Revamped!

Beware of Sharp Thornes: Part Two

After the Party

Thorne is glad his parents left but now he has the whole day to clean the house. The areas he's seen were already a mess so he can't even begin to imagine the rest of the house. If they're anything like his memories of the party, he only hopes that, like the memories, the mess is non-existent.

For a party that went on for one night, it made a catastrophic mess.

Thorne walks out of the kitchen, drinking a glass of water and carrying a box of garbage bags to deal with the problem. After a few steps, his head pounds so much that he needs to sit down. He feels so hungover thinking and conspiring about the night in question. He sits on the couch where Winter, Cinder, and Scarlet are sleeping and feels his nausea rising. To resolve that issue, he pulls out a garbage bag and opens it in case he vomits.

He inhales and nothing: no regurgitating anything from last night. A little memories would've been nice but what can he do?

For a moment, Thorne thinks he should've gotten some pain killers from the kitchen for his head but he doesn't want to turn back or stand up because he might vomit in his tracks.

He looks beside him and sees the three girls sleeping. He watches Cinder groan awake, grabbing the garbage bag and using it as a blanket. She pulls it over her eyes and goes back to sleep.

Thorne stifles on a laugh, pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of that for his story. He tags Cinder in it and captions it: mood after last night.

-o-

Before the Party

Cress is nervous. When Thorne first mentioned the party, she's felt a little on edge. As Thorne's girlfriend, she has a social obligation to be present and she wants to be present. She's only scared because she's never been to a high school party. Not only is she disadvantaged socially with her quirks but the concepts of underaged drunk teenagers and loud music with inappropriate dancing freak her out. She's watched enough of those in movies to last for any personal experience.

She's a master of projection and that was all she needed.

She first thought that being at the party would be the most nerve-wracking part but she didn't factor in asking her father for permission to go. That was definitely the scariest part of the party and it wasn't even the party itself.

"So…" Cress mutters, stirring her soup into spirals with her spoon. "There's this party coming up and all my friends are going."

Her father looks up at her and, for some reason, Cress starts panicking.

"I swear," Cress suddenly says, feeling her face heat up. "I won't drive drunk because I won't drink so I think I'll end up being the designated driver and if it ends up being too late, I'll just crash at Winter's -"

"Crescent," her father says, stopping her ramble, "you can go."

"I can?" Her spoon drops into her bowl in shock. "You're letting me go?"

Sage nods his head. "If Winter's there, then you'll have someone that I know. Besides, Crescent, you're a teenager and I'm beyond grateful that you're going off and doing teenage things like partying. I'm also glad you're not going through a rebellious phase and sneaking out."

Cress's face burns red, thinking back to the time she snuck out of the house with Thorne. Instead, she clears her throat and takes her spoon out of her soup, wiping it clean with a napkin.

"I was worried for a bit when you got that haircut," Sage tells her. "They say that when a woman gets a haircut, it means she's about to change her life. So when I saw you with drastically shorter hair and pierced ears, it put me on edge. But nothing bad that I know of has happened so I think you're becoming a more assertive and confident girl."

Cress looks up at her father and smiles a little. "Thanks, Dad."

"Also, watch out for yourself at that party. Better beware of sharp thorns."

Cress laughs a little. "Punny."

Her father raises a brow at her.

"The party is at Thorne's house," she explains.

-o-

After the Party

Eventually, Scarlet stills awake. Her eyes blink rapidly a few times before she finally sits up on the couch. Hazy, she looks around, notices that she's on Thorne's couch, and sees The Blackburn girls asleep on her and Thorne looking at her with a box of garbage bags and a creepy smile. He looks hungover to the stars and she honestly feels the same. Scarlet rubs her under-eyes and sees black smudges on her fingertips, knowing that it's her mascara that smeared off in her sleep.

"What is all this?" Scarlet asks Thorne.

"Welcome to the afterparty!" Thorne exclaims, tossing her a garbage bag.

Scarlet winces. "I'm not cleaning spades for you."

She throws the bag back. It lands on Cinder who finally wakes up with a garbage bag on her head and another one wrapped around her. Scarlet grins a little and Thorne takes another photo for his story. It takes Cinder a few minutes to process what she's waking up to and even when she has all the descriptive facts, nothing in her mind clicks.

Cinder swats Thorne's phone away from her face. "I drank too much and now my liver filed a restraining order. Can someone hold my ponytail while I go throw up?"

Winter yawns awake. She sits up and, to the other three's surprise, looks as fresh as a flower. They're envious and confused at Winter's current state.

"Aren't you supposed to be hungover?" Scarlet asks her. She could've sworn that everyone at the party last night had a couple of drinks.

"My liver is in its prime," Winter responds proudly.

"Your head isn't," Scarlet mutters.

Thorne lights up a little. "In that case, Winter, do you remember what happened last night?"

Winter sits back, thinking for a minute before shaking her head. "I only remember a party, dancing, and drinking. That's it."

Thorne looks at Cinder and Scarlet as well and the two girls shake their heads. Throne groans in frustration as he leans forwards and rubs his temples in his hands. The mystery behind this party of his brings more mental pain than the consequential hangover. Maybe the longer they're all awake (and maybe cleaning as well), they'll remember something. Maybe seeing an abandoned red plastic cup will trigger a path of brain cells that will just play out the events of last night like a movie. Or maybe he just has to vomit out his forgotten memories. (Or those are all stupid ideas.)

"Then none of our heads are in their primes," Thorne states.

[Remember that in the present day, after the party, we haven't seen Cress, Kai or Wolf yet.]