As usual, through the joint efforts of myself and Lydia, the party was a huge success. I lent Lydia a hand in hosting, offering drinks around to the guests and keeping any fights from breaking out by mediating as well as ensuring nobody fell in the pool. That had happened last time and it had not been pretty. Still, in my skimpy green cocktail dress and heels, I felt absolutely fantastic and as my hair was swept up into an elegant twist, I definitely looked the part of a hostess. I took note that Allison had actually come with the surprise protégé, Scott McCall after having politely declined the invitation to come. Guess family night had been cancelled.
Seeing that Lydia was busy making out with Jackson, I quickly made my way over in order to greet them both with a broad if slightly forced smile. "Hi Allison! So glad you could make it, and you even brought a date, you didn't tell me you were seeing anyone." I gushed as I purposefully took this opportunity to size McCall up. He may be a good lacrosse player now that he'd had some freaky growth spurt of some kind, but that doesn't mean that he's trustworthy or good enough for Allison. Since she's the new girl, I feel it is my responsibility to look out for her. It's what a good friend would do, after all, and I like to think that we were becoming friends. Lord knows I need someone more substantial to talk to than my usual girlfriends. Lydia was the only other one who I actually could engage in conversation without literally feeling my brain cells dying off one by one.
"Oh, yeah this is Scott. I'm sorry I didn't call ahead or anything, I hope it's okay I invited him." McCall looked very nervous and anxious, clearly uncomfortable with this unfamiliar sort of setting. Having an excellent sense for people, I arched an eyebrow and looked closer, staring directly into his eyes. Now, I have been told before that I sometimes made people very uncomfortable with the way I study them, but it was how I learned more about them. I'm not entirely sure how, but sometimes I could peel back a person's personality layer by layer, understanding the complexities of their personalities even with a single glance. I called it my superpower and it was a very useful one to have.
For McCall I received no sense of anything negative or malicious, just a giddy young boy our age who was both excited to be at a party with a girl and both terrified of the same concept. Hm. He's actually kind of cute once you look a little closer at him. Under that mop of dark hair, he has very expressive dark eyes and a strong jawline which was rather favourable in a man. "Not at all, glad you're here Scott. Enjoy yourself." Smiling at them both with a flash I then turned and left them to it, glancing over every now and then.
I continued with hosting on Lydia's behalf for a little while longer before gathering up empty glasses and trays in order to carry them back inside. She sure owes me for this, I didn't exactly come here to end up becoming part of the waiting staff. Setting down the trays I took a moment to look at my reflection in the mirror, smoothing away any discrepancies in my makeup and touching up a little. As I stared back at myself, the dark frame of my lashes seemed to draw out the colour of my eyes where they seemed to swirl and move with changing colours, shifting between oceanic blues and greens.
My eyes have always been my best feature, like I said, I could pull the truth from a person's character simply by studying them, and sometimes they even drew people in almost like a hypnotic pull. They reminded me of the ocean, not just because of their colour, but the way I sometimes caught sight of my reflection in a mirror and for a brief moment, they literally did seem to move. I couldn't quite explain it, and most of the time I played it off as a trick of the light or my imagination, but sometimes, I couldn't help but just stop and stare at them, almost expectantly.
Hearing a slight commotion, I snapped my focus away from my eyes as I rubbed my jaw a little tiredly, heading back outside in order to see McCall hurrying away from Allison. Something seemed to be wrong with him, his expression was contorted with pain and he was running away like he wanted to get as far away from here as possible, even leaving Allison behind in a stupor. Okay, that was a little weird. What was all that about? I frowned and followed after Allison as she went through the house after Scott who made it to his car and drove off quickly, ignoring his date as she called after him.
Standing at the top of the stairs whilst Allison stood at the bottom, I watched the taillights of McCall's car as it gradually disappeared from sight. Definitely weird. He had better have a good explanation come Monday or he's never going to get another chance with Allison again, and somehow…I kind of liked the two of them together. Both totally innocent to the ways of the world, and high school, it was rather charming to see such a couple together. "Allison." A new voice spoke, drawing my attention to a stranger whom I had never seen before and had no business being here at this party. "I'm a friend of Scott's. My name's Derek." Bad news. This guy just reeks of bad news, I could see it all over him.
The moment I set eyes on that beautiful chiselled jaw and leather jacket, I received this crushing ominous sense that this guy was trouble and I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. Only thing was, he was now approaching Allison. "You know Scott?"
"He had to go take care of something, but don't worry. I'll take you home. I promise you'll be safe." Oh no, oh no no no, that is never going to happen in a million years.
"Excuse me but I don't think so." Lifting myself up to my full height I began to masterfully descend the stairs in my heels, coming between Allison and this Derek character as I shot him a pointed glare to discreetly inform him that he should back off. "Friend or not there is no way that I can allow Allison to get into a car with a complete stranger. Scott may know you but we don't. For all we know, you could be a total nut job."
"Cordy it's fine, I'm sure Scott has a reasonable explanation for all this and I don't want to be a bother. I'll just catch a ride home." Allison insisted rather sweetly. Poor girl, she was perhaps a little too innocent, borderline naïve. Giving her a smile I placed my hands on her shoulders and turned her so that I could steer her in the direction of my car, leaving no room for arguments.
"She'll be going home in my car, thank you for the offer but it seems like your services here are not required." The strange man looked at me with a slightly bewildered stare, seemingly unprepared for a scantily dressed teenager giving him lip and effectively shoving a middle finger in his direction. I would never forgive myself if Allison went off with this guy and the next I heard she'd been murdered in some dank basement or something. Like I said, there were plenty of crazy people in the area and there had already been one girl murdered in the woods. I refused to take that risk.
"You really don't have to do this, if it's too much trouble then I can always call my dad to come and get me…" Allison was saying to me as I ushered her into my car then pulled my keys out from within my upholstery almost like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
"It's fine Allison, really. I'd rather drive you home myself and be certain you got there safe and sound then let you go off with a potential whack-job. Seriously, didn't you read the brochure before you came here? Beacon Hills is no holiday resort I can tell you now." I said to her as I climbed in and kicked off my shoes, reaching back for some flats so that I could drive more comfortably. Slowly pulling forwards I glanced towards the stranger who had remained rooted to the spot as we left, watching my car as I drove off. Creepy. Like, seriously?
"Um…" Desperately searching for a change in topic, Allison wriggled a little in her seat. "It was a really nice party. I enjoyed myself."
"Good I'm glad. At least until the part where your date ran out on you. If you don't grill him for that later then I'll happily do the interrogating for you." I offered half jokingly but I don't think Allison saw the funny side as she only offered a weak smile in response. We continued the journey in silence, me occasionally glancing in the rear-view mirror to make sure we weren't being followed by anyone. Sometimes I'd look across to Allison who seemed more and more uncomfortable with the swelling silence and I started to receive the distinct sensation that she didn't know what to make of me. "Do I make you uncomfortable, Allison?"
"No, no not at all, what makes you say that?" She immediately protested out of politeness so I merely arched my eyebrow at her, dryly telling her that it was no good trying to hide from me. "Well, it's not that I feel uncomfortable, it's just that…I don't really get you." She admitted so I stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "You act totally different at school to how you were tonight, it was just a little surprising that's all."
"Oh, you mean I'm not a total bitch when I'm outside of school." I grinned when Allison stared at me with a horrified stupor at the insinuation that I thought that she thought I was a bitch. Unable to help it, I laughed. "Don't worry, I'm honestly not all bad. Sure I love attention and won't deny that I'm gorgeous, glamorous, multi-talented and practically perfect in every way, but school tends to set me on edge. I don't enjoy myself there all that much so I'm a little tetchy most days. Don't take any notice."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" Trailing off when she didn't know how to finish the sentence, I laughed again.
"Seriously, calm down Allison. I know perfectly well that I'm a spoiled brat and an attention junkie, but hey, that's just how I'm made. Like I said, I'm not all bad. If you're my friend then I'll have your back, and I'd like us to be friends." Giving her a more sincere smile, it seemed for the first time that Allison truly relaxed around me, letting go of the tenseness in her rigid body to sink back against the seat. "Perhaps some of your better qualities will rub off on me." She smiled a little, meek and sweet as she was.
"I don't think you're all that you say you are." Curious to her thoughts, I glanced towards her as we pulled up at a red light. "You're not vain, you're just very confident in your looks and abilities, and I don't think that's a bad thing." Fiddling with some of her hair, Allison looked me straight in the eye when she spoke next, almost sending a chill down my spine. "I think you pretend to be worse than you actually are, like how Lydia pretends not to be smart."
"Oh my god." Yep, there were definitely a few chills there. "You have us all figured out and it's only been a week. I have to say Ali, I'm impressed." Allison seemed to brighten at the introduction of a pet name, so with a wink I carried on driving at the green light, taking her all the way home where I pulled to a stop outside her house then leaned forwards a little so I could get a good look at her house, being nosy as I was. "Nice place."
"Thanks. You should come over sometime. We could study, or maybe do something. I don't know. Only if you wanted to." Allison invited and I admitted that I liked the sound of a study group with us and Lydia. I might even get more learning done with the genius of Lydia and the studious dedication of Allison. The front door opened and a rather well matured man stepped outside, looking out at the strange car which had pulled up so I rolled down the window as he approached, seeing his daughter getting out of the car.
"Good evening Mr Argent, it's nice to meet you. My name is Cordelia Powell, but you can call me Cordy." Sticking my hand out for him to shake, Allison's father gave a warm and rather admittedly handsome smile as he accepted my handshake. His grip was firm but not too harsh, warm and a little roughened from the worked skin of his fingers and palm.
"I'm Chris Argent, Allison's father. Thank you for bringing my daughter home, it was very kind of you."
"Oh no trouble, anything for a friend." I assured him, waving it off as Allison walked around the car to her dad's side. "See you at school Allison, take care! Mr Argent, a pleasure to meet you." With a cheeky grin and a wave, I rolled up the window and pulled away in order to return to Lydia's party and help with the final hours of the evening, which basically meant getting rid of guests after they had long overstayed their welcome. At an hour too unholy to even name, I finally managed to make it back to my own room and bed, unzipping my dress and letting it drop to the floor where I simply crawled under my covers in my underwear, looking forward to a long lie in and not stirring until late afternoon Saturday. I swear if anyone wakes me up before I'm good and ready, there will be hell to pay.