"Wait, you what?" Ezekiel's mouth fell open in shock, gaping at Jacob in disbelief. Aur chittered at him, normally-pristine golden fur fluffed up in both surprise and slight jealousy. "You got invited to a party? A party being held by seniors?"
"And a couple of students from the community college," Jacob felt obliged to add, trying and miserably failing to keep the smug grin off his face. It was the first time that he'd ever actually seen Ezekiel Jones look speechless before, and it was a pretty damn good feeling.
"Hot damn. Two days in detention, and you're already cooler than us," Eve laughed, tipping her chair on its back legs, arms folded across her chest. "Next thing you know, you're gonna be sitting at someone else's table and saving different geeks..." Flynn blushed red up to the hairline, Koyi chirruping and ruffling his feathers. "...and you'll forget all about us."
Rolling his eyes, he stretched out one leg and lightly nudged Eve's chair; she wobbled and hastily slammed back down onto all four legs before she could fall over. "Ain't gonna happen. Besides, Estrella said you guys were all invited, too," he added. He'd only known them for a few months, but Jacob couldn't quite imagine ever forgetting about them, not even Ezekiel, annoying little pest that he was. They were the only thing that kept him coming to school. If not for the fact that he shared a class with each one of them at some point in the day, not to mention forty minutes when they sat together at lunch, he might've already dropped out, gotten his GED online. He'd never realised it until now, but he'd never had friends before, and he wasn't about to forget them.
Cassandra let out a little squeak of excitement. "Really? We can come, too?" she asked, almost bouncing in her chair. He had a feeling that she'd never been invited to anything before, either. Laghu chortled at her obvious excitement, currently sitting atop Mel's head between her ears, the hyena dæmon's stubby tail flicking double-time, grinning with all her white teeth.
"Yeah, all of us can," he replied with a grin.
Flynn leaned forward, pointy elbows on the tabletop, chin in his hands. "I've never been to a party before. At least, not since my cousin Milo's sixth birthday party, but that doesn't really count, does it?"
"No, but good try," Eve answered.
Jacob looked over at Ezekiel; the kid was still looking mildly put-out, Aur picking at his shining fur imperiously. "Well, Jones? Are you comin' with or not?"
"Are you kidding? I was gonna gate-crash anyways, mate. This just saves me the trouble. Nobody throws a party without Ezekiel Jones."
"Mi amigo, you made it!" Estrella laughed as they came up the sidewalk in front of her house, the sound of music and laughter filtering out through the evening air. She was wearing a floral-patterned sundress with matching jewelry, her hair brought up in a complicated-looking array of braids and curls, her dæmon looking sleek and much happier than before, purring as he wove between her ankles. She jumped off the front porch and ran down to meet them, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "And you brought your friends with you! Fantastico, the more the merrier. So, who do we have here?" she asked.
"This is Cassandra, Eve, Flynn, and Ezekiel. Guys, this is Estrella de la Hoya, my fellow student criminal," he introduced, gesturing to each of his friends as he named them, and she tweaked his ear at the last comment.
"Student criminal, my ass. More like victims of a homophobic fascist," she replied, and he chortled. "Well, any friend of Jacob is welcome here, come on in and enjoy yourselves." Grabbing Jacob's wrist in one hand and Cassandra's in the other, she pulled them up the walk into the house, filled with other people, some from school, others a few years older from the community college. The interior was tastefully decorated with classic Spanish designs and artwork, some of which Jacob recognised as originals along with a few very good replicas. "The kitchen is right through there, feel free to help yourselves to drinks, plenty to go around." From the general direction of the backyard, there was a tidal roar of cheering, whoops, and cries of "Go, Miguel!" and Estrella sighed, shaking her head. "If you would excuse me for just one moment, I need to make sure mi hermano is not trying to dive off the roof into the pool again." She released them and slipped out of the sliding patio door.
Jacob turned to look at his friends. "What d'you guys think?" he asked, making his way over to the kitchen table, which held a large ice chest full of canned soda and beer, swimming in a mix of ice cubes and cold water.
"I think this place is great," Ezekiel enthused, bouncing on his toes. "Suddenly, I like you a whole lot more, cowboy. Oi, come with me, grasshopper." He seized Flynn by the elbow and started pulling him along.
"Wh-what for?" the skinny boy yelped, Koyi fluttering around in circles.
"I saw the Italian bird over there, you're gonna be my wingman. She gets one look at you, and I'm golden," Ezekiel replied, towing Flynn away with surprising strength as Aur smoothed down his fur importantly.
Eve burst out laughing at the helpless look Flynn threw her before being dragged into the crowd by the smaller teen. "Toss me one of those, I'm gonna go referee," she said, and Jacob tossed her a can of soda, shaking the cold water off his hands. She was still snickering as she followed after Flynn and Ezekiel, Paznic shaking his head in good-natured exasperation at the two of them.
Jacob took out another can and handed it to Cassandra. "Well, what about you? Your first party, what d'you think of it?" he asked. It was quieter in the kitchen, most of the other people either in the living room or out in the yard, so it was really just the two of them.
"It's...it's different than what I expected," Cassandra admitted, one hand tightly gripping the can, the other curled in Mel's thick, stiff mane. "I mean, my parents had parties sometimes, but with them it was real...reserved, I guess. No music, just a lot of quiet talking and condescending looks."
"Adults are like that. I swear, it's like you hit twenty-five or something, and then everybody gets a stick up the ass," Jacob agreed, and she nearly snorted soda out of her nose laughing, Mel cackling in glee next to her. "C'mon, wanna go outside, see if anybody's actually gonna jump in the pool?" he offered. Still giggling, she nodded and looped her arm through his, walking out the sliding door into the backyard. There were several people in the pool, some of whom were fully-dressed, suggesting that they had already made the jump from the first-story overhang into the pool, and he could see Estrella standing over by the patio, scolding a pair of young men that were trying to shimmy up the drainpipe onto the roof to make their own leap.
"Hey, I'll be right back, I think Eve's flagging me down," Cassandra said, and he turned his head to spot the blond waving an arm in their direction, a grin plastered on her face.
"Probably needs someone to help rescue Flynn. Signal me if you need backup," he replied, and she giggled as she made her way across the yard to the other girl.
"This is great," Laghu murmured in his ear, and for once, Jacob was wholly inclined to agree with his dæmon.
As he was considering going over to Eve, just to see what kind of stunt Ezekiel was trying to pull of with his unwilling 'wingman,' a young man with rumpled dark hair and a scruffy beard appeared at his elbow, smelling very strongly of beer, dæmon staggering along next to him. "Can you swim?" the young man asked, his Spanish accent largely slurred, making a strange waving gesture with his one hand.
"Uhm, yeah, why—?" Two pairs of hands seized his arms from behind, knocking his drink out of his hands, and Jacob gasped as one of them squeezed hard on his bruises, sending a sharp, hot ache through his arm. Then he was being pulled right off his feet and thrown into the pool with a tremendous splash.
The slap of being abruptly submerged in cold water was second to the overwhelming sense of terror that filled him, the taste of chlorinated water in his mouth, in his lungs as he tried to scream and couldn't because (splintering wood, protesting metal, and shattering glass) he was underwater. Laghu was wheeling in mad circles above the surface, flying to the very edges of their bond, the wrenching pain in his chest bringing him up, flailing and panicking.
Hands on his shoulders pushed him back down, distorted laughter swirling (fifty feet and thirty-one years gone in an instant) past him as he kicked and punched and writhed to be free, get away, get out, chest too tight, oh God he couldn't breathe... He hit something solid, heard muffled yells of pain, and then the hands were gone (pushing against a door that wouldn't move, glass that wouldn't give) and he came to the surface, unaware that he was almost screaming between ragged gasps of air that burned all the way down, choking up water that'd forced its way in his lungs. Coughing and sputtering, the smell of chlorine unbearably strong, Jacob floundered over to the edge of the pool, braced both hands on the edge, and (water pouring through the gaps in broken glass and twisted metal) pulled himself up out of the pool. In his haste, he barked his knee hard against the side of the pool and scraped his hands on the rough, wet pavement, but he was past feeling the pain, nothing except for the relief of being on solid ground and breathing.
Nobody moved to help him, still standing gaping. "What the fuck is wrong with you, you goddamn freak?" demanded the man still in the pool, the one that'd held him under, one hand cupping his jaw where a bruise was already starting to form.
Over the thunderous rushing of his own heartbeat in his ears he could hear Estrella shouting at the young man, had to be Miguel, in Spanish, too rapid for him to follow, hear the hushed murmurs of the onlookers, the scattering of chortles and snickers that were growing louder, gradually swelling. He was aware, agonizingly, terrifyingly aware of everyone staring at him, sitting on the ground looking like a drowned rat, like someone had peeled back his skin and left his nerves exposed, white-hot brands of painful sensation. His chest felt too tight, he couldn't get enough air, and the backyard was suddenly suffocating, pressure slowly but inexorably crushing the life out of him.
Jacob scrambled to his feet, slipping a little on the wet ground. He had to get out, get away, right now, before the whispers and stifled giggles could swell into jeering and outright laughter, because if it did, he would lose his mind entirely, no two ways about it, teetering on the knife's edge of a precipice that he really didn't want to see the bottom of. The crowd slid apart for him like the Red Sea, and he was reminded joltingly of the scene in the hallway after Lamia's prank, nobody wanting to touch him for fear of catching the social plague that he had, the outcast virus. The eyes followed him as he made a run for the door, and he was only vaguely surprised that nobody tried to trip him as he ran past, a foot stuck slyly out to trip him up and watch him fall flat on his face.
He walked.
He didn't really know where he was going, just that it was away. Away from the stares and the whispers and the giggles. His entire body was trembling, shaking. His clothes were still streaming water, leaving a drippy damp trail on the sidewalk, his lungs ached from coughing, and chlorine stung his eyes. He could've called his old man for a ride—it was meeting day, Isaac would be sober enough—but the idea of asking his father for help was unbearable, knotting up tightly inside him like barbed wire and salt. One hand was pressed against his chest, holding Laghu to him, right against his heart, and he could feel his soul trembling against his skin, shaking so hard it was like he was set on vibrate.
There was a broken, animalistic whining noise being made, the kind of sound an injured fox would make once it got caught up in a trap. He pressed his free hand over his mouth. The whimper became muffled—it was him making that noise.
"Jacob! Jacob, wait!" a voice shouted after him, running footsteps thumping loudly against the pavement. Cassandra skidded up next to him, panting. "Jacob, hold on. Stop for a second," she gasped, curling her fingers around his wrist, not pulling him but holding nonetheless. "Are you alright?"
A wretched sound that couldn't be called a laugh by any stretch escaped his throat. "Alright? No, I'm not fucking alright."
More footsteps scuffled through the darkness, then Eve, Flynn, and Ezekiel were all there, too; they'd congregated beneath one of the streetlights, standing in a pool of yellowish-amber light, and he could see the concern, the worry in stark relief on their faces.
"I'm not going back," he growled.
"Nobody was gonna ask you to, cowboy," Ezekiel replied. "No offense, but you look like shit." Eve cuffed the smaller boy on the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger. "Ow! What? Honesty's the best policy, innit?"
"Where are you going?" Flynn asked, twisting his long, thin hands together. Koyi hopped from shoulder to shoulder like he did when he was nervous.
He was starting to shiver, not just because of shock but because of cold; it was cooler at night, especially in wet clothes. "I dunno. It doesn't matter. You guys can go back to the party, I'm fine," he muttered back.
Cassandra squeezed his wrist gently. "Jacob," she said in a lightly admonishing voice. "We're not going to leave you by yourself." There was so much in her voice, worry and concern and kindness, that it made his chest ache, not just from coughing, either. Laghu wriggled free of his hand and fluttered damply over to land on Mel's head, snuggling into the soft fur between her ears. "Why don't we go to my place? We can hide out there, nobody will notice us," she offered gently; the others all nodded agreement, then looked back to him.
He sniffled a little, swiping at his face with one sleeve; it didn't do much good. His throat felt like it'd been scrubbed out with steel wool. Shivering, he looked around the small pool of amber-coloured light, saw the same mix of worry and concern on four different faces, all of it for him, and he felt something inside him give way. Jesus, he was tired. He was so tired, and they wanted to take care of him, at least for now, and who was he to argue?
"Alright."