“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Owen declared when Bella asked him for the fortieth time about the party Ariel had mentioned. Bella rolled her eyes.
“You’re a fucking liar.” Owen grabbed his dark blue and purple guitar and plugged it into his amp. He strummed lightly, hoping she would take the hint and go away. “You are an idiot.”
“Bella!” Eli threw his arm around her neck. She tried to squirm out of it, but he just tightened his hold. “Don’cha worry about tonight. You just focus on Lucy and Danny like you were hired to.”
“Eli, if you don’t let go of me in one second, I’m going to use violence.”
“Sure Bel – Oof! Ow… Bella that really hurt.” Owen tried to hide his grin, but couldn’t. It was nice to finally have a girl around who didn’t always act like a… girl. Actually… she never acted like a girl. She was always playing some sport, and she never talked about cute boys, or clothes, or make-up, or any of that other trivial stuff that girls his age droned on about. For as long as Owen had known her, she’d only ever talked about sports, reading, art, and he’d heard her mention music, but never her favorite band or genre.
“I’m not gonna try to stop the party,” Bella sighed. She slid to the floor, half in and half out of the room. “I just wanna know what to expect.” She seemed genuine enough. Owen almost felt… bad for her. She’d never seemed so… he wasn’t sure how to explain it. He felt like he met the real Bella, the one she’d been hiding for so long, for the first time.
“Bella, for the last time, we’re no-”
“It’ll be mostly contained in the basement. We told everyone to go in through the backyard where that door is. We’re getting’ alcohol, so I was thinkin’ you should keep Danny and Lucy in the library and hook up a movie with snacks and stuff.” Eli was glaring pointedly at Owen, the whole reason they’d decided to have the party was to fuck with her.
“That’s fine.” Bella shrugged, actually happy with that plan. The library was her favorite part of the entire house, but she wasn’t allowed to go in it very often. The way the Sweeny house was designed, they had four floors: the basement, where the laundry room, theater and general hang out area was located (with an entrance from the backyard); the first floor with the den, the living room, and the kitchen; the second floor, where the eight bedrooms were located (one had been converted to a game room and one a music studio); and the third floor, which had been turned completely into a gigantic library.
Eli stared at Bella incredulously. Every time he thought he had her figured out, she would turn around and pull something like that. Why was she all of a sudden acting so chill? When he looked over at his older brother, he saw that he was paying almost no attention at all. He was strumming away on his stupid guitar.
“Uh… rules?” Eli rolled his eyes. ‘Ah… here we go…’ he thought irritably.
“Fine.” Owen glanced down at Bella briefly; she was sitting with her head between her knees again, presumably to stop the room from spinning.
Bella held up a finger, “No one is allowed upstairs, no shitty rap, techno, or country music. If I have to hear it all loud and shit, it better be good music.”
“Like…?” Owen prodded, still not looking up.
“…Pop?” Eli suggested smirking as he folded his arms and leaned against the wall, she’d just insulted his three favorite genres. Bella lifted her head.
“Jazz fusion is preferred, if you even know what that is. But I’m not entirely picky. As long as it’s not those three genres.” Owen’s head shot up at the mention of his favorite type of music. ‘How the fuck…?’ Bella held up a third finger, “Tomorrow, whether you’re hung over or not, we’re all cleaning up.” She slowly stood up, her green-blue eyes glistening. “And no one spends the night.”
“Deal,” Owen replied from underneath his long, wavy dark brown hair that was hanging like a curtain in front of his face.
As Bella was about to leave, Eli grabbed her arm. “Wait,” he said desperately, “what the fuck is the catch?” Had he just entered some twilight zone? Or better yet, were they fucking with him? He wouldn’t put it passed Owen, but Bella too?
“I already told you,” Bella answered, sounding tired, “you’re helping me clean tomorrow. What? You want more chores? ‘Cause that can be arranged.” Eli tried to get some kind of confirmation from Owen that it was some elaborate joke, but his brother was far too into the land of music to pay him any mind. Bella was starting to walk away again, but she stopped, a frown creasing her forehead.
“Do you guys think…? I mean…” she began, unable to voice what she was thinking.
“Fuckin’ spit it out,” Eli snapped bitterly. For some reason, Bella’s being okay with the party made him cranky. Every plan they came up with to get rid of her, backfired. But what was even more infuriating was that Owen seemed perfectly casual about the entire situation.
“That uh… “Barbie Doll Killer” is still out there… I mean, do you think it’s a good idea for girls to be out at night with that psycho runnin’ around?”
“You talkin’ about that guy who’s been killing blond-haired girls?” Eli asked, smirking. “What? You scared you’re next?” He laughed, staring at her blond hair. But really, it was no laughing matter. The whack-job had murdered six girls in the past two months, all ranging from the ages of fourteen to eighteen, and all using a different method. Two of them had been girls he’d known from school.
At the mention of the “Barbie Doll Killer,” Owen’s head snapped up. The murderer had been wreaking havoc on the town, and others nearby, striking fear into the hearts of women and men alike. Owen smirked at his brother and Bella, pushing his hair out of his face and setting down his guitar.
“Don’t worry,” he chided, forcing a smile. “Let’s just make sure this party goes well. Is your girlfriend still comin’?” he asked Eli.
A groan escaped Eli’s lips. “Yeah, but she’s kinda bein’ crazy lately.”
“Probably just on her period, you know how girls can be…” Owen winked at Bella, who just shook her head, turning to leave.
“Is Gray still comin’ with the beer?”
“Yep. Tommy called him up last…” Bella rolled her eyes as she glanced down at her phone. Five missed calls from her parents. ‘Shit, better call ‘em back,’ she thought, the sooner the better. It was already five o’ clock, and she still had quite a bit to do before the boys’ stupid party.
* * *
“Oh my god Eli,” Dizzy Parker whined, shoving her dyed blond hair out of her overly made-up face. Personally, Eli had always thought she looked better with brown hair, but either way he loved her. “That guy was just talking to me, no need to be so damn jealous!”
So Eli was a bit of the jealous type? Sue him. “No Diz,” Eli corrected, “you were flirting with him. That shit ain’t okay with me!” It seemed like the entire hour and a half that she’d been at the party; Dizzy had been purposely flirting with other guys just to get on his nerves. Sometimes she did things like that, things to try and sabotage their relationship. Like, changing her appearance, or flirting/cheating on him with other guys. He knew she was afraid that he’d hurt her, but come on! Didn’t she understand that he would love her no matter what? He reminded her almost every day.
“You don’t own me Elijah Sweeny! You don’t get any say in who I talk to!” she shouted, pulling away from him. They were sitting on one of the couches in their gigantic basement. Nobody except for Eli seemed to even notice when she stormed outside to have a cigarette.
“Are you okay?” Owen asked, sitting down beside his brother. Eli took a long swig from his beer and slowly nodded. “Maybe you should go see if she’s alright,” he suggested. Eli shook his head, chugging the rest of the drink.
“Nah, she’ll be fine. ‘Sides, she says I’m too clingy, man.” Owen took a small sip from his blue plastic cup, which was deceivingly filled with the apple juice Bella had poured for him. He hated drinking alcohol, but he didn’t really want his friends knowing that. In fact, he didn’t even really want Eli knowing. He didn’t like parties much either, but his friends all seemed to be having fun, so he didn’t mind so much.
Owen stood up, and stretched, glancing at the clock, he noticed it was nearing two AM. His little brother and sister had gone to sleep hours earlier, so he’d expected to see Bella downstairs with everybody else, but according to her, she thought high school parties were the work of the devil.
He was getting ready to kick people out, when he spotted Dizzy flirting with Gray, the older guy who always delivered alcohol to those kinds of parties. All the high school kids liked him ‘cause he never checked ID’s. His only stipulation was that he got to stay and hang out a while, which was usually okay because it wasn’t like he ever got really drunk or creepy. He was pretty nice, but regardless, Owen had always gotten a pretty strange vibe from the guy. And he could never shake the feeling that he was somehow familiar.
“Alright everybody!” a voice called from the top of the stairs. “Time to go!” The music and lights had shut off suddenly, and Owen immediately knew she’d cut the power to the basement. He grinned, not bothering to be discrete about how funny that was to him. It was almost like they’d read each other’s minds.
“Fuck, I hate that bitch.”
“I feel sooo bad for you guys! Being stuck with that cunt all day!”
“What a killjoy.”
“Fuckin’ hoe.” Dozens of people were groaning about her. They were all getting ready to ignore her completely, when she shouted something about calling the cops if they didn’t leave within the next four minutes. That got everyone out pretty damn quick.
“Bye Bells!” her best friend, Ariel, shouted, stumbling down the stairs. Her coffee-colored skin glinted beautifully in the silvery moonlight. It was a good thing she only had to walk a block to get home. She was pretty fucking hammered, as were most other kids; including Eli.
When the majority of people were sent home, Owen looked all over the place for Dizzy; he’d promised his brother that he would give her a ride home. ‘Where the fuck did that stupid ass girl go?’ he wondered irritably. He wanted to go to bed, he was starting to feel sick, but he couldn’t find her anywhere.
“Hey Bella,” Owen asked, “have you seen Dizzy? I was supposed to drive her home.” Bella was in the kitchen grabbing one of his mom’s favorite aluminum mixing bowls, a roll of paper towels, and a glass of water. Bella glanced over at him warily. She still had a long night ahead of her. At that point, she knew sleep was not going to be heading her way at all that weekend.
“Last time I saw her, she was walkin’ toward some care with that Gray guy,” she replied absently. Owen grimaced; he knew there was some reason the guy bugged him. Going home with a fifteen year old… what a freak.
“How’d you know it was him?”
Bella shrugged. “I saw the back of his jacket with that stupid logo. Could’ve been anyone I guess.”
“Fuck,” he muttered. Eli was gonna be furious. “Where’s Eli?” Bella grabbed her stuff and nodded toward the stairs. She took one quick glance at Owen before he turned to go back downstairs to straighten up.
“Owen,” she sighed, “go upstairs, you look ill. I’ll clean up in a minute.” Her eyes were red-rimmed, with dark circles underneath, and her voice sounded hollow. She kinda looked like a zombie. Hell, she felt like a zombie.
In a mild daze, Owen followed Bella up to his room. She forced him to lay down and took off his shoes. “Why…?”
“You look like shit.” Bella left him to change and sauntered into Eli’s bedroom. She’d last seen the boy lying in bed, but upon returning, she found him collapsed on the bathroom floor. “Eli,” she groaned, “come on!” She roused him enough to get him to his bed, which was covered with a plastic sheet normally used for bed-wetting kids. She’d already stripped his mattress of the blankets and replaced them with extras that he could throw up on without Bella worrying about the stains. “Eli,” she said slowly, “if you need to throw up, do it in the bowl. I’m leaving a glass of water and medicine on your nightstand.”
She’d taken care of the boys while they were drunk so many times that she was always one step ahead. Of course, most of the time, they completely forgot what she did for them, or just blocked it from memory.
As exhausted as she was, Bella cleaned up the basement as much as she could, and began to drag herself to bed, when she heard retching from Owen’s room. Even though she knew he wasn’t much of a drinker (she was probably one of the only ones who did), she always took the same precautions with him as she did with Eli. Her body told her not to worry about him and just go the fuck to sleep, but her mind reminded her of what Owen did for her that morning.
She rushed into his room and gently held his long hair back as he threw up neon yellow bile. She rubbed his back soothingly, the way she always did for Lucy, as she waited for him to finish. He slowly sat up, taking the paper towel Bella held out for him and wiping his mouth.
“Done?” she asked, in a kind whisper. Owen nodded, allowing her to take the bowl so she could clean it out.
“I’m… sorry…” Owen mumbled when she returned. He was lying on his back shivering.
“Yeah, whatever, it’s fine.” She set the bowl down beside him and helped him sit up so he could take a few sips of water.
“Thank you,” he whispered. She only nodded. It wasn’t like she hadn’t planned on doing it; it was all in her rules. Number six: always be one step ahead; because bad things started to happen when she wasn’t.
Though, as Bella soon found out, there were some things she could never plan for…