Disclaimer: I don't own any characters except for Angelina.

Chapter four, finding silence in loudness

"Fuck!" exclaimed Sam as he realized his ice-cream was melting and dripping on to his hand.

"Here," said Angelina and handed him a napkin she took out from her purse.

"Aw," he whined. "I hate when this happens...now my hands will be sticky..."

Angelina only smiled to herself and thought, "whiner." Looking away she realized they were only seconds away from where they had left Alyssa and Josh; she grimaced at the thought of enduring another half an hour listening to Josh blab about anything, or having to listen Alyssa's gossips and nonsense talk, so she decided to take her trusty CD player out, as she and Sam approached Josh's car.

"I saved you the front seat, Angie," said Josh, patting the seat next to him.

"Oh, joy," she plainfully said looking nauseated by the fact of having Josh seated so close.

Josh looked at her and chuckled. "You're funny," he said.

"Whatever," replied Angelina, instantly turning her CD player's volume up. Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old , Kurt Cobain's raging vocals pounded on her ears. It was amazing, she saw Josh move his lips, but no sound came out of them! She could not make a word of what he was saying, she smiled with complacency as she closed her eyes and leaned back on her seat, enjoying the silence produced by her music.

As she stepped out of Josh's car, she felt considerably better. It amazed her how much a person's presence could ruin her mood, even if that person didn't say a word; Josh had the irritating talent of annoying her beyond reason without doing a single thing. Angelina thought it was probably something in his aura or zodiac sign that crashed with hers, but then she remembered she didn't believe on any of those things, and resolved it was plainly his personality and sardonic manner which disgusted her.

"Don't forget the welcoming party tonight at my place," said Josh. "After all, if Angie doesn't go there'll be no welcoming party."

"Yeah," agreed Alyssa. "You both better come, it'll be no fun otherwise!"

At this Sam chuckled and blushed faintly. "Right. Yeah, we'll both be there," he said. Immediately Angelina directed her eyes towards him in a quizzically, yet threatening manner. Unanswerable questions flew through her head: What welcoming party?...we'll both be there? I'm NOT going, thank you very much! But then it was too late, Josh's car had disappeared before she could object, and Sam was already at the door waiting for her.

"Wonderful," she grumbled as she walked towards the door held open by Sam to whom she cast glares as she passed him by.

"You should've asked me first!" exclaimed Angelina throwing herself over her bed with an

obstinate "hmph!"

"I already told you...I didn't mean to piss you off or anything, I just assumed you'd like a party and that you would like to go."

"Well you assumed wrong, I don't want to go, and I'm not going."

Sam emitted a small growl that came from the back of his throat, and sighed exasperated. "What can I do to make you go?"

"Nothing," she answered in a peremptory tone.

"Come on! There'll be booze...and for free," he said, hoping this would tempt Angelina, but instead she only glared at him coldly. "Come on, please," he pled. "I want to go, but I can't if you don't go. Please, Angelina, I promise if you say yes this time I won't ask anything else from you ever!"

Angelina raised a brow gradually. "Ever?" she inquired.

"I swear," Sam assured.

The girl rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. "Fine," she reluctantly said, "I'll go."

Sam smiled showing his pearly teeth in pure joy. "Really? Thanks, I promise you'll have a good time and you don't have to talk to Josh or Alyssa or Cory if you don't want to, there'll be other people as well, tons of people, cause parties at Josh's place get pretty crowdy, you know..."

"Yeah, yeah, shut up before I change my mind," she grumbled. "Now get out so I can get dressed."

As Sam walked out closing the door behind him, Angelina winced. Why on Earth had she agreed to go? She was tired and not in the mood to be sociable. "Anyway", she thought, "what's done's done." She knew she was going to regret this later, but thinking she had, at least made Sam happy, she finally stood up and walked towards the closet trying to figure out what to wear. As she browsed through a rummaged pile of tops, she mused that maybe this party wasn't such a terrible idea, maybe she'd meet someone...unless they all were brainless jocks and cheerleaders, or some other kind brainless specie.

As for Sam, he was thrilled to say the least. Despite his efforts to hide his enthusiasm, he couldn't help but smile at the though of maybe being left alone with Alyssa. His situation with the girl was peculiar and ungraspable: they weren't boyfriend-girlfriend, or steady dates...they were friends and they had kissed...so what did that made them? Friends with privileges? He shrugged unconsciously as if answering his question. He was certain of one thing though, he really liked Alyssa...maybe even loved her. If the chance presented itself, he'd kiss her, he thought, and then perhaps they'll talk about them and make sense out of their relationship. His mind vomited another round of questions and random musings: they hold hands and they smiled at each other in a way in which he smiled to anybody else, Alyssa recurrently hugged him and made excuses (were they premeditated excuses or only casualties?) to touch him, brushing her hands against his and so on. He sighed as he took a last look at himself in the mirror, his blue streaked unruly black hair looked okay, he checked his teeth and breath, fine. He sighed and left the bathroom.

Angelina took a last look at her self in the mirror that hung behind her bedroom door, and thought she didn't look that bad. She had opted for black jeans, a massive chunky belt and a simple black top. She looked "well...dark," she thought, but she shrugged indifferently and picked a black jacket to give her outfit the finishing touches: nothing looked better with black than black. She picked up her ciggies on her way out and stuffed them in her pocket. She closed her door and walked down the stairs. Sam was downstairs already waiting. He looked a bit anxious, even guilty, Angelina thought.

"Um, hey, mum asks if you took your...pills," he asked.

"Fuck," Angelina cursed under her breath. "Um, no, I'll take them later."

"You sure? Cause if you want we can wait an hour or so to leave...or maybe we could just stay."

"No, it's okay, I won't die," she breathed.

"Okay, but if...you know, you don't feel good later you just tell me no matter what, and we'll be back at home before you can say antidepressive." He smiled. She smiled back and nodded. "Good," he said. "Let's go."

They took Robin's car and took only ten minutes to arrive at Josh's house, which as Sam had predicted, was crowded. Just then Angelina realised it had been a terrible mistake to accept the invitation, and as she entered the house her mind kept yelling: run out! It was too late though because as soon as she stepped in she was greeted by a squeal coming from Alyssa's mouth and soon after by Josh.

"You made it, you guys!" she exclaimed.

"Angie, Angie..." drawled Josh. "Looking good, real good." Angelina grimaced and made no effort to hide her disgust. She took Sam's arm and squeezed it tightly.

"Josh," greeted Sam and extended his hand, which Josh shook carelessly.

"Come on, Angie, I have some friends that want to meet you," said Alyssa as she grabbed Angelina's cold hand and pulled her away from Sam. Angelina couldn't help but feel panicked as she walked reluctantly away from the only person she could call a friend.

"Now the fun starts," grinned Josh looking as Angelina and Alyssa disappeared into the crowd.

A/n: yeah, I know..not very good. Please forgive me everyone for the delay, I've been really busy with school and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life (career wise), I'm really, really sorry, I promise to update more often. Thanks for the support and reviews, thank you all very much.