Okay, so I just realized I gave two people the same name. Of all the names in the world! So whatever, you'll probably be able to tell when it's Sam's friend from school or Jake's brother. Sorry for the confusion, just tell me if it's unclear. Oh, and thanks for the reviews, sorry it toke me so long! I'm really busy with my maybe new HORSE! Omg I'm so excited. I know I switched POV lol It sounded better when I did it like that, I couldn't write it from just Sam's POV, sorry if it was confusing. Anyway, hope you like this loooong chapter.
Sam toke a long time to fall asleep that night. Besides Jake's constant tossing and turning in the neighboring bed her thoughts of the key and tomorrow's party kept her up. When she finally fell asleep it was a blank, dreamless slumber.
A strange sense of calmness rushed over me as I woke up for the first time in years without having dreamt that dream. I smiled. I wasn't going to let anything bother me today, I was going to see Christy and go to a party. I looked over to Jake's bed, surprised to see him still sleeping there. I rolled out of bed and tiptoed down the hallway, following the scent of oatmeal to the kitchen.
"Hey lil sister," Quinn called from the table where he was shoving a piece of toast down. He patted the seat next to him and I sat down.
"Hey," I replied.
"You excited for the big party tonight?"
"Yes, the dances at our school were so stupid."
"Yeah? Cause I wasn't there?" He grinned.
"Definitely." I paused. "Hey, who was that guy here yesterday? I asked Jake but he wouldn't tell me." Quinn sputtered some of his oatmeal back into his bowl.
"No wonder Jake didn't want him here. That's Peter, and he's kind of a player. I'll introduce him to you tonight." Oh, this sounded like fun.
"All right." I answered. Maxine came dashing into the kitchen in her bathrobe just as a burning smell came from the pot on the stove.
"Quinn, I told you to watch this pot!" She stirred it for a minute and then shook her head.
"Sorry mom, I got distracted." He said sheepishly. Maxine sighed.
"I guess you'll have to pick up something for Sam on you way to get Christy." She rummaged through a jar and pulled out a couple dollars. "Here." She handed it to Quinn. Then, directing her attention to me, she spoke, "Have a good time Sam. Try to keep my boy inline, okay?"
"Sure Maxine. Christy will help." I answered. I was a little shocked Quinn was taking me, especially after what had happened with Jake and I yesterday. I had this feeling that something was up. After we got back to Three Ponies Ranch yesterday, he started acting weird. He went straight out to the barn, and wouldn't say a word to me. When I tried to make eye contact at dinner, he refused to look at me. I pushed these thoughts from my mind as Quinn jingled his keys.
"Ready?"
"Yep." The sky was still dark gray and overcast as we stepped outside. After I described how to get to school, my mind uncontrollably began to wander. I reviewed yesterday's events over in my mind, but I couldn't come up with anything that would spike Jake's change in behavior. I gazed at Quinn cautiously. Did I know him enough to ask his opinion? There was only one way to find out.
"Uh, Quinn?"
"Yeah?"
"Did Jake act weird at all yesterday? Once we got home?" He thought for a minute.
"Yeah. I guess he did. He's always moody though, I wouldn't let it bother you." Quinn answered. He must have read the concern in my voice.
"Oh. He just wouldn't talk to me." Quinn didn't reply as we pulled into the parking lot of the school. Christy was already waiting outside, a small duffle bag hanging over her shoulder. Her shoulder length light blond hair was spiked and it looked like she had died several blue streaks through it. Other than that she looked the same though, and I couldn't wait to see her.
"Christy!" I screamed as I ran from the truck. She skipped to meet me halfway and we hugged in the middle of the empty parking lot. After the normal how are you's and I've missed you's I remembered Quinn was there. He was standing quietly behind me, his hands slung from his belt loops.
"Oh, this is Quinn," I pointed to him, "and this is Christy," I pointed to Christy. Quinn stuck out his hand.
"Nice to meet you," he said. Unused to such a polite guy, Christy blushed.
"You too," she mumbled back. I was a little shocked to see my loud, bold friend so bashful. Trying to get things moving, I grabbed her bag.
"Let's go get some breakfast." I threw the duffle in the bed and we all squished into the old trucks three seats. Christy and I chatted comfortably about how school was, how my new life was, and about the party tonight.
"So, is it like a dance party?" Christy asked.
"Kind of. It's at my friend Corey's house. He's got a huge basement, and his parents are away for a week." Quinn responded.
"Is there gonna be a lot of people there?" I asked him.
"Probably. I know of my friends are going, plus Corey's girlfriend and her friends, plus a bunch of high school kids." I heard a good song playing quietly on the radio. I turned it up and Flo-Rida's In The Ayer rapidly blasted from the trucks speakers. Christy and me started dancing in our seats and Quinn watched us, amused. I grinned as Christy started singing the chorus and joined along with her. Quinn started dancing and we were soon all three rolling in laughter as we pulled up to a Dunkin Donuts ordering window.
"What do you girls want?" Quinn asked. I managed to order two coffee coolates and a box of munchkins between bouts of laughter. On our way back to Three Ponies Quinn's phone started vibrating. He flipped it open and laughed as he read his text.
"What?" I asked.
"Just Jake. He's mad I toke you this morning." I rolled my eyes.
"My god, it's not like he owns me." Christy giggled.
"Is he protective?" She asked.
"Over." I answered.
"Oh. That's not good," She whispered, mischievously.
"Why?" Quinn and I said together.
"Well…Bryan may have said he was going to try and sneak in to the party tonight when they go caroling at the nursing home," she rushed in one breath. Bryan, Bryan, Bryan, who was Bryan…
"Who's Bryan?" Quinn asked for me. Christy gasped.
"Bryan is Samantha's boyfriend." Quinn looked at me.
"Jake's not going to be happy about this." Then he laughed.
"Sucks for him!" I shouted, uniting in Quinn's laughter.
We called Bryan on Quinn's phone to tell him where the party was. By the time we got back, we were as comfortable with Quinn as we were with each other. He was just our kind of person.
When we got back it was already noontime. I pulled Christy up to Jake and I's room and threw the door open. Jake was lying on his bed, stomach down, typing on a laptop.
"Hey Jake," I called. Ignoring me for the most part, he flitted his hand in greeting.
"This is Christy. Christy, this is Jake." With a sigh Jake sat up and turned around.
"Hi," He said.
"Hey," Christy responded. Jake nodded and turned back around to work on his laptop. Being bold as she is, Christy announced,
"Well, he seems like an asshole." Jake's body visibly stiffened, and I held my breath.
"I wouldn't be messing with your ride to Corey's tonight," he threatened.
"I'm sure Quinn will drive us in his truck, right Sam?" Christy replied. Jake snickered.
"Um, Christy, that was Jake's truck." Her mouth formed an "oh" shape, but nothing came out. Trying to change the topic I paced towards my bags of new clothes.
"We have to start getting ready."
Four hours later Christy and I walked into the kitchen. Jake was the first to speak.
"You, are not, wearing that." I was wearing a denim mini skirt and a royal blue halter tank top with sequins around the v-neckline. Christy was dresses similarly, but her tank top was longer, white, and had a ribbon tied to one strap. I had curled my hair and Christy's was half up half down. Both of us were wearing flip-flops. I personally thought we had done pretty good getting dressed up without looking like skanks. I noticed Peter was there again – and was definitely checking us out.
"I think they look hot," Peter said with a shrug.
"Ah man, wrong thing to say," Bryan said as he pinned Jake back from attacking Peter. Maxine came scuttling into the kitchen at just the right time.
"Girls, you look so pretty!" She exclaimed, "You guys better get going. Take care!" I thanked her as she rushed me out the door. "Bye!"
"She was excited to get you out the door," Christy whispered to me. I rolled my eyes. "She's probably got plans." When we got to Jake's truck we hesitated. There were six of us, and only 3 seats.
"Hey, I'll take the girls in my car," Peter volunteered. He really was asking for it. Jake glared at him and said through clenched teeth,
"Why don't you take Bryan and Quinn?" He must have gotten the message because his mouth stuttered for a second and then said,
"Oh. Sorry man, I didn't know you had dibs on them." I think Christy was about to say something so I beat her to it, breaking the awkward silence at the same time.
"Allrighty. We'll see you guys there." I pulled Christy into the truck and we drove off. When we got to the party I could hear the music blasting from outside. The house in front of us was huge – clearly several stories high. Cars lined the wide driveway and the girl I had seen at the mall was just walking in the door, flocked by her clique. Eager, I went to open the car door. It was locked.
"You gonna unlock these?" I gestured to Jake.
"Just try and stay out of trouble tonight, okay girls? I don't want to be dragging you home at midnight." With that he unlocked the car.
"Let's go before he gets that stick any further up his ass," Christy whispered to me. Laughing, we walked into the party ahead of Jake. We walked into a large, open room with a high arched ceiling. The left wall was lined with food, drinks, and seats. On the right side was the DJ, who was playing a song I didn't know. People where lounging around talking, or on the dance floor attempting to dance. It wasn't pretty even to my uneducated eye.
"What song is this?" Christy asked.
"I have no idea," I answered. Even though Christy and I hadn't exactly been up to date on everything, we always knew all the new songs. I turned around to ask Quinn what was up with this party, and if it was going to get any better, but I tripped and nearly slammed into Jake who was standing directly behind me. His face was showing emotion for once and he looked anxious. Christy went to talk to Quinn and I watched Jake closely.
"Jake?"
"Uh, yeah?" He shook his head and looked at me sheepishly.
"You okay?" He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged.
"Jacob Ely, you're not nervous are you?" I tried to keep a straight face as Jake thought of an excuse as to why he was blushing and wouldn't look at me.
"No…I just don't go to these a lot," I knew he was lying because he nearly jumped out of his skin when the girl I had seen at the mall tapped him on the shoulder. I already knew this wasn't going to be good, so I tried to get him out of it.
"Hi Jake!" She squealed.
"Hi." Jake's voice was unenthusiastic as he turned around to face her. I poked him in the back to get his attention.
"Go with it," I whispered for only his ears. The girl was watching us and waiting for the kill.
"Aren't you going to introduce us Jakey?" I asked, wrapping my arm around his waist. I felt my heart speed up and I hoped the girl would fall for this. He was stiff beside me when he spoke,
"Sam, this is Rachel, Rachel, this is my girlfriend Sam." Rachel's lip glossed mouth formed a perfect "O" before she spun on her heel and walked off. She threw a nasty,
"Nice to meet you, Samantha," over her shoulder. I slipped my arm from around Jake just in time to flip her the bird.
"Bitch," I muttered after her. Then I turned to Jake.
"Nice acting, Jakey," I was smiling. Apparently, he didn't agree.
"What the hell was that for?" I rolled my eyes.
"She was going to ask you to dance Jake. I figured I'd save you." It was Jake's turn to look shocked, and then relieved.
"Oh. Thanks." He smiled, and I knocked him upside the head.
"Just trust me tonight, okay?" I told him. The party was a little livelier than the last time I'd looked. A large group had gathered in the middle, circled around two people dancing. 99 Problems by Jay-Z was blaring from the speakers. I pushed my way through the crowd towing Jake behind me. When we broke into the middle I gasped, and then giggled. Christy was standing in the middle shouting and Quinn was trying to pull her out. I picked her high voice out quickly,
"and you people can't dance! So me and my friend," Her eyes scanned the crown until she found me, "Sam, are going to show you how!" Oh boy, I was going to have to get her out of this. I threw an, I have to, look at Jake as I walked out to meet Christy.
"You owe me," I yelled at her. She rolled her eyes identically to the way I rolled mine.
"Wait till you hear the song I requested!" I didn't have to wait long as MC Hammer's Can't Touch This came on. I looked at her.
"Just freestyle it?"
"Guess so!"
You can't touch this
We started dancing. Soon we had the whole crowd, except Jake of course, joining in. They were actually looking pretty good. When the song ended I gave Christy a high five.
"Nice work sista." She said, thrilled. As she disappeared into the mob I spun around searching for Jake. How many people was I going to have to save tonight? His face was rigid and he looked like he was in genuine pain. He walked cautiously over to me.
"Relax. You look constipated." That worked, and he loosened up a little bit.
"So…you've been to a lot of these?" He asked.
"Nope. I've never been to one." I noticed people were already stopping. Terrible stamina.
"Then how do you, I mean how can, how come you can dance like that?"
"I don't know. It just comes naturally, I guess." I noticed some people where heading towards another room, off to the side. I grabbed Quinn's arm.
"What are you guys doing?"
"Truth or Dare. Nevada style. Coming?"
"Yeah!" When I went to walk away Jake stopped me.
"What do you think you're doing?" He asked me.
"What do you think you're doing?" I replied.
"You can't play that Sam…we take it really serious,"
"I'm fine. If you're so scared, why don't you come with me?" I wasn't strong enough to break away from Jake.
"I'm going to scream if you don't let go." His eyes widened a little.
"Don't you dare,"
"I'm going to make a scene," He sighed.
"Okay. Let's go." He had realized how stubborn I could be when we had Snickers incident. We entered the room and sat down in the circle between Christy and Bryan. Jake glared at Peter, who was on the other side of Bryan.
"Don't do anything to her." He snarled. Peter put his hands in the air and I caught his eye and winked.
"I'm not even thinking about it Jake. You'd beat the crap outta me." Eventually everyone quieted. A medium sized guy with his hat on sideways spoke.
"Who's ready for some of Nevada's favorite game?" most of the group answered him with I am's. He grinned.
"Shawna, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Is it true your parents walked in on you and Chris getting busy?"
"Yes." I didn't get what Jake was so scared of. This was just regular truth or dare.
"Trevor, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Were you and David really making out in the bathroom?"
"No."
"David, truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Did you start that rumor?"
"Uh, yeah." Trevor tried to stand up but the kids sitting next to him held him down.
"Fuck you," he spat towards David.
"Brittany, truth or dare?" I looked around and found Brittany sitting next to Rachel. Just like Gwen.
"Well, I'm not sure…truth!"
"Is it true those shoes are fakes?"
"No! These are real, brand name of course." She giggled.
"Rachel, truth or dare?
"Dare." I felt my throat dry up as I saw the evil glint in her eye. Great.
"I dare you…to kiss Jake Ely." People ahhhhd as Rachel stood up and crossed the circle. I felt white-hot jealousy as she placed her lips on his. How dare she push herself at him like that. Was she that stupid? It was obvious he wasn't interested as he remained motionless while she kissed him. I grinned to myself a little; he wasn't even kissing her back. With a huff, Rachel stood up and stalked back to her spot. She was furious now, and somebody was going to get it in the next dare. I couldn't help but steal a look at Jake while Rachel thought it over. He was looking right at me and his eyes bore into mine, apologizing. I shrugged, and then turned my attention back to Rachel. She apparently wasn't stupid and could see Jake protectiveness over me. Her perfectly glossed lips spread from the pout they were in to a wicked grin.
"Jake Ely, I dare you to sneak your group – including your little girlfriend – out of this party and into the night club downtown," she paused for dramatic effect and Christy poked me in the ribs, " When you get there I want you to take three pictures and send them to me. The first will be of Samantha, with a guy over the age of twenty-one. The second will be of someone buying Samantha and her friend a drink. The third will be of you and Sam, at your house, in your room. I'm sure it wont be to hard after little Samantha has a few drinks, now will it?"
I hadn't understood why Jake hadn't wanted me to play. Now I did. They didn't play their truth or dare nice, and they weren't about to start. Rachel knew exactly how to push people, and she was pushing Jake now. His face was hard, and I had a feeling truth was out as of this far in to the game. I rethought the dare. There wasn't really any way around it, but it wasn't that hard. We could get into the club; we'd done it before. I could probably get some guy to dance with me, and hopefully buy me a drink. She never said I had to drink it. And being in Jake's room was easy, considering it was my room too. We could have some fun with that one.
I looked back to Jake to tell him it was okay. His eyes shocked me. Darker then I had ever seen them, they radiated hate and vengeance. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it, the only movement in the quiet circle. Christy picked up on the tense atmosphere and spoke at the right time for once.
"Let's do it!" The room broke out in whispers and several cheers. I heard Peter muttering,
"Aw shit, I'm not twenty-one." I pulled Jake up and everyone followed me from the room. Walking through the front door I ran right into a short, scrawny kid. He went flying of the porch steps and landed on his back.
"I'm sorry," I said as I pulled him up. "Bryan! You came!" It was Bryan. My boyfriend, according to Christy.
"Hey Bry," Christy greeted him. He didn't answer, and I saw his eyes were looking at me. Looking at Jake and I's entwined hands, to be exact. Quinn knew exactly what was going on.
"Hi Bryan. You must be the kid Sam and Christy told me about. We just got a huge dare to sneak into the club downtown, and do a bunch of stuff there. You in?" Bryan dragged his eyes up to Quinn. Very up. In his mind he was deciding, measuring himself up to Quinn and Jake.
"Okay," His voice sounded defeated, but he bounced back quickly. " So what do we gotta do?" I explained it to him while we walked over to Jake's truck.
"This is gonna be fun," Christy sang as we drove away. I was crushed in the middle seat with her, with Bryan in the passenger and Jake at the wheel.
"I have no idea how we're going to get in," Jake said. We laughed at him.
"Don't worry, we've done it before," I told him. He glanced at me with raised eyebrows. I guessed he was finding out a lot more about me tonight then he thought he would. Against me left leg I felt Jake's phone vibrating. Jake ignored it so I reached into his pocket and grabbed it. I flipped it open and read the text.
Rachel
567-8901
Have fun!
~Rach~
It vibrated again.
Peter
567-3244
We r gonna go thru the front c u inside
Good luck
"Who's that?" Jake asked. Christy, who was reading over my shoulder, said
"That bitch says have fun, and Peter and them are gonna go through the front, good luck."
We pulled into the parking lot and I pointed to the side street.
"Go that way." We pulled up alongside several other cars, none trucks like ours. In the back of the club was a tall wire fence, then a small littered lot. Stairs led down to the invisible basement door. Last time we did this it had just been Christy and I. Hopefully it would be just as easy with twice as many people. Once we reached the fence we paused. I considered Christy and I's outfits.
"Okay. You guys go first, and sit at the top. Then you can help us over." Bryan looked up at Jake nervously. While Jake was almost as tall as the fence, he reached about halfway.
"Here." I made a platform from my hands and he stepped up. "One, two, three," I pushed him up as high as I could and he jumped, clinging to the fence. As he monkey bared the rest of his up Jake pulled himself up to the top in several smooth steps. I was pretty sure he had figured out what was going on between Bryan and I, and he didn't like it. He was holding his hand out to me, and I grabbed it. When he pulled me up I leaned over and whispered in his ear,
"Don't be a jerk."
Once we were on the other side we climbed down the steep cement stairs to the basement door. Jake reached out to turn the knob but Bryan's stopped him.
"It's locked," his voice was mocking.
Christy reached down and flipped back the mat, revealing a ring of twenty or so keys. She searched through them, looking for the one she needed.
"A hah," she announced, sliding the key in. Thankfully, Christy saw the new security installment before we walked through it. She grabbed me, pulling me to the ground. I grabbed Bryan who grabbed Jake, and we avoided the bright red line above our heads.
"Whew." Bryan whispered.
"This is new," I mentioned. We started crawling toward the other set of stairs and I could hear the music thumping on top of us. Once up the stairs Christy pulled out the key, which she had separated from the ring, again. She popped it in and opened the door, motioning us through.
We came out into a dark hallway. On the left were three doors and we toke the first. Blasts of heat meet when as we walked into the boiler room. I cracked open the screen on one of the radiator tunnels.
"Gentlemen first." Jake looked at me, horrified.
"You want me to climb through that?" He asked.
"I'll go first," Bryan said proudly. He drew his thin frame into the tunnel and started climbing. Jake followed, shaking his head. After several minutes we reached another screen.
"Okay Bryan, just pop this one out. Careful, there's a toilet right under it." We all scrambled down and opened the stall door. Then we walked into the club. Everything looked just as I remembered. People were dancing who could actually dance. The bar was full and so was the entrance. I could see Quinn, Bryan, and Peter just walking through the door. Lights were flashing, and the DJ was spinning a song I knew.
We were in. Now time for the real challenge.
