Well hey guys! I noticed this story has gotten a lot of attention, and I'm so happy you guys like it. I love hearing about what you guys think, so leave reviews if you want, or just sit back and enjoy this new chapter. Lots of love~ Enjoy!

The rest of the week went by smoothly. There were no tests or anything like that, so Karkat was pretty relieved. He waited eagerly for the weekend, and as soon as it came, he was over at Sollux's house with Dave and Gamzee, trying to drag the geek from his computer.

"Come on, bro," Dave said, reaching over Sollux to grab his hands and pry them off the keyboard. "We've got that sick party to go to!"

Sollux struggled in his grip. "I don't want to go!"

"Oh, come on, my brother," Gamzee said, his lazy and mellow smile gracing their presence. "I heard the older Ampora's going to be playing us some wicked tunes. It's going to be a grand motherfucking party."

"No!" Sollux yelled as Gamzee tried to pull him off his laptop.

"Listen you ungrateful ass-licker! I got my lazy ass out of bed just so I could go to this party because I wanted to not spend a weekend at your house watching you kick my ass at video games with Japanese names I can't pronounce. If you don't get up, I swear I will get a bucket of ice water and make it rain on your nerdy little head." Karkat was fuming.

"Sollux, man, release the keyboard," Dave said. Sollux finally let go, and the four boys fell to the ground. Dave quickly got up and grabbed Sollux's swim trunks and ordering Gamzee to carry the whining Sollux to the bus stop. Gamzee only nodded and picked up Sollux, saying, "Calm down, best friend. We're going to a bitchtits fun party and it's going to fill you with happiness and miracles."

"You know what would fill me with miracleth, GZ?" Sollux asked. "Video gameth."

"No," Karkat snapped, sitting down on the bench. "Can you stop complaining about not having a controller in your hand constantly long enough to enjoy yourself at a party, Sollux?"

"Not really," Sollux said with a shrug. Dave hit him upside the head, but the four boys eventually ended up cackling. After a quick bus ride, they all plopped off and walked the rest of the way to the Ampora-Serket home. When they arrived, Aranea greeted them and scooted them inside. After navigating them to the pool, she left.

The combination of the stunning pool and the smell of whatever was cooking made Karkat's jaw drop. He looked over and saw a man in a white tee shirt and purple swim trunks standing over a grill, flipping burgers, and he assumed that was Mr. Ampora. On deck were a few speakers and a man in what appeared to be a greaser costume setting up his guitar. Eridan and Feferi were in the pool, along with John and Vriska. Aradia was sitting on the edge, laughing as John did a belly flop into the crystal water. Dave was already shrugging off his shirt and throwing his sunglasses onto a beach chair before doing a flip off the edge into the water. Gamzee had gone over to where the food was to talk with Mr. Ampora, who then waved at Sollux and Karkat, introducing himself as Darren. Karkat waved back out of politeness, and then sat down on one of the beach chairs. Sollux joined him.

"I don't even want to look over there," Sollux muttered. "Her happineth maketh me feel queathy."

"Sollux, for the love of all things good on this stupid rock we call a planet, please get over yourself and your imaginary problems and focus on the fact that we are at a party, where we are going to have fun if it kills us."

"Then jump in the pool," Sollux said.

"I will eventually." Karkat leaned back against the chair. They were still pretty early into the party, and Karkat figured he could deal with the people when they had all made their presence clear.

Kanaya and Porrim were next to arrive. Karkat saw Kankri following behind them and waved to his older brother, who only nodded. Karkat stuck his tongue out at Kankri, and then laid back against his chair again, watching the people come in. Nepeta and Equius came in, sitting down next to Eridan and Feferi, Kanaya soon leaving the company of her sister to go join the group. Latula and Terezi Pyrope joined the group, Terezi hitting her cane on the group as Latula moved her to sit down by Karkat and Sollux.

"What's going on?" the blind girl asked, leaning against Karkat like he was a backrest.

He groaned. "Eridan, Feferi, Nepeta, Equius and Kanaya are in the hot tub. John and Dave are doing tricks into the pool nonstop, and Vriska and Aradia as gossiping. Meenah and Aranea are off in the corner talking. Porrim and my brother are talking to the older Ampora, Cronus, I think. Meulin is sitting with Horuss, and they're being really boring. Well, now your sister is over there, so it's not so boring. Sollux is next to us being a dipshit."

"Hey!"

"And that's about it."

"This party isn't very interesting," Terezi said, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting.

Karkat shrugged. "It's not going to be. Oh, Damara and Kurloz are here. Tavros and Gamzee are right behind them, and there's the asshole of all assholes, Rufioh Nitram," he said, listing off the people who walked in. The rumble of a car sounded in the distance.

"That means Jake and the rest of the gang are here," Terezi said. "I hear his car. Does this mean the party can start already?"

Karkat shrugged again. "I guess. Looks like the other Ampora is getting ready to play."

"He better be good," she muttered.

Karkat sighed and rolled his eyes. "He's an Ampora, how good can he be?"

"Don't start that shit," Terezi said. "I've heard enough about Vriska's plan from the girl's bathroom at school, and I don't need to know anymore."

"The one about the tape recorder?" Sollux asked, suddenly paying attention.

"No, that plan," Karkat said, seeing Eridan standing on the edge of the pool, Vriska right behind him. He was laughing as Feferi edged him on to do a flip into the pool, and right as he was about to jump, Vriska pushed him in, making him flip over and hit his head on the side of the pool.

"Oh my god!" Nepeta shrieked. Equius jumped up and dove into the water, grabbing Eridan and bringing him up. Karkat's eyes went wide when he heard the lisping yell of Sollux Captor.

"Vrithka, why the fuck did you think that wath okay?" Sollux was yelling.

"He just fell into the pool, Captor. Not like it's a big deal."

Equius glared up at her from behind his not-yet-repaired sunglasses. "He hit his head on the side of the pool. You are aware that this red stuff here is called blood, correct?"

"He didn't hit himself," Vriska said. "I would have seen it if he had."

"V-Vris," Eridan muttered, moving his hand from his head to hold it up, the pale skin stained red. Karkat got up, taking Terezi's hand to guide the blind girl over to the event. Darren had appeared with a first aid kit, and Cronus was already right next to Sollux, yelling at Vriska.

"He's your fucking brother! Show-v a little compassion, you heartless bitch," Cronus growled. "V-Were the blue teeth not enough for you?"

Her eyes went wide. "That was you?"

"Damn right," Cronus said.

Before Vriska could yell anymore, Sollux was already saying, "Holy fuck, VK! Ith thith jutht becauthe of your thtupid idea that he'th doing thome demonic ritualth in hith room? Tho fucking what if he ith! Maybe he'th trying to thacrifice you, bitch."

Eridan glanced up and over his father's shoulder. "You think I'm summoning Satan?"

"Yeah, why else would you be chanting in your room, idiot?"

Dave stood up and joined Vriska at her side. "That or you've got an audio journal, though apparently our searches have proved that to be a negative."

"You w-went through my room?"

"Three times," Vriska confirmed. Eridan's face went through a few phases. First there was betrayal, then anger, disappointment, and finally loathing. Karkat leaned down next to him, muttering, "Wait until your dad patches your head up before we kick her ass." Eridan looked up at Karkat, then at his father, back at Karkat and nodded. Karkat looked at Equius, and the two exchanged a look that registered they were on the same page: Don't let Eridan try to kill anyone. Standing straight, Karkat huffed.

"What happened?" Terezi asked.

Karkat sighed. "Feferi was trying to get Eridan to do a flip into the pool. Vriska pushed him and he busted his head open. He probably has a concussion. Equius isn't going to let him up until Darren makes sure everything is okay. We're probably going to the hospital after this. Anyway, as for the other side of the pool, Sollux and Cronus are yelling at Vriska and Dave while everyone else is either making sure Eridan is okay or watching the yelling fest in the corner."

"This party went from boring to melancholy in about five seconds flat," Terezi stated.

"Not the word I'd use for it, but I see your point," Karkat said. "I'm gonna sit you down with Feferi and Nepeta. Sollux and Dave are getting physical."

"What do you mean?" Terezi asked as she was ushered over to the hot tub where Nepeta and Feferi were still frozen in fear and worry. Kanaya was strolling back at the same time, and Karkat and Kanaya did a trade off before he headed over to split up Dave and Sollux.

"Alright, you two assholes, calm your man tits and let's not kill each other. As much as I would love having to deal with only one of you bitches, I'd rather not clean up the fucking bloodstains, because I know I'll be the fuckass who has to clean it up. So if you both would kindly shut your fucking food holes, please, someone explain what the fuck has happened before my head explodes and you all have to pick up all the tiny bits of the gray blob of matter that controls this meat slab I call a body."

John got up. "I can."

"Then do."

"Well, you see, Vriska's been hearing things coming from Eridan's room, and Dave never really liked Eridan in the first place. So, the two were in cahoots against him. Vriska searched his room twice, and I found them searching earlier when I came by looking for the bathroom. I know all of this because Dave's told me."

Dave glared at John. "Thanks."

"Hey, you can't be mad at me!" John said with a pout. "He's just the new kid! I can understand Vriska having something against him, but her reason is really stupid, just like yours. You can't just hate him because he's throwing off your cool-kid-vibes or whatever the fuck you said. This is really ridiculous, Dave."

"It's not my fault he's summoning Satan!" Vriska said before Dave could open his mouth.

Eridan got up. "I'm not summoning anything! Haven't you ever heard of someone just thinking out loud?"

"In another language?"

"Don't you hear me talking in other languages?" Darren asked. "You can't honestly expect us to speak only English."

"You're British. It's not like you're foreign or anything."

Eridan glared at Vriska, before giving a softer look at Kanaya and bursting into perfect French. Kanaya didn't seem surprised as the French exchange student laughed and said something back to him. Cronus cackled and joined in the conversation and soon the Amporas and the Maryams were laughing like hyenas. Everyone else was silent and confused.

"Karkat?"

"Cronus, Eridan and Mr. Ampora all speak French and I think they're flirting with Porrim and Kanaya, Terezi," Karkat said.

"Thanks."

Vriska glared at them all. "What else? You guys are five star chefs and can do the tango, right?"

The Amporas all exchanged grins, the three Brits getting devious. Finally, Darren looked back at Vriska and said, "We're British, we can't cook by your standards. However, if it's dancing you want, we could easily pull something together. Coming from Europe, we tend to have a much richer culture than you. I'd be happy to demonstrate sometime, but as for now, I have to make sure my son doesn't have a concussion. We'll finish this talk later. Anyone who wants to may come along."

The three Amporas left. Feferi, Nepeta, Equius and Kanaya were quick to follow. Sollux glared at Dave and Vriska before yelling at them to wait up, and he ran along to catch up. Karkat grabbed Terezi's hand and headed out, Dave yelling, "You too, Vantas?"

"Yeah, asshole. See ya!"

"Wait up, Karkat," John said. "I'm coming too."

"Egbert, seriously?"

"Seriously, Dave," John said. "You and I will talk later."

"Love you," Dave called.

John sighed. "Love you, too."

Karkat led them to the car, Sollux already leaning against it. Karkat sighed and helped Terezi buckle up before he got in the driver's seat and backed out. Sollux was fuming, the waves of irritation radiating off him like he was radioactive. John just sat in the backseat quietly, occasional groans of frustration escaping him as he texted Dave. Karkat and Terezi remained quiet, and while he'd never admit it, he was actually concerned about Eridan Ampora.