Stumbling Through

Being Juvenile

Chapter Twelve

 

“Willow!” A voice called over, distracting Derek and me from our dancing as we turned to look.

Jenifer was stumbling through the crowds, using a more sober looking Rick as a support, who was non-too-discreetly using it as an opportunity to look down her dress and stare at her cleavage.

“Willow, Willow, Willow. My amazeballs friend.” She grinned, letting go of Rick and messily clinging on to me. My arms went out to steady her as she lost her footing in her high heels.

“Whoops.” She giggled, the stench of alcohol rolling off her in waves.

I wasn’t one to judge seeming as I’d had a few drinks myself.

She took both of my hands into her grasp. “We’re about to start playing some games.” She said eagerly.

I couldn’t hold back my laugh. “Games? What are we, 12?” I asked.

She started giggling hysterically almost falling over. Derek quickly leapt into action to help me, by gripping onto her shoulders to set her upright. I gave him a grateful smile as he cautiously let go again, worried she might start to topple once more.

“We’re going to play dares, and it won’t be fun without you.” She pouted trying to pull me along, her grip surprisingly tight for a drunk person.

“But I was dancing with Derek.” I pointed, nodding my chin in his direction to emphasise my point.

She only seemed to brighten up as she turned to Derek. “You have to play too.” She grinned taking hold of his arm and forcefully dragging both of us across the room, towards the group of about twenty or so people all gathered in a large circle.

I shot the already pale-faced Derek an apologetic grin. He looked ready to bolt at any given moment.

“Sorry.” I yelled over the music for him to hear me.

He just shrugged his shoulders, looking nervously at the crowd of people. “Don’t worry too much, they’re all pretty drunk so after a couple of dares we’ll be able to slip away unnoticed if you want.” I said once I reached his side.

I saw his shoulders sag in relief.

“WILLOW! Come sit by me!” I turned to see Spencer yelling out to me, waving his arms to catch my attention, and almost spilling the open bottle of beer in his hands doing so. I just shook my head pointing to Derek, as I gave him my most apologetic smile as we both sat down next to each other.

Spencer frowned, and faced away from me, his attention caught by Courtney who put her hand on his bicep and start chatting eagerly, taking the space he had reserved for me.

I felt a little guilty for shooting him down like that, but it would be harder for Derek and me to get away without notice if I was sitting next to Spencer.

“Right.” Diana, a girl from the cheerleading squad, said grabbing everyone’s attention. I was surprised to see her sitting near a frazzled looking Makayla, who was sat with Noah and Liam. Noticing us, Noah waved energetically.

I laughed and waved back. He looked like he was having the time of his life.

“I’m going to spin the bottle first.” Diana said, draining the last of her drink and messily dropping the now empty bottle, which clattered loudly against the floor. She gripped hold of the body of the bottle before spinning it firmly.

It landed on Kate who squealed happily. “Oooh. Make it a good one.” She demanded.

“Make her take her dress off!” Rick hollered loudly, gaining whoops of approval from the mostly male population.