Be Mine
Chapter 16
Bottoms Up!
Before he knew it, Claus made it through his end-of-semester finals. It was brutal, harsh, but he endured the pain. He came, he saw, he conquered.
Claus opened up his report card that he received in the mail. He was currently inspecting its contents very thoroughly. In bold letters displayed his overall grades and scores for the finals he just took.
Oof— Claus held his chest in pain.
The letters on his classes were: D, C, C, D. Claus' eyes lightened up at the last one.
B — Geometry Honors
"YOOO!" Claus yelled aloud. That's all Claus needed to see before he threw his report to the ground of his kitchen. He felt accomplished, no, successful. It didn't take too much to make the orange haired boy feel good about himself and school.
"Oh, did the grades come in already?" Lucas said on his way down the stairs. His twin brother's bellow attracted him downstairs.
"Yeah! I have yours right here." Claus handed the blond his envelope.
"Ooo," was the sound Lucas made before opening his. He nonchalantly opened it with a smile, as if he already knew what he got. As expected, Lucas nodded in satisfaction at his grades.
"Lemme see." Claus grabbed at his report and looked at it himself.
A, A, A, A, A.
"Hmph." Claus closed his eyes without care and slapped the report card back in his brother's hands. "Whaaatever!"
Lucas giggled at the reaction. It was typical of Claus; he would always get sarcastic whenever he would look at Lucas' grades.
"Can I see yours?"
"... Nope," Claus declined, but his actions were the opposite. He picked his report up from the ground then handed his brother it. Lucas examined it closely.
"Well… you passed!" Lucas grinned at the boy before giving it back. "And you got a really good grade in Geometry. Nice job!"
"Heh." Claus smirked. "I know, right?"
"Studying with Ness must've really helped you," Lucas confirmed. "How'd you guys do it? Did you copy?"
"Yeah…" Claus made a guilty smile. "I copied while he tutored, basically."
"Oh! Nice." Lucas nodded his head. His eyebrows then furrowed afterwards. "Ninten is so hard to teach."
Claus scoffed at that. "I bet. You don't have to tell me twice."
"I ended up practically doing the whole thing…" Lucas held a hand up to his temples to symbolize stress. "But he was listening the entire time and writing what I told him to. I think he got it."
"Probably not. Hopefully you didn't get too stressed out while teaching him, though."
"Mmm…" Lucas thought about it, then smiled. "Not really, it was fun. He makes a lot of jokes— he's so funny!"
Claus noticed his brother's face get a little bit pink while saying that. He then asked curiously, "Hey, I wanted to ask you about that time."
"Huh?" Lucas tilted his head.
Claus continued, "When me and Ness walked into the room and Ninten was y'know… on you."
"...OH… u-uhh…" Lucas went full blown red at remembering what was happening. "H-He was… wiping something off my face…!"
"EXCUSES!" Claus yelled accusingly. "Tell me!" He grabbed Lucas' shoulders and shook him. "WHERE DID HE TOUCH YOU?"
"Nowhere, I swear!" Lucas kept shaking his head. He admitted a bit of the truth. "We were just playing a game!"
"Well, what kind of game is that, huh?!" Claus felt protective over Lucas.
"...No comment!" Lucas put a hand over his mouth. "You can't make me admit any more," he muffled through his hand.
"You will tell me right now!" Claus squeezed his brother's cheeks.
Lucas didn't know what to do, so he diverted the conversation. "I'll tell you if you tell me why Ness did that before he left!"
Claus' mind immediately went to Ness. He stopped yelling at Lucas to admit the truth as soon as he heard him say that.
When the orange haired twin was silent, Lucas began to quote Ness from the night they finished the packet. "Oh Claus~!" The blond teased his brother in a dramatic way before copying Ness by cupping Claus' chin in his fingers. "'Keep your chin up for me, sadness doesn't suit you!'"
Claus blushed heavily while he felt embarrassment take over him. He got slightly mad.
"Ninten and I heard everything nice and clear~" Lucas added more fuel to Claus' fire.
"Oh shut up!" Claus pushed Lucas off of him while his brother was laughing. Lucas was holding his sides from the laughter.
"Good lord, you're turning into Ninten the more you hang out with him!"
Lucas just stuck out his tongue. "No regrets!"
"Whaaaatever!" Claus jokingly nudged Lucas on the side before the boy picked up his own report again and started to head towards the stairs.
"Oh hey! Wait!" Lucas called over.
"What?" Claus stopped in his tracks.
"Were you coming to Paula's party tonight?"
"... Yeah, I was," Claus answered, "but I didn't ask mom or dad yet…"
"That's okay!" Lucas gave him a thumbs up. "I already did, for both of us! They said it was fine. They could drop us off and come get us later if we need them to."
"What, really?" Claus was surprised. "Well shit, that makes things way easier."
"Yep!" Lucas smiled. He looked really excited compared to Claus. "So just be ready by 8!"
"'Kaaaaay," Claus replied as he resumed going up the stairs.
Ness' House
An uncapped boy was sitting at the table. He was eating lunch that his mom made for him: a steak, fries, and a cup of hot coffee. It was a nice meal that his mom made for him like… all the time. He never got tired of it because it was his favorite.
The boy was in his thoughts as his dog King was leaning against his leg under the table. He was thinking about the party. He was debating if it really was a good idea to drink at all.
As he was eating, he was browsing Google on his phone momentarily.
'What does it feel like to be drunk' he typed into the search bar. The following results popped up:
When you're drunk you feel less coordinated than usual, you're usually louder, you can't think coherently and you lose your social inhibitions (you're more likely to get up and dance or say things you wish you hadn't).
"That's insane…" Ness' interest was piqued nonetheless. He compared alcohol to drinking his coffee. He would feel a buzz whenever he would ingest the caffeine that was inside the delicious brew. Is alcohol the same, but with what the Google search said? The boy felt kind of nervous; he's seen a lot of movies where people get drunk. They fall over and do embarrassing stuff, and worse: in love scenes they would confess uncontrollably. He remembered a movie where the man got quite pushy around the woman he liked while being drunk.
In other words, Ness didn't want to be that man to Claus. He wasn't over him, not even a little bit. Paula was a shield, he had to admit. Can he really afford to lose control under these circumstances?
If he wears that orange turtleneck again I will lose it. And I'm not even drunk! Ness thought. He took a sip of his coffee, imagining an attractive looking Claus in his head.
"Ness!" his mom called over from the living room. "What time did you have to be at your girlfriend's party?"
Ness was brought back to reality. "Eight!" he responded back at the same volume.
"Okay!" Ness' mom went back to watching something on the TV.
Oh boy. Ness put his head down. King looked up at the boy and felt his nervous vibrations. The dog licked Ness' leg and whined.
'Everything will be okay!' the dog barked with his tail wagging really fast. Ness smiled down at his adorable dog.
"I know, I know." The raven haired boy smiled and gave his dog a pat on the head.
I hope.
"Clausss! You almost ready?" Lucas called from his room. His door was opened, making it easier for his voice to reach his brother, who was in the bathroom at the moment.
"5 more minutes!" Claus yelled back. He inspected himself in the mirror. He tilted his head left and right to look at his hair while he combed it. He was already dressed; wearing his usual attire under the orange turtle neck he's been spamming recently ever since winter started. The thing grew on him and Claus ended up loving the turtleneck more than expected. With that, he had on long blue jeans.
Ding! His phone got a notification. It was a group chat that included Claus, Ness, Lucas, Ninten, and Jeff.
Claus checked his phone that was on the sink counter.
'Are you guys heading over soon? I don't want to show up by myself. Let me know when you guys go.- Jeff'
Ninten is typing…
'don't be a pussy, Jeff. - Ninten'
Claus couldn't help but laugh out loud at the text. He still combed through his hair as he looked at the phone.
Ness is typing…
'I'm already here with Paula, she asked me to come early. -Ness'
'Shut up, Ninten. - Jeff'
'Lol. Claus and I are heading there soon. Whenever he's done getting dressed. -Lucas'
'is he putting on makeup, too? -Ninten'
Claus had to put down his comb to reply.
'hey now, you can't rush perfection. -Claus'
'yea you can. I rushed Lucas. -Ninten'
'Woow. Gay. -Jeff'
Claus chuckled a little as he finished up.
When his hair was altogether, he exited the bathroom and saw Lucas waiting by the balcony of the stairs. The blond boy turned around as he locked his phone that he was staring into earlier.
Lucas smiled. "Let's go! Mom and dad are already in the car."
"Okay, right behind ya." Claus let Lucas down the stairs first as he followed behind. They exited through the front door and locked it with their house key. They were greeted with a blast of cold air as they ran for the car.
Upon reaching it, they got into the back seats and buckled. Flint started the car, while Hinawa looked at her boys through the rearview mirror.
"Our boys are looking so cute today," Hinawa complimented. Flint smirked as he checked behind him for oncoming cars before pulling out of their driveway and entering the streets.
"Thanks, mom!" Lucas replied happily. Hinawa smiled.
"So what is the address again, boys?" Flint spoke up. Their mom pulled out her phone to start typing the address into her GPS app.
"Umm…" Claus looked through his phone for a picture he took of Paula's invite. "9400 Fitcher Lane."
"Okay, got it." Hinawa typed it. Her route estimated about a 17 minute drive there.
The car was silent for a bit until Flint asked his sons a question.
"... What kind of party is it going to be?" Flint inquired in a strict, stoic tone. The question made Claus and Lucas' heart race in panic.
Lucas started answering first. "U-um… what do you mean—"
Claus cut him off. "A birthday party."
"Oh okay." Flint took that answer and remained quiet. Hinawa asked another.
"Who's birthday is it?" the mother asked brightly. She thought the party was an innocent little thing for her sons and their friends to have fun.
Claus bit his tongue then looked at Lucas who mouthed, 'I don't know!'
"I-It's Ness' girlfriend's birthday," Claus answered again.
"Wow!" Hinawa exclaimed. "Ness got a girlfriend? Good for him~"
"Yup, she's really nice," Lucas added in to keep any suspicion from rising.
"No wonder we don't see him too often anymore," Hinawa commented.
From there Claus and Lucas let the conversation die down for the rest of the ride. They headed through the town and saw the snow raining down on mostly every building. It looked beautiful to them; winter in Onett just can't be beat by any other season.
Gradually, the appearance of regular looking houses then switched to bigger ones. Their look started to reflect the design of modern houses. Claus and Lucas stared out the window in awe.
"These houses are huge…" Flint commented, "Are we in the right place?"
"It's what the GPS said…" Hinawa said, double checking her phone.
When they reached their destination, it happened to be in front of the largest house of all the houses they've passed so far. Flint stopped the car and had to take off his hat to take the view in completely.
In front of them were two fancy golden gates, one for going in, and one for going out. There was a random golden lion statue standing confidently in the middle. Behind the statue was a little station that kept the gatekeeper. Flint drove the car up to the window of said station.
"Hello!" the gatekeeper greeted.
"Hello." Flint said back. The man automatically pulled out his ID and showed it to the man at the gate.
"Aaaand what're we here for today?" The man behind the window made a grin that had an unnatural brightness to it. He asked the question as he examined Flint's ID.
Flint's brow rose. "Taking my boys to a party," he answered bluntly.
From that, the gatekeeper automatically opened the gates. He gave back the card to Flint. "Alrighty then~! Head on in! The signs will tell you where to go."
"Alright." Flint took his foot off the brake. "Take it easy."
"You too!"
The car entered through the gate, and down a road that passed an orchard of trees and foliage. Flint did as told and followed the signs. Everyone in the car was trying not to be too surprised by the fact that they were nearing a mansion.
Claus glared at everything that passed. He already knew Ness told him it was a mansion that she lived in. However, the idea could not be compared to the actual view.
She's stupid rich! He thought of Paula with envy.
Finally, they made it to the entrance to already find some stray cars dropping off other students that were invited. Flint stopped the car and let Lucas and Claus out.
"Have fun, you two!" Hinawa said. Both parents waved goodbye before driving off in the same direction they came in.
"Bye!" the twins said, then turned to the big mansion before them.
"Holy shit dude," Claus finally let out what he wanted to say so badly.
"I...I am shocked," Lucas said with widened eyes.
They took a moment to just get a load of the entire mansion. It was very grandiose in both size and complexion. It looked like there were many rooms to it, and outside of the mansion were sculpted pieces of cut grass. One was a horse, another was a panther; the sculptures were random animals, but they stood so boldly on their own.
From the looks of it, the students that were already dropped off were heading into the one entrance in front of them. The twins decided to follow after them.
They walked into the mansion and ended up following signs that led to the location of the party. They didn't expect it to be this complicated to just get to one room.
"There sure are a lot of students here…" Lucas commented shyly.
"Yeah, Paula has a shit ton of friends if you ask me," Claus replied, "how will we even find our friends—"
"Oh look, our friends!" Lucas cut Claus off. There they were, Ninten and Jeff, standing at the entrance to a big room everyone was entering. They were on their phones until Lucas ran up to the two.
"Hey guys!" Lucas beamed.
"Oh gosh, hey!" greeted Ninten. "We were just about to text you guys, nice timing."
"We just got here," Jeff pointed out.
"Have you seen Ness?" was the first thing Claus asked.
"Nope," Jeff answered. He shrugged. "I guess we'll run into him. Should we go in now?"
"I guess…" Claus peeped into the big room. Everyone was already sorted into their cliques, doing their own thing. Even though kids of their same age were minding their own business, the amount of people made the boys nervous. It was like the entire school was invited to the party. Most of the kids in there were strangers to them.
"Oh my god, hi Liana! So glad you could make it! ... Hey Nick, how are you? Good? Amazing!" Again, the familiar voice rang in the distance. It was Paula.
The boys saw her greeting everyone and thanking them for coming over. The sight of her restored peace to the boys' mind, because her presence only meant that a familiar capped boy would be with her. They figured Ness would help them ease into party vibes if he was around.
However, Claus almost forgot about the one person he keeps, well, forgetting about.
"Claussss~! You're here!" Kumatora, who separated from Ness and Paula, came up running to the orange haired boy. She wrapped her arms around him happily and hugged him tight.
"Oh, Kumatora!" Claus tried to say with fake enthusiasm. It came out weird. "What's up?"
"Nothing much… just missing you." She gave him a shy smile. "But now I'm okay since you're here!"
"I wouldn't want to miss this party knowing you'd be here," Claus told her for the sake of telling her. As expected, Kumatora was flushed with a smile. She clung onto Claus' arm.
Meanwhile, Ninten, Jeff, and Lucas just watched curiously. Seeing Kumatora and Claus together was a rare sight that they didn't get to see too often. As they watched, they all were able to internally agree on one thing: Claus was such a fake around her.
"Yaay! You guys made it!" Paula cheered. She and Ness approached them.
"Hey!" Ness rose up an arm to wave momentarily at all of them. At first glance, Claus couldn't help but notice that his best friend was wearing his cap and his usual striped tee under an unbuttoned dark blue plaid shirt. For pants, he had on black jeans. Altogether, Claus thought his outfit looked ridiculously good; however, he didn't want to be caught staring and stopped instantly.
"'Sup!" Ninten grinned. The rest of the boys smiled and waved back at the couple.
"Well, what do you guys think?" Paula asked, referring to the party. She spent a while figuring out how to decorate the place and the ending result made the big room very pleasing to look at. The room itself was pretty dark with the dim lights; other flashing lights were also present that made the entire place look like a rave. There were even long tables of food to get buffet style, as well as drinks along the walls. And to make sure that everyone would be comfortable, there were tables everywhere and spare chairs to sit down and chill. Speakers were all around the place blasting out loud music.
By the looks of it, all the students were already in party mode, enjoying themselves. They happily helped themselves to everything there was to offer, the food, the drinks, and the luxury. It was almost like a huge club.
"This place looks amazing!" Ninten complimented, giving Paula a thumbs up.
"Yeah, it does look nice," Lucas added in.
It looks like shit. Claus said internally. Although, he was lying to himself. He thought the place looked great. No way he would admit it though.
"Yes!" Paula beamed at them. "I worked hard on it, it better be good!"
"It's perfect, babe." Ness gave her a little squeeze on the cheek. "Everyone's having fun!"
Paula gave him a shy smile. "... I guess they are, huh?"
Claus' blood boiled at that. He decided that it was stupid of him to keep staring at Ness and Paula if he was just going to get jealous. As a result, he turned toward his girlfriend. He didn't have a pleasant face at the moment, making Kumatora surprised to see it.
"Wha… Claus?" Kumatora poked his cheek. "You don't look well."
"I'm just not a party person…" Claus half lied. "All these people are making me uneasy."
"Really? Oh… Kumatora felt bad. She instinctively got closer to Claus and laid both of her hands on his shoulders. "You didn't need to force yourself to come…! I didn't know you weren't into parties."
"No, no. It's perfectly fine." Claus smiled through all his jealous rage.
Kumatora frowned momentarily, before brightening up again. "Well… it'll be okay. I'll stay by your side the entire time so you won't be awkwardly alone, okay?" She gave him a hearty pat on the back that made Claus flinch by surprise. For a girl, she was pretty strong.
By that, Claus couldn't help but feel a bit better. He knows that recently Kumatora has been quite overbearing with needing attention, but she wasn't a bad person at all. He gave her a friendly kiss on the forehead.
Kumatora squeaked, and became happy all over.
This time, Ness felt those same feelings of jealousy. He, too, was watching Kumatora and Claus like his best friend was watching over him and Paula. Ness became disappointed with everything he kept seeing happen between them.
"Nesss…" Paula was calling, "Ness!" The blonde girl shook the hand she was holding on Ness.
"O-OH, yeah Paula?" Ness' attention went back to his girlfriend. Paula poked out a cheek and tapped her foot. She raised an annoyed brow.
"You should take your friends to the other side to grab some drinks. Then we could play some games!"
"Games?" Ninten inquired.
"Yeah, games!" Paula implored, "What, did you really think you guys would just come here and do nothing but talk? Boooring!"
"Good point," Ninten chimed. Jeff and Lucas looked a little curious, but also skeptical. The way Paula was whispering to Ness looked suspicious.
"Alright, guys let's go!" Ness waved his hand over to signal all his guy friends to follow.
They looked confused, but started to walk in Ness' direction. Jeff, Ninten, and Lucas went along, but Claus paused to look at Kumatora.
Currently, the pink haired girl had her eyes on Paula while nodding. Kumatora then smiled at Claus before patting him on the back.
"I'm gonna go somewhere real quick with Paula, stick with your friends!" she said quickly, before going off with her blonde friend. The girls giggled to each other before walking out of the boys' eyesight.
Wow, Claus thought, so much for 'staying by my side the entire time.' Although, the orange haired boy didn't care that much.
From there, the boys headed to another side of the room. It wasn't a long trip through all the students who were dancing, talking, and shouting with their friends.
"Where we goinnnn?" Ninten wondered the same question as everyone else.
"Getting some drinks," Ness answered. The boy currently had a hand in his pocket. He held a smirk on his face at Ninten.
"Like some soda? Bro, I've been dying for something to drink after walking through this big ass mansion," Ninten announced, making the rest in the group chuckle.
"Not really soda…" Ness trailed off as he kept leading.
After Ninten mentioned soda, Claus finally figured out that Paula didn't really tell people that there was going to be alcohol at the party. He thought it was a devilish thing to do. Claus momentarily thought of a picture of Paula with horns on her head.
"Then what?" Jeff was suspicious. The way Ness has been answering, Jeff was already breaking down what is really going on.
Ness still didn't answer. In fact, he didn't say anything until they got to a certain table where a couple of other students were already pouring drinks from. Bottles of different alcohol brands lined the table, and a few giant beer kegs were on top, too. Plastic cups were stacked on the end for people to take from.
Jeff, Ninten, and Claus were shocked while Lucas was confused.
"...Seriously?" Jeff was perplexed. He had to take a moment to clean his glasses.
"Ness, WHAT!" Ninten yelled aloud. "My mom will kill me!"
"...Huh?" Lucas tilted his head. "Why are you guys panicking?"
Claus facepalmed at his twin brother. "Do you really not know? C'mon Lucas! Our parents drink all the time!"
Lucas pouted, still not really understanding what Claus meant. He then looked over at another student who poured a shot for himself and another girl. They clinked their plastic cups together then downed it. That was when Lucas finally realized what was going on. He put a hand over his mouth in awe.
"There's no way we could do that! We're underage!" Lucas mentioned the obvious.
Ness was momentarily feeling discouraged since all his friends turned out to be quite against the idea of alcohol, however, he had to do it. He had to persuade them somehow.
"C'mon guys! There's no need to worry!" Ness smiled like nothing was wrong. "I mean look at everyone around us, they're all doing it."
"But do we have to? Just because they're doing it doesn't mean we have to," Ninten claimed. "I don't wanna get addicted."
"That's not what I'm trying to say, though," Ness stressed, "they're all doing it because this is the one time they can. Doing something once is okay, to see if we like it or not. It's not realistic to think that if you drink this one time you'll become an alcoholic." The capped boy tried his best to be persuasive.
The boys were contemplating it; however, the idea of alcohol was still too abstract for them to feel comfortable with.
"You're not wrong… but still…" Ninten refused. The rest of the boys stayed silent because they didn't know what to say. It was hard to turn Ness down on the idea, especially since he was one of their good friends.
"But…" Ness was losing hope. His eyes seemed to dull out in disappointment. He thought it would be easier to persuade them than how they were currently being. He guessed that once people have a bad impression on something their minds never change.
Claus looked at Ness' face and noticed his melancholy expression. He bit the inside of his cheek, feeling really bad for him. The orange haired boy thought at least one of their friends would comply, but that didn't happen. He couldn't bear to see Ness being left out, or the only one wanting to try drinking.
Don't you fucking do it, Claus… the orange haired boy thought to himself. Don't you fucking…
"You guys are sooo lame," Claus scoffed at everyone. He then proceeded to walk over to the table and picked up a random bottle of alcohol; it was Jack Daniel's. He took two shot glasses, set them up, and poured the drink into each cup. To be honest, he wasn't really sure what he was doing, but he was sure of one thing; Ness better be damn grateful after this.
After preparing the shot glasses, he gave one to Ness, who took it with very wide eyes. Ness mouthed, 'What are you doing?' in panic. Claus just winked at him, then put an arm around his best friend. He turned to the rest of the boys.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm fucking bored. So why not." Claus announced confidently to everyone. He clinked his cup to Ness', who hesitantly complied, still very surprised.
Welp, I've committed, was the last thing Claus thought.
The orange haired boy brought the cup up to his own mouth in accordance with Ness. From there, the two best friends downed their first shot of alcohol ever.
Their friends' jaws dropped instantly.