"Okay, time's up. Pass your tests to the front of the room." Mrs. Hernandez, my physics teacher, announces.
"Are you done?" the boy who sits in front of me asks, turning around to collect my test. I look back down at the paper in front of me. The last five questions are all blank; none of them have been answered yet.
"Yeah, just give me a minute." I respond, randomly filling in the remaining bubbles. I hand him the test and put my pencil down, sighing in frustration. The bell rings, and I grab my phone out of my bag and stand up, swinging my book bag onto my back.
"Don't forget to finish the oscillations packet for homework." Mrs. Hernandez calls out as my classmates begin to file out of the door. The air is abuzz with chatter as friends discusses how they think they did on the test. I turn to see my friend Julia making her way over to me from the other side of the room, a huge smile spread across her face.
"Hey," she begins, her tone cheery and light. "How do you think you did?"
"Awful. I didn't even have time to finish." I reply, my tone noticeably grim.
"That sucks." she says, and I nod.
"I'm just stressed that I'm not going to be able to pull it back up, you know? I'm scared that once it gets low, I won't be able to bring it back up." I vent, and she nods. As I go to push open the door, Julia looks back over her shoulder before leaning in and whispering to me.
"You know, if you're stressed, I have something that can help you out with that." she says, making a puffing motion as she lifts two fingers to her lips and bringing them back down.
"Oh my God, Julia! Stop!" I shriek, my cheeks turning bright red. She bursts out into a fit of laughter, and I feel my entire face burn as she laughs at me.
"God Helaina, you're such a prude. You know I'm just joking with you." she laughs, and I roll my eyes but smile anyway. "But seriously, if you are stressed out, Carson's having a party tomorrow night if you want to go." Julia says, referring to her boyfriend. "It'll help us both unwind after a long week of dealing with Hernandez and her bullshit." she snickers. I frown, but don't say anything.
I think for a minute about her proposal towards the party before shrugging.
"I don't know yet, I'll let you know tomorrow morning." I say, and push open the schools doors and step foot outside. We head into the student parking lot and begin to walk in the direction of her car.
"Come on, just say yes for once. It's almost May; we've been Juniors for eight months now, and you've only agreed to go to six or seven parties with me this entire school year."
"I thought it was nine." I say, frowning.
"My family Christmas party doesn't count. If we couldn't voluntarily drink alcohol, then it doesn't classify as a party." she rolls her eyes.
"Well, I've still gone to six or seven with you; that's a lot." I say defensively.
"A lot? Helaina, I've been to a party almost every weekend since freshman year. You've probably been to about twenty at most." Julia laughs, and I feel myself getting annoyed.
"You know, just because you like going to parties, doesn't mean everyone else does." I say, and she raises an eyebrow.
"No need to get so defensive." she says, sounding irritated.
"I'm not defensive, I'm just making a point." I point out as we reach her car. Julia raises an eyebrow at me as she takes out her car keys, but doesn't say anything else. Wordlessly, she unlocks her car and we both climb in. As I slide into the passengers seat and shut the door behind me, Julia suddenly speaks up and starts talking again.
"I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I think that I did really good on the test." Julia beams, suddenly changing the subject. I watch as she puts the key in to the ignition, pulling out of the parking spot. "Like, really good. I think I may have even gotten a one hundred."
"I wish I had that confidence for the test." I groan, leaning over and adjusting the volume on the radio. As upbeat pop music blasts through the cars speakers, I stare out the window and watch as we pass by the other students outside leaving for the day. As I stare out the window, I can't help but feel envious towards Julia. Even though she's one of my best friends, and has been for as long as I can remember, she's everything that I wish I was as a person. She's carefree and confident, with seemingly everyone in the school knowing who she is. She has a killer social life and has been dating the same guy for almost two years, but still manages to get straight A's in all her classes and volunteer in her spare time to stay in National Honors Society.
Meanwhile, I on the other hand am almost the complete opposite. The only reason people in our school know who I am is because of Julia and her constant social media posts with me tagged. In fact, most people just know me as "Julia Flint's best friend". I'm not cool and confident like her; I tend to be more shy around people I don't know and prefer lowkey hang-outs with a few close friends as opposed to large social gatherings like the parties that Julia attends almost every weekend. The only real similarity we have in terms of personality are our good grades, or at least they were until my grade in physics started dropping and reached a 73; the lowest grade I've had in years.
"You know what," I say suddenly, breaking away from my thoughts. Julia glances over at me in confusion, her eyebrows pushing together as she awaits what I'll say next. "I am going to go to Carson's party tomorrow night. You can count me in."
"Oh my God, really?" she exclaims, her face breaking out into an enormous grin. I can't help but smile in response and giggle at her excitement. She lets out a few more squeals of excitement, and I laugh some more. "What changed your mind?"
"I don't know, I just decided that you're right. We're almost done with Junior year, and I think that it's about time that I let loose and live a little, you know?"
"Helaina, I'm so happy right now, you seriously have no idea. I can't believe that you're actually going to a party with me tomorrow night!" Julia yells excitedly, and I smile back at her.
"Yeah, me neither. Let's just hope that tomorrow night helps lift some stress off of me." I say, and she nods.
"Seriously, we're going to have so much fun tomorrow. You won't regret it. The parties have gotten so much better in the past few months, you'll see how much better they are now. What was the last party you went to?"
"Um, December? I think it was Penelope Zimmerman's party." I say, unsure.
"Oh yeah! Poor Penny, that party was trash. No one will ever let her live that one down. Anyway, you're going to love..." she rambles on, and I find myself zoning out. The rest of the ride back to my house, she talks about past parties and how the current ones are so much better. I just nod along, not really listening to what she has to say. By the time we reach my house, I'm surprised Julia hasn't passed out yet from talking non-stop, considering she hasn't once stopped to just take inhale and breathe.
"Bye Helaina, see you tomorrow! Don't forget to FaceTime me tonight so you can help me pick out an outfit for tomorrow." Julia says, and I nod, stepping out of the car.
"Bye Julia." I say, shutting the door behind me. As I walk up my driveway and approach my front door, I can't help but feel my insides churn as I think about tomorrow night. I push the thoughts away and unlock the front door, stepping inside.
I mean, it's a high school party. What's the worse that can happen?
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AN:
Hi! So yeah this is my first fanfiction for this account (I used I have one titled Dangerous about Shawn but I deleted it because I wrote it back in like eighth grade and it was literal trash) so I hope you guys enjoy this!! Sorry the first chapter is a bit short, I don't really write fanfiction, I tend to usually write full-length novels so I'm a lot more exposed to that style of writing, but I know where this fanfic is headed so I intend on making the chapters longer as I go. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!! Comment and vote!!!