Drunk high school parties were not Chloe's idea of a good time, yet here she was. Bonfires, Djs and at least a hundred drunk teenagers dancing on the grass out at the Dells was enough to make Chloe crave a mug of hot chocolate and her bed. Even though she wanted to leave she was here for a reason, her new roommate Kate had promised to introduce Chloe to her boyfriend and his friends. Now usually Chloe wouldn't be so desperate to meet guys but this was a special circumstance. Kate had told her that Pogue, Kate's boyfriend, and his three friends were nicknamed the Sons of Ipswich. If these boys really were the Sons of Ipswich then Chloe's searching was over.
"Come on slow poke!" Kate nudged Chloe in the side with her elbow, "The boys should be here any minute."
"Great!" Chloe replied with a teasing grin as she followed Kate over towards the DJ stand, "Maybe when we see him you'll stop moaning about missing him!"
Her new friend gasped in mock outrage, "You brat!"
Chloe couldn't help but laugh at the other girl. A strange feeling caused Chloe to look up at the cliffs that rose over the party and she thought she could make out figures standing on the edge. She was forced to look away when Kate pulled her arm and shoved a plastic cup into her hand, she protested and passed the drink off to the closest person. "I don't drink."
Kate rolled her eyes, "Ok buzzkill. I'll get you soon," she teased.
"Oh, I'm sure." Chloe said absentmindedly, peering into the fog she tried to look for the figures on the cliff but if they had ever been there they were gone now. She shrugged it off and turned to look at Kate just as her friend let out a happy cry.
"They're here. The Sons of Ipswich." Kate breathed.
Kate certainly had her attention now, "You make it sound so serious."
Her roommate didn't respond, she was too busy kissing a tall guy with long dark blonde hair. Kate pulled back and pouted, "Babe you're late."
The guy kept his arm around his girlfriend and apologized, "Sorry, I had a thing with the family. Who's this?" He asked with a friendly gesture towards Chloe.
"My new roommate. Chloe, this is Pogue Perry, Tyler Simms, Reid-"
"Garwin!" Pogue's very blonde friend finished for Kate. "Reid Garwin, Goodevening."
With a half laugh Chloe took his proffered hand and shook it firmly, "Goodevening." She replied gravely.
Reid smirked and instantly Chloe hoped he wasn't the one. "You know Chloe was my grandmother's name, you kind of remind me of her actually. I-"
The last of the four boys cut off Reid's bad attempt at flirting by introducing himself, "Caleb Danvers, and you don't bring my grandmother to mind in anyway." He reached for her hand as well.
Chloe grasped his hand just as firmly as his friend's and smirked, "Well if that's the case, my name's Chloe Halliwell."
Chloe's view of Caleb's intoxicating smile was cut off abruptly by a head of curly red hair and she missed the small gleam of recognition in his eyes. "Hi Caleb." The new girl greeted in a fairly seductive tone.
"Kiera." Caleb nodded to her, sans smile.
"How was your summer?"
Caleb glanced at Chloe before starting to answer, "Um."
The girl turned around with an expression Chloe had seen a thousand times back in San Francisco on the faces of girls who thought the world should belong to them, and not just on demon girls either. "I'm Kiera."
"Chloe."
The girls face brightened and Chloe instantly wanted to blow her up, "Oh! From the California public. Tell me how does one go about getting into Spencer from a public?"
"Why don't you give a rest Kiera." Caleb intervened before Chloe could so much as open her mouth to respond.
Another good looking guy popped in on the scene, with his face too close to Caleb's. "No why don't you give it a rest."
Oh boy, she thought this guy is just begging for a fight. Caleb looked at his feet half smiling, "I don't want any trouble Aaron."
"I'm sure you don't." Aaron replied back and Chloe had had enough.
"Ok tough guy, listen up." Chloe said authoritatively, "You too Miss Priss. Why don't you go starting fights somewhere else because if you wanna fight here you'd better be prepared to finish what you start. And quite honestly I don't think either of you have the balls to do anything more than talk shit. We came out here to have a good time and we," She gestured to the people she was hoping would become her friends, "are going to have a good time even if it means stepping over your asses on the ground. You hear me?"
Keira looked at Chloe who stood at least two inches shorter than her with outraged horror while Aaron clenched his jaw and the Sons burst into laughter. Kate clapped her hands which had a chain effect on all the people watching. Soon Chloe was grinning and she looked at Caleb who seemed pleased.
Aaron who was now purple faced with rage made to step forward and was held back by one of his cronies who said, "You posers make me want to puke."
"Then go ahead." Reid told him, and the crony just rolled his eyes. Aaron, with the choice of staying and looking like a bigger idiot or walking away turned his back on the group. He was a step ahead of his friend when the guy suddenly turned green and emptied the contents of his stomach all over Aaron's back. Kiera shrieked while everyone else erupted into startled laughter. A guy from the crowd shouted, "Nice one!" and when Chloe looked around to see who had spoken she caught the eye of a guy staring right at her. She turned away sharply, something in his gaze unsettled her. Her smile died further when she glanced at the Sons who were glaring at Reid. Chloe looked away quickly, seems an awful lot like magic she thought. Looks like she found the right guys, now it was just time for a test. Before she could say anything to the boys the DJ called out over the speakers that the cops were on their way and everyone started to run.
The group followed the runners at a quick walk. "You guys need a ride?" Pogue asked Kate.
"No Chloe drove us out here."
"Oh, see you back at the dorms?"
Kate turned to look at him when she responded, "Naw, It's getting late I think I'm just going to crash." She kissed her boyfriend, "Call me in the morning?"
Pogue nodded and a voice came from behind them, "I could use a lift."
Caleb and Chloe turned to look at the newcomer as Kate told him, "No problem." Chloe was less than pleased when she saw it was the guy that had been staring at her. Caleb offered the guy his hand, "Caleb."
"Chase" The guy responded, "Man that's guys puking made his exit so much funnier."
Reid clapped Caleb on the back, "Didn't it though?" he teased.
The group separated as they reached the cars, the girls and Chase in Chloe's car and the four Sons in Tyler's. Chloe opened the door to her powder blue Jetta and shared a grin and a wave with Caleb. Getting in she tucked her short dark hair behind her ear to conceal the flick of her finger as she moved the spark plugs out of their sockets just a little bit. So when she put the keys in the ignition and attempted to start her car, predictably it didn't start. She opened the door and stuck her head out and yelled at Caleb in fake distress, "My car won't start!"
"Hop in with us!" Pogue called.
Chloe shook her head, "I can't just leave it here."
Reid jumped out of his seat, "I can fix it for you." Caleb muttered something to Reid that she didn't catch and he said something she couldn't hear back. She popped the hood and Reid took a look under it. Barely two seconds later, he called out to her to try it again. She did and when she heard the engine catch she smirked knowing for sure that he was one of the ones she'd been looking for and she was almost certain the rest of the boys were the other three. Reid latched the hood and ran back to the car waving triumphantly at the thank you Chloe called after him.
Not wasting any more time she put the car into drive and followed the train of teenage drivers out of the Dells. Chase after a few failed attempts at engaging Chloe in conversation settled for chatting animatedly with Kate while Chloe drove forcing down shivers. There was something off about the guy and she had no interest in finding out what. Although if he did turn out to be some kind of warlock or demon she'd call her brothers in from California and vanquish the sucker. Because after all she was the daughter of a Charmed one, and a Whitelighter at that.