I arrived at a fairly large suburban house, lit up with yellow light and phone screens.
There was music playing, but it wasn't loud enough to attract police phone calls. And although there were a few cars parked in front of the house, it wasn't crowded with vehicles. It didn't look out of control, wild, or illegal.
A little worry that had been niggling at me for a while released its hold, even as a new one took hold and I walked up to the front door.
I tentatively knocked, but no one answered, even though I could hear lots of voices inside.
Come on Juliet! They probably can't hear you.
I was about to knock again when the door swung open, and light, music and atmosphere blasted me. My mind stiffened into defensive position, which was probably why I didn't notice the two guys in front of me, trying to exit the house.
"Excuse me," A guy I barely recognised from the year above pushed past me, and I moved out of the way, into the party.
"Juliet!" A voice called, just as I'm snapping out of my mind blank. I swung around to see Layla grinning at me, waving me over with an enthusiastic arm.
She was wearing a mid-length modest black strap dress with sleeves and her dark hair was up in a ponytail, like mine. Knee length electric blue leggings and a pair of sneakers topped off the casual look. I mutely walk over, shock probably carved into my face like a statue's.
"A little overwhelming, right?" She says, louder than normal so she can be heard over the music.
"Yes," I tell her slowly, "Uh, definitely."
After a few minutes once you'd sort of relaxed into it, the atmosphere was actually pleasantly charged. Like, I don't know, maybe like a mild sugar rush? You almost don't notice, but you notice you feel slightly hyped. Large parties and groups used to scare me, and usually view myself as very introverted. My powers seemed to be actually helping me out this time because I felt buzzed rather than drained. I bet it would be different if I had to listen to people's inner dialogues, but I could filter it out so it was actually kind of awesome.
I suddenly grinned back at her. She grinned back.
"I'm glad you came! Here," She said, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to the kitchen, "let me get you a drink."
There were all types of drinks on the marble kitchen counter and I mean all types. Not just underage stuff like soda and juice, there were cans and bottles and those red plastic cups like you see in teen movies and I was starting to get nervous.
"Here," Layla said, thrusting two cups into my hand and grabbing some bottles. She sloshed half a cup of orange juice into them, then almost filled the rest with lemonade. Finally, she carefully measured two shot glassed of some clear liquid, then tipped one in each.
"When I was a kid, my parents would have these for the kids at their 'grown up' parties, minus the tequila, of course." She grinned again, "I used to love the grenadine because it made that awesome gradient shift, you know?"
"Mmm," I responded articulately. I had no idea what grenadine was and was more focussed on the tequila shot. I'd never drunk liquor before, but I'd seen my dad lose himself to it and was reluctant to try.
"Oh!" Her eyes suddenly went wide, "I forgot to ask, were you going to drink? I was looking forward to drinking, because Dee said she'd drive me, but I didn't think about you! Were going to drive yourself home? Sorry."
"Oh, uh, no," I said, brain running circles of indecision, "I took the train so -" I stopped, unsure.
"Oh, is it your first time or something?" She asked, curious and not condemning.
"Y-yes," I said, wishing my voice was stronger. Why couldn't it be? And from what I knew, one shot of tequila didn't make you drunk, so why not try it?
"You don't have to if you don't want to," Layla offered, shrugging to indicate she was fine either way, "But I'd be honoured to share your first drink."
I smiled, "Okay, why not?"
She grinned, "Awesome!" Then she held out her cup, "Cheers?"
I took a breath, "Cheers!"
Then I took a gulp.
Huh, not bad. Though I think the fruit juice is probably carrying most of the flavour.
"Now," Layla continued after she'd had a swig, "Don't leave your cup anywhere until you're completely finished, if you want another drink, get a can and don't let it out of your sight either."
The look I gave her must've been questioning because she laughed and explained.
"This is your first drink, so you probably don't know much about staying safe at a party, right? There are rules, like don't leave your drink with someone you don't trust so someone doesn't spike it et cetera cetera."
"Someone here would do that?"
"Well," She looked uncomfortable, "I know most of the people here, but you never know and it's usually better to be safe than sorry."
"Thanks then," I smiled, "I would definitely prefer not being sorry."
"Me too," She grinned, then paused as the music changed, "Ooh! I love this song! Wanna dance?"
"Why not?" Dancing with a friend sounded fun.
I only got one more drink that night – I doubled checked with Layla to make sure what I was getting was okay, but she offered to make me another juice mix instead the can I was holding.
"Better not go with that one – especially if you've had one shot already. Would you like another one of what I made you before?" She asked, looking a little flushed after the dancing.
"Yes please, thanks." I said, relieved that I hadn't done something too stupid.
I hung out a little with Dee, who was on the sofa playing video games against anyone who challenged her supremacy. I'd thought of her as a bit rough when we first met but after a while you realised; she was just assertive and opinionated, not actually mean.
"So," She said, jabbing buttons and twisting her controller as Bowser raced to first place, "you a gamer?"
"Ah," I said, distracted by a banana peel, "No, not really."
"Hmm…" She grunted, drifting around a sharp corner with an ease I envied.
"And you?" I quickly asked, trying to revive the conversation. I liked it when other people talked, but I wasn't very good at talking back most of the time. I guess I just didn't know what to say.
"Yeah, I'm a gamer." She said, then added thoughtfully as she sailed through the finish line, "I like the way everything's a fight and totally straight forward. No unnecessary dialogue or delay, just 'save the princess', 'beat the bad guy' or 'kick your friend's sorry butt!'" She chuckled.
I laughed along with her because I knew I wasn't very good at Mario Cart*, or any video games really. But it was fun playing games with friends, even if you lost most of the time.
I played a few more races (the best of which I came in 3rd), then drifted away and got drawn into a conversation with Oliver. He was talking seriously to some interesting types in the kitchen. They honestly weren't the people you'd expect to be in conversation at a party – one popular girl, a rough guy and a smart looking boy from my year.
It turns out they were talking about the meta cure the CCPD were offering and whether it was just a government ploy to take away people's powers.
"Especially now Cicada is gone," Oliver argued passionately, "there's no point in it except to try and control people or scare them into…" I drifted away, unwilling to be drawn into a discussion about metas. People didn't always think kind thoughts when metas were brought up and now that I'd thought about it, I wasn't sure what alcohol did to my powers. What if drinking had been a mistake?
It was about this time that I began to really feel those two shots.
Up until then, all I'd been feeling was a good sort of buzz and I guess I was little bit more outgoing than normal. As I walked away from that conversation though, I began to feel a little uneasy.
"That guy makes me so mad!"
I looked around for the voice and found no one talking to me. My stomach sank into the ground.
"Wow, I can't believe…"
I winced, moving towards the hallway, where less people were. There was an empty chair beside the stairs, and I moved towards it, sitting down with a thump.
Imagine the wall, Juliet. You can't freak out here! Your friends will think you're nuts and-and…never mind that. Just focus on the red brick wall.
My eyes were closed, and the voices slowly receded. I thought it was all good until -
"Juliet?"
Focus harder!
"Juliet, are you okay?"
Huh? Why would someone be thinking my name – oh, open your eyes you idiot!
I opened then to find Layla standing over me, a concerned expression on her face.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"Sorry, um, ah, yeah, I'm fine." I said, surprised.
"You sure? you don't look too good." She insisted, "Did you have any more drinks?"
"Ah, no, I didn't, I'm really fine, I just-" I stopped, really thinking about it for a second, "I think I should probably be, um, getting home."
"That doesn't sound like the worst idea," Layla said, her face relaxing, then tensing as she thought of something, "Did you say you were taking the train?"
"Um, yes," I said, slightly confused, "I'm taking the train."
"At this time of night?"
"Yeah, it's not that late and I always take the train anyway."
"Did you come with anyone else?"
"Uh, no, j-just me."
"I don't really think it's safe to take public transport alone past ten o'clock at night." Layla admitted, looking concerned and slightly reluctant.
"Wait, past ten!" I jumped up, then sat back down heavily when I felt unbalanced, "Aunty's gonna kill me."
"I would take you home myself, but I've already had a few drinks and I didn't bring my car." She added, running a hand through her hair, which had come out of its ponytail since we last talked, "I don't feel right about letting you go home like this. Is there anyone you can call?"
"It's fine!" I tried to insist, "I'm totally fine, I just need to get home before anyone notices."
Layla shook her head, "I think you need to go with someone. Who can I call?"
"Umm, I don't really want to tell-" I began, unable to come up with a valid reason why my older foster sister or Aunty Lin shouldn't come and get me except that I didn't want to face them yet. Taking the train alone didn't truthfully sound like a safe option, and I wasn't really feeling that good. I'd felt slightly nauseous when I'd stood up earlier and even if I hated it, it would probably turn out better if I lived to be punished rather than died anonymously in a storm drain.
"Here, if you give me your phone I'll do it." She said softly, sitting down next to me.
I handed it to her and she quickly navigated to the contacts, then froze for a good two seconds, her face unreadable. Then she took a deep breath and dialled someone. I only had six contacts, and four of them were here, so I guessed she had called Cara.
Author's Note:
Sooooooo, finally the long awaited party chapter! It's a lot longer than I expected, which I why I split it up into three chapters. This one still had the bulk of the word count though.
Was it everything you expected?
Anyway, I hope you guys have an awesome week :)
Trix