Ari's head was clouded by the sounds of dancing bodies, loud drunks, and the smells of strong alcohol and sweat. It was almost overwhelmingly loud and crowded, so much so that all she wanted to do was hide.
The familiarity of it all was uncanny. She had felt this way before years earlier, but at the same time it felt different, she was older now than she was before, and had some type of control over herself and her emotions. This was new, control was something she usually never felt.
The others were having fun drinking, laughing and doing drugs, but she was on the couch beside Athena, just ready to get back to her dorm. She wished she could be like them, and that she could feel some type of freedom.
"You guys in?" Andre held up a bag of powder for everyone to see, making sure that Ari knew she wasn't getting any by giving her a stern look, even if she didn't want it in the first place.
"Is that cocaine?" Marie looked concerned.
Jordan denied in a more joking approach, opposed to their approach with her earlier in the night. "We finished all the coke. It's molly."
Luke suddenly barged in, perhaps to seem more welcoming.
"Hey I don't really fuck with powders, but I do micro-dose shrooms." He showed her his bag.
"I'll take some of that." Athena said, already high off some of the weed Andre brought with them.
"My girl!" He handed her the bag, happy someone else was indulging in the shrooms too for once.
"So what do you say freshman?" Andre said in Marie's direction.
She looked around, as for someone to tell her not to. "Umm. No thank you."
"You know, I could take my glove off and make you. I won't cause I'm all about consent, but I could so.. you should." Cate smiled, but her words made Ari feel a little uneasy. Her brothers friends were powerful, and dangerous, but at the same time so was she.
Marie got a sudden boost of confidence, lifting her finger to her mouth, then placing it in the bag of Molly like Jordan did before. She licked the powder off her finger and made a face, as if it was the worst thing she had ever tasted.
Everyone sorta cheered for her, all except Ari.
"Now let's dance! Come on." Cate exclaimed after Marie washed it down with a glass of water, Athena happily agreeing to go with them.
"I told you." Andre said taking a sip of his drink.
Jordan could only agree. "Yea she's cool."
"I seriously can't believe you guys got her to get into your drugged up lifestyles." Ari said, suddenly serious.
"Do you know how to have fun at all?" Jordan threw back at her, probably tired of her constant criticism of them.
"Yea I don't have to be high or drunk out of my mind to have fun." She looked them straight in their eyes. She was lying, at least a little bit.
"Right, why don't you go dance or something without a drink and have fun for once."
"Yea okay, fuck you." Ari got up to do the opposite of what she said fun was. She was going to drink. She knew what she said was a lie. She needed the alcohol for confidence.
That was always what she did. She did the opposite of what she felt she should.
Andre didnt expect her to do what he suggested, and much less did he expect her to drink. Ari and drinking didn't mix well after what happened.
She sat at the bar alone, just waiting for someone to come over to her, and after a few minutes she almost thought someone was heading towards her.
Luke stood there, in the middle of the crowd just dazed. Ari wondered if he was daydreaming, but what he saw was much worse.
"Hey Luke. You good?" She called out to him, worried even though she didn't necessarily like him, or any of her brother's friends.
"Yea, of course." He lied.
"Want to have a drink?"
"Sure." He felt a little hesitant, but sat down beside her anyways.
"What was that over there? You were just standing still.. almost like you were frozen or something."
"I was just zoned out."
"Do you do that very often? I mean I'd hope not considering you're supposed to be number one at our school, but no judging if you do."
"No, never. That was the first time."
"Shit. Could it be the shrooms?"
"I've taken them before and it's never done that."
"Maybe you shouldn't drink then."
"Oh I'm going to drink."
"Okay then. Cheers." She held up her glass, forgetting that he didn't have a drink. "First ones on me, but you have to promise you'll get the second round."
"Promise." He stuck his pinky out, something that seemed so childish yet so genuine, so she stuck hers out too and sealed the promise.
They had a few drinks, not talking much, but both enjoying each other's presences. Ari didn't realize how much her perspective of Luke would change after that night. He wasn't a bad guy like she once thought, he wasn't fake like other supes.
"There's Andre." She looked down the bar to see her brother flirting with a girl dressed in pink.
"And he's using his power again to try to attract someone."
"Typical Andre."
she watched it happen, unlike Luke, who was busy taking a sip of his drink. The bird Andre formed out of a quarter with his powers sliced through a random girls neck when someone bumped into him.
Horror was all she felt. It was like what once happened to her was happening to him. Maybe it was the Anderson family curse.
She didn't realize how loud the sound she let out of her mouth was. She had screamed out of pure panic.
The music almost instantly stopped.
Luke and Ari got up, making their way towards the body, watching Andre press his fingers at the wound.
"Oh my God. What the hell happened?" Jordan said, covering the obvious panic in their voice, unlike Ari who felt like she had to stop herself from hiding.
"I think I hit an artery dude! Aw fuck! Some fuck bumped into me! I think she's gonna die man she's bleeding out."
"We need to call 911." Jordan turned to Cate and the others.
"They won't get here in time. We need to go. We need to get the fuck out of here!"
"We need to get the fuck out of here now." Jordan turned back to Andre whispering so only he could hear them. "We need to get the fuck out of here now." They said again to emphasize how important it was.
"We can't just fucking leave her! Not again." Ari put her hands on her head.
"Come on." Cate grabbed Jordan and the others.
The crowd around them was speaking out, wondering why they wouldn't help the woman bleeding out on the floor.
Ari had no choice but to follow the others, while Athena stayed with Marie and watched as she saved the lady. She manipulated the blood spilling from her neck to go back into the body, stabilizing her until the ambulance could get there.
While she was saving her the others, except for Ari, were freaking out in the car. Ari just used her coat to clean up the blood off his face, she didn't care about her coat she didn't want him to feel like she once did, to walk into a room covered in blood for people to only stare and be frightened of you.
"Shit man I just killed that girl." Andre felt scared, he didn't know how he was going to cover that up.
"We don't know that you killed her." Luke tried to be positive, but they all knew she was a lost cause.
"Yea we do man. Her blood was spilling out of her neck. She's dead from blood loss."
"You shouldn't have been so fucking careless." Jordan immediately regretted what they said.
"Yea, let me go erase it all. Shit!" Andre was angry, at no one but himself.
"Calm down guys." Ari added before sidetracking, suddenly remembering. "Athena! we forgot about Athena and Marie." Ari looked around in a shocked state, this being the first time they even crossed her mind.
"They're the ones that stayed behind, we can't afford to get caught." Cate spit out, something that was the truth, but something Ari hated.
"Yea like I could. My dad and half the world is already looking to make sure I don't fuck everything up again."
"Now isn't the time." Jordan said, looking down.
"What now Jordan? What do you have to say to me? Since you always make it your job to criticize me."
"I'm just saying. This isn't about you. It's about your brother."
She stayed silent. It might be about Andre, but they had no clue what she was really referring too, only what they heard from the media about her being the lone survivor in a major villain attack.
"Fuck you."
"Is that the only line you know?"
"Yea, fuck you."
"What's your deal with me anyways?"
She ignored them, and would continue doing so the rest of the way back to Godolkin.
Things were already getting eventful, and school hadn't even started yet.