CHAPTER 8

"Please be careful!" Victoria called over to Quaxo who stood on the sofa, drink in hand, as he jumped up and down to the music. He poked his tongue out at her before stumbling slightly and tumbling down into a crumpled mess, spilling the contents of the glass down his white shirt.

"Shit!" He slurred as he tried his hardest to wipe at the stain with fumbling hands. Victoria rolled her eyes and just thanked god that he didn't spill it on any of the furniture. Bystanders laughed as the dark haired man rose to his feet only to fall back down again and begin giggling hysterically.

"And so the Irish guy says, "I was so busy eating potatoes and listening to U2, I forgot to get drunk!" Victoria was snapped back into her original conversation. She let out a forced laugh when she noticed others around her chuckling at Tumblebrutus' joke but she really hadn't been listening. Frankly, her mind had been elsewhere all night. She had been scanning the room for Plato for a while now and hadn't seen him once. She knew he'd turn up at some point but she was growing impatient and the gin she had consumed earlier would only make her confident for so long. She tugged at her jumper sleeve, her hands unable to stay still.

"Are you okay, Vic?" Pouncival touched her forearm, bringing her back down to earth once again. Her fingers stopped fiddling and she looked to him, her eyes still wide.

"What? Oh, yeah I'm fine, I'm fine." She smiled at her friend, his faded brown eyes now clouded with concern. She obviously looked like she was wasted. She had done some shots with Cettie earlier for good luck, but she wanted to be at least coherent when she went to talk to Plato. She decided that now was a perfect time to 'make a move' so to speak, as the pair were obviously interested in one another but neither had the guts to do anything about it. "Do you know where Plato is?"

Pouncival's arm dropped to his side. "No idea. Said he'd be a bit late I think." He took a swig from his beer bottle and grimaced. Victoria knew that Pounce didn't like to drink but he did like to look cool in front of his friends, as they were the type to make fun of that sort of thing. In their minds beer was the manliest thing of all, even though they all took ballet classes and they had no problems with that. Victoria rolled her eyes.

"You don't have to drink that, you know." She leaned in closer to him so Tumble wouldn't hear. She looked to him and he seemed to have his hands full entertaining a crowd of people with his awful (and slightly racist) jokes. But still, she knew that Pounce would kill her if the boys overheard.

"Yes I do." He took another gulp and shuddered this time. "Why do people like this stuff? I've had out of date milk that tastes better than this." Victoria wrinkled her nose but giggled nonetheless. Pounce smiled at her, glad he was making her laugh as she had been distracted all night. Just then the front door opened and a stream of people walked through, all decked in their finest clothes and with bottles of various drinks in their hands. Among them was a tall, auburn haired man whose head stuck out just a bit more than the rest. Victoria straightened her back immediately and her heart began to beat faster.

"Oh God." She mumbled, her eyes darting to the floor.

"What is it?" Pounce looked past her at Plato who had just entered and his face fell slightly. "Oh."

"What do I do?" Victoria grabbed Pouncival's arm tightly and looked at him with wild eyes. "I need more gin."

He looked fondly at her hand on his arm and steadied her. "Look at me, Vic." She obeyed. "Calm the hell down, you crazy. Just talk to him." The words tasted bitter in his mouth but he said them anyway. Victoria nodded a little too frantically and Pouncival chuckled. "I'd also keep the head movements to a minimum, you look like you're about to go on some sort of rampage."

"Right. Talk to him. No fast head movements. Got it." She ran through the list, her confidence growing slightly from her friend's calm words and his hand on hers. She scanned the room to find him once again and locked eyes with him. He stood by the drinks table, holding a red plastic cup and looking amazing as usual. Victoria's head spun slightly from the gin but mostly from her anxiety. "Maybe I should have some vodka instead?" She began to turn away.

"Vic." Pouncival scolded. "Go." He gave one last half-hearted smile as she began to walk over. On a normal day Victoria would have stayed to talk to her friend, with the defeated look on his face she could tell something was wrong. But today wasn't a normal day and she had bigger fish to fry. She breathed deeply enough to calm her down but not too deep that she looked like a psychotic killer.

"Hey, Plato." He was facing the other way now, and so she tapped him on the shoulder. As he turned he smiled down on her, his teeth gleaming and his eyes friendly.

"Oh, hi Victoria." An unfriendly voice returned her greeting. A tall, slender woman moved out from behind Plato and smiled bitterly at her, her eyes cold. Victoria had been so dead set on talking to Plato that she hadn't even seen Cassandra standing next to him. "Lovely place you've got here. Very… quaint." The taller woman wrinkled her nose slightly as if there was a bad smell in the air.

"Hello Cassandra." Victoria deadpanned, her face twisting into a sour expression. "Didn't realise you were invited." She didn't necessarily mean to sound rude but she didn't want to sound inviting either. Cassandra smirked slightly, moving closer to Plato who looked as awkward as he probably felt. Victoria felt bad for him but she didn't want Cassandra to walk all over her like she usually did. She would have time to talk to him later.

"Your charming little roommate invited me. Sally, I think?"

"Cettie." Victoria corrected. Victoria made a mental note to kill her later.

"Whatever. I was just talking to Plato here about the show." She placed her hand on his arm and kept it there, staring Victoria right in the eye. The blonde's blood boiled.

"I see. Sorry about the little mishap in the audition the other day. It must have been embarrassing for you." Victoria smiled a falsely sweet smile and Cassandra turned pink.

"Grizabella had no idea what she was talking about, daft old bat." She rolled her greeny-brown eyes and regained her composure. "That's my part."

Victoria laughed slightly. Cassandra was so blinded by her own self-love that she couldn't even take direction from others who were clearly superior to her. Victoria had had enough – she wasn't going to stand here and have an argument with her. She had had enough gin tonight to have the confidence to turn to Plato and say: "Do you wanna go somewhere and talk, Plato?"

He looked taken aback. His cheeks turned pink and his mouth opened in a smile that could have easily been a grimace. "Uh, Victoria… I, Uh-"

"Not trying to steal my man are we, Vic?" Cassandra placed her arm around Plato protectively, leaving Victoria staring back at them both. The picture made her stomach turn and she felt sick rising in her throat. It suddenly all made sense. This was why he never made any advances on her, why he barely even spoke to her. This was probably why Cassandra hated her so much. She'd put it all down to his shyness and her general bitchiness but this was obviously the reason. She suddenly felt very small in comparison to the two. The brunette was nearly as tall at Plato, decked out in a sleek brown dress that hugged her petite dancers figure. Plato wore a crisp blue shirt and suit trousers. They looked like a couple, a smart and sophisticated couple and she looked like a petty child. Victoria stood looking up at them in her blue jeans and cropped pink jumper, her mouth slightly agape. She hadn't even bothered wearing much make up. She probably looked like a little kid desperate for attention.

"Are you two…? I mean – are you a couple?"

"Yes, honey." Cassandra sneered. "So you were trying to steal my man!" She looked to Plato and laughed. He smiled slightly, but his eyes were looking apologetically at Victoria.

"No," Victoria stumbled backwards slightly, tripping over a stray cup and bumping into Jemima who stood behind her. "I wasn't!"

"Ouch. What the hell?" Jemima spun round, an angry look on her face before softening when she saw her friends distressed eyes and flushed cheeks. "Are you okay?"

"I – I –" Was all Victoria could muster up, her eyes starting to fill with tears. She wasn't quite sure why she wanted to cry. Maybe because Cassandra was being so cruel to her or because the guy she had been fawning over for the last year and a half was dating her enemy and maybe she'd had a little too much to drink, but either way she could feel the tears about to spill over.

"Victoria's been told some harsh truths tonight, my dear." Cassandra looked to Jemima with a mocking look in her eye. "Frankly, I don't know why she's acting so upset, I mean it's not like Plato would have ever liked a girl who cries at her own party and can't even dance."

Victoria snapped. The tears spilled over and ran down her cheeks and before she knew it she had raised her hand and slapped Cassandra right in the face. She backed away, surprised by herself, her hand covering her mouth in shock. Jemima stared at her in disbelief before giggling slightly, biting her lip to stop herself as Cassandra stared at her. The tall brunette looked as if she had just been attacked by a madman - her face went bright red and she stepped closer to Victoria, leaning down to stare her square in the face.

"You're going to regret that." She breathed before storming out of the room and into the hall.

Plato stood dumbfounded, having not said much at all during this whole encounter. He and Victoria locked eyes for a moment and for a second she thought he might stay with her, but he just furrowed his brow and followed in the direction Cassandra had gone. She looked after him, confused as to what just happened.

Victoria then shared a look with Jemima for a moment. She couldn't believe she'd just slapped someone. She's never even had a proper argument with someone before, let alone physically maimed them.

"That was amazing." Jemima blinked at her blonde friend before falling into fits of laughter. Victoria noticed the crowd that had gathered around and who now were also laughing and cheering for her. Quaxo stood with a new drink in his hand, his shirt still stained, with a wide grin on his face. "All hail Queen Victoria!" He cried into the mass of people who began whooping and clapping, all impressed with her for standing up to the Ice Queen that was Cassandra.

She noticed Pouncival not far away with an unreadable expression on his face. He walked up to her and folded his arms round her.

"Do you need a drink?" He asked, looking down at her with a smile now plastered on his face.

"Yes please." She replied, suddenly laughing along with everyone else. She felt all her anger fizzle away and replace itself with happiness. Her friends all stood around her and the party was still in full swing, with most people not even noticing the kafuffle that had just occurred. She let Pouncival pour her another drink, keeping his arm firmly round her shoulders and she giggled with the others about her new found anger. Plato? Plato who?