A/N: the gang's reunited! Well, except for one of them...
"Thank you, again," Valerie said to Maggie. "We would be totally dead without you."
"I know," Maggie said casually. "Well, I'll be off now. I've got to get back to work. The cameras will only be "malfunctioning" for so long." And she drove away, leaving us standing in front of the house.
I heard voices behind us, and saw Hayley getting out of Pluto's car. "They're here!" she said excitedly, as the others tumbled out. Olivia ran towards us, hugging me tightly.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked. "How did you get out?"
"An angel in disguise," Valerie replied. "Someone on the inside snuck us out. We're fine."
"Are you sure partying is a good idea right now?" Sean asked from behind her. "After everything that just happened?"
"It's also like, one in the morning," Pluto said.
"Even more of a reason to! Come in, come in," Olivia said, dragging us through the door. "This is a friend of a friend's house, so I'll know some people here."
The house was smaller than it looked on the outside, and the "party" turned out to be about twenty kids standing around and awkwardly drinking bottled beer as music played from someone's speaker connected to their phone, as every time they got a notification, the music silenced for a moment and a few people giggled.
"This is pathetic," Olivia said with a shake of her head. "Let's get this party started!" It didn't take her long to get some dancey playlist playing from her own phone, and soon the party became a bit more lively as more people started to show up, even as the host seemed annoyed at us for crashing it.
"Is that soda or alcohol?" Marcus asked, as Olivia offered us red plastic cups with an unfamiliar smelling liquid.
"A mixture," she replied. "Anyone want some?"
"I think I wanna stay sober," Beatrix replied, which was met with a chorus of "same."
"You guys are boring," she complained. "Well I'm gonna get some of that whiskey and cherry fruit punch mix."
"That sounds disgusting," Pluto said. "Pour me some."
Those two seemed intent on partying the hardest, and I couldn't blame them. I would want to get drunk too if one of my best friends had just betrayed me.
There was some loud pop song blaring through the speakers attached to the walls, that someone had hooked Olivia's music playing phone up to, and the LED lights she had set up in the ceiling were flashing, illuminating us in every colour of the rainbow. It gave me a bit of a headache, but it was still cool. It was beginning to seem more like a party from an early 2000's high-school movie, now that everyone was unwinding and not as awkward and self conscious.
The song changed to a slower one just as another group of kids pulled up outside, and Olivia pulled me into the crowd, her drink abandoned somewhere, slipping between all the people, so we were in the middle of the dancers. She slung her arms around my neck casually, and then we were swaying to the music, getting lost in the crowd. "Thank you for rescuing me," she said, so quietly I could barely hear her above the song. "I don't know what I would have done if I had to stay longer."
"I wouldn't just leave you," I told her. "You said we should stick together, after all."
Her large hazel eyes flicked up into mine, and we were so close I could count every eyelash if I tried. She wasn't looking too good, now that I could see her better. As the lights illuminated us, I saw the faded bruises on her face, her chapped lips and bloodshot eyes. I was relieved we'd gotten her out when we had, as who knows what she would have been subjected to?
The dancing around us slowed, and her nose brushed against mine. I looked over her shoulder, and saw Beatrix and Pluto standing against the wall, watching us with similar expressions. I pretended not to see, because I couldn't tell if she was trying to make someone jealous or if she was just being friendly. And maybe I also wanted to make someone jealous.
Eventually Beatrix left her place beside Pluto and headed for the drinks table, surveying us coldly as she walked past us. "I wouldn't get too close to her if I were you," she told Olivia, just loud enough for me to hear. I rolled my eyes and brushed her off, but her words stayed with me for a the rest of the song. I couldn't tell if she was threatening Olivia or warning her.
The song changed again, going into a fast and preppy song, and soon Valerie and Hayley joined us, and we were all jumping up and down like maniacs. All of the girls except for Beatrix who was too cool, and instead stood against the wall and surveyed everyone judgementally, sipping her diet soda. As my eyes zeroed in on her cup, I believed she might have switched to alcohol.
At one point, I felt her come up behind me and grab my hand. I turned, and she dragged me with her away from the group. "Possessive, much?" I asked, but I was grinning, the adrenaline making me confident, cocky even.
She didn't speak, just pushed me against the wall and kissed me. It was over too soon. "Did you get drunk after all?" I asked, half joking. Part of me wanted her to be drunk, wanted to be drunk myself, so this wouldn't count. Part of me hoped she was sober so I would know she meant it.
She shook her head and wrapped her arms around my neck, she was like a necklace. I pressed my cheek against hers and we stood together for a while, surveying the crowd. I had no idea what we were to each other now, but it didn't really matter. No matter how we ended up, friends, girlfriends, enemies, we had a bond so intense that we would always be something to each other.
I hated her, she made me insane, but she was mine and I was hers.
It didn't take long before I noticed Olivia's face has grow quite pale and she'd stepped away from the other girls. Hayley asked her something and she shook her head, stepping further away from them and bumping into a few tipsy guys who were standing together. One reached forward to hold her up as she swayed on her feet, but not to be helpful or courteous, I could tell from the way they were looking at her and it made my skin crawl.
"Go," Beatrix said quietly, nodding towards Olivia. I understood what she was saying. Our moment had been interrupted but saving Olivia before she got taken advantage of was more important.
I stepped away from Beatrix, making a beeline for Olivia as Valerie did the same. We quickly took one of her arms each and hurriedly helped her away. "Let's go outside, get some air," I said.
We managed to find a back door, and stumbled out into the darkness. "What time is it?" Olivia mumbled.
"I don't know, two-thirty, two-forty-five? It's so late it's early now," I replied.
"Let's go to the car," Valerie said, seeing it up ahead. "It's too cold out here." We walked to it, and got inside. Olivia practically collapsed in the backseat, and Valerie and I got in the front. "Is she okay?" Valerie whispered to me, her eyes flicking nervously between my face and Olivia, who was lying across the backseat.
I just shook my head. I turned around in my seat to look at her. "Liv?" I asked. "Are you awake?"
She shifted slightly, and opened her eyes. "I guess," she murmured, her voice slurred.
"How much did you drink?" I asked.
"I don't know. Like five... cups? Of something. The whiskey mix. I probably shouldn't have taken so much. Whiskey doesn't agree with me."
"Are you gonna throw up?" Valerie asked.
"I haven't thrown up from getting drunk in four years, since I had my first real drink."
"You got drunk when you were twelve?" Valerie asked, looking horrified.
She shrugged, blinking blearily. "Dad never bothered to lock the cabinet. He never... he-" She shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut.
I watched through the window as two other drunk girls stumbled through the door, holding onto each other's arms. It seemed Olivia had really livened up the party. I watched carefully through the window, not looking away until I saw that they were being taken care of by their sober friends who were not looking at them like one looked at an opportunity.
"Olivia-" Valerie started.
"Why would she do that?" Olivia whispered. We grew silent. "I don't understand," she continued, her voice barely above a whisper. "She was my friend," she choked out. "She was our friend. And she just..."
"No one saw it coming," I said. "And it isn't anyone's fault. It's not even her fault, not really. This is Thomas, doing what he did to Beatrix, but Evianna is clearly more vulnerable and apparently not as smart as she thinks she is. But we're gonna fix it."
"You promise?" she asked, sitting up. I nodded. I wasn't sure if I actually could promise that we would fix it, so I kind of hoped she wouldn't remember any of this the next day. I looked over at the clock on the car radio. Three-fifteen. I wondered if there was any point in going home now. "Where are we gonna go now?" Olivia asked. "Where have you guys been staying? Fill me in. Also, why is Valerie here?"
Valerie held out her hand, palm up, and as we watched, a tiny diamond shaped piece of ice formed on her skin. "I think I'm still drunk," Olivia mumbled.
"You're not," she assured her. "It's real."
"So wait, you have them too?" she asked.
"Yup," Valerie replied. "Damira found out at the hotel party, when you guys got separated."
"Wow," Olivia said. "You're like, the opposite of Marcus then. He lit a piece of paper on fire while we were hiding out in the car. Then he accidentally dropped it and everyone started freaking out."
"We've been staying in one of Valerie's hotels," I continued. "It's not open to the public but we're staying in the servant quarters, basically."
"Is there room for the ever growing crowd?" she asked.
"Of course," Valerie replied. "If not, we can always migrate to the rest of the hotel. I just have to keep telling my parents not to open it. They're getting suspicious, though."
There was a rap on the window, and we turned to see Pluto and Beatrix standing outside. "Is everyone okay?" Beatrix asked, her voice muffled by the door.
"We're all good!" I called back. "Just sitting out the rest of the party."
They opened the door and climbed in the back. "We brought more of the whiskey mix," Pluto said. "Anyone want some?"
"I'm done for the night," Olivia said.
"You know what? Fuck it. Pass it over," Valerie said. We all cheered as she took the flask and sipped it. "This is really bad," she commented, as she took another sip.
"Let me try," I said, and she gave it to me.
She was right. It burned, and the cherry fruit juice made it sickly sweet. "How can you guys drink this stuff?" I asked, disgusted.
"It takes the pain away," Pluto said. I suspected that was only a half joke. We all had our ways of dealing with Evianna's betrayal.