House Bound

Prologue - House Party

My life may not always be pleasant, but I could at least say it was routine. I felt safe when I knew what was coming and how to deal with it. Boys teasing? Safe. Punishments at home? Safe. They could even be avoided if I was careful. Strange looks from confusing boys? Nuh-uh, no thanks.

I hightailed it out of the living room and down a long hallway towards the front entrance where there were less people. I'd barely leaned against the wall and taken a deep breath when the front door was bursting in with a wave of frigid night air and loud voices.

A tall boy shouldered through the hall first, dressed in black jeans and boots and a black shirt. His hair and eyes were dark, thick brows drawn together in a stormy expression. His whole appearance screamed danger, and I found myself taking a cautious step back, pressing against the wall as though I could melt into it.

       I wasn't sure if the shivers licking across my skin were because of the sudden cold seeping into the heated house from the still open door, or the mere presence of the scowling stranger.

"So what do we know about this Rocky guy, anyway?" He asked sharply as he stalked into the house, voice booming over the sounds of the party.

"You mean what we know officially from our interactions and when he invited Silas, or what I found out since?" Replied the boy behind him, whose tousled brown hair fell in waves to his ears, speckled with rain drops.

I felt my eyebrows raise up, and my face scrunch in confusion, which is how the boys first laid eyes on me when they apparently realised the house party they'd just busted into was actually occupied.

The first boy's lips thinned out as he glared my way. He did a quick sweep of my 5 foot nothing body, which was clad in an awful skin tight black dress that I'm pretty sure was actually originally a shirt on Karen. I didn't like the look in his eyes, but I registered it for what it was - simultaneous judgement and desire. Like wanted to have me, but figured that meant everyone else had already had me. In return I made my face blank, pretending his assumptions didn't faze me.

This was my one night to escape and pretend to be someone I wasn't. I had that kind of attention from boys no matter how meek my demeanour, and no matter how conservative my clothes were. So in Karen's words, screw it. I wasn't comfortable, but I didn't want him to know that. I certainly hadn't been about to hurt Karen's feelings by telling her the look she'd worked hard to create for me with her own clothes and make-up seemed... improper. It's just one night, Sang, get over it.

The boy behind him, who was apparently either a snoop, or just really into gossip, had the decency to blush a little and look down, embarrassed, as he realised their conversation had been overheard. He opened his mouth to say something, only to be steamrollered out of the way as a group of five other boys filed in past them to crowd the once peaceful hallway.

       The door was finally shut behind them, sealing out the whistling of wind and falling rain, as well as the chilled air. The party seemed a million miles away as the hallway fell into a dead, awkward silence, seven boys blinking back at me.

A boy with brown hair and bright green eyes shielded by black framed glasses moved to the front of the group, squinting at me as though he knew just how out of place I was. "Hey, is this Rocky's party?"

I nodded mutely, glancing over his black jeans and creaseless hunter green shirt. He and his friends looked too... put together to be in this loud house filled with drunk, sloppy idiots. I hoped the boys wouldn't stumble out of the house later tonight in the kind of state I'd seen some of my classmates in already, it would be a shame.

The nice looking boy with the glasses offered me a smile. "My name is Kota, my friends and I are new to the school. Do you come to Rocky's parties often?"