When we hit the scene at the Extras party, I noticed that the other Party Pretties's bracelets barely even blinked now, they were just a solid light, only occasionally going dark. I flipped on my eyescreen for a moment to glance at the the Party Pretty numbers. Aden Clairing, thirty-seven. Edie Saint, eighty-five. Jennyfer "Jeffy" Veras, sixty-eight. I saw videos on almost every single newsfeed of Edie hurtling off the party tower, and then me flipping off backwards gracefully, and the rest of the Party Pretties following in perfect unison.
I was shocked; how had I jumped so quickly, and so high? But, I didn't say anything to the others. It's an unsaid rule that Party Pretties never discuss rank in public. That's only for rank-suckers and clique-hoppers. Trying to boost your numbers intentionally means leaving the Party Pretties. We're here to party, not to rank-up.
Aden stayed close to me as I danced my way through the party. A hoverboard zipped overhead without a rider and one of the Party Pretties, Xander, grabbed hold of it and it took him away and up a staircase. I watched, amused, and then returned to dodging the sweaty bodies of Extras and Pretties.
A girl with psycho white eyes and black hair with blue streaks intermingled in stopped us as we headed up a ramp to an upper deck. "Holy hoverboard, you're- you're Aden Clairing and Jeffy Veras! I have Party Pretties, at my party?" She squealed and did this odd little dance in front of us, and I just stared.
"Well, it is a party, bright eyes. And that's what we do. You're Ronni Meers, right?" Aden had turned on his charm; his voice was silky smooth and he'd left my side to get into the girl's personal space-bubble. I thought she was going to pass out as she nodded about ten times. Aden will always be a celebrity to these people. It's easy when you're as handsome as him.
"Could you direct us to those new dream-making shots? I heard they'd be here, at your party." He stressed the word and Ronni Meers wordbabbled the directions to him, gushing about how bubbly and awesome and wonderful they were.
We both smiled our thanks and trailed away, leaving Ronni Meers to spread it around that she, an Extra, had Party Pretties at her party.
We found the drinks easily, and I couldn't help but feel that we had more eyes on us than when we had first arrived. Word had gotten around fast. "Let's go find Edie, I want to give her a drink. What do they call these anyway?"
"DreamOut. And just ping her where they are, she'll be fine. Let's find the roof, Jeffy." He looked at me funny. Why did he keep doing that? But I'd already taken a shot of DreamOut and it was starting to affect me, so I ignored the thought. I pinged Edie quickly and then followed behind Aden with my hand in his, like a Littlie following an older sibling.
The shot made everything brighter and the people around me looked like liquid at the edges. The chorus of screams, laughter, and wordbabble mixed in with the music to sound like an orchestra of hovercars around me and I felt dizzy. But Aden's hand kept me rooted to the shiny silver floors of the Party Tower of Ronni Meers and I followed him up, up, up.
He pulled me through a slide door and set me down, and when my vision stopped swimming, I realized we weren't on the roof and I was a little confused.
Two updates in one day, whoo! I had a little bit of a writer's block, but I freed myself from it so I hope to be updating more frequently for you guys. 3