Alana arrived at Nur's house almost twenty minutes early on Saturday.
"I hope I'm not bothering you, I just thought we could maximize our study time, and maybe get in some time to do some practice problems."
"APUSH isn't that hard, if you want we could even talk about other subjects," Nur offered.
"Sounds good! Honestly, any excuse to get out of the house is a welcome one." Alana replied.
Nur made some coffee, which Alana eagerly accepted.
"Honestly, my caffeine dependency is going through the roof this year," Alana confessed only half-jokingly.
"Same," Nur laughed, "but it'll only get worse once we get to college."
"That's another problem for another day. I need to focus on getting into college first."
"Alana, you're probably valedictorian by now, I'm sure you can get in anywhere!" Nur exclaimed.
Alana looked worried. "Maybe, but my dream school offers one full ride scholarship, and they only select the best- I can't go there without it. My parents can't afford the tuition."
"Do you have a backup?" Nur asked.
" University of Maryland, but it's not as high up in the rankings…"
"You'll be fine wherever you go, it's not where you go to college, it's what you make of yourself." Nur said reassuringly.
Alana rolled her eyes. "Was that supposed to make me feel better? Because it didn't."
"You're only young once, you should enjoy your life while you have it." Nur urged. "And don't put too much pressure on yourself."
Alana sighed. "Maybe you're right, but I still feel this need to prove myself, like I have to try so much harder than others just to get as much recognition."
Nur nodded. "I don't know what to tell you there, but I'm sure you are on your way to having what it takes to get that scholarship."
This is her daydream, couldn't she will Alana to win it? Does it work that way?
"Thanks for thinking so, at least." Alana replied. "Are you going to Jake's party?"
"I don't know who that is." Nur confessed.
"Oh. That's ok. Do you want to come with me?" Alana asked. "You could be my plus one."
"Really? You wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with me?" Nur asked. "I know I'm kind of awkward when it comes to talking to people."
"You're fine, and if anyone gives you trouble, just find me. Most of them won't mess with me."
Nur laughed. "So when is it?"
"Tonight? I can drive us over if you want. I have to run some errands and I can meet you back here."
"That sounds great! See you there."
About ten minutes after Alana left, Nur felt the buzz of a text from Connor.
Wanna come over? Evan said he was interested in hanging out and I need to get away before my dad asks me to join him sailing or something.
Surprised, Nur texted back.
Evan reached out to you to hang out?
There were those three dots, and a response.
Yeah. He wanted to go to the park and do a litter cleanup, but we can talk him out of it. Though you could try to bring some booze. Might make it most interesting.
Nur thought about it, then sent her response.
I can't stay too long, Alana asked me to go out with her to a party. Also, don't drink in front of Evan, he doesn't like that.
A pause, then a response.
Since when did you go to parties?
Since when did you and Evan hang out together?
Don't change the subject.
Nur typed quickly.
Do you and Evan want to come with? I'm sure Alana won't mind. And at least I'll have someone to talk to.
Connor typed back:
I think I'll save myself the embarrassment. Have fun at your party. You don't need to waste your time with us.
Connor…
Nur waited, but there was no response.
So much for trying to bring the group together. If she could get close to Alana, maybe she could bring her into their group. Then she could try to befriend Jared and Zoe. But it seemed Connor was pushing back.
Nur finished her homework, and started getting ready. She was never invited to cool high school parties in her old life, but she had been to a frat party or two and those were pretty casual. She settled on a ruffled sleeveless top and jeans. How was she going to get past her parents though?
"Mom, I'm going over to Zoe's for a bit, I'll be back later tonight!"
Nur's mother looked wary. "So late? It's already 7."
"I won't be long, promise," Nur said.
The party was at one of the nicer houses close to Georgetown. As Alana drove into the city and past the Lincoln memorial, Nur felt giddy.
"Who else is going to this?" Nur asked.
Alana shrugged. "A few people I know from student gov and the Homecoming committee, and a few kids on the football and lacrosse teams. And I guess the cheerleaders, the band kids, you know, basically everyone."
"Wow, that's a lot, and his parents are ok with this?"
Alana laughed, "I think his dad's a Senator? He's probably got other things to worry about."
"Oh, right."
The house was even larger than Connor's, with a sprawling lawn and a foyer with two spiral staircases and hardwood floors. Everyone was standing in clumps, milling around. As soon as they entered, Alana had to go say hi to someone she knew from the committee, and handed Nur her coat.
Honestly, it was like college all over again. Though at least the frat parties were more fun. Usually the real party was in the basement. She quietly walked around, looking for a staircase until she saw a few people open a door and walk downstairs.
Bingo.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she could feel the music pumping and the colored lights flashing. Whoever Jake was, he went all out. The air stank of body odor and alcohol. Bodies pressed together in the dark as the bass drones relentlessly. She saw a table at the corner with a bowl of punch. Nur chuckled, oh to be 17 and still want to have "Jungle Juice."
Oddly enough, she saw most of the kids had a red cup in their hand, perhaps it was popular enough, or maybe they were out of beer.
She wandered around, and saw a few guys playing beer pong. She watched, and saw the kid with his back turned to her failing to make any shots. The other boys laughed.
"You lose, Kleinman! Drink up!"
"Jared?" Nur exclaimed.
Jared jumped and turned to face her. "Oh, it's you. Who let you in here?"
"I could say the same thing! Since when were you invited to these things?"
"Don't be a bitch, Kleinman!" The other player, a tall burly boy in a t-shirt shouted. He poured his glass on Jared's head. Jared yelped in surprise as the beer trickled down his hair and seeped into his clothes. "You missed four throws, so that's four cups. You gotta drink up! Chug! Chug! Chug!"
"Hold on a sec," Jared said to Nur. "I gotta do this."
Jared grabbed the cups and started downing them to the shouts of the other players. When he was done, he poured it upside down. Another boy in a backwards cap smacked him on the back and he fell over.
"Aw man, look at your face, you look like you're gonna puke!" He shouted.
And he did.
As the other kids laughed at him, another boy in a navy polo and pink board shorts walked over. "Hey bro, you gotta clean that up, now." That was probably Jake.
Jared groaned, lying on the floor.
Nur sighed. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up." She tried to pick him up, and he stumbled trying to get back on his feet.
Jared glared at her. "You're ruining my moment."
"You're doing that well enough on your own." She let him lean on her as they slowly climbed up the stairs. When they reached the top, she found a hallway bathroom to push him into.
"Clean yourself up, I'll look for paper towels." Nur said.
Nur wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a pack of paper towels. She saw Alana…by herself, nursing one of those red cups.
"What happened to your friend?" Nur asked, handing her back her coat.
"Oh, hey." Alana greeted. "They, um, had to go talk to their boyfriend. It was getting too much for me anyway, too crowded, you know?"
"Yeah, sometimes you need a breather," Nur agreed. "I'll be back soon, promise."
She headed back to the guest bathroom, opening the door wide.
"Aren't you going to knock?" Jared asked, as he was frantically dabbing his shirt with wet toilet paper.
Nur handed him the paper towels. "Clean up, then you're going down to clean up your mess."
"Why can't you do it?" Jared whined.
"Because you made it. Hope you learned your lesson about trying to fit in." Nur chided.
"Well I learned I shouldn't be a lightweight." Jared replied. "But overall, I was pretty successful, those guys never talk to me."
Nur rolled her eyes.
She helped him down the stairs and they made their way back to the spot, when they overheard those kids from before.
"Yo, did you see Kleinman hurl? That was so funny, bro!"
"I know, what a loser!" They laughed.
Jared stiffened. He turned around.
"Where are you going? You can't let them talk about you like that?" Nur hissed.
"I should go…" Jared muttered.
"Hey!" Nur shouted, causing the rest of the partygoers in earshot to stop and turn to hear her. "You better apologize to my friend over here. That's not cool."
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Backwards Cap asked.
"That doesn't matter. What matters is you guys are acting like complete dicks! You made Jared drink all that, and now you're laughing at him? What makes you think you have the right to pick on people like that."
"For the record, I don't know who that is," Jared interjected.
"Oh, yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Backwards Cap asked in a challenging tone.
"Apologize, or clean up this mess. Either way, we're even." Nur replied, handing him the paper towels.
They looked at her, and laughed. "Whatever, loser." They pushed her and walked away, also pushing Jared on their way out.
Jared frowned. "Well, you just fucked up any chance I had at being cool."
"Was it worth it though?" Nur asked, ripping up a paper towel. She handed him the roll as they started cleaning up.
"Maybe? At least it was something." Jared mused.
They cleaned up quickly, not bothering to care if it was actually clean and put the paper towels in a plastic bag.
"Do you know his car? We can dump it inside and let him find it on his way home!" Nur suggested.
Despite himself, Jared laughed. "Ok, that's fucked up, let's do it." They headed back up, and Nur made a detour to the kitchen, only to find Alana wasn't there.
Deciding to worry about that later, they found his Lexus. They weren't able to get the windows to open, so they placed the bag under the wheels of the car and ran back into the house.
Once inside, Nur asked Jared to help her find Alana.
"This house is huge, we'll need to split up." Nur suggested.
"No offense, but if I keep having to climb any more flights of spiral staircases, I will hurl again." Jared protested.
"Ok, you look on the ground floor, I'll check upstairs and the basement."
Nur climbed up the stairs abd opened the doors to the guest rooms. She closed the first one immediately when she saw that some of the rooms were being used for more…private gatherings. Ugh.
She opened a few more doors, and found a group of kids sitting in a circle, talking and giggling.
"There you are!" Nur shouted, only for the group to shy away from the loud noise.
Alana pressed her finger to her lips, she looked woozy.
"Shhh!" She shouted. She grabbed her head. "Everything is so bright." She muttered.
"Alana, are you ok?"
The other kids looked phased out, and they were rocking themselves, touching each other's faces, and cuddling each other.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Drew scored some E, and I thought I'd try a little. Don't worry, it's helped me. I feel…so much better." Alana said breathily.
Nur walked further into the room, gently stepping over some of the other kids, who she recognized as band kids, until she noticed the hair.
"Zoe?" Nur asked.
Zoe looked dazed, drifting into the middle distance abd hugging her arms. She looked up at Nur. "Hmm?"
"Do you know her?" Alana asked. "I just met her, and we've been talking all night. It's like…we're connected."
Zoe nodded and shifted closer to Alana. Alana leaned over and rested her head on Zoe's shoulder.
"Zoe, did you drive here?" Nur asked.
No response. Zoe had closed her eyes and was dozing off.
"Zoe!" Nur shouted.
"What?" Zoe asked.
"Did you drive here?"
"Yeah, don't worry I'm fine." Zoe mumbled.
"I'm calling Connor, he can drive you home."
"No, don't do that!" Zoe whined. "He'll never let me live it down. I'm fine, honest. It's just E."
"I can take her home." Alana said before staring at her hands for five seconds.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to text Connor."
Nur left the room and texted Connor.
Do you think you can Uber over to Jake's place? I need you to take Zoe home.
She received a text back immediately.
Is she alright?
Nur texted back.
Yeah, but she's pretty high off of E. I don't think she should drive herself back. You're ok to drive her back in her car, right?
She got a quick reply
Lucky for you, I'm sober for once. Ok, I'm on my way over.
Nur closed her phone and made her way down to check on Jared, who was fast asleep on a couch.
Could you take in Jared too? Looks like he's completely gone.
There was a pause. Then a reply.
You owe me one. Ok, I got an Uber, I'll be there in a few minutes.
Nur waited until Connor arrived. The party was dying down, and people were beginning to leave. As Connor entered he brought Evan with him, The other kids turned to watch them, surprised they would be there.
"Where is she?" Connor asked.
"Upstairs. I'll help Alana down. I came with her, so I'll take her home. Jared's over there on the couch."
Correction, he had fallen onto the floor. Evan said he would take care of him.
Connor sighed. They found Zoe and Alana sitting in the circle with the others talking to each other as if they were sharing the deepest conversation, but it was gibberish.
"Alright, Zo. Time to go home." Connor lifted Zoe off the ground and helped her up.
"God, when did you become the buzzkill?" Zoe pouted.
"I'm not, but if you're going to do this, you might as well be at home where it's safe. Getting high with a bunch of strangers is how you get murdered."
"Would you murder me, Alana?" Zoe asked.
"Of course not," Alana replied.
Connor scoffed. "Very funny. Let's go."
"But I just got to know Alana, she's so cool," Zoe protested.
"I'll give you her number tomorrow," Nur said gently. "But for now let's go home."
They carefully climbed down the stairs. Evan had convinced Jared to wake up and walk so he wouldn't need to be carried. On the way out, Evan helped support the Jared's frame as they walked to Zoe's car.
They staggered along for five minutes before Zoe remembered she parked in the other direction. When they finally reached the car, the four of them somehow squished in, with Connor and Evan opting to sit in the front.
"Will you two be fine?" Connor asked as they headed into the car.
"I think so," Nur replied nervously.
"I can take her car home tomorrow." Connor offered.
"You guys have enough to deal with. I'll do it."
Connor looked worried. But didn't say anything. He nodded and gave a wave goodbye, so did Evan.
Nur asked Alana for her keys and nervously fumbled with them. She let Alana lean on her as they staggered back to her car. Gently placing her in the front seat, Nur put on the seatbelt and said a silent prayer.
As she turned on the ignition, she realized this was the first time she was driving since the accident.
She took a deep breath and typed in Alana's address in her gps. The streetlights flashed above her as she drove back onto the highway, staying on the right lane and trying to avoid the fast cars. Her hands were shaking as she merged lanes. Alana was blissfully asleep.
When they arrived at Alana's house, she parked the car on the driveway. She woke her up, and they walked back to her room.
She called her mom to pick her up from Alana's house. She was going to be so mad, but it was probably better this way.
When she returned home, she texted Connor.
Sorry for dragging you into this.
She heard a ping and checked her messages.
It's ok. Evan's on Jared duty (still puking) and I'm with Zoe. We're watching Soongebob. I don't think we've done that in years, lol.
Nur laughed, and texted back.
Well if you get in trouble with your parents, tell them it was my fault.
Connor texted back.
Oh I will. Though not too much, don't want you labeled as a *bad influence* either
Nur thought about it.
Well, maybe I am. See you on Monday.
Nur wondered if she was becoming one. Dear Evan Hansen was a weirdly wholesome play apart from its subject matter. The kids didn't party or do drugs (except Connor, and it was off-screen). This was not a Euphoria type show.
Or was it when we didn't see the characters?
Nur shook away those thoughts. She would just have to try to be better and hope this didn't ruin her goal of getting them all to become friends.
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