Disclaimer: I own nothing but a strange obsession for this fantastically frustrating show and a laptop

AN: Borrowed the name of a FOB song for the chapter, since it seemed to fit nicely

Chapter Two: Where Did the Party Go?

School was a challenge, and Myka thrived under a challenge. So she enjoyed college, immensely more than she liked high school. In fact she hated high school. It was hard going to the same school as your younger sister, especially when she was beautiful and popular while you were a nerd who tutored kids for fun. Having the star quarter back as a best friend kept her from being picked on, but while people noticed her presence around the easy going football player, they mostly ignored her.

College was easier for Myka, for a few reasons. One of which was being in a different state than her perpetually disappointed father and no longer stood in the shadow of her younger sister. Another was the fact being scary smart and well-read in college was actually a good thing. She lived with her friends and knew she could share in their company if she wanted. It was blissfully simple.

The hard part about living with Pete and Steve was being expected to join them on their nights out. They'd gone out before, Myka usually acting as Steve's wingman, Steve acting very much the gay best friend talking up Pete. But Pete liked using Myka to distract guys from other girls, thus making them jealous and more likely to talk to the guy willing to pay attention to them.

Myka hated it to no end, but Pete was her best friend, and this was something best friends did for each other. They always stayed in earshot of one another, that way if things ever got too hinky, Pete would always drop whatever dumb blonde he was chatting up and come to her rescue without question.

All Myka had to do was say fudge in a sentence, which usually ended up being something along the lines of "I smell fudge." On the flip side, if there was a girl who was psycho coo coo bananas who had cornered Pete, he would ask her, "Do you smell fudge?" and Myka would swoop in and pretend to be an angry girlfriend that he would have to abandon the other girl for to chase after. It was the same line they had been using since they developed the system in high school.

It was hard for Myka to go to parties with Pete and Steve. The two always seemed so at ease in the crowd, surrounded by people they could easily sleep with if they chose to. While Myka hung back, tried to make herself invisible as possible in the throngs of people. Myka hated crowds, the too loud voices of people who had too much to drink grated against her nerves, and usually Pete considered it a successful night if he didn't have to rescue some poor shmuck who thought Myka would take unwanted advances passively.

What she really hated was Pete always made her dress up. Steve had begun shopping with her, giving his male opinion without ogling her like Pete would have, and since then she had to admit her wardrobe had improved considerably.

When she had one of her newer outfits on, one she actually liked, she gave herself a once over in the mirror, removing her glasses with an eye roll before starting the search for her contacts. Getting ready to go out always reminded Myka of her younger sister, Tracy. A year younger, but infinitely more popular than Myka was. She was the expert at this, and had actually been the one to teach Myka how to do her make up.

Tracy and Myka were constantly competing for their parent's affections, but Tracy was the only one Myka really missed from home. Not that she was home anymore, she had graduated. Then, with their parents blessing, decided to go to Europe for a year before college.

"Mykes!" Pete's booming voice along with the knock on the door caused Myka to jump, "Are you ready yet, or what? I'm ready to par-tay!" he said in a sing-song voice and Myka just knew he was doing some ridiculous dance on the other side of the door.

"Pete, I don't know about this." She complained as she pulled back the door, fixing the shirt that suddenly felt like it was much too tight on her body.

"Come on Mykes, you're hot." Pete insisted as he grabbed her shoulders and looked in her eyes.

"Ew, Pete, that just sounds creepy when you say it," but she smiled and blushed, feeling a little better about herself.

"But he's not lying!" called Steve from the kitchen, where he was drinking massive amounts of water, preparing his body for the assault of alcohol it was sure to encounter. His comment mixed with the fact they all knew Steve was the equivalent of a human lie detector made Myka's face turn an even darker shade of red.

"Alright, alright," She mumbled, "Let's just go before I change my mind."

Pete drove them, always the sober driver of the group. Myka couldn't remember the last time Pete drank. It was before Sam's death though, of that she was certain. Myka swallowed hard and pushed thoughts of the past out of her mind. Pete was right. It was about damn time she had one fun night.

What had originally started as a floor party on the sixth floor of the campuses co-ed dormitories, had somehow escalated as word of mouth got around until all ten floors transformed into one huge party, and Myka just knew there had to be a few poor students hating that they lived on campus. No studying was going to be happening tonight.

The smell of alcohol and desperation hung thick in the air, tinged with something decidedly wicked, and Myka made a point to tell Pete to be careful what kind of brownies he ate that night.

The thumping bass of competing stereos rattled all the pictures on the bookshelves in Claudia and HG's room. There was a crashing sound and the cacophony of over a hundred people laughing and talking all at once.

"This is madness," HG shook out her dark tresses as she stood in the door way, stepping back as two burly guys carried a keg down their hall way, headed for their floor's common room it would seem.

Even though the tenth floor was usually for students they thought would drop out, or join a fraternity and there for usually quite vacant, someone had deemed that the elite of the college students were on the top floor tonight. There were freshman frat boys at each stair well, judging whether the person trying to cross them was worthy of continuing to the next level.

It was all rather juvenile, if you asked HG. But she did rather like parties, at least before she moved to the Americas. And she promised Claudia she would have fun with her tonight. She just thanked God they lived on the top floor and didn't have to bare the scrutiny of being checked out by a half drunk Neanderthal to get back up here, or risk the chance of being rejected.

But it seemed as the night wore on, and the beer goggles came in to play, more and more people were joining the top floor.

Claudia fixed her make up for the hundredth time before finally declaring the world ready for her and they moved out of their room, being sure to lock it behind them. Claudia pushed a small button, and they listened to the alarm system Claudia built beep on.

"Let's do this," Claudia said with a huge grin.

HG grabbed the girl's hand and lead her through the crowded hall way, people tended to move out of Helena's way while they usually ignored Claudia, expecting her to step out of their way first, until they reached the common room.

The crowd was swaying this way and that to the beat of some song Helena didn't recognize. Claudia stepped in front of the Brit, tilting her head to the left, indicating where she wanted to go.

Of course, what college party is complete without the obligatory douche bag with a guitar? That would be the person Claudia wanted to go for. He was a step up from her normal targets, but not by much. HG humored her best friend, setting their path to the edge of the room.

Helena talked up the men surrounding the guitar player, laying on her accent thick, exuberating confidence and feinting interest. She subtly stepped slightly back from where they had been gathered around the couch, and they followed, taking the bait and allowing Claudia room to talk to the guy without being under the scrutiny of his friends. She, always the protective one, made sure to stand where she could keep an eye on Claudia as well as the rest of the room, keeping her back to the wall.

Pete and Steve were trying to get their group to the top floor, but they were failing miserably.

The first through fourth floors had been easy enough. Pete was charming, looked like he belonged in a frat, had an attractive girl on his arm, and they let them through.

The fifth floor, Steve chuckled to himself and swept in front of them, talking up the frat boy on watch until he had them convinced to let them through. He leaned in to him, invading his personal space, and Myka was sure the tough looking kid was going to react badly to the come on, but he didn't seem to mind it.

"Friend of yours?" She asked half way up the stairs.

"There's a possibility of that," he had a smug smile plastered on his face, "I got his number at least. So that puts me in the lead. One to nothing to nothing." He pointed at the other two in turn.

"Are we honestly doing that again?" Myka groaned.

The numbers game was simple enough. The three of them went into a party or club, and whoever got the most valid numbers won. Unless you went home with someone then and there, then that was an automatic win. Pete usually won, but at the last party Steve had pulled ahead at the last minute. Myka hardly ever tried, but the ridiculous victory dance Steve was doing struck the competitive nerve in her.

"Come on, I wasn't even trying!" Pete complained, picking up the pace as they moved around a couple making out on the steps.

"Well," Myka shrugged, "There are five more floors, and surely you can work that Pete charm and beat me, right?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"Oh you are so on!" Pete declared.

They moved through the fifth floor, Pete getting three numbers, Myka two and Steve two, putting the boys tied for first. The sixth floor was interesting, while Pete chatted up a few girls, obviously trying to play them against each other and get multiple numbers at once, Myka realized she was actually getting a bit of attention. People she recognized from classes were checking her out as if they had never seen her before. Causing Myka to ride a thin line between excitement and nervousness. The seventh and eight floors, the boys each hit a wall, having a tougher time with the girls and guys who had made it up this floor.

So by the time they reached the stairway leading to the tenth and final floor, they were tied at six numbers each. Pete started trying to walk past the guy standing on guard, and got stopped. Pete looked over his shoulder to Steve, who just shook his head and shrugged.

Myka rolled her eyes, her head pounding already from the louder music of the top levels, with just enough courage from the two beers she had on previous floors, and moved in front of Pete. She cocked her hip, no longer quite self-conscious about her revealing outfit, and stood before the barrier.

"Hey," she said simply with a slow smile.

The frat boy looked her up and down, pausing for a moment longer on her breasts before grunting and stepping aside. She turned and winked at Pete, briefly considering leaving him behind for the sake of the game, but knew she needed him there as a security blanket. She grabbed his hand and began to drag him up the stairs.

He turned around to get Steve, but he was met with his retreating figure, being pulled away by another guy with dark hair and a cocky smile that said he knew he was attractive.

"Lucky dog," Pete shook his head before following his best friend up to the top floor, anxious to see what party awaited them at the top. These weren't the scholarship kids. These were the Ivey League bound, come from money kids. Future doctors and lawyers and politicians. It made for a better challenge for Pete, but he also knew these kids had a lot of stress, and would be drinking heavily before tests.

Pete and Myka stay about an arm's length apart from each other once they reach the top, not wanting to give the impression that they are here together, but also wanting to keep an eye on their friend. Pete zones in on a girl cheering on her friend doing a keg stand and walks almost zombie like to her.

She's wearing a sorority shirt, her brown hair pulled back to reveal a smile he can't seem to look away from. She notices him approaching, and her gaze drags over him before smiling in appreciation.

"Hey," he puts his hand out, suddenly shy and unsure of himself, "I'm Pete."

"Kelly." She accepts his hand in his own.

Myka smiles and decides her friend needs some space, thinking she could handle herself for one night. Because the way Pete was looking at Kelly was far different than the way he had been staring at the other girls all through the night.

Myka decided to let go a bit. She grabbed a beer and cracked the top. It wasn't her favorite, she hated the taste of beer in fact, but it was college, so she tipped it back. Feeling her inhibitions begin to slip away.

She attracts the eyes of a few frat guys, and Myka entertains them for a bit, accepts an offer to dance here, a drink there, not really thinking much of it. But when the room starts to spin, she struggles to remember how much she has had to drink.

"I need a bathroom," she mumbles, turning and stumbling, catching herself on a wall.

"I've got you," a male voice she doesn't know if she recognizes tells her as large hands close around her waist.

She looks up into grey eyes nearly hidden behind greasy blond hair.

She shakes her head, knowing she can't go with him, fear settling in her stomach as she realized he was the boy she accepted a beer from. She struggled to remember if she had popped the top herself or not.

"I think I smell fudge." She insisted, trying to plant her feet firmly beneath her as he lead her through the swarm of gyrating bodies, "Do you smell fudge?"

He shook his head, "I don't think pot brownies are going to mix well with what you've had to drink." He informs her.

But he doesn't understand what she's trying to do. Myka looks around, trying to find a familiar face, Pete or Steve. But Steve is stuck on the ninth floor talking to Liam, and she doesn't see Pete on the couch talking to Kelly next to a redhead having a conversation about music with a guitar player.

Just when she feels like she is going to vomit from the beer and panic of this situation she had found herself in, the guy comes to a halt.

"Hello," a pleasant voice cuts easily through the noise surrounding Myka and reaches her in her daze, "And just what do you think you are doing with my friend here?"

Helena had seen the brunette from the moment she arrived, wearing sinfully tight jeans and an even tighter black shirt whose neck line should have been borderline criminal. She had noticed her long before that though, had seen her around campus in a literature class they shared, but she was always with those two boys, so she never approached her, although she made her insanely curious. But when she entered the room, HG's eyes had found her as if she'd always been looking for her, waiting for the moment she would show up, not realizing it was something she hoped would happen.

She lost track of her for a little while, not feeling comfortable leaving Claudia just yet, just catching glimpses of the other woman through the crowd, laughing and seeming to enjoy herself. But when she looked around her suitors to find her again, she noticed her stumble into a wall, a look of confusion and panic on her face, and a skeevy looking frat boy leading her toward the hall way.

She tried to hide the boiling rage she felt as she talked to him now.

"Um, she's a bit hammered," He scrambled for an excuse, "I was just going to take her for some fresh air." he shifted his hold on her, as she seemed to be struggling some against his grasp.

"Right, then." Helena stepped forward, "Our room is on this floor, I'll just take her back now." She put one of the taller woman's arms around her shoulders, shifting her weight so she could pull her from his grasp, "Thank you for your kindness, please feel free to leave at any time. Preferably before I get back and find you." She smiled sweetly but the threat was clear.

He moved away from her with his hands held up in surrender.

"Now," she looked at the woman struggling to stay on her feet beside her, "Let's get you out of this crowd, shall we?"

"I haven't even had that much to drink," her words were slow, but understandable as HG lead her away from the sweaty bodies and towards the hallways that would take them back to her room, "I've had…four." She took the time to reach in her pocket and produce four red beer can tabs, "See? I kept track."

"Yes, I see that darling," Helena assured her, "But I think you may have had a little something special in that last one."

The taller woman groaned and pitched forward slightly.

"Come on, almost there," she encouraged, fishing around her pocket for the room key.

An alarm sounded as she swung the door open, and that seemed to rouse her intoxicated companion slightly.

"Bloody hell." She breathed as she lay the woman on her bed before turning to the key pad by the door, punching in the five keys necessary.

She sighed at the silence. Well, as silent as she could hope for with a party raging outside her hallway. She walked to her bed, kneeling at the side and brushing the straightened locks from the barely conscious woman's face. "Your hair is much prettier when you leave it curly," she noted.

"Hm?" she opened her eyes a bit, struggling to focus.

"What's your name darling?" HG asked softly, repeating the motion of brushing back her hair.

She blinked for a moment, "Myka." She answered finally.

"Myka," HG repeated with a smile, "At least I know the name of the woman lying in my bed, I suppose."

"You have a pretty voice." Myka grinned drunkenly, eyes closing a bit.

Helena blushed slightly at the drunk complement, "And you are going to have a splitting headache in the morning. I'm going to fetch you some water."

She crossed the room to the miniature refrigerator she and Claudia shared, pulling out one of the bottles of water from the door and bringing it back to Myka.

She set it on the night stand before putting her hands on Myka's shoulders, sitting her up and moving her back so the wall supported her. Her head lulled slightly to her chest as she groaned.

"Now Myka," Helena spoke slowly as she cracked open the water, "I want you to drink all of this water, understood? Otherwise you will feel even worse in the morning."

"Mkay," Myka nodded drunkenly as she accepted the water, spilling a little on herself, but managing to drink the rest of it without a fuss.

HG tossed the bottle into the garbage, and then made her drink another.

"You're really pretty." Myka giggled from her bed with a hiccup, "Where am I?"

"In my room," Helena explained, moving too look out her window at the blue and red flashing lights approaching.

"I need to go home." She struggled to stand, but Helena put a firm hand on her shoulder and made her sit back down on the mattress.

"I really think you should stay, the police are going to round up whatever drunken students they can and haul them in." It was two in the morning, and she was honestly surprised that the campus security had allowed this party to last as long as it did, and she found herself wondering why one of the Resident Assistants hadn't called them sooner.

Myka looked up at the English woman standing before her, swallowing thickly as she was met with an intense gaze. She truly was beautiful, but not in a way Myka had grown accustomed to while living in California. Even her state of dress was different, modern and old fashioned all at once with her waist coat and skinny jeans. She knew she recognized her, but she was struggling to remember from where.

HG's door opened suddenly, as someone she didn't recognize poked their head in with a panicked expression, she cursed herself for not remembering to lock the door, "Cops are here hide your shit!" he warned before disappearing once more.

"Claudia." She breathed, worry clenching around her heart, she turned back to Myka who seemed to be coming around a bit more thanks to the hydration, "Myka, darling, I must go find my roommate, I shall be right back."

She was half way down the hall when the first sounds of panic from the first floors reached her, cops yelling and students trying to get away. She reached the common room, where it seemed the party was still mostly going on, and grabbed Claudia's hand, jerking her away from the boy she was clearly about to make a more definite move on.

"The police are on their way up, I suggest you leave while you still can," She warned the boy as an apology.

As the words left her mouth, the students at the top began to freak out, moving for fire escapes and the stairwell. HG kept Claudia close as they were bumped and shoved. She lost her sense of direction a few times and took longer than she expected to reach her room once more. The door was locked though she remembered leaving it unlatched. Claudia used her key and they were met with an empty room. She spun, searching their small room and cursing under her breath.

Helena considered braving the throngs of panicked students once more to search for Myka, but the sound of heavy boots coming down the hall quelled that idea. The police officer who knocked on her door was stern looking. She convinced him that they were in there all night, studying for their physics test. He grumbled, but Helena was an extremely difficult person to argue with.

When he left, Helena sat heavy on her bed, worry befalling her as her friend gushed over the guitar player whose name was apparently Dwayne. And she prayed that Myka made it safely back to where ever it was she called home.

What she didn't know, was that nearly as soon as HG made a mad dash to find her underage roommate, her door opened to someone Myka recognized instantly.

"Steve!" She called happily, struggling to stand.

"Mykes," he shook his head, "What happened to you?"

She looked around, clearly confused before something dawned on her, "Someone spiked my drink. I think I'm supposed to stay here though…"

"I don't think so, come on." Steve's voice came through clenched teeth as scooped her up so that she was cradled to him, arms wrapped around his neck.

He thanked god she passed out before they reached the fire escape, knowing Myka was terrified of heights, but fearing arrest more. He woke her for the last floor, the stairs leading away to a ladder, thankful that some scared off student had already put it down. She obediently sat there while he went down first, when it was her turn, she slipped halfway down and Steve grunted as he caught her.

"Let's go home," he shook his head, wondering what became of Pete who usually always watched their friend.

Myka slept through the taxi ride as well as Steve tucking her into bed after removing her boots. She dreamed of accents, and the raven haired beauties they belonged to.

Back in the dorms, on the fourth floor, a premed student sat in front of his desk, refusing to shut his eyes as he ripped his hair out at the roots, threats from his teachers of being removed from the program if he didn't pass each of his midterms echoed through his head.

"Stay awake," he slapped his face as he tried to drown out the noise of other students being arrested.

In a fit of rage, he gathered his book bag and made his way to the library, slipping unnoticed passed guards, knowing what he needed now to be sure he passed these tests. It awaited him in a far back shelf where he had hidden it. It called to him now, and he answered with the pounding of his shoes on the cement.