The Kings of Kentworth

77.

Lenny had to park the car three blocks away from Bruce's house since there wasn't a single place to park around the house.

The whole place was filled with cars and teenaged kids walking towards the mansion; laughing and chanting cheerfully. Stephanie and Lenny stepped out of the car and suddenly felt the cold night air envelope them. Stephanie pushed the car door open, stood out and looked over at Lenny as he wrapped his arms around himself and was suddenly glad she was wearing a sweater. They could hear the booming sounds of the music blasting and drowning out the loud cheers of the party goers from the house three blocks away, as if they were right in front of it all.

Lenny turned to Stephanie and gave her a nervous look. "Well?"

Stephanie turned to him and shrugged. "What?"

"You know this is a bad idea, right?" Lenny gave her a worried look.

Stephanie rolled her eyes, slammed her door and walked away; leaving him standing there beside the car. She started to walk down the street; the cool night air hitting her face. The sound of the music was beginning to increase in intensity, just like her heart beat did. She couldn't deny it. She was nervous as hell. She couldn't remember the last time she had attended a party. She wasn't even sure she had attended any party at all ever since she got into high school. She always thought it wasn't just her thing. Or maybe she wasn't confident enough. Yet, here she was, walking to the door of a home she had never been to before. A home owned by someone she knew but had never even spoken to, and there were strangers everywhere, kids that she had always seen in school, but had never spoken to.

Stephanie turned into Bruce's drive way; into a small crowd of teens dancing and chanting, laying on the floor and some of them even making out on his front lawn. She looked up at the enormous structure that was before her.

Jesus.

Bruce's house was huge.

She made her way to the front door and saw two teens; a boy and a girl sitting on his lap with bottles of beer in their hands on the front porch. Stephanie caught the girl watching her with a sneer on her face that seemed to ask, "What the hell is she doing here?" But of course, she ignored her. She moved forward and stopped right in front of the door, before she spun and saw Lenny walk up the steps behind her. She spun back to the door that seemed as though it was being banged on by the beats of the music coming from within the house. She raised her knuckles and knocked on the door. After she had knocked, she got a funny feeling no one would hear her over all that loud music.

The door stayed closed about twenty seconds after she had knocked and she was about to knock again when Lenny reached forward and held her hand. She spun back to him.

"I don't think anyone is going to open up, Steph," he said as he walked past her and pushed the door open. He walked into the hallway and turned to her with a wry smile. "It's a high school party. Nobody gives a damn."

Stephanie rolled her eyes in response and tried to ignore the warmth that radiated from within the house as she walked in.

Lenny closed the door and they both walked in further. The air inside was hot and tight. It was stuffy, but judging by the way everyone was dancing, screaming and chugging their beers down, they obviously didn't care. The whole place reeked of weed and alcohol. Stephanie and Lenny just stood there, scanning their surroundings like Astronauts on an alien planet and holding themselves from covering thier ears from the unbelievably loud music. They were unsure of what to do.

The entire sitting room was packed with teens who were drunk with euphoria. The music was so loud; Stephanie could already feel a headache coming on. She let her eyes glide from one point of the sitting room to the other as she took it all in.

The whole place was a mess. There were paper cups on the floor and beer stains on one of the chairs. Stephanie jumped in response to a sudden loud crash that came from the far corner. She darted her eyes in the direction of the crash and saw the shattered pieces of what looked like a really expensive vase right there on the floor. Everyone was going about their business like nothing happened. Stephanie didn't think Bruce would care anyway, neither would his parents. She knew anything that was trashed here tonight would probably be replaced in two days; three to four days at most.

Rich people.

They both walked further into the mad house, trying very hard to hide their apprehension as their eyes darted from one corner to the other. People dancing to the beat of the song; I think I'm Okay by MGK.

Some of them, dancing out of beat even. But it was clear some of them were drunk. Stephanie's eyes widened when she saw a boy being turned upside down on top of a table with a pipe running from a large container, which contained beer, to his mouth. There was a crowd of boys gathered around him chanting, "Chug! Chug! Chug!"

As Stephanie watched the scene unfold, she started to feel nauseous. What the hell was she even doing here? She looked round at the faces around her, some of them looked familiar, while the rest looked strange, but none of them was Caleb.

"Check it out," Lenny called her attention as he gently nudged at her shoulder.

She turned to him and he nodded his head in the direction of what he wanted her to see. "It's the birthday boy."

Stephanie looked over and saw Bruce on a large couch with two girls seating beside him; one playing with his hair and the other with a wild smile on her face as he kissed her neck. None of those girls were his girlfriends by the way and that was why Stephanie was a bit surprised when she saw Megan sitting at the other side of the couch with her head bowed down to her phone. His girlfriend was right there beside him and there he was, flirting and smooching with two skanks.

A sneer slowly grew on Stephanie's face as she kept her eyes on Bruce. "What a pig," she thought.

The nausea in Stephanie's gut intensified. She suddenly felt like throwing up. She began to think this was all a mistake. Caleb had invited her and she had not seen him anywhere. Maybe he was at the back of the house, but she didn't care. She didn't even want to call him.

She was leaving.

"Let's go, Lenny," she said as she suddenly turned away and headed for the door. Lenny looked at her, confused. "Wha-what do you mean? Go where?"

She glared back at him and said, "Home," before she faced the door again, reached for it and pulled it open.

Stephanie froze in place when she saw who was standing right in front of her with large metallic vessel of beer in his hands and Trevor right behind him. Caleb's eyes widened with shock when he saw her, before a smile slowly tugged on his lips. He had invited her, but he didn't think she would come.

"Ste-Stephanie," he said. "You came."