Forget Me Not

Ch 1. Bring Me The Booze

EDITED.

"Oh come on, just ask your mom!" I was on the phone with Hannah, getting annoyed by the minute.

"Rachel, I really wanna come, I swear. But Mom won't let me," Hannah whined, "she wants me to sit here and babysit Kevin."

We were talking about Sarah's elder sister, Samantha's birthday party which was about to start in 4 hours and 13 minutes to be exact. Hannah had been the one who had wanted to go because she knew there would be a lot of booze as it was Samantha's 21st birthday. Hannah's parents had always been the strict ones who at times, wouldn't even let her go to sleepovers, suspecting that she was out with some guy. This had made Hannah more and more rebellious.

"What! Your brother's twelve. He can take care of himself alright," I said, "just leave when your parents are gone and we'll be back by 11."

"Kevin is so gonna rat me out," Hannah said.

"Bribe him!"

Hannah. The rebellious, outspoken, fierce girl who is scared of nothing in this world. Well, except for her parents who are easily capable of grabbing the second place in a competition for the world's strictest parents. 

Hannah had been my closest and best friend ever since she had kicked me in the knee when we were in kindergarten. I had cried and cried, and then afterwards Hannah had showed up in front of my house with her mom to apologise. While our mothers had chatted over coffee and cookies, me and Hannah had had the best playdate of our lives in the backyard. Inseparable ever since the age of four.

4 hours later at Sarah's house.

Entering Sarah's house, I and Hannah were hit with the strong smell of alcohol mixed with sweat and different types of cologne, all mixed together. Spotting Sarah in the kitchen, we made our way towards her.

"Your sister is looking way too hot!" I said to Sarah, raising my eyebrows. Samantha was four years older than us and looked like a more refined version of Sarah.

"Oh my God! Is that hunk her boyfriend?" Hannah asked looking at a guy who was hugging Samantha from behind with his face dug in her neck. Tall, perfect muscles and auburn hair.  He looked like someone who never missed their gym day.

"Oh yeah. She's a lucky bitch. But the good thing is that I too get to talk with him too," Sarah said giving us a evil smirk.

"Yeah, yeah whatever!" I smiled and rolled my eyes at her.

"Okay enough of the blabber, girls. Get me some tequilla already," Hannah said.

"Uh, that's what you have come for," Sarah muterred, "Rach?"

"I'll just have a beer. I have to drive this lunatic home later."

"Wait, I thought you guys were staying over for the night. What happened?" Sarah pouted.

"My parents happened," Hannah replied flatly. Sarah gave her a puzzled look.

"They decided to go out and wanted me to babysit Kevin. That little brat is too dangerous to be left alone at home."

"But he's twelve!" Sarah exclaimed.

"That's what I told her," I said, "now I have to get her back before her parents come home."

"Umm Sarah, I still can't see the tequilla," Hannah said in a sing-song way. That girl did not have a single bone of patience in her.

Sarah punched her playfully and went to get the tequilla and beer. Sarah is the most caring among us three. Being more of an introvert, she does not have much friends outside of The Trio. It's a lame name that we came up with in the ninth grade when Sarah had joined our group. There were many others that we had decided on like, The Three Trailblazers and The Chatterboxes, which had sounded even more lame. And that's how The Trio got stuck.

Me and Hannah have always been somewhat the extroverts of our little group. Both of us are in the school's Drama Club and Debate Club. Well, if you ask, Hannah is the best debater I have ever seen. She has the power to manipulate any topic she wants, in whatever direction she wishes. Sarah had always been the shy and quiet one when we had first met her in freshman year. Everyone used to wonder how Sarah had become a part of our group, but we never paid much attention to all those remarks because we knew that being compatible with each other is what mattered the most.

Sarah came back with a shot of tequilla in one hand and beer in the other. "Go nuts," she said handing the glass to Hannah.

"Ha! This is just the first one, babe," Hannah said and winced after gulping it.

That is when I saw someone who had no reason to be there, at Samantha's party, in Sarah's house. "Sarah, what is she doing over here?" I asked.

Both of them turned to follow my gaze and saw Amelia Hastings chatting away with some guys. Amelia is what you call the "bad girl slash queen bee" of our school. The regular bitch from some chick flick like Mean Girls, only ten times meaner. Some people envied her and wanted to be a part of her clique while others loathed her and kept their distance from her knowing that she was nothing but a complete shit-storm. We belonged to the latter group.

Amelia stood there, bouncing her long, blonde hair as she nodded her head to something one of the guy was saying. She had on a black crop top with ass-hugging tight jeans and a nose ring.

"What the hell! Who invited her?" Hannah asked making a face.

"I have no idea," Sarah replied looking confused, "I guess she knows people from Samantha's college. Maybe she's here with one of Samantha's friends," Sarah said.

Just as we were about to look away from her, Amelia turned her head towards us and stared coldly in our direction. And then she did something which none of us had been expecting– she smiled. It wasn't a 'Hey, it's nice to see you all at this party' smile. It was more of a forced one like, 'Oh no, they spotted me here' kinda smile. And just like that, she turned her head away, engrossed in whatever conversation she was having. 

The three of us narrowed our eyes in utter confusion and stared at eachother for a few seconds.

"Okaayy," I said stretching out the word, "what the hell was that now?"