Erica was quiet, minding her own on the hard cement stairs to the school's front. Her lemon dress was growing cold against the concrete, dirt from the stoned-and-ignorant's footsteps getting all over its color, but she didn't even notice. Her mind was so far in the clouds. Her nails got shorter with every nervous bite. The text she sent to her sister was still fresh in her head, the words reading themselves aloud, which made her second-guess every letter of it.
Was it too direct?
Too blunt?
Too out of nowhere to even catch her attention?
What if she thinks it's a prank?
Maybe she'll think Erica's number had changed, and this was just someone messing with her?
What did it matter?
Ella wasn't going to answer anyway. She probably deleted all of her family's numbers years ago and just rode off her text as a wrong number. Why would she agree to help them anyway? After all these years, what would she do now?
Her shorter fingers unzipped the front pocket of her backpack, pulling out her small phone. She reread the text through her own eyes this time.
Hey Ella, it's Erica. I really need your help, and it's work-related. Please, if you can, get back to me ASAP. It's an emergency.
She nodded her head, definitely too direct.
While putting her phone away, two hands settled on her shoulders and made them spike upon instinct. With a small yelp, she whipped around with fire in her eyes and years of self-defense kicking. But when she saw Joseph's soft and scared face with his hands up in surrender and Noah laughing behind him, she immediately grew calm.
"Oh geez! Sorry, Joey, I was really deep in my head!"
"I can tell, mijn liefje," Joseph replied sympathetically. He gave her a small kiss on her cheek as he sat down and joined her on the steps, Noah sitting next to his brother as well. "Any response from your sister?"
"Not a word. It's honestly starting to scare me a little bit."
"Erica Clark, nervous?" Noah dramatized playfully, "I don't think I've ever heard you admit you were nervous since when you gave an opening welcome at that Pride Parade we all went to sophomore year!"
"Yeah, well, that was a completely different kind of nervousness too! I knew I wasn't going to see any of those people ever again. This is....this is way different."
"Not to downplay your fears but, what's the worst that could happen, you think?" Joseph asked.
"I-I don't even know! It's like... I'm afraid she'll just think I'm trying to use her for this, and she'll get even more upset with me and my family. In all honesty, I'm hoping that maybe this entire situation will be a way to get our family to come back together. A way that, maybe, she'll forgive me."
"Forgive you for what?"
"For making her feel like she had to move out so abruptly. I feel like I pushed her away and out of our family, which isn't what I wanted. When she started coming home from work every day, so skittish and afraid, I kept asking her about it. I was wanting and willing to do everything I could to help her! But, one day, she snapped, and it all ended in a big fight between us. Which, obviously, resulted in her leaving us."
"What did the rest of your family think about the whole thing?"
"Elijah was still kind of young and didn't exactly understand where she was going and what was happening. But my dad said that I was just trying to help and that Ella would calm down in time. But that never happened."
"So then, you're afraid of the fighting that comes with asking Ella for help?" Noah clarified, to which Erica agreed.
"It's stupid, I know."
"No, Erica, not at all! It's perfectly reasonable. But you have to understand that being away from someone you love for such a long time, weirdly, makes a relationship stronger."
"He's kinda right," Joseph couldn't help but concur. "I remember when I went to some kind of summer camp as a child. It was my first one since moving here, and I really wanted to go, but Noah was still homesick and decided to stay at the new house. When I got back, Moeder told me that Noah asked when I was coming home all week. And ever since then, we've kind of always stuck together because it's bizarre to imagine our lives without the other."
"Isn't that just a twin thing, though?" Erica wondered.
"Not really, it's just a human thing. People miss people. And time heals basically all wounds." Erica sighed, knowing he was right. Her boyfriend put a hand to her back and rubbed it gently, "Just don't be afraid, okay? She's your sister, your own flesh and blood. Not even that doctor's freaky experiments can change that."
"Thanks, you guys," She ended with a laugh. Erica pushed her fist out to the boys, who bumped her fist back. Though they weren't flesh and blood, they were family too.
"Ayo! There you are, Erica. I've been looking for you all damn day!" A voice scoffed from behind the group, their faces dropping at the sound.
"Zayn, you fucking asshole, not right now, okay?" Joseph growled.
"Chill it, bitch! I'm talking to your girl over here!" He pumped his hand out, "Anyway. Erica, I wanted to sincerely come to you myself and say that I am so, deeply and humbly sorry for your loss of Minor Marshall."
"Wha-? Are you serious?" She reacted, "His best friends since second grade are right behind me! Don't you think they deserve that a bit more than I do?"
"What? Oh yeah, you guys, sorry about him too." He waved the twin brothers off like mere dirt on his clothes. "But, that's not the main reason I'm here. I thought, if you wanted to help you cope with the loss of Minor Marshall, you'd be my guest of honor at my house party tonight!" The three stared at his partially hungover stare.
"You're kidding me, right?" Joseph grumbled with a fiery black-out rage, "You're inviting my girlfriend to your party as some sort of sick condolence for our friend dying?"
"Yeah! Ya know, to sort of take your mind off it all, right?"
"You're a sick asshole! How in the world-? How in the farthest reaches of your mind is that an acceptable thing to do? I mean, really? Do you have no heart? Is your brain just so small that the concept of someone else's mortality doesn't matter? Do you even care? Do you even know what that means? You're disgusting! I can't believe you'd do th-!"
"I'll go to your party," Erica stepped up with a finger to the lips of-now silenced-Joseph, "But I'll only go if those two can come with." The twins were taken aback, shocked like lightning with the words waterfalling from her mouth.
"I mean, yeah, sure, they can come, I guess. As long as it means your attendance," Zayn shrugged.
"My attendance is confirmed then." The writer called his hands together, excitedly rushing off with a flushed face and fluttering heart. The three watched him run before the twins whipped their heads around to Erica, confusion scribbled all over their faces.
"Are you feeling okay?" Noah questioned wildly.
"I feel fine; why?"
"Oh gosh, I don't know; you just accepted the invite to a party hosted by the guy you've hated for years! I mean, he invites you to every one of his parties, so why this one?"
"And more importantly, you've basically forced us onto the guest list too. Any particular reason why?" Joseph offered up.
"Because I realized something: if this thing with my sister doesn't work out, Zayn could be the perfect backup plan!"
"How so?"
"Think about it. Zayn reports the news for the most viewed blog in the entirety of Dawn Hollow! If Ella doesn't want to talk, having Zayn on our side could be a perfect idea to rally up media attention and get a crowd up to Dawn Hollow Peak to find the truth ourselves!"
"That...That isn't a bad idea," Joseph thought it out.
"Are you really agreeing to a plan that involves Zayn Cao? He hates us, but you most of all out of any of us, even PJ!" Noah brought up.
"True, but Erica is also right. Ella isn't a guarantee, but Zayn can be. We just have to get him to agree."
"That's the simple part," Erica chimed in.
"How is that the simple part? Noah's right. He's always hated PJ, my brother, and I. So if he knows we're doing this to save PJ, he'll never agree to it."
"Maybe not sober, but remember: we're going to his house party. That means three things; beers, kegs, and booze. We just have to catch Zayn drunk enough to agree to do what we want."
"That's evil genius, Erica! I don't know if I even know you anymore!" Joseph cackled, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend, happy.
"Well then, I suppose we have a party to get ready for, huh?" Noah suggested. The three hopped up off the stairs and linked arms together, their evilness glowing against their bright and sharp smiles.
***
The neighborhood that both The Cao's and the Jenssen's lived in was objectively quiet most of the time. There often was the expectation with the playful screams of children playing in the empty roads or the dogs that would bark and howl at the moonlight. Overall, it was a beautifully peaceful neighborhood.
But that was never the case on the night of a Zayn Cao party.
Teenagers in beat-up old cars their parents used to drive flooded the sidewalks. The flashes of disposable cameras as people photographed themselves with those they'd be friends with for that night. Solo cups littered the hard work the HOA dollars paid for. Party lights signaled those from miles away to the event at the news writer's house.
Zayn's parties were well known as the most exciting party of the high school experience. Of course, that was if you were in high school. They were a headache city for everyone else, but that stopped no one. Especially not Zayn Cao.
More and more cars and teens began to roll up to the street as far as the eye could see. From her spot by the window in her boyfriend's and his brother's room, it was a river of cars as far as the sidewalks stretched. "I think this is the biggest party he's ever had! Even Jordan Cappelli is down there! I don't think I've heard her talk since 4th grade!" Erica astonished with glowing eyes.
"Eh, I'm not surprised. We were locked inside for over two weeks. People are dying to get away from home and do literally anything." Noah reasoned while finishing off his tie in the mirror.
"It all works in our favor, though!" Joseph added in, combing his curls. "The more people arrive, the more alcohol they bring with them. And the more alcohol there is, the more of a chance we have to get Zayn drunk."
"All we need is his agreement to help us. I don't care if it takes two drops or 100 drinks. We need it," Erica admitted, removing her eyes from the window to the twins who nodded at her.
"I don't think we'll have much of a problem, though, right? I've heard people say Zayn hasn't been sober for more than five hours at a time."
"How is that even possible? Doesn't that mean he's wasted a good 90% of the time at school?" Noah gawked in disbelief.
"Theoretically, yes, and I'm not even surprised."
"Then I guess that means we have to get over there before he gets too wasted and we lose our chance!" Erica stood up. The three nodded to each other, all standing deathly still with painful knowledge in their eyes. It was unusual for the three to be there without PJ, especially when it involved one of Zayn's parties. "For PJ."
"For PJ." The brothers said at once. With the taps of their fresh new shoes, their heels clicked as they passed down the oakwood staircase and to the front door. If the music wasn't already loud enough from upstairs in the comfort of their room, it was even louder when they opened the door. Crazy, joyous, and drunken screams flooded their ears. People ran all over the beaten lawn, dancing around the rainbow lights flashing into the night sky.
The trio crossed the live street and stepped onto the lawn of the Cao residence. The house seemed even bigger now, inches away from the door than it ever did when they would watch previous parties from the comfort of the twin's bedroom. "This is almost intimidating," Noah admitted shyly.
"Don't think about it too much. We just have to find Zayn; soon too before he gets too drunk to even reason with," Erica mentioned, frantically scanning the yard from anyone who remotely looked like Zayn.
"Wait a minute...." Noah caught the eye of someone walking by. He grabbed the mystery student by the shoulder, who was stopped in his tracks and in shock at the twin grabbing him. The other man's face rose happily upon seeing who it was. "Steven, my man!"
"Hey, Noah! What the hell are you doing here? You never come to these parties!" This boy, Steven, laughed with Noah as they did some sort of secret handshake. Noah turned to Joseph and Erica, a positive smirk on his face.
"Guys, this is Steven Mazamoore! 2nd baseman on the team!" Noah introduced the confident boy with a slight wave. "I can't believe I caught you like this! Everyone always says you're drunk before you even come to these parties, yet you're less drunk than a sailor!"
"I mean, I usually would be. But apparently everyone's placing money on who can stay sober the longest. I guess the winner gets to choose everyone's outfits for a week, and I have no intention of losing, especially after hearing James talk about leotards and tutus," Steven spilled, chuckling. Erica looked to Joseph, who looked to Noah, all three with blank stares and wide mouths full of shock.
"So, is Zayn also competing too?" Erica asked.
"Of course! Have you ever met Zayn?! He'd never lose a competition in his own house!"
"Yeah, but I don't know if we're talking about the same Zayn here. I thought it was the baseball team who joked about him hardly ever being sober during school!" Joseph added in.
"I know! Which is why I couldn't turn down a chance to beat his ass! But I don't know how I'm gonna do it when he's practically cheating!"
"Wait, cheating? How so?" Erica questioned, surprised.
"Well, I don't know where you keep the alcohol in your house, but it's in his kitchen. Conveniently, the one room of the house he's been avoiding like the damn plague!"
"So he's being a little sneaky, huh?" Noah lowly pondered.
"Exactly! We've been trying to trick him into getting into the kitchen all night because once he gets in there, we know it's over. So if you guys can do anything to help, it'd be really appreciated!" With that, Steven hopped out of the conversation to reunite with other baseball team members, leaving the three alone once again.
"So, no one can get Zayn in the kitchen! What do we do about that?"
"Could we bring him a cup of something alcoholic? Maybe something clear and tell him it's water?" Erica suggested.
"No, that's too obvious. Plus, he didn't want us at this party anyway! He wanted you here. Giving him 'water' with our names behind it is going to raise red flags no matter what!"
"Hold up!" Joseph hollered, light bulbs in his eyes, "I have a devilish idea." The curly-haired boy hustled into the house with a sick smirk on his face, his brother and girlfriend rushing to catch up to him.
"Joey, wait!" Erica called out, finally being in reach to grab his shoulder, "What's even your plan? Don't you think we should run it by each other?"
"Look, we don't have much time. We just need to find Zayn before he finds us; otherwise, we'll-!"
"Erica! Babe! You're here!" The man-of-the-hour laughed, cruising down the stairs. He casually slid his arm around her shoulders, rubbing his hand down her arm. "I honestly didn't think you'd come!"
"Trust me, if it weren't for my friends, I probably wouldn't have," Erica said with a pitiful laugh.
"Yeah, my girlfriend probably wouldn't have come without us," Joseph butted in, leaning in to catch Zayn's annoyed glare. "Honestly, dude, thank you for letting me and my brother come along as Erica's plus twos. It means a lot, I'm sure. Because we make her happy, right? And I don't know if you'd know this, but parties like this kind of make Erica nervous, so having two of her best friends here to comfort her."
"Oh, uh, yeah. I-I didn't realize you didn't like parties." Zayn pathetically apologized, releasing his grip around her shoulders, greeted with unspoken appreciation. "Wow, you know a lot about Erica, don't you, dyke?"
"I suppose I do. Impressed by a dyke, bitch?" Joseph crossed his arms, practically smoking from being so on fire. Zayn looked at Erica, his blushing cheeks hiding as his stare moved to the floor. He wiped his nose with his thumb, shuffling away from the girl and over to Joseph.
"Can I, uh, maybe talk to you?" Zayn questioned shyly. Of course, Joseph agreed, happily smiling as they stepped to the side. The twin turned back and winked at his friends; suddenly, they all understood. "So, uh, how do I impress Erica?"
"Woah Woah Woah, are we really going to discuss this in front of Erica? Why don't we go into the kitchen? That's a bit more private, at least!"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't go in the kitchen tonight. I'm on a bet to stay sober, so I'm trying to avoid all that.
"Oh! That's why you're not impressing Erica! You're still sober!"
"Wait, hold on, what?" Zayn stopped him, confused.
"Well, Erica actually likes you better drunk. She thinks you're more tolerable that way! And she thinks it's genuinely impressive and hot when you are drunk because you hold yourself so well! It's kind of incredible!" The reporter looked off to the kitchen, wine bottles, beer bottles, and hard whiskeys visible over the bar and on the island.
"Are you sure about this? I'm really not in the mood to lose this little bet for nothing! And if I do it by your hands, I'll beat your faux masculine ass!"
"Trust me, dude. I'm drunk all the time when we're together, and we are having constant sex, I promise." Joseph lied with confidence and a smug grin, "Here, we can do a shot together to start you off." He led the party host to the kitchen while Erica and Noah slowly followed behind, amazed at what they were witnessing. Joseph poured both himself and Zayn some whiskey in two solo cup shot glasses, clinking the plastic together before they drank it, Joseph nearly choking as his first taste of alcohol ever burned his throat.
Zayn shook his head wildly at the burn of the liquid. Quickly he grabbed more shots while shooting glances at Erica with his cruel smolder. As he continued to drink, Joseph walked back over, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, willing himself not to puke up his drink. "You okay, dronken?" Noah joked to the middle finger of his brother.
"That was awful," Joseph burped, "How do people drink that shit?"
"It's a delicacy in this country," Erica couldn't help but giggle too. The three stuck tightly together as they tried to blend in, becoming a camouflaged part of the outdated wallpaper. As Joseph did his best to wash down his one shot with water, Zayn continued to drink, not even pouring it into a glass anymore and just drinking it straight from the bottle.
Watching roughly ten minutes run around the clock, they could visually see Zayn's clear consciousness begin to fade away. He was running into walls like a pinball, eyes barely open, and stuck in a constant whirlpool of hiccups. The doors were wide open now. The prey was alone, and the three predators were flaring their teeth.
As they watched the poor boy sink deeper into his own drunk trance, Erica felt a small buzz in her dress pocket. Her phone illuminated as she brought it out to light, her eyes glowing as bright as the screen. "Holy shit, it's Ella!"
"What? Ella? She texted you back?" Joseph sang happily.
"Yes! She wants to meet at Larry's tomorrow! This is perfect! We can figure everything out from the inside!"
"Erica, this is great! So that means maybe we don't need Zayn aftera-!"
"Well, well well...my guest of honor!" Zayn cheered and giggled, swigging more of his drink. "So...did I impress you yet?"
"Uh, y-yeah, sure, Zayn. Look, I think we're just about ready to leave, so we have to go, I'm afraid," Erica reported the news.
"N-No one's going anywhere....not until I get what Joseph promised...." The boy with said name flared up like a rocket. He shook his head rapidly, rage blinding him as he pushed his girlfriend behind him.
"Not a fucking chance, asshole! No way in hell, you mother fucking prick!" Joseph seethed fiercely.
"Wait, what? Joey, what did you tell him?" Erica questioned nervously.
"Your little Joey told me...that you two...whenever he's drunk off his faggot ass...you two have constant sex!" He chuckled wildly, Erica stiffening with sweat and an unflattered fire.
"No! There's no fucking way I'm letting that happen!" Joseph yelled with a sharp finger in the drunk boy's chest.
"Joseph, why would you say that?" Noah asked in disbelief.
"Because that's what he wanted to hear, Noah! We really need him right now, and I thought he'd be drunk enough to forget all about that and just go along with whatever we'd say! If you were me, you'd do the exact same thing!"
"He's right, Noah," Erica quietly nodded her head, tears in her eyes. Joseph softened his approach, resting his hands on her shoulders. To his surprise, she lightly brushed them off, instead, putting her fingers under Zayn's chin and raising them to meet her eyes. "Nothing more than just jerking your skinny dick off. Got it?"
"What? No! Erica, stop!" Joseph jumped out. "You don't have to do this anymore! We have Ella now. He serves us no purpose!"
"Like it or not, we do need him, you guys. Having him on our side could really bring this entire thing to the level of publicity all of this needs to be on!" She had hot, fat tears streaming down her face. Her hands shook in his as he held them. Her blood was jittering with energy far beyond what she had ever expected of herself. "I'll be fine, okay?" Joseph nodded, not agreeing with her but loving her enough to trust her. She whipped her head back to Zayn, fuming at his sight, "If I do this with you, I need you to agree to do something for me, okay?"
"Yes, ma'am! If that's what toots your horn, honey!" Zayn giggled once more. As half the woman Joseph knew she was, Erica led Zayn up the stairs. He just watched, tears just brimming behind his fogging-up glasses.
"Is she gonna be okay?" Noah asked his brother, watching him pinch the bridge of his nose.
"I think so..." He paused, taking a breath. "You know they dated, right? Zayn and Erica?"
"Zeg dat nog eens!?" Noah gawked, his brother scoffing a bit.
"Erica always says that Zayn would never be so 'on my ass' all the time if I didn't have his ex-girlfriend. I don't know how true that is, but it doesn't change a thing. I love her so much. His bullshit means nothing. Because when you love someone that much, you deal with anything and everything. No matter how much it hurts. And trust me...this hurts."