Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to their rightful owners.
Warning: The following chapter contains: coarse language, suggestive adult themes, drug and alcohol use. YOU have been WARNED.
SPIN THE BOTTLE CINDERELLA
Chapter 1: Let's Get this Party Started!
"You're really going to do it? You're going to ask Sky out?" Shawn asked.
"Yeah," Dave said, nodding his head.
The two of them walked down a suburban street. On either side, identical two story houses, with identical green lawns, and identical white picket fences were laid out in a line. It was a cool spring night. A dipping wet wind rustled their hair.
"You sure that's a good idea?" Shawn wore his signature green tuque, keeping his hands in the front pockets of his orange vest.
Dave let out a sigh. "Honestly? No. I think it's a stupid idea. But what option do I have? If I don't, then I'll just beat myself up over it forever. I'm never going to have a better time than this. Working with her on Cinderella has really given us a chance to connect. If there's any time to try, it's now. Tonight is Operation Sky Hookup."
Shawn grabbed Dave's shoulder. "Well said. If there's anyone I want by my side if we need to kill a close friend who's about to turn into a zombie, I want it to be you," he said with a straight face.
"Thanks..." Dave responded, unsure of its relevance, and unclear about whether that was a good thing or not. He came to a stop near the end of the street. A slightly larger house with a two door garage stood before them. Dave fished out a piece of paper in his pocket, and held it up next to the door. "311. This is the place."
They headed up the front walkway, and rang the doorbell.
After a few seconds, a boy wearing a long green cloak and a fake beard opened the door.
"Welcome wary travelers to the party of parties, filled with sorcery and secrecy, of mystery and mysticism, of wonder and awe!" Leonard said. He raised his arms into the air. "Once you pass this threshold, then there will be no going back! Heed, and think upon your lives, and whether you are truly ready to accept this quest."
Dave and Shawn stood silent, on the doorstep, staring blankly at him.
"This is where we're having the wrap party right? For Cinderella?" Dave asked, looking over his shoulder, slightly embarrassed by the theatrical greeting.
"Yes. Gosh." Leonard pulled down his beard below his chin. "Everyone's downstairs in the basement. It's the second door to your left."
"Dude!" Shawn called out, he turned to take a better look at the outside of the house. "This is your house? It's huge! If you fortified the windows, and dug out a small moat, you could fortify like a dozen people in here from a zombie apocalypse."
"Well, I've been trying to convince my mother about a moat for years," Leonard noted.
Shawn and Dave stepped through the front door, walking atop the crisp linoleum floors. The entrance way had vaulted ceilings nearly twenty feet high.
"Swanky." Dave commented admiring the décor.
Leonard closed the door behind them. He walked down the hall. He opened a door wide. "Come! The Mystic Lair awaits!"
Dave just rolled his eyes. He and Shawn walked past Leonard and down the narrow staircase. Dave leaned over to Shawn and whispered. "Why was he chosen to be the Drama Club President again?"
"Say what you will about the guy, but you got to hand it to him. He has an eye for the dramatic." Shawn spoke as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Both guys looked in awe at what laid before them.
About ten people occupied the basement. It was fully decorated with spider webs on the walls, a smoke machine, medieval decorations, swords and shields. "Wow. Leonard, you really went all out with the party decorations." Shawn said up to Leonard at the top of the stairs.
"Party decorations?" Leonard said in confusion. He was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. "Ah more guests!" He walked back towards the front door.
Shawn and Dave shared a look. They both shrugged and went to see who else was there. On a table, Scarlett and Max were playing a game of scrabble. There was vacant chair with a set of letters, where Leonard had been playing. A spread of party snacks: chips, popcorn, meatballs, bagel bites, taquitos, were being scoffed up by Sugar. Ella tried to start a conversation with her, but Sugar was too concentrated on eating. On the couch, Sky sat next to Jasmine, lounging. Amy and Samey stood next to each other, awkwardly in the corner, not talking to anyone. Beardo played with a stereo, fiddling with the bass. An All-American Rejects CD played.
On the ceiling, a white banner was held up by duct tape: PAHKITEW HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA CLUB WRAP PARTY: CINDERELLA. The letters were bunched together, and slightly hard to read. The person who made it obviously did not anticipate how many letters they were going to need to write.
Shawn and Dave headed over to Jasmine and Sky. Sky waved at them to approach. Shawn took a seat on the ground before the couch. Dave sat on the left arm.
"Happening party huh?" Shawn spoke, breaking the ice.
"You got that right," Jasmine said, slightly sarcastic.
"116 Points!" Max yelled out. "You have got to be kidding me!"
"L-A-Z-Y-I-S-H." Scarlett said slowly. Her face expressionless. "22 points on a triple word score. Plus 50 for being seven letters. That's 116. Adjective. Means averse to work, idleness, or slow-moving. You should like it. It describes your play style."
Max hit his head on the table. "Why did I think did I think it would be a good idea to play against this witch?" He moaned.
"Reeeal exciting," Dave agreed, referring to Jasmine's earlier comment.
"Sup bitches!" Topher announced, walking down the steps, making a gun with his fingers and winking. Leonard followed close behind him, a little uncomfortable. "The party has arrived. I know you have all been waiting desperately for my entrance."
No one said anything.
"And by that, I mean I brought the beer!" Topher announced, throwing his hands in the air. Rodney burst through one of the doors in the basement carrying two 24 packs.
Everyone clapped and cheered.
Leonard was taken slightly aback. "How did you get into the Mystic Lair without me knowing?"
"I climbed through a window," Rodney admitted.
"But none of the basement ones are ever open," Leonard stated.
"So we had to break a window or two," Topher said casually, patting Leonard on the back. "The important thing is that we have beer now, and we looked good doing it. Am I great or what?"
Rodney placed one of the two 24 packs on the ground. He then opened the one he was still carrying and began to walk around and distribute beer to everyone. He walked over to the table and handed Scarlett a beer. He then extended one to Max but Max waved him away.
"Absolutely not! I will inject myself with your poison and have my magnificent brain turned to mush!" Max exclaimed.
Scarlett twisted opened her beer. "Beer, produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. Most cultures see it as a social lubricate that facilitates good times and breaking down social barriers. It'd probably do you more good than bad." Scarlett directed at Max as she took a sip of her beer. Max just huffed and crossed his arms, turning his attention back on the game.
Ella stepped right up next to Sugar. "I just wanted to say Sugar. I thought you did a most marvelous job as the Evil Step Mother. Even I was frightened at times."
Sugar finished eating what was left of a plate of meatballs before acknowledging Ella. "Don't need to tell me what I already know. I just don't understand why I didn't get to be Cinderella. I'd have been perfect."
Ella nodded her head. "Oh yes. I think you'd have been a great Cinderella."
"Much better than that talentless slut who did play Cinderella." Sugar declared in between shoving two mouthfuls of popcorn into her mouth.
"Um Sugar. I played Cinderella." Ella felt the need to point out.
"You heard what I said." Sugar spoke with conviction. Ella chuckled to herself awkwardly rubbing her arm. She looked to find somewhere to go. Before she could move Rodney approached them. Sugar saw Rodney and pushed Ella out of the way. "Finally, now the real fun can start." Sugar reached into the box of beer and pulled out two bottles. She stuck the heads of both bottles into her mouth, opening them with her teeth. She spat the bottle caps across the room and started chugging them down.
"Uh, you realize these are screw tops right?" Rodney asked her.
Once Sugar had completely chugged both down. She dropped the empty bottles onto the table and grabbed two more. "Ain't my fault you grabbed a sissy brand."
"You want one Ella?" Rodney asked.
"Sure," she said with an innocent tone. Rodney twisted one open with the sleeve of his shirt, and handed it to her. She took a small sip, wincing a little. "Thank you." She smiled warmly. "You have a kind soul."
"Well. I. Uh. Help. House." Rodney muttered incoherently, staring at her with wide eyes. His cheeks a rosy red. Ella leaned back a bit uncomfortable in his overwhelming gaze.
"Oi! Dimwit! You gonna share some of that with us mate?" Jasmine called over to his from the couch.
"Right. Baseball. Firetruck." Rodney walked up the couch in a daze. Jasmine grabbed one for herself, and took one for Sky. Dave hesitated, before taking his own, trying to look confident as he twisted off the top. Rodney tried to hand one to Shawn.
"No thanks. Don't want to dull my senses. Zombies always come for you when you're most vulnerable. I need to stay alert." He said confidently.
"Oh come on Shawn. Live a little!" Jasmine teased him.
"Yeah," Dave said forcefully. "Come on dude." He motioned his head to the girls. "You already said this place is well fortified right?"
"Sure. But Rodney's entrance has compromised that impression. I now believe we may be especially exposed."
"You're drinking one!" Dave exclaimed, grabbing the beer from Rodney's hand and giving it to his friend.
"That's the spirit Dave," Sky said playfully, nudging him. Dave blushed slightly at the comment.
Rodney walked over to Samey and Amy, who were silently watching the others. "Would. Tire. Beer. Have. Fire?" He tried to express.
"Yes." Amy said clearly, grabbing herself one.
"Me too," Samey remarked, taking one herself.
"You think that's such a good idea? You know how many carbs are in this right?" Amy spoke accusatorily.
"But you're having one, and we're the same..." Samey tried to explain.
"Whatever. If that's what you want to do," Amy said, rolling her eyes at her sister.
"Rodney! Over here!" Topher waved. Topher still stood next to the stairs with Leonard. Beardo had joined them, beatboxing, like always. Rodney approached them, holding the case with just under half of it remaining. "Put that down," Topher instructed. "I was just asking Beardo whether or not he had a bit of that ganja."
A smile grew on Beardo's lips. He reached into one of his pockets. "Check-ch-check-check-check-ch-check it out," he said, pulling out a fat blunt.
"Fuck yeah!" Topher yelled out, grabbing Beardo and Leonard by the shoulders. "You the man Beardo!"
"Uh, I, uh, don't think you should smoke that in here," Leonard remarked.
"Look. Leonard. You're the president of the Drama club. This party is your party. I have no intention of ruining that. But think of this as Prince Charming saying thank you for such a great play. You deserve this man," Topher claimed. "It's like casting a spell anyway. +1 to getting high, or something like that. You got smoke machines and shit in here anyway. No one's going to notice."
"A-Alright," Leonard conceded, knowing there was winning against Topher.
"Great. Let's go into the other room, so the others won't know. It'll be our little secret," Topher said, patting Leonard in the stomach.
"I'm in too." Scarlett said, standing right next to Topher. Topher jumped, startled by her appearance, having not noticed her join them at the stairs. He clutched his heart in surprise.
Taking a deep breath, Topher said "Fine whatever." He ran his fingers through his well groomed hair, trying to regain his composure. He motioned his head towards the door Rodney had come through with the beer earlier. Beardo gave a knowing nod. The five of them began to cross through the room.
Shawn tilted his head up and looked at them as they passed. "You guys going to smoke that?"
"You want in?" Beardo asked. Shawn nodded and stood up.
"Really Shawn? You won't drink beer but you'll smoke weed?" Jasmine asked.
Shawn just shrugged. "Just because I'm always on high alert for zombies doesn't mean I'm allergic to fun. Plus I figure I'd probably fight zombies better high anyway. Whenever I'm stoned, I feel like I understand how they would react. It's like seeing the matrix."
"Okay..." Jasmine commented dismissively.
"Alright fine, Shawn you can join, but nobody else!" Topher declared to the room, knowing the secret was not much of a secret. The six of them walked up to the room Rodney entered from and shut the door behind them.
"Aw, shucks." Sugar cursed.
"Really Sugar? You smoke that... stuff." Ella asked very innocently.
"Naw, I just don't like being excluded from stuff. I got some pills from my mom's medicine cabinet anyway for when we run out of beer. Want one?" Sugar asked reaching into her jeans pocket and pulling out a random assortment of pills.
"Um, sure." Ella said reaching forward and grabbing one.
"No!" Dave yelled running up and smacking the pill out of Ella's hand.
"Sugar what are you doing?" Jasmine called out running up behind her.
Sugar just shrugged. "Just want her to have a good time."
Dave grabbed Ella by the shoulders. "Never ever take anything Sugar offers you!" He looked up at Ella's eyes to see them open wide in admiration staring back at him. Dave immediately jolted his arms off of her. He turned back to look at Sky who was still sitting on the couch watching them with a raised eyebrow. "Um yeah." Dave patted her on the shoulder. "Good talk."
He turned to walk back to the couch when Ella wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him from behind. "My Prince!" She spoke in admiration. Dave unable to move just gave an awkward smile to Sky.
In the other room, Beardo lit up the tip of the blunt. He took a couple of puffs before handing it off to Scarlett. She examined the joint for a few seconds before taking one long drag. She passed it on to Shawn.
"I got to admit, Director. I did not expect you to want to participate in this sort of activity." Topher spoke to Scarlett as he was handed the joint after Shawn had taken a few puffs. "I mean zombie dewb over here. It's like a requirement to smoke this shit if you're going to wear a fucking tuque like that."
Scarlett shrugged. "Just because it is illegal doesn't mean it's bad. Teaching evolution was illegal once and in some places still is. Plus so many great minds have experimented with recreational and hallucinogenic drugs, it would feel wrong not to experience them myself. Carl Sagan once described weed as a drug which helps produce the serenity and insight, sensitivity and fellowship so desperately needed in this increasingly mad and dangerous world."
"Carl Sagan?" Rodney asked, not familiar with the name.
"He was a scientist who did that educational show about space in the 80s. Cosmos." Scarlett informed him. "He was like a hero to me as a kid."
"Yeah. I know who you're talking about. Magic School Bus and shit." Topher spoke, he took multiple puffs. Scarlett shook her head at him. He reached over to hand the blunt to Leonard but pulled back and took a couple more puffs before finally handing it off.
Leonard peered at the blunt. Hesitantly he brought it up to his mouth. He pulled down the fake beard. He took a small drag. He immediately began to cough violently.
"Dude raise your hands above your head." Shawn instructed him. "It'll stop the coughing."
Leonard passed it off to Rodney and then proceeded to do as told. He raised his hands up above his head and it stopped. "Wow. Magic." He commented. The others laughed.
In the main room, Max peered intensely at his letters for Scrabble. Meticulously, he shuffled them into different orders, trying to find a word to spell. Over his shoulder, Samey held her beer to her chest, and said "you know, you could spell..."
"Stop!" Max exclaimed, raising his hand over her face. She leaned back, put off by his action. "I do not need the advice of some clone."
"Clone?"
"Please. We all know you were only selected to act because Cinderella has two stepsisters, not one." He spoke dismissively.
Samey winced, a little hurt by the comment. She stared at the ground, kicking with her shoe.
"Hey!" Amy interjected, standing next to Samey. Her arms were crossed, and her brows angular. "You know you can spell 'axel' right?" she said, pointing out the letters over Max's shoulder.
Max turned back to his tiles. "You don't say?" he said, adjusting the tiles into that order.
Sky was pushed up against Jasmine on the couch, with Ella hanging onto Dave's arm. She tried to adjust herself comfortably, but it was tight. "You know," Sky tried to spark conversation. "I had such fun playing the fairy godmother, I was thinking I might join the drama club."
"Really?" Dave beamed, sitting up straight.
"Oh that's wonderful!" Ella projected in a formal tone. "We have such great people. The more the merrier. It will be nice to have some more actors who are actual members of the club. Topher and I get so lonely in the spotlight. Dave and Jasmine did such good jobs working behind the scenes." Her words were soft, without any venom. If it had been anyone else speaking, they would have assumed she was gloating or trying to diminish them.
"Well, the sets are not going to build themselves," Jasmine added awkwardly.
"Oh Shuckmuffins!" Sugar cursed.
"What is it?" Sky asked from the couch.
"There's no more food left," Sugar grunted, placing her hands on her hips.
"None?" Dave exclaimed. "There were plates of it minutes ago."
"I know! Only like five plates! Who does Leonard think we are? Starving children in Australia?" She complained loudly. Jasmine groaned.
Dave turned to the others. "Did anyone else get any?" he asked. Everyone shook their head.
"Hey everyone!" Leonard said loudly, putting his hands up in the air, as he walked out of the other room. Smoke seeped out the door. "I wanted to say a couple quick words." The group became silent, all eyes on Leonard. "As many of you know, I will be graduating soon. I wanted to thank all of you for making my last year, and my year as president such a pleasure. Our production of Cinderella was the best production the drama club has had in the four years of my involvement with it. First, I would like to thank our Cinderella herself, Ella, for suggesting the play. Second, I would like to thank our esteemed director Scarlett for her dedication and organization, ensuring we gave the students the best possible show. Next, our actors, Prince Charming Topher, Sky, Amy, Samey, and," he sighed, "Sugar. Our show could not have been what it was without your help. The club is in your debt. Finally, I'd like to thank the remaining club members who made sure the behind the scenes went smoothly: Beardo, Jasmine, Shawn, Dave, and Max. Also, thanks Rodney, for whatever you did."
The group began to clap, but they were interrupted by the lights turning on and off.
"Alright everyone," Topher exclaimed, flicking a light switch next to the door. "Now that the formalities are over, it's time for the real party to start. Who's up for a game?"
"What kind of game? Mud wrestling?" Sugar asked.
"No. And no one will ever want to do that will you Sugar. I would rather stab out my own eyes," Topher said with completely serious tone, walking to the centre of the room. "No. I was thinking of something a little more fun. A little more risqué." He grabbed one of Sugar's empty bottles of beer off the table previously covered in food.
"How about a game of spin the bottle?"
Everyone stared at him with piqued attention. The others who had been in the other room slowly reentered. "Spin the bottle?" Rodney spoke.
"Immaculate insight Rodney." Scarlett commented.
Rodney turned to Scarlett. "The. I. Uh. Shank. Yes. Goose."
"I'm flattered." Scarlett replied rolling her eyes.
Topher walked to the center of the room, right in front of the couch. He placed the bottle down onto the ground. "What are the rules?" Sky asked.
"Someone spins the bottle." Topher began to explain. "Whoever the bottle aims to, they have to kiss. If either the spinner or the recipient refuses the kiss, they have to perform a punishment dare, that will surely be worse than kissing the person."
"Who goes first?" Jasmine asked.
"Simple." Topher said. "We let the bottle decide." He spun the bottle on the ground. It circled around and around until it landed on its target.
Dave.
"Aw shit." Dave cursed.
...
Afterword:
Thank you for reading!
This story is another collaboration between Bardic Jester and myself. If you've been reading our other story, The Pillars of Destiny, you'll know that it's become a little more serious in the later chapters. So, we've been itching to write something more light-hearted and fun. We enjoyed writing the Oneshot Somewhere I Belong, about Samey and Shawn, so we thought it might be fun to write a multi-chapter story involving the Pahkitew cast. This story has a bit of a similar feel to my earlier story Objects of Our Affection, that included a party scene. Our intention is for each chapter of this story to focus on one cast member spinning the bottle.
We hope you liked it!
Till Next Time - Nyhlus and BJ
