I'd love to know what you think. If there's enough interest, next chapter will be out next week.

In the night, headlights call my name

-Twenty One Pilots, "Fake You Out"

Everything was a blur.

His mind was all over the place, not being able to focus on anything or anyone. It was like watching an old YouTube video with crappy quality where everything was pixilated. He could somewhat make out things, but there was no way he knew if what he was seeing was really there. What he did know though? He was beyond drunk.

It was the perfect time to really cut loose and cut loose he did. Everyone he knew was doing the same thing and he didn't even have a second thought about it. Many people would stay after and the people who would go home had walked here and lived in the neighborhood. There was nothing to worry about and he would see everyone that mattered in a few days and they would grin knowingly at each other and mutter the same words, "man, that party was crazy."

Someone's hand grasped onto his shoulder and his not-so-ninja-like reflexes caused him to whip around to see who was grabbing him. The face was blurry and his drunken stupor was making it difficult to focus on whoever had sought him out. He even questioned whether he actually knew the person. With those doubts, he didn't even pay full attention to what the person was telling him, not that he would've been able to regardless.

"Whoa, man" ... "gonna" … "super" … "Lava"

He nodded enthusiastically once he realized the person was done speaking. Why this stranger felt he needed to know about some superhero lava, he had no idea, but it was probably just a drunk thing. "Alright, man, awesome! I'll check it out," he slurred out, his voice loud and booming. He whirled around, wondering if he could remember to tell Jason Cross, as he was the movie buff and he would probably be curious about that shit.

He wondered off, pushing his way through the masses to refill his red cup. He stopped suddenly when something made it to his ears fully, the familiar beat of a 2 Chainz song. He grinned excitedly and in his uninhibited drunkenness, let out an uncharacteristic girly squeal. "I love this song!"

And everything regarding the mystery person and super lava and refills were quickly forgotten.

(before.)

"Hoops!"

Even with everyone in the hallway chattering in excitement about it being the last day of school, Troy Bolton could still hear his best friend's voice calling him by his nickname from way down the hall. He shut his now empty locker and turned in the direction where Chad Danforth was still fifteen feet away, carrying his basketball under his arm. When he got closer, he threw it to Troy who caught it easily.

"Cross agreed to have the party at his house tonight," Chad explained. Troy grinned. "You were right; his parents are out of town tonight. Zeke's older brother is hooking us up with alcohol so he has that and food covered. If you could just send some texts out to get the word spreading, that would be awesome."

"What is your job, Chad?" Troy questioned, noticing that his best friend had no real obligations in their party.

"Bossing everyone around, duh," he answered slyly. "I'm the official host of our first official senior party. We are going to remember tonight forever. When we're all old and in nursery homes, we'll just remember how memorable Chad's party was."

Troy rolled his eyes at how Chad was hyping up the party, but pulled his phone out of his pocket and started sending out texts to people he knew would forward it on. He didn't send too many before the two were joined by some of the females of the group.

"Hey ladies, you coming to the party tonight?" Chad asked. Troy looked up and smiled at his girlfriend, Gabriella Montez, who had finally arrived. She smiled back at him.

"Yes, because I want to see you fall on your face at being a party planner," Taylor McKessie told her boyfriend teasingly.

The curly haired male pouted at her. "Gee, thanks, love you too babe," he muttered. He looked smug. "My party's going to be awesome."

"We're going," Martha Cox offered, speaking up for her and Kelsi Nielson. "With all the studying, I haven't danced as much as I wanted to." She did a quick spin in the hallway. "I need to let loose."

"You guys will have to tell me how it went," Gabriella commented, speaking up. Chad perked up at this, while Troy didn't seem surprised.

"You're not coming?!" Chad moved to be closer to his best friend's girlfriend. "Dammit, Gabs, you never come to any parties. This is our first senior party! You gotta come."

"Her mom is having her boss over for dinner; Gabby needs to be there to schmooze," Troy supplied. He mimicked Chad's move towards Gabriella, only he went a step further and slung his arm around her neck. "I told you, dude, that's why I'm busy tomorrow. Because we're hanging out." He wagged his finger back and forth between him and Gabriella. The petite brunette nodded her agreement to Troy's statements.

"Oh, right, well that's lame," Chad mumbled. The gang rolled their eyes at how quickly he brushed it off. "I guess then we'll see you bright and early Sunday morning at Lava Springs." For the second year in a row, most of the gang had landed jobs at the Lava Springs Country Club. They were all lucky enough to have their shifts all started on the first Sunday of summer vacation, though they were staggered throughout the day, depending on their position.

Gabriella pulled on her boyfriend, making sure he didn't go in defensive mode and end up accidentally outing her story and real reasons for missing parties to the whole group. "Sorry, Chad, I guess I'm just still a geek at heart."

He shrugged, not one to get truly mad. "Hey, if your Mom is the one doing the cooking, I know for a fact that will make part of your night better. And you'll remember everything and not have a hangover. You'll be the winner tomorrow." Gabriella smiled at him politely and his own grin went sly. "But not tonight. Because tonight," Chad reached and grabbed his best friend, straightening up as much as possible to be able to grab the taller boy by the shoulders less awkwardly, "tonight… we rage harder than we've ever raged before."

"When I die bury me next to two bitches! …"

He walked around the main floor of the Cross house before slamming into another person. This person seemed to be slightly clearer and the conversation was more focused.

"Baylor, haha, you're drunk," the voice reprimanded him. "Yeah, you're getting cut off, buddy. Taylor didn't drink much; I'll tell her to help you get home too."

"I'm not that drunk," Zeke Baylor responded defensively. "Dude, I thought your motto for the night was 'rage as hard as possible.'" He squinted at the blurry figure. "Wait, I'm talking to Chad, right?"

"Yeah," the reply came angrily. A blurry hand waved in front of Zeke's glazed over eyes. "See, wasted. And it's almost three, man. We've been going at it long enough. Cross wants his house back. We gotta leave so people will follow or continue to pass out."

"Fine," Zeke sighed in response. "I guess it's a good time to go sleep it off anyways."

"Thanks," Chad muttered. "Hey, have you seen Troy? I swear I haven't seen him in hours, but I lost track of time."

Zeke thought about it momentarily. Briefly his mind raced through people he talked with, superheroes, lava, and cheesy movies that Jason would probably like. But none of these clicked as interactions with Troy Bolton. "Nope, haven't talked to him all night. But Gabriella only lives one street over; maybe he went to see her? Or he's still somewhere around here?"

Chad nodded. He wasn't entirely convinced on either theory, but as he was still under the influence, he settled with them for the moment. "Yeah, you're probably right. Bolton's not dumb. He wouldn't do anything stupid." He grabbed his friend by the shoulders and drug him along. "Come on, dude, let's get you home."

/