MIK

Prologue

Prologue

"Where is that dickhole?" Sam didn't even look up from his iPhone on which he was playing chess.

"Which one?" I replied.

"Conner," He took a swig of beer.

Conner the weakest member of the school soccer team who did his training by playing FIFA with us, had gotten us invited to this party. I assumed that conversation ended in a long and uncertain "sure". My friends who surrounded me now, minus Conner, really had no idea what to do at a party, hence the iPhone chess. I believed the host only agreed to inviting us to boost his ego. I hoped that it made him feel super popular seeing us skittishly sip beer in a corner. Though this corner was exceptional for observing all the forms of high school life condensed into a living room.

Popular kids at the epicentre, each layer becoming less and less popular but striving to get to that core.

Since it was such a small town, pretty much all the teenagers in our year level were there, their little cliques mingling around, while ours stayed relatively intact. No ambition like the other cliques. That epicentre we would only watch not daring to dream of being in it, nor wanting to. Conner was the only one "brave" enough to leave the safety of the corner. This only for his one true love, Ruby Abel. However, she was over with the girls that only had their looks, a clique that would only be penetrated by boys who only had their looks and maybe a sport or two. Conner though being from a sport wasn't known for it, he actually wasn't known for anything. His popularity rank was as low as mine so Conner from the corner losers wouldn't have a chance but he didn't know that. He lingered around the edge of their group slipping from his bottle, like a fly trying to land on shit. They, of course, gave him no attention.

"There he is," I had finally caught sight of Conner, I nudged Sam.

Sam looked up from his iPhone and snickered, "Was he really wearing that the whole time?"

Conner was wearing a Sherlock T-shirt. While we loved the show it was super uncool. He was buzzing around Ruby and her friends.

"I guess he is," I said watching him.

"Such a dingus," Sam muttered.

He decided tapping away on his fancy new iPhone was more interesting than the party. I didn't blame him. Sam had been my best friend since primary school and the centre of our group. His dad had bought a huge flat screen TV so his house had become our hang out. He was downing his VB, there was a massive slack of slabs of them in the middle of the room, must have been on sale at the Bottleo. My other friends Arawn and Conley tried to have a conversation to the other side of me, though being assaulted by the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga made their conversation strained.

I would much rather prefer to be at Sam's house right now. Even though it was my first proper high school party that didn't involve the boys coming over to watch a movie I was so bored.

I wandered through the crowd of drunk dancing bodies and strobing fairy lights and made my way outside. There the music was down to a headache like throbbing and the air smelt of vomit. Still, it was refreshing. I took another swig of beer and looked up. A full moon winked down at me. The night was cooler than most, though not quite enough for me to put a jumper on, it rarely got that cool here. It offered some gray light a comfort compared to the ugly neon flashes of the fairy lights. A breeze rolled in stirring up the strong scent of vomit but the scent of the forest washed it. Cleansed it. It was only a few streets away and I could scarcely make out the tops of the trees in the moon light over the many houses in the way. Most people in town were creeped out by the forest, though it's familiar smell was a comfort. Still those treetops seem to judge me for wasting my time.