A short while later, Claire had sat herself up against the wall that Bender had just been standing against.

"You wanna sit with me?" she asked.

"Not really."

"Someone's a bit hostile."

"Look who's talking," he said, but he crouched down next to her anyway.

"So, what did Vernon give you for the fire alarm?"

"He put me over his desk and spanked me until my ass was red."

Claire snorted, then slapped him on the arm.

"Shut up. No, really."

"I got detention."

"Oh, well, that's…average."

"Yeah, 'cept it was today. All day. Just me and Vernon, alone, together."

"Wait, like an eight hour Saturday thing?"

John nodded.

"No way!" Claire squealed. Bender winced in response. "I was supposed to go to that. That's what he gave me earlier in the week for cutting class."

"And that's exciting because?"

"I don't know, it just is. It's weird, we could have been in detention all day together."

"So how'd you get out of it?"

Claire pressed her lips together.

"It sounds so stupid, but my dad went into school and told them I couldn't attend it. I'm no longer eligible for detentions outside of school hours, either."

"Well, it's alright for some," Bender muttered, getting back up to his feet.

"What do you mean?"

"Some people aren't so unlucky in that their daddies can buy them out of detention, you know?"

"Oh, come on, don't be like that. You want a drink? There's tons in the kitchen that no one else is claiming."

"I'm good, actually."

"Well, I want one, so either you stay here alone or you come with me," she said, getting to her feet and wiping the gravel from the ground off her trousers. She began to walk back towards the door, glancing over her shoulder to see if John was following.

For some reason, he walked after her.

He knew that if this had been any other night, any other situation, she wouldn't even look twice at him. Nor would he look twice at her. So he figured he'd humour her for now, while she was feeling friendly and tipsy.

Claire liked having company that wasn't her usual crowd. Sometimes they gave her such a headache, and after what had been done and said tonight, she didn't want to talk to them again for at least a few hours, maybe a day.

What she needed was to be way more drunk than she currently was.

Once in the kitchen, she proceeded to open up a bottle of vodka and fill a random cup half way with it. Then she passed it over to John, who was watching her like he was either wary or just bored, and topped up the rest of the cup with diet coke.

"Someone's on a mission tonight," Bender muttered, and Claire smiled as she put the cup to her lips and began to drink. Bender's eyes widened further as she carried on, finishing the drink all in once.

"It's a party, right? I'm gonna party," she said, breathless once more.

John nodded once, unsure of how to respond. He took a sip from his drink, neat vodka, stopping as Claire began to move onto the next room, taking the bottle of vodka with her. John thought to follow, if only for the alcohol, but he knew better than to do that.

Claire carried on into the living room, the same room where the boy had attempted to climb the chandelier, only now all that was left of it was broken glass on the floor and parts of it still hanging onto the ceiling. She found Steff quickly, who was helping to clear up—badly.

"Can't we just, like, call a maid, guys?" she shouted over the pop music blasting throughout the whole house. The guy next to her swung his arm around her shoulders and began to whisper in her ear causing her to giggle in response, but then she quickly removed herself from his embrace when she spotted Claire.

"There you are! I thought I'd lost you!" she exclaimed.

"Not me, I just had to get some air. I was talking to some guy out there but… I don't know where he went," Claire said, suddenly aware that John hadn't following. Momentarily, she thought about going back to find him, but she also knew better than to do that.

"Was he cute?"

"I don't know, it was dark outside. He was funny, though."

"Oh, screw that! Unless he's Andrew Clarke level hot, then I don't want to hear about it."

"Andy is not hot, he's a pig."

"Don't be such a baby. Here, little baby, have some more juice from your bottle. Go on," Steff said, putting on a babyish voice as she attempted to force feed Claire the vodka from the bottle she had in her hands. Claire began to drink, but as Steff carried on pouring she winced at the after burn and moved away, causing it to end up on the floor instead.

"Oh, what a waste. Bad baby!" Steff said, giggling again, then turned around back to the guy who she had been with who had just slapped her butt. She grinned at him, then turned back and leant into Claire's ear.

"That's the kind of hot guy I'm talking about! If I hadn't already nabbed him, I'd set you up," she whispered, then went back over to him.

At any other time, Claire would perhaps be more worried for her friend. The man was at least in his twenties, and had a weird, leery look about him. But the reminder of Andy had made Claire feel angry again, so she ignored it and carried on moving around the house.

After wandering around a few times and talking to anyone that approached her, Claire began to realise that mansions weren't too big after all. She had ended up close to the spot she had been in just before she ran outside, and all of her friends were still in almost exactly the same place. Heather waved when she saw her, but even from a distance Claire could tell it was sarcastic.

"Why did you have a problem with me earlier, Heather?" she said when she approached her, finding it hard not to stumble over any of her words.

"What?!" Heather squeaked, "Claire, I love you, you're, like, a long lost sister. Why would I have a problem?"

"I thought you were mad at me, for rejecting Andy."

"Well, even though I don't understand why you'd reject him, we all make mistakes."

Claire frowned, unsure whether Heather truly understood what she was saying. At that moment, James came up behind Heather and started kissing her on the neck.

"James, James! Stop! I'm talking to Claire!" she squealed. James looked up to smile at Claire, then went back to what he was doing.

"This keeps happening to me tonight," she muttered.

Heather and James suddenly seemed way too occupied to carry on talking to Claire.

"I'm going to find John again," Claire slurred.

"Who?" Heather replied, looking away from James long enough to see Claire wave her hand in a sort of 'forget it' way before sauntering off.

The last place she had seen Bender was in the kitchen, so Claire began to make her way back there. As she passed through the doorway, someone grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Claire."

It was Andy.

Claire immediately attempted to pull her hand away, but he had a tight grip.

"Can we just talk, please?" he said, seemingly more sobered up than he was before.

"Fine."

"I'm sorry about what I did, it's just... it's so frustrating."

"What is?"

"Liking you! You're so closed off to everything, don't you realise that?"

"Andrew…"

"No, listen to me."

He was getting frustrated now.

"Let me go, please," Claire said as calmly as she could muster.

"Humour me, Claire, just see what it's like. I'm drunk, you're drunk, we won't even remember this tomorrow!"

"I'm…I'm going home now. So let me go, and maybe some other time, okay?"

"You don't mean that! What is it about me? Am I not good enough?"

"You're starting to hurt me," Claire said desperately, trying to pull her arm back. Andy suddenly seemed to remember himself, and let go.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I just don't want to do this while we've been drinking."

"So you'll give me another chance?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Claire saw a mop of dark hair push past someone to head for the door.

"Sure," she said, then walked away, her sights now set on finding the boy from the yard again.