed outside for some "fresh" air.

St. Jimmy lived in a city called Salvain. He always found it funny that the

name of the city sounded like it was suppose to be "sal"vation, but had the word

"vain" in the name. The city was seperated with a pointless bridge. I say

pointless because anyone can go across it without a problem. On one side there

were high class business people without a care in the world. The good part of

the city had buildings that went so high you could get light-headed from going

to the top floor. Everything was perfect over there, so that side was known as

"the sun." On the other side of the bridge was where Jimmy lived a broke-down

area where all the thugs, drug dealers, prostitutes, and convicts lived. St.

Jimmy and Johnny didn't want to live in a dump, but the only way to get drugs,

get alcohol, and party in clubs was to live in the bad part of the city. Or more

commonly known as "the pit" by those country club assholes who look down upon

having a good time and partying.

When St. Jimmy walked outside into the poluted air he stopped and took a deep

breathe. Jimmy looked around, the pit wasnt the prettiest or the cleanest part

of the city, but it was where he belonged and he was completely fine with that.

Jimmy went back inside and again fell alseep on his couch...

-On the other side of the city lived a girl named Sophia. She was very

curvy, with long curly blonde hair. Her eyes were grey-green, she was 5'7", and

she was sort of pale. There was a lot of sun where she lived, but she spent most

of her time inside away from the world that is "perfect." Sophia was a very

private person, and had very few friends, but the ones she had were very close

to her especially her best friend, Angela. Growing up Sophia had always wondered

what was on the other side of the bridge, and why her parents wouldn't let her

see.

Now, she is turning 21 in two days, and her parents still won't let her do

anything. "Are you just going to baby me for the rest of my life?!" "Honey, we

just love you too much to let you make a mistake or put yourself in harms way."

"Mom, I'm not a little girl let me live my own life!" Sophia went to her room

and slammed the door. She put on some Green Day, and went to sleep./P

PThe next morning Sophia woke up at 7:30 am and filled a backpack full of

clothes and money she had got from her temporary job as a cashier at a pizza

joint right down the street from the college she was attending. Her parents

insisted they give her weekly allowence, but Sophia wouldn't have it. She was an

adult and she would work for her money like one. Sophia lived with her parents

only because she was saving money for an apartment. The only problem was under

her parents roof you have rules, too many rules.

Sophia currently attended a university that focused mainly on the wide-spread

field of engineering. She was studying to be a mechanical engineer. Her parents

disapproved of a girl doing a mans job, but that only made her rebel even more.

In the long run Sophia had grown to love Mechanical engineering, and it had No

longer been a way to annoy her parents.

On her way out, Sophia wrote a note to her parents saying she was going to

live with her best friend, Angela, for a while, but only until she could afford

to support herself. Sophia felt bad for just leaving a note and not telling them

in person. But then again she was tired of being treated like a child who was

incapable of even making a sandwhich. Angela had been asking Sophia to move in,

but was never successful. She always thought it would be amazing to live with

her bestfriend who was like her sister. "From cradle to grave" they would always

say, and they both believed it wholeheartedly.

PSophia finally made it to Angela's apartment that was about 20 blocks away.

When Sophia knocked on the apartment door Angela answered with mess brown hair,

and very sleepy green eyes. Angela looked like Sophia and was the same height.

Most people really thought they were sisters, some even said they looked like

twins. "Hey Sophia, it's a little early for me to be awake, what's up?" Angela

yawned and stepped aside to allow Sophia in. "I know you're tired, but I need a

place to stay. I am finally done living with my parents they drive me nuts!"

Angela shreiked and hugged the other girl, "omg I'm so glad you finally told

them off." "Well actually I didn't tell them off, I kinda sorta wrote them a

note..." Sophia admitted while biting her upper lip. This was one of her many

weird habits, she bit her upper lip instead of her bottom lip, it sometimes

annoyed Angela but she got use to it.

"Well, honey bun you can stay with me as long as you please. From cradle to

grave, I will never turn you away. Follow me to your new temporay bedroom."

Angela showed Sophia to her room, got her settled in and the two girls went back

to sleep.

-St. Jimmy had woken up again and became bored almost immediately. He

started calling everyone in his phone contact list, but everyone was busy. "What

the fuck, how can everyone be busy. What is there to do in the pit while the sun

is out?!" Finally, Jimmy came across his friend Tunny's number and decided to

give him a call. "Hello, hey man it's St. Jimmy I was wondering if you wanted to

go do something tonight?" "Sorry bro, but tonight is mine and Extraordinary

girls anniversary." Sort of pissed and sad St. Jimmy congradulated his friend

and began to hang up. "Wait! Jimmy, I can't hang out tonight, but maybe we could

go to Neuro tomorrow night?" "Shit, that's my favorite club, there are always

hot woman there looking for a heartless bastard to sleep with. The girls will be

all over me, let's do it I'll see you tomorrow, bye."

Instead of going back to sleep St. Jimmy decided to go sell some of his dope.

He wanted to make a little money for some new clothes for tomorrow night. After

a few hours Jimmy made about $300 and headed over to the best punk clothing

store in that half of the city, Punk for Life. St. Jimmy walked throughout the

store grabbing random peices of clothing that looked cool. He didn't care if

they matched he would worry about that, never. At the end of the day Jimmy had

spent over half his money on clothing for the party tomorrow.

-It was 1 pm when Sophia awoke, she went to the kitchen to make some

coffee. When she had her cup of piping hot coffee she then decided to go out

onto Angela's balcony. Angela's apartment was on the 31st of the 50 floor

apartment building. From the balcony Sophia could see her college and see all

the people on the ground that looked like ants. Usually Sophia hated heights,

but somehow she felt safe when Angela was there, even if she was still sleeping.

Sophia looked out over the already too-mechanical city and thought 'do I really

want to make this place more artificial than it already is? Every person in this

city has a daily routine that never changes, everything is now easier because of

electronics and machines. Do I really want to be a part in the death of our

humanity?'

Sophia went back inside and realized Angela was sitting at the kitchen

counter drinking coffee. "I would have come out on the balcony with you, but it

looked like you were thinking about something important." Angela then moved from

rhe kitchen counter to the couch. Sophia just nodded then sat down on the floor

in front of Angela. "I was thinking that I don't want to be a robot." Angela

giggled,"I hope not that sounds painful." Sophia grinned, "No I mean I don't

want to be like everyone else in this damn city always doing the same exact

thing everyday. And I definately don't want to be stuck in a boring life!"/P

PAngela nodded and said "so what are you going to do about it then?" Sophia

realized she hadn't got that far in her thoughts. "I'm not sure yet, but I know

where I wanna start." Angela looked a little curious, sort of like how a dog

would turn its head and stare at you, "what do you have in mind?" Sophia paused

and took a deep breathe then spoke, "I want to go to a club tonight for my 21st

birthday, you going to come with me?"

-*Thump* "Oh fuck, this is why I never sleep in the bed. I fall asleep,

have that same nightmare, and then roll out of the bed." St. Jimmy growled then

got off the floor. Poor guy having the same nightmare night after night, but it

wasn't just a nightmare but a memory. Three years ago St. Jimmy had been like

the people who live on the other side of the bridge. He was happy going to work

and doing the same thing everyday. Jimmy had been dating this girl named Sam

ever since their junior year in high school. They were in love and were about to

get married. Until one day Sam received a call from the local hospital in her

old hometown. Sam's parents and two younger siblings had been killed in a

horrific car crash on their way to Jimmy and Sam's engagement party.

For months Sam would barely talk and needed help to even stand. Jimmy had to

postpone the wedding for Sam's sake, but that didn't help. One day while Jimmy

was at work, Sam went out for a walk. Unfortunately, she never returned from her

walk, her body was found laying on the side of a freeway. It was determined that

Sam had jumped off of the bridge above the freeway, and was killed instantly by

the impact of the fall. Jimmy blamed himself for leaving her alone that day. All

his life, Jimmy had been a good kid, an excellent student, an amazing boyfriend,

and a good friend. Some people would even refer to him as being a saint.

Jimmy started to call himself St. Jimmy because of Sam's death. He found it

ironic that he spent his entire life being a "saint" just to have the best thing

in his life taken away. "Yeah I'm St. Jimmy! I'm the fucking Saint of all things

bad!" In the end he felt the best way to deal with Sam's death was to move away

and freeze his heart solid. Now here he is doing drugs, getting drunk on a daily

basis, partying, and having sex with whores.

*phone rings* St. Jimmy doesn't even bother to answer his phone until he

remembered his conversation with Tunny the day before. "Hey man ready for

tonight?" "Yeah, but my girl wants to go out shopping first. I'll meet you at

Neuro around 8 pm." St. Jimmy was so happy to be going a party, it has been like

3 days since the last party and he was dying to let loose. After his daily beer,

Jimmy went and got in the shower to get ready.

-"I don't think it would be safe to go to the pit, especially not after

dark." "Oh come on Angela one night is all I ask. Just one night of full on rule

breaking, my parents never even gave me the chance to break a rule. Tonight I

want to party like I won't be alive tomorrow." "Hmm, I'm still not sure, but

it's your birthday and we should celebrate how you want, bring any dresses?"

"All I have are those ugly sunday dresses, my mom never let me wear anything too

"revealing," do you have anything?" Angela got up off the couch and gestured for

Sophia to follow.

Angela led Sophia to her walk-in closet that was filled from top to bottom

with beautiful womans clothes and accessories to go with each outfit. Angela

began going through her clothes, she wanted to pick a dark blue dress that would

complement Sophia's pale skin, and bring out her beautiful ocean blue-grey eyes.

She finally found the gorgeous dress, it was a silky dark blue dress that

wrapped around her neck and tide in the back. Down the sides of the dress were

light blue designs you could see through showing some skin, but very little. The

dress fit Sophia tightly, but she had plenty of room to breath. Only trouble she

had with the dress was the fact that it was a little short and she wouldn't be

able to bend over.

Angela picked out some blue flats that matched the dress perfect. Being very

tall, neither girl would wear heels so they wouldn't look like giants. Angela

picked out a dress that was similar in style to the blue one Sophia was wearing.

But hers was all black with brown down the sides. She wore some black and brown

flats to match. Both girls did their make-up and curled their hair "curly hair

has bounce, flat hair is played out." Both girls giggled at Angela's comment and

continued to get ready. To finish their outfit each girl wore a diamond studed

necklace they bought eachother when they were children. "Wow you look amazing

Sophia!" "So do you Angela, absolutely stunning." Each girl smiled and thanked

one another, and now it was time to head out.