Eyes of Emerald

Chapter One (2)

THE NOISE WAS LOUDER than I'd been expecting. Yeah, I'd expected loud music and lots of screaming girls, but this! This was louder than anything that I'd ever heard in my life. The music seemed to be on five hundred per cent, the sound waves almost knocking me off my feet. It felt like there was an earthquake going on.

                Well, I thought, We probably wouldn't notice. Not until the building comes down on top of us and crushes us...

                I bit my lip, wincing a little at the pain, and looked at some of my school friends dancing in the living room. They looked like they were having fun. Maybe I could join them...no, I'd just end up embarrassing myself. I couldn't dance. I wasn't the right type of person, I'd just end up looking like some sort of hippopotamus trying to do the hula.

                I walked around, trailing like a lost waif behind my best friend, Keira Parish, as she mingled confidently and with ease. How on earth did she do it? She wasn't awkward or shy at all. Unlike me. I was so socially awkward you could almost believe that I had no experience of people.

                Someone bumped into me, swaying along to the music, wearing something that I thought would be counted as a bikini. She was showing more skin than clothing! They were grinning, their eyes unfocused. A glass of something with a strong odour was in their hand, splashing around as they danced. Some of it landed on my shirt and I recoiled, almost tripping over someone else. Where was Keira?

                My heart began to pound along to the beat of the deafening music as I looked around, panicked. I couldn't have lost her, that wasn't possible! She had been right next to me!

                The dancers loomed around me, their drunken movements slow and uncoordinated. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as my eyes whipped from side to side, desperately searching for my friend. She couldn't have left me!

                "You wan' a drink?" came a slurred voice. I turned, my heart in my throat. Who was it? They were drunk, that meant they weren't in control, that meant that they could...

                Shut it, Autumn! I told myself quickly, before I could panic. I glanced at the speaker, my grey eyes wide and frightened. Stay calm. Don't freak out. My heartbeat calmed a little when I realised that they were focused on another person, which gave me time to look him over.

                He's one of those, I noted, my head beginning to throb as the music swelled. One of the teenagers who will skate down the hill, screaming and swearing at the top of his voice while kicking dustbins over and disturbing the neighbourhood.

                You sound like an old granny. Stop it!

                He had black hair, obviously dyed, with a streak of neon green across the top. His ears had been pierced multiple times, a stretcher making a huge hole in his ear. Chunky diamonds made a line of sparkles all the way up his ear. His eyes were electric blue contact lenses, and for a moment I thought I saw them flash in the corner of my eye as I resisted the temptation to make eye contact.