It's Just A Photo

Chapter 20

After a fifteen-minute drive Niall, Cassie, and Harry finally arrived at the site of the party. The sun had already sunk behind the horizon leaving the only light to be that of the streetlights and light coming through the windows of the nearby homes. The street was packed with cars along with teenagers walking towards a large mansion style house.

"Are we really doing this?"

Harry immediately felt his stomach drop at the sight of so many people. All he could think about was that he could be cuddled up on his couch with a cup of tea watching a movie. Harry really did not like being in a crowd.

"Yup, we are going to have some fun tonight!"

Cassie patted Harry's shoulder before opening the door and getting out.

"Come on dude, just try to enjoy it."

Niall and Harry gathered their things before Harry turned off his car as they both got out of the car joining Cassie who was leaning on the car. Niall walked around the car causing Cassie to join him before wrapping her arms around his waist before they began walking towards the party.

"How much farther is this damn party?"

"It's not too much farther."

"Ugh, thank god."

"Well if somebody had been ready when we got to his house we would have gotten a better parking spot."

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

The concrete sidewalk in which the trio along with many other high schoolers began to buzz with small vibrations of the loud music playing through dozens of speakers signaling the party of close, and sure enough only minutes later Harry's sight was filled with dancing teenagers all with a red solo cup in their hands.

Cassie and Niall both grabbed a cup of what they assumed to be beer before heading around the house into its backyard where a band was playing. It had already been decided that Harry would be the designated driver since A, it was his car they drove, and B, he was underage anyway so he couldn't drink. It's not like that stopped a lot of people, especially on New Years but breaking the law was out of the question for Harry.

By the time Harry had followed his friends, they were already on the dance floor along with upwards of another one hundred people.

"Oh god, why did I agree to this..."

Harry's Adam's apple bobbed slowly as he tried to swallow away his fear. He began to try and walk around the dancing bodies politely but when you are walking through dozens of already half-drunk teenagers that aren't paying attention that doesn't really work, so Harry's attempt at being polite ended up failing as he was pushed up against random bodies as he made his way through the crowd.

"I'm sorry. Sorry, Excuse me, Oh I'm sorry."

It felt like an eternity before Harry finally caught a glimpse of Cassie's autumn hair as it swirled from side to side matching the beat of the music and her free hand was intertwined with Nialls. Harry decided it was best to try and match the smiles that they both wore on their lips, the least he could do was pretend to be happy for them.

The couple finished their drinks in a large gulp before placing their empty cups into one of the many garbage bags laid on the floor. Soon both Niall and Cassie each grabbed one of Harry's hand in their own, pulling him into a tight circle.

The band continued to blare their music through the heavy-duty speakers so loud that even being less than a foot apart from each other they three friends couldn't hear each other unless they screamed their words. Covers of songs like Teenage Dirtbag, She's Out of Her Mind, Mr.Brightside, and Jasey Ray made the dance floor turn into a time machine allowing many people, Harry included, to forget about the current problems in their lives.