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LIZZY listened closely for the source of the shrieks but they seemed to reverberate from every hallway and every room. She wasn't exactly sure why dread was clinging to her like a leech but it was. She questioned a couple lounging teens in the kitchen but they shrugged their shoulders and continued to attend to their conversation as if Lizzy hadn't even interrupted them. Her feet led her to the dancing multitude; there, the music was so earsplitting that she couldn't hear a single morsel of her own voice, let alone any ominous yells.
She narrowly avoided collisions with girls and guys who had their eyes closed, their bodies swaying to the beat of the music. Lizzy soon broke the edge of the crowd, gasping for breath from the close proximity of the tightly-packed sardine-like crowd. Just as she jogged into the front entry way, she noticed a pack of people, gathering around something that couldn't be seen. Lizzy surged through the crowd, elbowing her way along. "Excuse me, sorry, pardon me," Lizzy apologized profusely, continuing onward in spite of the nasty glares she received from several teenagers.
Finally, she reached the end of the mob who was watching a fight with sickly fascination. Two boys were wrestling on the ground, swinging punches and kicks to the other in rapid succession, each trying to secure a foothold over the other. Hollers from the bystanders joined in with the grunts and shouts from the two struggling boys whom Lizzy couldn't recognize try as she might. Lizzy gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. She despised brawls like this one because they always resulted in pain. And she hated seeing others get hurt.
Lizzy realized that Teagan and Reece were attempting to camouflage as best they could into the bare wall as they stood very close to the fight. Lizzy inched her way toward them, ducking so that she wouldn't be the recipient of more disgusted looks. One of the boy's legs flung toward her and Lizzy tripped over it, crashing onto the floor. Luckily, she was positioned right next to Teagan and Reece and she rapidly dusted herself off, embarrassment flooding her veins. "That was awkward," Lizzy told Teagan and Reece, leaning close to their faces so that they would be able to hear her.
"So, um," Lizzy commenced, grasping that each of their stares was glued to the fight and they had barely acknowledged Lizzy's presence, "what's going on here?"
Reece's gaze finally met hers, an outlandish sort of awe coloring his eyes. "They're fighting," he said monotonously, pointing out the obvious.
Lizzy impatiently crossed her arms. "I'm not an idiot. But who exactly are they?"
Teagan stood frozen in between them and Lizzy gently shook her shoulder; however, Teagan prolonged her obliviousness of Lizzy. Fortunately, Reece's glazed expression was fading away and replaced with concern. "Can't you tell?" he asked her.
Lizzy rotated her focus back to the brawling boys, a sense of urgency in her stare. One of the boys was much larger than the other; his bulkiness was apparent as was the striking mass of orange hair on his head. Lizzy recognized him as one of Mateo's friends, Lucas, the one that Teagan had been pestering almost all night. The other, thinner boy had a bleeding nose, his hands pounding relentlessly on Lucas's stomach before performing a quick jab to Lucas's throat. Lizzy could barely recognize him with all the blood but his curly, brunet hair seized her attention. Mateo.
Wait, what? Lizzy's eyes dilated into saucers, her attention returning to Teagan and Reece. This time, Lizzy detected Teagan nursing a sore arm that was peppered with splashes of blue and black. Questions twirled in Lizzy's expression but Reece silently shook his head; Teagan still had not managed to give Lizzy a glance.
Lizzy and Reece's gazes locked, a quiet staring contest occurring between them. Someone needs to intervene and stop this, Lizzy tried to communicate. Reece shook his head, dismissing the idea, his own looking back at her doubtfully, saying, You seriously want me to stop this? I'm literally the weakest boy I know. No thank you. Someone else can try.
As Lizzy hunted for someone stronger and more intimidating than Reece and who would effectively put an end to this nonsense, she discovered that there was absolutely no one near her who seemed willing to step in and break it up. Fine, Lizzy thought to herself, determination causing her spine to straighten. She stepped into the circle that had formed around the two aggressive boys, completely set in her mission. "Okay, fun's over. C'mon, guys," she urged, creeping toward them. She began her plan by utilizing her words first in hopes that they'd heed to them and she wouldn't have to get physically involved. Unfortunately, Mateo and Lucas were paying little to no attention to her.
Lizzy inhaled sharply and closed her eyes before diving in between the Mateo and Lucas whose punches and swings were growing progressively more severe, blood and sweat spewing from almost every body part like a grotesque fountain. Once she was situated in between them, Lizzy absorbed the hits from Mateo intended for Lucas and vice versa. They soon stopped, realizing that the agony they were hoping to inflict on the other was actually being collected by a third party—helpless Lizzy. Unfortunately, they didn't stop soon enough and Lizzy's world darkened, a warm sensation tingling the end of her nerves.
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Lizzy awoke in some strange room in an unfamiliar bed surrounded by alien decorations. She groaned as she tried to turn on her side, pain biting every inch of her body. "Don't move, you idiot," a voice scolded with a laugh, accompanied by two other distinct chuckles. Lizzy's neck forced her head to turn toward them despite the agony it caused her.
"It hurts," Lizzy moaned, her eyes squeezed shut as she performed the rotation. She gradually unhinged them, revealing the well-known shapes of Teagan, Reece, and Mateo. A snug blanket cocooned her, her mind moving rather slowly as it materialized from where it had been hiding for... Lizzy realized she had no idea for how long she had been out. "What day is it?" she asked in order to squeeze some essential information out of the trio encircling her resting position.
All three of them chortled. "It's still Friday, Lizzy," Reece said lightly as though he was treading on eggshells and Lizzy was about to break. His hand slithered on the pillow, soothingly fingering through the end of her frizzy tresses. Lizzy sighed contentedly, blissfulness enveloping her and making everything else seem like it was moving in Jell-O.
"Are we still at the party?" Lizzy took a thorough glimpse at Mateo, perceiving his black eye, blood trickling from his ear, and gauze-wrapped arms. His messy, dark hair dangled in his weary and tired eyes. He stood by Teagan's side, one of his hands covered in cuts resting on her shoulder. Lizzy's eyebrows quirked upward with curiosity, wondering what exactly had transpired—before and after the fight.
"Yes. We're in one of Paisley's house's bedrooms," Teagan responded, spitting out Paisley's name a little in disgust. Mateo gave her a stark look at her tone and Teagan rolled her eyes at him. So maybe everything isn't all good and dandy like I thought, Lizzy's inner conscience reflected.
Lizzy attempted to sit up, prepared to hear the entire story from its beginning to end so that she could fit all the puzzle pieces together. Many pieces, however, were missing and Lizzy was resolved to discover each one. Reece assisted her by propping up a pile of pillows for her to lean her back on while she listened intently to the tale Reece, Teagan, and Mateo were about to weave. "Go on, I'm listening. I want to hear everything. Leave nothing out, please," Lizzy instructed, shooing for them to begin and ignoring the throbbing pain in her sides and jaw.
Mateo, Reece, and Teagan all exchanged glances, none of them uttering a single word and each of them wondering which one of them should start the story. Teagan finally decided to seize control, brushing Mateo's hand off of her shoulder indifferently before sitting on the edge of the bed. "After you left Reece and me together, we talked a little and I actually discovered that he is a pretty chill dude. Anyway, all the dancing people and the loud, obnoxious music got really annoying and we couldn't really hear each other so we walked into the entryway where it was a little quieter."
Now it was Reece's turn to take over, his hand pushing his glasses further up his nose with slightly reddening cheeks when he realized all of the attention was now on himself. "We had no idea where you went, Lizzy, but we weren't too worried. We figured you'd find us eventually. Anyway, we continued talking and having a pretty good time when Lucas bounded on Teagan from behind, tackling her to the ground." Lizzy guessed that this must've been the first scream she had overheard from the kitchen.
"I landed roughly on the ground and he wrenched this arm behind me in that awful hold. That's why it's covered in bruises and scratches," Teagan added, lifting her arm so that Lizzy could get a better view.
"I heard the shouts from upstairs where Paisley and I were hanging out. We hurried out of her room to see what all the fuss was about. When I saw Lucas pinning Teagan on the floor, I quickly rushed down the stairs and shoved him off of her. And the fighting continued, I guess. I was just so angry that he had the nerve to attack Teagan, a girl and one of my best friends, even though Lucas is my friend too. I don't know. I just hated the sight of him beating T up," Mateo said truthfully, his fingers playing with the loose ends of his bandages.
"Hey, I would've handled myself just fine," Teagan informed him grumpily, crossing her arms and glaring at him.
Mateo's facial expression softened like a Popsicle in summer sun. "I know, T," he replied simply.
"Anyway," Reece resumed the account of the quarrel, "that's just about when you came along. Everyone was crowding around them and Teagan and I were just kind of stuck against the wall, watching everything pan out. I wished I could've explained everything to you right then and there but it was just too overwhelming in the moment. I would have if I'd have known you were going to jump right in to stop it!"
While Reece's tone possessed a scolding quality to it, Teagan and Mateo ogled at Lizzy with a sense of pride, the kind that conveyed something like Yeah, that's my best friend and, yeah, she's badass and, yeah, she is in idiot but she sure is brave. Lizzy smiled warmly at them, pleased that her insane action of jumping in between Lucas and Mateo had awed and gained respect from her two closest friends.
"Did you beat me to a pulp? Is that why I feel like shit?" Lizzy asked with a laugh, exhaustion heavy on her eyelids.
The three of them grinned, their laughter sounding as though it was echoing from miles away and through water. "No, I didn't. Lucas landed some pretty harsh ones on you but after you came in between us, our fight stopped almost immediately," Mateo reassured Lizzy, his face blurry and unclear like she desperately needed glasses even though she didn't wear any.
"Get some sleep, love," Teagan whispered in her best friend's ear, pressing her lips affectionately on Lizzy's cheek. Reece lowered the pillow tower that he had set up for Lizzy so that she could rest comfortably on the bed with her head aligned with the rest of her body, and Mateo tucked her in, pulling the blanket up to her chin and making sure that she was snug and restricted like a baby.
In Lizzy's mind, her arms opened wide and she motioned for the dreams there to activate and sweep her away.
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A/N:
I wanted to post this sooner but I've got to stick with my Saturday schedule ;) I hope you liked this chapter! Please vote and comment if you did! I love to hear your thoughts! Just a warning: I probably won't update next week Saturday because I'll be on Spring Break! I'll try to post the next chapter during the week so that you'll have something to read but no promises! I love you all and I'm having such a fabulous time writing this story!
- Payton