Taken

Chapter 1

The house vibrates to the beat of the rock music reverberating through the air. The windows rattle, the base of the house shakes, and the slick bodies of dancing teens makes the area feel cramped and hard to breathe in. Poorly installed strobe lights fill the room with shaky colors that dance over the sweaty faces of everyone now and then, illuminating the darker corners of the house that are hidden by shadows. The air is filled with laughter, pulsing music and sticky heat, making me feel like I'm being choked.

I migrate towards the wall, pulling myself out of the throng of people, feeling a small margin of relief. I make my way towards the front door as fast as I can, wanting to be out of the crowd as soon as possible. I knew I never should have come to the party, I wouldn't have been able to handle it, and here I am, doing just great.

I push open the door, and close it behind me. The cool night air envelops me in a soothing blanket of comfort, the refreshing air licking my face and bare arms and legs. The light breeze pushes my hair back from my sticky neck, causing it to flutter behind me. The shaky nausea I was feeling inside begins to leach out of me, the feeling disappearing into the night sky. I feel ten times better already.

The pitch black, night sky twinkled faintly with small pinpoints of stars. It's beautiful, one of my favorite things to look at when I just need to escape the world for even a minute. It happens often, much too often for pretty much everyone I knows tastes. People think I'm a party pooper and a freak on the occasional time when I just need to get away from everyone. When I need nature to just enveloped me and let me think for a while. It's my way of escaping sometimes, and just letting that feeling of being pressured and scared dissipate into the air like steam on a cold day.

I breathe a deep breath in, letting the cool air slide down my throat. It clears my head, and my headache from the constant noise of people shouting and the horrible sound of rock music that has no rhythm, no beat, no rhyme.

I know that I should be getting back inside. Kate will be looking for me. Kate is my best friend, or, maybe just the only friend that actually understands the type of person I am. She's different from all the other friends I've had, who have just kinda wandered into my life and then floated away. Not many people have stuck around for long knowing me, the great and oddly peculiar Cece Jones, the girl who confuses everyone with her interests and point of view on life. Friends have just kinda come and gone with me, not really making a huge impression and definitely not sticking around for long.

But Kate was that one person who didn't think I was weird and a social misfit. She was the one person who took the time to understand who I am, and why I think about certain things the way I do. She has a completely different personality from me, a completely different view of things from me, but she understood things in a way that baffles even me. And that's what I love about her. Yeah, I guess you could say that Kate is one of those people who always worries about how she looks, how she smells, what the cool kids are doing and how she can fit in in the best way possible, but she isn't one of those people who are complete a-holes to people that aren't exactly like them. She accepts differences and diversity, and in my eyes, that's her best and most beautiful quality.

I know that I really can't take going back into that melee of teens again, so I decide to stay out here until Kate finds me and insists that I come back inside with her and flirt with cute guys. I walk toward the gigantic pool that spreads across the huge lawn of the house.

The house belongs to Jennifer Close, one of the most popular girls in the school. She's the type of girl who's perpetually in a preppy mood, and who constantly has a parade of desperate girls trailing behind her, wishing that they were just like her. She has that dumb girl look, who seems like she couldn't count to twenty without using all her fingers and toes. Making people feel bad about themselves is her superpower, and making them feel like they have absolutely no status whatsoever without her bubbly and bitchy presence is something that she excels at. The only reason why I'm at her party is because of Kate, who dragged me along, saying that I need to meet people, basically meaning that it's time I get a boyfriend like almost every other girl in my high school has done already. I just went along with it, not wanting her to feel bad, but now I see how much of a mistake it was to come to this party. I feel like my head's about to explode, and I am considering to just walk right out, down the driveway, to the sidewalk, and back to my house. Back to the peace and quiet.

I'm actually thinking about it when I hear a footstep behind me. It's heavy, signaling that it is most likely a guy. A small red flag goes up in my head, I've always been careful around situations like this. No one else is around, making it slightly more risky to be out at night with a guy when pretty much no one knows where I am. I turn and see that it's a tall boy, probably 16 or 17, my age. He has light brown hair that flops over his forehead and partly covers his electric blue eyes. His hands are shoved into his pockets, and he's slightly hunched down, as if he's shy or nervous about something. I sit on the edge of the pool, the clear water rippling softly in the light breeze. The cool water laps against my ankles. I see his reflection in the pool water. He sits beside me, a good five feet away to give me space and not make me or him feel uncomfortable, most likely.

I decide to keep the conversation low, because I"m definitely not one for talking too much.

"Do you go to Celmont High? I don't recognize you." I say lightheartedly, just making small talk.

He chuckles lightly. His laugh is not too sarcastic, it has a genuine feel to it that I instantly like.

"No, I'm Jennifer's brother's friend. Quite a mouthful, huh? Yeah, we've known eachother for a while, but I'm not a huge fan of his parties. Just too much to handle and way too many people, you know. The name's Ky, by the way."

I smile, and nod. Im surprised that he feels the same way about these parties as I do. It's a nice feeling, not being the misfit who thinks that the legendary parties are just a waste of time and completely useless.

"Cece. Yeah, I know how you feel. That's why I came out here, I can't stand being so near to so many people. It just makes me feel... congested, if that's even the right word for it," I say, smiling slightly.

He laughs again, and this time, it's a little less withdrawn and nervous, it's more carefree, more comfortable. I feel good inside, this new boy surprising me with his view. The little red flags slowly go down the more he talks. He supplies most of the conversation, varying from interests to friends to general opinions. He's sweet and understanding, and I find that he's a lot like Kate, one of those people who accepts you for who you are. And because of this, those red flags don't go up again, which was a grave mistake.