I promised you the new chapter fast, and I got you the new chapter fast. So here you go little monsters! Enjoy the start of the party.
Disclaimer: Surprisingly, I don't own stoked or any of its characters.
The groms managed to sneak undetected around the back of the house, which was a bit of a trek, considering how massive this mansion was, and get over the wooden fence easily enough (Fin had the common sense to take her heels off for that venture, putting them back on as she hopped over to the other side). Reef was the last one to hop down from the top of the fence on to the compact dirt of a garden bed. They could hear the thumping music of the party, but there vision was blocked by a massive array of trees and hedges right in front of them.
"Okay, where the hell are we now?" slightly miffed his grand idea hadn't been used.
They'd ended up at the back, secluded part of the Davis households' garden,in an overgrown tropical flower bed, they doubted any one at the party could see them through the thick mess of foliage. They could hear the rest of the partygoers and they peeked their heads through the leaves to get a look. Brittany's house had an impressive sized out-door deck area. Right in front of the tropical garden bed, in which they were currently standing in, there was a luxuriously big pool, complete with a row of deck chairs lined up at its side. A small staircase led up to a mahogany wood platform, a silver railing around it which several party goers were leaning against, they're backs to the awed faces of the groms. They couldn't see how many people were already up there, but it looked pretty packed, and as the DJ cranked out some generic party tunes it only added to the atmosphere.
"Dude, this looks sick!"
"Shhh, keep it down!" Emma shushed Broseph as his voice couldn't contain his eagerness. She may have agreed to tag-a-long, but was still concerned about the bouncers and the risk of getting caught. And she hadn't exactly come up with any excuses for what they were doing crouched behind some bushes, if they were found here. Broseph mimed zipping his lip.
"Okay. Everyone just act casual. Just as if we hadn't committed home invasion" Lo whispered as she led her friends.
" And act as if we aren't just six teenagers randomly emerging from the bushes..."
"That's the idea Fin!" Lo said enthusiastically.
Fin was about to snark back about Lo being unable to detect her sarcasm, and about just how absurdly un-subtle they would look, but she was too slow. Lo had already lunged herself through the bushes and the others watched as they saw her emerge out on the other side. Before Fin could say anything else at all, the others had followed suit and pushed themselves through as well, Reef pulling her at the same time Dammnit! This hand holding thing sucked…well actually, now that she thought about it some more, she didn't mind it as much as she thought she would've. Fin had expected sweaty palms and a far-too-tight grip, but it was actually pretty nice to have Reefs strong hand enveloping hers. It felt…natural in fact.
A few kids who had been lounging on the deckchairs, away from the main party, did a double take as they saw Lo, then Broseph, Emma, Lance, and Reef pulling a struggling to walk-fast Fin…but hey, it wasn't they're problem, and they ignored it. Not without some weird looks directed there way though. Reef waved with his free hand as the group dashed up the stairs. Subtly.
"Hey guys! Whatsup? Oh hey Rachel! Havent seen you in ages! Love your dress Michelle! Marcus! Hows it goin'?" Lo blended in easily, saying hi to people as they walked past, giving out the occasional hug to girlfriends from school, Not really waiting for any replies as she surged through the crowd. It wasn't surprising though, she was a local after all and she and Brittany shared a lot of friends, of course she knew practically everyone here. The others just followed in tow, Broseph was giving out his own greetings to a couple of people he knew, he was a local too, but didn't hang out with most of this rich crowd. Emma was glancing around, head swivelling around like a meerkat, trying to spot any scary looking dread-locked guys in muscle shirts ready to kick them out. Reef was just bopping his head to the music as he pulled Fin after him, who was busy focusing herself ('Heel-toe, heel-toe, heel-toe.').
Meanwhile Brittany had been up on the miniature stage next to the DJ, instructing him on exactly what pussycat dolls songs could, and could-not, be played, when a pretty Asian girl and another blonde girl, hoisted themselves up on to the platform to come over to her.
"What is it guys? Tammy-" she looked over at the Asian girl "-I already told you, I am not playing that stupid Justin Timberlake song, its sooo old and-" She was interrupted however by the blonde blurting out what she had to say, a panicked expression on her face.
"Lo's here!"
Tammy winced as the announcement left her friends mouth, having wanted to explain the problem a bit more tactfully herself, knowing Brittany wouldn't be happy with the news.
The last thing Tammy, or anyone wanted, was for Brittany to get upset.
"What!" Brittany immediatly whipped her head around and scanned the deck floor, quickly spotting Lo below in the crowd of people. "Ridgemount…" She practically spat out the word through clenched teeth as here eyes narrowed.
"Urgh, sorry, I don't think I know that song-" Brittany didn't bother with whatever the DJ had been saying as she turned with her hands on her hips towards her two best friends.
"We don't even know how she got in! We got my brothers at the front door to act as bouncers and told them not to-" The words tumbled out of the blonde girls mouth, a mixture of panic and nerves in her voice.
"Shut it Chelsea! I don't care how she got in, point is she needs to be out!" Brittany snapped at the blonde, who didn't snap back , used to her best friends temper. Brittany pushed past the two as she stepped down angrily from the platform, surging through the crowd, her targets set on Lo. The two girls, Tammy and Chelsea, looked at each other anxiously before quickly scurrying after their unofficial leader.
The groms had already found themselves on the opposite side of the party, right next to the snack table. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say snack table? What I meant was full scale, restaurant quality Buffet. There was everything a Teen would ever want to eat, pizza squares, sausage rolls, Chips, dips, gummi bears, spring rolls, popcorn…there was even a make your own Sundae bar!
"Best .Party…ever!" Broseph threw his hands up with delight, gaining a few looks while he did so, before plunging his hands into various assorted bowls of chips. He grabbed as much as each hand could hold, one side was salt and vinegar and the other barbeque, taking turns to munch from each his left and his right. A satisfied look on his face. Free food was the sweetest food.
"Ok" Reef grabbed everyone attention, well apart from Broseph, who by this point was too busy cramming Gummi bears into his pockets for later to pay attention to anything anyone was saying. "I'm gonna' call out a colour, and the last person to touch something of that colour has to be the responsible sober person tonight" Reef smiled "and by that, I mean you'll be the one who gets to hold my hair while I puke, okay?" All of the groms were determined to be able to get their drink on at this party, and they were even more determined not to end up being Reefs designated bathroom attendant for the night.
"Okay" Reef set his voice in a serious tone and the groms tensed as if waiting for the starting gun to a one-hundred metre dash "…1…2…3…YELLOW!" There was a sudden mass of commotion as Reef lunged towards the snack table and grabbed a yellow plastic drink cup, coming in first. Fin stuck her hand straight down her dress and revealed the edge of a yellow bra, a close second. Emma looked around frantically before snatching a yellow coloured daisy from a nearby pot plant and Lance reached for a bottle of pineapple Cruiser from the stash of alcohol he'd been carrying, holding the yellow drink triumphantly above his head. Lo, panicking that she'd be the one in last place, took a running leap into the air, before crash-landing herself onto Broseph, jumping onto his back and smacking him hard right on his bright yellow fro.
"WOAH! What the he-" Brosephs eyes widened as Lo took him completely by surprise as he finally tore his attention away from the buffet, because frankly, a girl jumping on top of you and assaulting your hair tended to break ones focus.
"What the…what's happening!" Broseph dropped the slice of pizza he'd been holding to the floor as Lo wrapped her legs around his waist and out her arms over his shoulders, hand still resting on top of his head. He wasn't exactly complaining about that…but an explanation would be nice.
"You lose bro!" Reef twirled the yellow cup he held in his hand triumphantly "you're the sober one for tonight!" Brosephs face fell.
"What? Dude that's not fair, I wasn't listening!"
"Well its not my problem you couldn't resist the call of Gummi bears, now is it?" Reef smiled " You should have been paying attention" Broseph frowned.
Lo wrapped her legs around him tighter, which quickly gained his attention let me tell you, and moved her head so it was in the crook of his neck "Sorry Broseph, better luck next time" She smiled and Broseph could feel her breath against his neck as she spoke "But thanks for making sure it wasn't me"
Okay, Broseph was smiling again.
And it was at that exact moment that Brittany made her presence known, Tammy and Chelsea right behind her. She did one of those pretentious time-to-focus-on-me coughs to gain their attention "So, Lo...what exactly are you doing here?" She said it with an extremely fake smile and cold eyes. Brittant glanced over at the others, and glared at Emma, who was currently still holding that yellow daisy, a large clump of dirt hanging off the end of it. Emma laughed nervously as she delicately placed the now wilting flower back into its pot plant, and stepping back, a guilty look on her face. Then she looked at Lo, who was still clinging to Broseph, an eyebrow raised at the somewhat…weird…behaviour. "Didn't you hear its not open house anymore? Not just anyone can be here now" A puzzled look crossed Chelsea's face, it looked like she was thinking hard.
"I thought it was just Lo we didn't want coming…I mean you let all of those other people in befo-Owww!" She was interrupted by Tammy digging a sharp elbow into her side, accompanied by a shut-it-or-its-my-heel-straight-into-your-foot-next look. "Uh, I mean, yeah…invites only…" Lo new Chelsea from school, having been pretty close friends with her before she and Brittany had that major falling out over her brother. Chelsea had decided to side with Brittany in the aftermath, unfortunately. She was hardly the sharpest crayon in the box (major understatement right there) and even if she did go along with whatever Brittany did or said, she was mostly harmless. Brittany just rolled her eyes as Chelsea shrugged her shoulders in apology for letting it slip.
"Well Brittany-" Lo said, with an equally fake smile as she slid off of Broseph and stood up straight to her full height (and that would be an intimidating 5'2 …) and put her hands on her hips "-I just thought I'd come and liven up the party. I mean who knows how dull it would be with just you and your friends" Lo gave the smallest of nods towards Tammy and Chelsea. Yeah, Lo could bring out the uber-bitch in herself too, and by this point Emma and Fin were standing behind Lo just as Tammy and Chelsea were behind Brittany. It was girl code to back up your friend in what is known as a "bitch-standoff"(The technical term for it)
Broseph, Reef and Lance just stood off towards one side, keeping right out of it. It was honestly like watching an old western movie, with the two groups, the good sheriffs, and the crooked bandits facing off against one another at sundown. But instead of old toughened cowboys, these were teenage girls. In other words, a far scarier alternative.
Brittany just raised her eyebrows, amazed Lo even had the nerve to say something so blatantly rude (Brittany had a much more, nice to your face, mean behind your back, style). Lo continued on.
"And don't forget that I was personally invited by you this morning, with Ty, remember?" Lo dealt the final blow by laying down her brother's name. Brittany hated being reminded that Lo was actually closer to Ty than she was, or ever will be (The fact that it was because of the family bond didn't do much to console her) . Just as it looked like Brittany was about to ram a sharp acrylic nail into Lo's eye, Ty turned up. Speak of the devil.
"Heya' ladies" Ty said smoothly, giving a small wave of acknowledgment to the group of six girls, obviously not picking up on any of the tension between them all. He threw an arm around his sister and Lo took this opportunity to send a smug glare Brittany's way.
"Glad you came out tonight sis', decided to take my advice after all?" He said, referencing their conversation from this morning. He then looked over to Brittany "And good to see you guys talking civilly to each other" Yeah right. Where was he a minute ago? In a sudden and complete change in attitude, Brittany replaced her glare of contempt with a sweet, innocent, smile.
"Oh, I'm just so happy-" You could hear her voice strain a little bit as she said that part "-that Lo decided to show up to my party! With all her friends as well!" She gestured over to the groms, who wore less than impressed expressions, verging on frowns. "I can just tell were gonna' have a good night together!" She flashed one of her beaming Colgate smiles that would make any dentist proud, but was just making Lo feel sick. God, Ty must be the most gullible boy in the tri-state area to not see through this girl, Lo thought as he smiled back.
"Okay then, bye Brittany!"
"Wait, I wasn't done talki-"
"BYE Brittany!" Lo repeated, this time with a lot more emphasis on the 'bye' part. Brittany just rolled her eyes as Ty wasn't looking and sauntered off, Tammy and Chelsea scampering after her obediently. Lo smiled victoriously as she watched the three strut their way back through the crowd. Brittany obviously couldn't kick Lo out now that Ty knew she was here. Brittany new Lo could just call her brother the second she and her friends got kicked back outside. Looks like Brittany would have to act nice all night, if she wanted to stay in Ty's good book that is.
"So is anyone gonna' actually take these drinks? Because I'm getting pretty sick of carrying them" Lance dumped the various cases of alcohol he'd been lugging around onto a free space on the nearest table, flexing his sore arms (He was also flexing them to show off his toned arms, hoping that Lo might take notice). Lo didn't even snatch a look in Lances direction, instead she just went straight towards the cardboard cases and grabbed a bottle of strawberry vodka-cruiser, a brightly coloured Alco pop.
"Don't mind if I do" She turned to Emma "You want one Em?" Lo asked casually.
"Oh, um, sure…" Emma tried to sound as non-chalant about it as she could, but really she'd never had a proper drink of Alcohol in her life. Once, in eighth grade, she decided to sneak a sip of her mom and dads wine from the cellar, but after one sip she decided the stuff was nasty and never really bothered with it again. She regretted that now, she didn't want Ty (who was standing right there for gods sake!) to think she was some total goody-two shoes dork baby who'd never even had a drink before! Unfortunately, Lo seemed to have read her mind.
"Awwww Emma! You've totally never gotten drunk before have you, hmmm?" Lo teased innocently, but Emma blushed hard and wished she would shut up! "What a cutie! Your so innocent" Lo pinched Emma's cheek jokingly, putting on a soppy baby voice while she was at it.
"Quit it!" Emma slapped Lo's hand out of her face, her voice coming off a bit harsher than intended. Lo looked taken aback for a second, before brushing it off as something she shouldn't make a big deal off. Emma herself seemed a bit surprised about where that little outburst came from, but she couldn't exactly take it back.
"Well, sorry Emma, I was just teasing…" Lo reached into a case and brought out another Alco-pop, this one was pink though. She held it out to Emma "Its guava flavoured, one of my favourite kinds" She leant closer when she saw Ty wasn't listening "and don't worry, these things couldn't get a kitten drunk! They'll be perfect for your first time drinking" Emma tried to look thankful over Lo's 'considerate' gesture, but she could only manage a small smile. She hated that the guys all thought of her as the do-gooder, that she never did anything wild or bad! She hated the fact that they were right about it even more. However she didn't say anything, why ruin the mood of the night by bringing up such a small issue over something as stupid as alco-pops?
"Hey, chuck me one of those strawberry flavoured ones too, Lo!" As soon as Reef said it Fin burst out laughing and the Lo, Broseph and Lance laughed along with her.
"Dude, that's a chick drink!" Lance said as he grabbed himself a beer, an acceptable manly drink. Reef looked offended.
"No way! Guys can drink cruisers, it's a uni-sex drink!"
Lo took a swig from her own bottle, which was surprisingly almost half empty. Lo could drink fast. "Reef, trust us. It's a chick drink" She smirked as the others continued to chuckle.
"It is not a chicks drink…" Reef said, sulkily, as he opened his cruiser. Who cares what they thought anyway! The stuff tasted nice…
'Hey, you over there!" The groms turned around as they heard a deep male voice call out. It was a bunch of guys, all turned towards them, around a plastic lawn-furniture table that had a bunch of plastic cups all set up at each end to form pyramid shapes. Oh yeah. It was a beer pong game. One of the guys, cap turned "stylishly" backwards on his head, was pouring beer into each one of the cups so that they stood half full. There were about eleven of them, but the guy who'd yelled out originally pointed out his finger towards the groms, so they knew he was talking to them.
"Were short one player for the next game, you in?"
Lance smiled "Yeah, I'm game!" But the guy with the cap shook his head.
"Nah bro, we meant the other dude. The guy with the chick drink!"
Reef glared. It was a uni-sex drink goddamnnit! He was about to tell them to go find some other guy to play their stupid game, but he felt a tug on his hand, and he looked down at a smiling Fin. "C'mon! I love beer pong. I've played with my brothers heaps of times, I'm like a pro at it". Reef tried to resist it as he looked down at Fin, but he couldn't do it and sighed, Fin was too cute with that eager smile on her face. Reef forced himself to stand up tall, and made his way over to that table with Fin grinning form ear to ear, still holding his hand.
"Hey, ima' go hit the bathroom quickly, kay?" Lo just nodded as Broseph quickly disappeared after Reef and Fin. It was just her, Emma and Ty standing around now. Lance was over a few metres away talking into his cell phone, one hand covering his free ear, obviously trying to block out some of the noise (Bonus fact. Lance was actually trying to call Ripper, who the groms had forgotten was out parking the car. Right now the poor Australian was trying to bargain his way , unsuccessfully , past the two thugs at the door. Those two were still under the impression that Lo and any of her friends were still not allowed in. Oh well, sucks to be him I guess) . So it was awkward with just the three of them standing around. Ty was checking something on his phone, Emma was gazing dreamily at him, as if Ty sending a text was the most beautiful thing she would ever see, and Lo was glaring, trying to send telekinetic brain waves to her best friend ('Don't get with my brother, don't get with my brother, don't get with my brother-').
Another boring minute went by like this before Ty snapped his phone shut and turned to face Emma as he slid it back into his jeans pocket. "So Emma-" He started, giving her the once-over with his eyes, looking her up and down "- I like your dress. Greens my favourite colour" He flashed a smile and Lo rolled her eyes as she saw Emma practically melt into a puddle right there and then.
"Oh, wow, thanks!" Emma gushed. In her head she was practically screaming with happiness, but thankfully she didn't let that show "Yeah, I love green. I mean I would dye my hair green if I could, I love it that much!"
Oh, yeah, she totally just said that.
The voices stopped screaming for a minute and fell silent with disbelief. Even the imaginary people living in Emma's own head where embarrassed for her right now. Lo cringed for her while Ty just quirked an eyebrow, an amused smile on his face "Uh…yeah, I guess you could do that…if you wanted to" He laughed, thinking it was some sort of joke and all Emma could do was laugh along awkwardly with him in an effort to downplay the fierce blush that had spread itself across her cheeks. God, Emma thought, why didn't they teach you how to talk to cute guys in school? She would gladly sign up for a Flirting-101 course, majoring in 'not making a total ass of yourself'. If only.
Luckily, it looked like no educationary courses were needed, as Ty smiled back down at Emma "So, you wanna' go grab a seat near the pool?" Emma resisted the temptation to scream out a 'hell yeah!' at the top of her lungs, and instead just went with a "Yeah, sure thing" managing to keep her cool this time. Lo had been in the middle of sculling the last few drops of her drink, before practically spitting out and glaring slack jawed as her brother started to lead Emma away form her.
Oh no he didn't!
Lo rushed forward and grabbed onto Emma's arm "wha? Lo, what is it?" Emma stopped and winced, Lo had a tight grip on her arm. Ty noticed he wasn't being followed anymore and turned back questioningly "I…um…was just about to...ugh… ask if you wanted to go dance with me!" Lo applauded her quick thinking skills in her head, She tried to put on a convincing smile "I love this song!" She said, without actually listening to what was playing. Unfortunately at the moment, a familiar song was playing out from the two huge speakers next to the dance floor.
'Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting staaars-"
Emma yanked herself out of Lo' grip "I thought you said this wasn't a good party song?" Crap, Lo thought, her comments having just come back to bite her in the ass, Emma seeing right through her ruse. She started walking back towards Ty, calling back over her shoulder to Lo "I'll dance with you later ok?" Though she said it with a minimal amount of friendliness. Maybe if her friend had been sincere she would have considered it, but Emma could obviously tell Lo had only asked in an attempt to get her away from Ty. There was a point where Lo had to realize that she liked Ty, and even if He was her brother she didn't have the right to try and ruin this for her. She just wished Lo could see it her way.
Lo sighed, frustrated and angry that her friend had totally just ditched her to go hang with her brother, just like Brittany had done all those years ago, and Lo defiantly didn't want her friendship with Emma to end like that one had. So yeah, Lo didn't want Emma going after her brother, and maybe she wasn't above telling a few lies to stop that relationship from ever developing, but it was for her own good! She just wished Emma could see it her way.
"Hey, need another drink?" Lo turned to stare up at Lance, who held out another drink, this time something a bit stronger than an Alco-pop. Lance held up a large bottle of Absolut-vodka. Lo looked down at the empty cruiser in her hand, then back up to Lance.
"Sure, why not" She shrugged. Lance was about to grab a can of coke and a plastic cup, planning to mix a bit of vodka into it and offer it to Lo, but before he could say anything Lo had already grabbed the bottle from his hands and tilted back her head to take an un-ladylike swig from it. Lance just looked wide-eyed as Lo brought the bottle away from her lips and screwed up her face. "Ugh, haven't done that in awhile" She said, before raising the bottle and going for more. She was already sick of this party, stupid Brittany and her cronies, her ex-friends, trying to ruin her night. As well as that whole thing with Emma, with her own brother being an ass and stealing her it wasn't as if Emma was being a good friend tonight either! Well screw the lot of them! Lo was tired of having to deal with them all, she just wanted to forget about her problems and finally let loose…
So, the party has officially started, and all the groms have separated and gone their own ways. There's some definite tension brewing between Emma and Lo over this thing with Ty, with neither girl understanding how the other feels. Looks like Lo wants to try and drink away her problems and Emma finally wants to stop going along with whatever her friends say and make her own choices, wonder how that'll turn out? Fin and Reef will be having a far less dramatic time as they're off to compete in a beer pong show down, and what the heck's broseph gonna do when he cant find any of his friends! Keep reading to find out!
A big thanks to all reviewers, including anonymous ones! You guys are far too kind and I love writing for you! Check out my Deviantart account (Nina-D-Lux) to check out a pic I did of Lo and Fin in my own style (shameless self-promotion for the win)