CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
The night's former energy had now become withdrawn. They had started a small fire with some logs set up around it. Finn and Ivy sat on one log. Dana, Ben and Tyler on another. Ivy had spent the time wondering who had decided to prank Jace. Somehow, she found herself believing that it wasn't Brent. He may hate Jace and be a complete ass, but he wasn't smart enough to get his hands on Jace's personal belongings and then rig it up in the forest. Especially since he was there with her, collecting the award.

Lionel's eyes hadn't left Brent all night. The other boy was almost being held captive.
"I hope we don't have to torture him for information." Dana shuddered.
"I don't think Lionel would go that far." Ben pointed out.

Jace had become completely silent, hunched over on the log he shared with Lionel.
"I hope he's okay." Cinder hummed to Heather.
"I'm sure he is." Heather shrugged. "He doesn't want the sympathy."
Cinder raised an eyebrow. "Are you a Jace Whisperer now?"
"No, I just get where he's coming from." Heather snapped.

"Oh, you two need to shut up." Finn shouted from the other side of the fire. He was standing. "I get that tonight has been a bit weird but I guarantee that nothing of it was my fault. At least, not that I know of. I'm sorry, Jace, that someone decided to publically humiliate you. But being miserable is going to keep reminding us of it. Brent, stop looking like the black sheep of the lot and just suck up your asshole-ness, and try being a nice person. Just for tonight. Ivy, stand up right now and get the music out of my bag. Dana, no one is torturing anyone so you can stop being scared. Cinder and Heather, please try and get along for at least one damn night. Lionel stop looking like you want to attack everything that moves. This is meant to be a party, so let's bloody well make this a party."

Everyone was silent, staring in both awe and confusion at Finn. He looked pleased with himself.
Ivy stiffly moved and grabbed Finn's phone, setting up some music and preparing to hit play.
Finn waved his arms. "Come on, everybody! GET UP. Ivy, hit the play button."

"Well, this is weird." Cinder mumbled as she tried to relax by swaying in time to the music.
Lionel nodded. "Yeah."
"I second that." Heather appeared and forced a small smile. "Sorry for being a complete ass to you."
"It's fine." Cinder shrugged. "I wasn't helping."
Lionel smiled. "I never knew Finn was so good at speeches."

Ivy clapped her hands to the beat but refused to dance. Much to her horror, Dana had caught sight of her and moved through the crowd at a surprising speed, managing to pull Ivy to her feet before she could do anything about it. Before long, Ivy was dragged into the group of dancing teenagers.
"Isn't this fun?" Dana asked, raising her voice above the music.
"I guess." Ivy shrugged. "Not really my scene!"
Dana rolled her eyes. "You're the one who wanted to go to a night club!"
"Don't remind me!" Ivy laughed.

The party soon started to die down as the night grew on. Eventually, they turned off the music and put out the fire as their parents started to head back to the cars. As they walked, the buzz from their own little party had made them exhausted and they found their minds wandering.
Ivy scratched her head. They still had no idea who had pranked Jace. Which meant that they were still out there.
"Tired?" Finn asked. Even her was looking slightly dishevelled.
Ivy nodded and yawned. "Yeah."

"At least we don't have school tomorrow. Weekend, whoop!" Finn waved his arms and yawned. "I might sleep the entire weekend."
"Me too." Ivy found herself yawning again. "Dammit, stop yawning, Finn!"
Finn grinned. "Ha."

Cinder walked up ahead next to Lionel. She bumped his shoulder. "Hey."
"Ah, hey." Lionel smiled. "What's up?"
"Not much." Cinder returned the smile. "Since it's the weekend, do you want to do something?"
Lionel nodded. "Sure, like what?"
"I don't know." Cinder paused. "Maybe go to the mall? We could grab some lunch or something like that."
"That sounds nice." Lionel caught sight of his dad. "I've got to go. I'll text you."

"How was it?" Brendon asked as he pulled out of the parking lot.
Lionel shrugged. "Alright."
"Jace?" Brendon glanced at his other son.
Jace tugged at his clothes. "Same as always."

Ivy said goodbye to Finn and stumbled back to her parent's car, falling into her seat. Dana sat beside her and yawned, which caused a rally of yawning to ensue. Their parents laughed and they headed home, with both daughters yawning and eventually drifting into a sleep in the back of the car.

"How was the party?" Briar whispered to Ben with a smile, so that their mother wouldn't hear.
"It was eventful." Ben told her. "I'll tell you about it when we get home."
Briar nodded. "Alright."

Hello!
Here is Chapter 24. I know that I said I would update more but the universe decided to hate me and I got quite sick. On my Easter break as well. I would have done some writing but I just felt awful. I'm very sorry for the delay x
But I am much better now so I'm going to try and write as much as I can in the few days I have left!
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you have a good day!

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