TEN THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU! | R. HEFFLEY

―TEN: YOUR AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL PARTY

"SO YOU THINK HESTIA'S FALLING FOR YOU?"

Chirag's incredulous voice pierced the air, but luckily, no one was nearby.

Greg scoffed at his older brother, an impish grin on his face. "I doubt it."
  
The older Heffley rolled his eyes.
"Trust me, she is. I even took her to that lookout spot near Indian Rock," he claimed. Greg widened his eyes and said, "Woah, couples only go there if they're serious, Rodrick."

Chirag shoved a wad of bills into Rodrick's hands. Rodrick squinted, counting them all.

"That's it? Just thirty bucks? I basically took her on a whole date!"

"Hey, cool it Casanova. She's not your girlfriend yet. Anyways, there's a big party tonight at that sophomore Marsha's house. Chirag and I are gonna be there and Athena said Hestia's probably gonna be there too. You gotta go because this means tonight's is your best chance to get closer to her," Greg advised him.

Rodrick waggled his eyebrows at his younger brother.

"Ooh, you and your freshie girlfriend, huh? You know that junior Joey is trying to hook up with her, right?" he teased.

Greg's face reddened and he yelled, "Shut up, Rodrick! Look, just remember: HESTIA SAWYER HAS TO BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND BY TONIGHT."

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Hestia thinly applied eyeliner to her hooded eyes as the Villanelles played in the background. She felt a slight pang in her heart as she remembered last week's concert with Rodrick.

"Ohmygod, hurry up!" yelled Carter as him and Sadie laid on Hestia's bed.

Without looking back and still concentrated on her eyeliner, Hestia showed him the finger.

"Guys, chilllll. Martha's party starts at 7, but nobody's gonna show up early," said Sadie in a calming voice.

Hestia turned around.

"Do we really have to go to this?" she asked, not really being one for parties.

"Are you kidding? Everyone's going to this party. Martha practically invited the whole school, minus the freak squad. Even freshmen will be there, which now that I think about, is probably a better reason not to go," trailed off Carter.

Hestia groaned and after finishing her makeup, stared at her appearance in the mirror. She was dressed in a similar outfit from last week's concert: Black denim shorts, a light tank top and a typical red flannel over it all.

Hestia smiles thinly at herself and had a gut feeling that this would be a night to remember.

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Rodrick winced as the stinging alcohol traveled down his throat and he crumpled the plastic red cup in his hand. The music at stupid Marsha's party was irritatingly loud and blaring, but he ignored it.

"Dude, want some more?" asked his friend and band mate Jimmy, holding out a beer can. Jimmy himself was already on his third drink and didn't look like he was stopping anytime soon.

"Nah, man. I'm good," Rodrick said stoically. He had one mission tonight and that was to get with the 'shrew' Hestia Sawyer. He couldn't afford to be drunk and bumbling around her, or he wouldn't even last a minute in conversation with her.

His other band mate, Skull, sloppily put his hand on Rodrick's back.

"You sure, man? It's free booze bas-cally," slurred Skull.

"Dude, I'm good," he affirmed. His friend stumbled off, mumbling incoherently under his breath.
He stood up from the busted couch that him and his friends were sitting at when the door opened.

It was Hestia and her two friends, but they didn't notice Rodrick and went into the kitchen over.

Rodrick walked over and winced at the scene in the den. A game of beer pong was well into play, tipsy teenagers were sprawled across couches and a few, especially wasted ones were dancing to the rap music pounding from speakers. The sweaty bodies of teenagers were everywhere and the amount of people at this party seemed insane.

He chuckled as he saw Greg and Chirag outside in the similarly packed backyard and goofing off in the pool, huddled and whispering in a corner.

He blinked and reminded himself of his mission. Hestia was talking to one of her friends near the kitchen sink.

Walking over, Hestia and her friend noticed him and the two went silent.

"Hey," he greeted the pair.

Hestia was quiet and looking down at her shoes. Her friend smirked at him and said, "Hey Rodrick. Nice to see you here. Oops, I think my friend's calling me, gotta go!" and quickly exited.

Rodrick chuckled at the obvious excuse and found himself in silence with Hestia. The two edged away from a group of teens close to them.

"So... hey," he said, trying to make eye contact.

"Hi," she said quietly, bringing her face up and a brief moment of shyness flickered on her face.
"I didn't really think high school parties would be your scene?" she began.

Rodrick grinned and offered her a drink from a half empty bottle of alcohol on the counter.
Hestia shook her head.

"Nah, no thanks. I'd prefer not to join that crowd over there," she said, motioning to the drunken teenagers.

"Plus, knowing that nobody here is even near 21 years old, that's probably actually a mixture of bleach and cat piss and not whiskey," she added. Rodrick laughed.

"I wouldn't really think high school parties would be your scene either? You seem more like getting wasted at a punk rock concert type," he retorted.

She scoffed. "You're not wrong, I'm not really one for parties. Just something about booze, wasted kids and numbingly loud and bad music isn't my thing. Y'know, just your average high school party," she brought up. Another lull fell upon the conversation.

"You look.. really nice," Rodrick attempted, his hand scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.
Hestia's cheeks reddened and she cleared her throat, before mumbling a thank you.

A few moments passed, and he looked around.

"Man, this party sucks ass," he said. Hestia nodded. Suddenly, an idea popped up in Rodrick's head.

"Wanna do something crazy? Y'know, considering this party is really lame," he offered.
Hestia bit her lip, but eventually nodded yes, and Rodrick took her hand.

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"Greg, this party is terrifying," whispered Chirag. The two were shivering outside as teens recklessly jumped into the pool.

They had only been at the party for roughly twenty minutes, which getting there in the first place involved a decent amount of lying straight to Mrs. Heffley's face about a sleepover.

Right off the bat, the young freshmen had been offered alcohol multiple times. Chirag had no intention to destroy his liver at such a young age, but Greg had been feeling risky that night and took a meek sip. Automatically, he found the liquid bitter and repulsive and spit it out. Now, the two were trying to hide outside from party's craziness.

"You're right. And I haven't even seen Hestia or Athena tonight," Greg said frustratedly.

Just as he said that, the freshman girl of his dreams walked into the backyard, surrounded with a group of her girlfriends. Greg and Chirag peered from afar, trying not to seem obvious about it.

After awhile, Athena broke apart from her group and went to sit by the pool's edge, dipping her feet into the aquamarine liquid.

"Greg, go! Now's your chance!" Chirag hissed. Greg slowly made his way over and sat by the girl. Athena turned to him and grinned.

"Hey Greg," she said cheerfully.

"H-hi Athena," he said, still a bit shy around her even after all their tutoring sessions.

"How's your plan to get Hestia a boyfriend going?" she inquired.

"Uh, not bad. She might actually get one by tonight, at this party," he said.

"Awesome! Also, my French grade has gone up by three percent! Isn't that crazy?" Athena said.

"It really is," said Greg, nodding and wondering how in the world his fake French lessons had been working for the girl.

He was about to bring up a cheesy pickup line or something when a splash interrupted the pair.
They looked up and to his horror, Greg saw Joey Del Campo floating in the luminescent water with his shirt off.

"Hey Athena," he boyishly grinned, slicking back a tuft of hair with chlorinated water.

"Hiiiii," she said, sidling over to his side of the pool. "Sorry Greg, I'll be right back!" she called back.

Greg groaned, placing his face in his hands as the words from Rodrick earlier about Joey trying to get with Athena rang in his head. Suddenly, he thought about the deep plan he had somehow gotten himself into and felt a sinking feeling in his gut.

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WORD COUNT: 1535

FIRST OF ALL, everyone go to the cast chapter with an updated picture of how i actually envision greg heffley to look like!
SECOND OF ALL, this chapter and the next one about the party will be a biggie where DRAMA GOES DOWN! so stay tuned for the next chapter, which should be out in a day or two. there should be the next chapter and one more after that before the end of act 2! im trying to get act 2 done before swimming and school starts and i'll do my best on updates after that.