Life's Little Party

There was nothing better, for Allison, then walking out of her house the next morning and seeing Andrew in his truck waiting for her. This was exactly how her life could have been, if she had decided to shed her social outcast image a long time ago. She could have been driven to school everyday by a great guy like Andrew, and looking forward to many plans for the weekend. And even if it looked as though she was giving up a part of herself, it was worth it, she thought happily as the truck drove by her bus stop.

The school was as crowded as ever but this time Allison walked to her locker with her head held high. It had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with the fact that she had Andrew for support. It was so much easier, to brave the troubles at school with him standing by her side. And even as she noticed Brian's blonde head walking swiftly passed her, she called to him with confidence.

"Hey Ralph."

Brian stopped suddenly, and turned a little slowly towards her voice. When he caught sight of Allison he smiled and when he noticed Andrew he smiled even wider. "Hi Allison, Andy."

"How's it going Bri," Andrew said hitting him softly on the shoulder.

"Listen Ralph, I want to say sorry for the fucked up way I acted with you on Monday. It was totally uncalled for and I feel like a total bitch for it," Allison spoke sincerely hoping that she had not hurt him to bad.

"Oh it's alright, I see things are better now." He was talking about her and Andrew.

"I guess you can say that," she said and smiled. "Hey so we'll see you later. The second bell is about to ring and Mitchell will totally have my neck if I'm late again."

"Mitchell? I have him for calculus, he isn't that bad," Brian told her.

"Well you try being late for his class twice a week and see how bad he can be," she explained. "Bye Ralph. And I'll see you later okay." She kissed Andrew on the cheek and made her way quickly ot Algebra.

She barely made it to her seat on time when the bell rang. Alan stared at her as she entered, and Allison was sure he was going to say something to her but instead he just smiled.

"What's your problem," she asked rather annoyed. She tried her best to ignore his glances for the rest of the class and had been rather successful. But as she was putting her things away he walked towards her desk.

"Are you going to the party on Saturday?" He was looking down her blouse as he spoke.

Appalled by his obvious come on, Allison quickly answered, "I have no idea what you are talking about Alan and if you are in any way trying to ask me out the answer is 'no way.'" She stood up and made her way to the door, "And by the way, next time you look down my blouse I'll kick your ass."

Later during her break she told Andrew about what had happened.

"Alan is such a slime ball. First I had to put up with his taunts, and now I am going to have to put up with his one liners. It makes me sick." They were sitting outside by the bungalows. When Allison had told him that she felt as though lunch time was more than she could stand with his group, Andrew had insisted that they spend their break out there, where she usually sat. It was a nice day out so Allison had agreed to it.

"Just tell Alan that you and I are an item and I'm sure he'll back off. And if he doesn't than i'll be the one kicking his ass."

Allison laughed. "It's just so wierd. I mean, one minute I'm like this nobody, and now all of a sudden sleaze bags like Alan Mitchell are looking down my shirt. It's like the freaking Twilight Zone." She was resting her head on Andrew's shoulder as they sat side to side on an empty bench.

"Well that's the way it's going to be. I mean you're a good looking girl Allison, it's only natural that guys try and flirt with you."

Allison closed her eyes for a second. The fact that Andrew was calling her beautiful made her feel slightly embarassed. She had gone her entire life feeling slightly below avarage and any type of attention from the opposite sex was always negative. Now, not only did she have Andrew's attention but other's as well. Allison had no idea how she was supposed to deal with that.

Later during Chemistry Professor Weiner explained that they would be given lab partners for the next experiment. Allison gave out a noise of protest along with the rest of the class, no one wanted to be paired off with a total loser. She waited rather inpatiently while Weiner called out names from the roster randomly, claiming that it would be the fairest way of pairing them off. He finally reached her name, and Allison waited before he said, "Katarina Linal." She glanced around and found a chubby blonde headed girl moving over to one of the empty lab tables. Gathering her book Allison followed. Once the entire class had been paired off Weiner gave them instructions on the absurdly difficult expirenment.

"This is the shit's isn't it?" Katarina asked, her voice was surprisingly high.

"Yeah I guess," Allison asked measuring a clear liquid into a beaker. "I guess somebody out there actually needs to know this stuff."

"You know you seem different now." It was a pretty straight foward question, but regardless it caught Allison off gaurd.

"I don't know what you mean," Allison responded.

"Well you were a little more introverted before and now, I don't know, you're dressing differently. It's just different."

Katarina was looking at her with large brown eyes. Allison looked at her. She certainly was on a low strata in the social scheme of things. She wore plain clothing, her hair was nothing special, and she certainly had a little meat on her. But here she was judging Allison by the same standards that everyone else was. There was no escaping it. Allison did not even know this girl, it took everything inside her not to tell her to 'fuck off' but instead she smiled and said, "Really? I don't see it." She was quite for the rest of the class. And even as the day went on she couldn't help but wonder if in some warped way, Katarina was trying to call her a sell out. If there was one thing that Allison knew she wasn't was a sellout. As far as she knew, she was still the same person she had always been, even if her outward appearance was a little different.

"Damn it!" Allison had just put the finishing touches on her makeup when she heard her doorbell ring. It was Saturday night and Andrew was half an hour early. Grace's party wasn't supposed to start until later on that night, but they had made plans to meet earlier and grab something to eat. Allison certianly didn't want to live on chips and soda for the night. "I'm comming!" she yelled towards the front door. She quickly finished putting on her makeup and ran a brush through her hair. Deciding to leave her hair down Allison had feathered it lightly and it framed her face in perfect waves. She looked down at her dress it was a perfect. Light blue, three quarter length, with an empire waist. She grabbed a light sweater just in case but really thought she wouldn't need it since she would be indoors the whole night. Grabbing her purse she ran down the stairs.

"Allison? Aren't you going to have him come in? " It was her mother she was standing by the front window peaking out through the curtains.

"Why? " she asked.

"It's apropriate," she responded glancing down at Allison's outfit.

"Yeah, right. Maybe some other time. I'll be back later," and before she could respond Allison was out the door.

"You look nice tonight. Is that your mom?" Andrew asked as he opened up the passanger door for her.

"Yeah the total spaz." Blushing slightly she turned to see her mother still peaking through the curtains." I don't know what she's playing at. She never cared about me before and now all of a sudden she's interested. Whatever."

"I thought you said your parents ignored you," he said. It wasn't an accusation it was more of an observation. Allison found it flattering that he had actually listened to her in the library even if she had been a total bitch.

"My dad does," she explained. "My mom just makes it her daily habit to point out all of my faults, which is just as bad."

"My old man is the same way," Andrew continued. "Just last night he was on me for something the coach had told him. Sometime's I want to quit the whole thing." He looked over at her and smiled weakly. "The only thing that keeps me going is the fact that if I get a scholarship I'll be able to go as far away from him as possible."

"Why do they have to be such asses. You know I can't even imagine what a healthy family would even feel like. Its kind of sad actually." Allison looked out the window where the dark sky reflected her growing depression.

Sensing a change Andrew quickly added, "Listen let's not let them ruin or night, we can't give them that pleasure. I thought we'd go down to Mel's diner for a light dinner," he said trying to lighten the mood.

"I don't think fat hamburgers and greasy french fries can be considered a light dinner but what the hell." Allison had heard about Mel's a couple of times before. It was opened 24 hours so it was the perfect before or after party watering hole. Tonight it was packed with high school students all standing around rather loudly waiting for their orders. Allison drew in a breath as she thought about facing the crowd. At the party she would have the cover of loud music and bad lighting to hide her. Here she was completely exposed.

As if reading her thoughts Andrew said, "I love the fact that this place offers a drive up menu. It saves us from having to go inside" A few moments later a girl in a pink uniform and rollerskates approached the window and took their orders. They ordered and sat there for a moment looking at the multitude of cars that drove by or parked. One of these, a blue mustang convertible, stopped and honked loudly.

"Hey Andrew," Allison looked up and saw a blonde headed boy sitting in the driver's seat, he was holding a beer bottle in his hand. "You guys going over to Grace's tonight?."

"Yeah Steven we are," Andrew yelled back his head and half of his body sticking out of the driver's side window.

"See ya there!" Steven yelled as he floored his engine and took off.

"That's Steven the team's junior captain. He's a pretty cool guy, kind of a dumbass though," Andrew told Allison as he grabbed their empty trays and made his way to the garbage can.

"Is that so?" she said, smiling. It was pretty sweet the way he was trying to fill her in on everything in his life. It was something that wouldn't be expected from a so called jock. Andrew certainly was turning out to be quite the opposite, he was sensitive and caring. Something, Allison assumed, many people did not get the chance to find out about him.

A while later they were standing in front of a two story house that had a fair amount of cars parked in the front yard. There were several people getting out of their cars and rushing inside. From out here Allison could hear the music blaring, laughter, and nonsensical screaming. Here she was standing on the threshold of her first ever highschool party. She had no idea what to expect.

"Chug! Chug! Chug!" A big group of senior's were egging on two younger boys in the hallway. They were in an apparent race to see who could drink beer from a vase the fastest. Everyone had a red plastic cup in thier hands and 'Madonna' could be heard out of a stereo in the corner of the living room. There were a small group of people dancing in the open space of the living room. Allison watched as the dancing wasn't quite in synch with the rythm of the song, she supposed that was the effect of the alcohol and laughed.

"Let's go get a drink," said Andrew as he led her into the kitchen.

"Hey Andrew, my man!" a burly senior gave Andrew a one arm hug. "Who's the babe?" he asked with slurred speach. Before waiting for a response he belched loudly and walked away. Andrew looked over at Allison, she shrugged.

The kitchen had been set up for two purposes. The first was as a food source. The dining room table was laid out with various chips and dips. Allison also noticed an uneaten tray of raw vegetables. The kitchens other purpose was to provide beverages, both alcoholic and non. Andrew stood over the island in the middle of the room and looked down at the wide arrange of liquours, juices, and soft drinks. His gaze seemed rather perplexed.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked rather amused.

"Well I just normally have a beer," he said picking up a bottle of Green Apple Schnapp's. "I don't know what to do with this stuff. I don't even know what it is."

Allison smiled. "Oh poor baby. Here let me handle this." She picked up a bottle of vodka and club soda. Andrew watched as she expertly handled the two bases for the drink and then added a splash of pinaple juice, cranberry juice for color, and Malibu rum. A few minutes later she was enjoying a rather tasty mixed drink. Walking to the fridge she pulled out a beer and handed it to Andrew. "Here, stick with what you know," she said and he took it gratefully.

As he watched Allison sip her fruity liquid she handed him the cup so he could quell his curiosity. After his first sip Andrew raised an eyebrow at her.

"What?" she asked. "I wasn't kidding in detention when I told you about the vodka. My parents have a full bar in the basement and I was lonely. If you ask me it's a miracle I'm not an alcoholic."

"Keep making drinks like this," Andrew pointed out, "and we'll both become drunks. Come on let's party."

They made their way back to the living room area. In the few minutes that they had arrived the number of guests had nearly doubled. It was quite difficult making thier way through trying to settle on a spot. Finally, they found a relatively clear spot in front of the fireplace. They both set their half finished cups on the mantel and looked around. The crowd grew roudy as the minutes passed, Allison looked around at all semi-unfimiliar faces for a sign of Claire. She had just made up her mind to go look for her when a tall blonde girl walked up to them. She was smiling at Andrew as she approached them and when she reached him she gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Andy, hey! How's it going? Who's this?" she asked while looking Allison up and down.

"Hey Susan, this is Allison, Allison Reynolds." Allison stood there her head clouding over with suspicion. She hadn't liked the way Susan had greeted Andrew. Worse yet she had looked Allison over as if attempting to place her somewhere.

"Do you go to our school?" she asked. "I've never seen you before."

"Oh yeah," she answered. "That's because I spend most of my time in the girl's bathroom. You know, wallowing in my misery about not being part of the popular crowd. It's not that bad though, you should try it sometime. That is, if you can stand the smell." Allison took a final sip of her drink and looked over at Andrew, "I'm going to go look for Claire. It was nice meeting you Suzy." She gave that blond bitch a final sarcastic smile and walked away. She felt completely satisfied, Andrew had looked as though he was going to spit out his beer from laughing and Susan looked agashed. She heard Andrew excuse himself as she made her way through the dancing crowd.

She had gone through the entire house, including the upstairs rooms which were serving entirely different purposes than those downstairs, and there was still no sign of Claire. In the backyard patio she ran into Jenny.

"Hey Al, how's it going?" she asked her speech already showing signs of drink. She was standing with a stocky senior, who had his arms draped heavily around her shoulders. "This is Benny Baby. Baby Benny this is Al."

"Hey Benny, hi Jennifer. Listen did Claire come?" she asked.

"Oh, yes! But like, she went to her car, or something. I don't know. Cheers!" Jenny said as she drained the entire contents of her plastic cup.

Deciding that she would look for Claire a little later she went back into the house to find Andrew. She found him in the kitchen with a group of his wrestling buddies. Their girlfriends were there as well, they even smiled at Allison when she walked in.

"Allison!" cried one. She remembered him from the lunch table, Jake Sloskey, a senior. "Andy here was just telling us that you make a killer mix drink. Care to share your gift with the girls apparently they aren't big fans of beer? Why I don't know," he added as he chugged a full bottle of beer in a matter of seconds.

"Alright," she said in an amused sort of way. Grabbing her now familiar bottle of Vodka she began making the drink. She sparkled in the attention and even managed a few tricks with the bottle. When she was done she handed them her signature drink.

"Not bad," proclaimed one of the girls. Her face showed a mild look of shook. "How come you can make such awesome drinks?"

Laughing Allison responded, "Oh it's because of all the free time I had when I wasn't invited to parties. There was nothing better to do in an empty house with a fully stocked bar." They all laughed. The girls however looked at her in surprise, clearly they didn't expect Allison to be able to talk so lightly about her previous social situation. They probably expected her to be ashamed and try to hide it. If there was something Allison knew, was that the ability to poke fun of yourself was highly useful. It prevented other's from doing it first.

"Bottoms up," she said to them and watched as they drained the rest of their cups.

A/N: Please, please, please take the time to review. Just remember, if you had a story I would review it.