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picture above of each girl's outfits for the party. these are not the actual characters, seeing as Zoe has dark skin/hair, Adriana has black hair and River has white hair.
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The Nineteenth Chapter - A Discount.
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It was the day of the party. I'd agreed to let Zoe come over and get ready with me after school, considering she was my only friend who wasn't either completely shady or a guy, so I waited for her by my car after the bell rang. I hadn't bothered bringing any homework with me from my locker; I just went straight from my lesson to the carpark. If I was going to be drinking tonight, or dancing or leaving my house in general, there was no way I was going to spend the rest of the weekend with a hangover trying to do my homework. Here's hoping I got so drunk I lost all my memories, not just the party. All this shit was too difficult to deal with all the time; I think I actually needed to just loosen up a bit.
Also, my gut was bruised from Debbie, and I was still sulking about it.
"Hey sugar," I heard Will's light-hearted voice from somewhere in front of me, making me lift my head to see him wandering by with Tyler. "You still coming tonight?"
"If I can find your house," I shot back, and Tyler flashed me a smirk.
"Be there, Sin, or I'll come get you myself," he called over his shoulder. I found myself grinning at his words, tempting me to just let him come pick me up. But I shook my head out of it, cursing myself for being so easily entranced.
Then I realised that he'd used my last name, and I hesitated.
Did I...?
Did I like that?
Shit.
"Hey girl," another voice called, and I snapped out of my moment long enough to find Zoe approaching my car, a large smile on her face. I smiled back shakily, pushing off of my car to greet her with a quick hug.
"Hey, how was your day?" I asked as we both moved around my car to climb in. I shot one last glance over at Tyler and Will, seeing Adriana meeting up with them as well. Her eyes caught on to mine and she sent over a big wave, which I laughed at. I wasn't used to her being so happy; having her dad home seemed to be benefitting everyone but me and my family.
Thinking quickly, I waved her over, glancing over the hood of my car at Zoe. "Hey, you haven't hung out with Adri in a while, have you?" I asked, and Zoe's eyes widened.
"River, what are you-?"
"Hey ladies, you coming to the party tonight?" Adriana asked as she arrived, and I turned to face her, smiling widely.
"Yeah, we're gonna hang out at mine before coming over," I replied smoothly, tapping my fingers on the hood of my car as I spoke. "Actually, that's why I called you over; I know the party's at yours, but I wanted to know if you wanted to come over instead of waiting yourself? We might have a few beers, watch some movies, I dunno. I figured the three of us could get ready together. You in?"
"Well, we'd probably have to drop by my place to grab my outfit," she answered with a small smile, "but yeah, that sounds wicked."
"Awesome," I grinned, turning to shoot Zoe a wink. "We all ready to go?"
"Yep," Zoe and Adriana chorused, so I climbed in behind the wheel as Adriana returned to her brothers to tell them what was going on. Zoe got in beside me and shot me a glare.
"What are you doing?" she hissed as she buckled her seatbelt. "This is gonna be hella awkward! I haven't spoken to her properly in about a year!"
"Trust me Zoe," I sang. "This time will be different. Haven't you noticed how they're starting to open up?"
"Yeah, I have," she sighed finally, leaning back in her seat as she rubbed her forehead slowly. "Only when you got here, actually. So we should be thanking you."
I grumbled something under my breath about how sarcastic that should've been said, but the conversation didn't continue as the back door opened and Adriana slipped in, dropping her bag on the seat beside her.
"You want me to bring anything else with me?" she asked as I pulled out onto the road and followed Tyler's car to their place. "Pretty sure Mum's got some vodka stashed away in the laundry."
Me and Zoe laughed. "The laundry?" I pressed. "That's a nice spot to put alcohol. You think she needs it to get through the washing?"
"I think she needs it to get through everything," Adriana admitted with a grimace.
"I don't blame her," Zoe agreed. "Gotta be tough raising boys. God, I'd put myself in a hospital if I had to raise two like that."
"I'm surprised she hasn't already!" Adriana exclaimed. "My brothers have got to be the worst when it comes to doing what they're told; they never take Mum seriously. They'll listen to Dad though, which is weird."
"Why is that weird?" I blurted out, realising too late that I jumped onto that question way too quickly. I could feel her hesitation straight away, but she came in with a nice save by answering my question nonetheless.
"Oh, just because he's the one they should be hating on," she admitted finally. I could hear the reluctance in her voice. "I mean, I love my Dad, and he's a good influence on Mum and all, but... well, I don't know. I just feel like he did a horrible thing by leaving her with the kids for that long just because she didn't do something he asked her to."
"That's fair enough," I said, glancing over my shoulder at my friend with a sympathetic look. "I kind of feel sorry for your Mum, even after everything she said to me."
"What did Queen Slater say to you?" Zoe demanded as we rolled into the Slater's driveway. I pulled up behind Tyler's car, flipping him off when he blew a kiss at me in the doorway. I waved at Will as well as Adriana excused herself from the car to grab her stuff before answering.
"Oh, you know, she was just being... thorough. Pressing my Mum for details and stuff. I don't really like talking about what happened last year."
"You mean... is that about the 'ring' thing?"
"Yeah," I replied, glancing in the rear-view mirror for something to look at. "I mean, I can still talk about it, but I was just really worked up about it after the 'bin' thing. Got me good, that one."
"I never will forgive him for that," Zoe muttered, and I laughed lightly as we waited for Adriana.
When she climbed in the car finally, she had two bags with her, and had discarded her school bag. She grinned as she closed the door, and I pulled out of the driveway to go back to my place.
"I didn't bring the vodka because I figured we'd save the heavy drinking for later," she explained, "but I did bring some pieces I want you both to try on. No, you don't have to wear them, but I know you will because they're super cute. Also, I brought some make-up because we need to look smashing." She paused. "Well, more smashing."
I rolled my eyes with a smile as Zoe laughed beside me. "I actually believe you," I chuckled, shaking my head. "Oh boy, look out."
"Yeah, everybody better look out!" she exclaimed. I chucked her a glance, my eyebrow raised.
"Did you get into that vodka before you got in my car?" I demanded, and she grinned, looking down at her lap.
"Sorry, I know I'm hyper," she said with a smile. "I just... it's been a while, you know? I haven't talked to anyone like this but my brothers in a really long time."
I smiled to myself. "I know," I replied gently. "That's why I invited you. We're going to have fun, okay? Us three. We stick together, no matter what. Got it?"
"Yes sir," Zoe announced, saluting me mockingly. Adriana beamed.
"Absolutely."
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We were now lounged about my room, a beer bottle in front of or beside each one of us. I was poking through my closet, my drink on the post at the end of my bed beside me. Adriana was lounged out on my bed, her drink on the bedside table to her left. And Zoe was stretched out on the floor, her drink between her legs. We hadn't been in here long; maybe five minutes? I just couldn't find anything to wear. And that was the biggest problem in my life right then; I had forgotten all about my dad, and being threatened for money. The only thing I was fretting about was having nothing to wear to this stupid party.
"What about those shorts?" Zoe asked, pointing to the pants I'd just dropped on the floor behind me. "Those are cute."
"It'll be too cold to wear shorts," Adriana commented, taking a swig from her bottle. "Everyone'll probably be outside for majority of the night."
I frowned. "How many people are going?"
She shrugged. "Just our grade," she replied. I stared at her.
"Just our grade?" I repeated, now alarmed. "That's, like, a hundred people!"
"They might not all go!" she said quickly, eyes wide as she tried to think of a way out of her mistake. "We'll be lucky if anyone goes, really; what with us ignoring everyone."
Zoe laughed aloud. "Trust me," she retorted. "Everyone is going to be all over this party. Everyone wants the chance to make friends with you guys again; you're like the most important people in the school."
I shook my head suddenly, folding my arms over my chest.
"Nope, that's it, I'm not going," I shot back, a worried crease coming between my eyebrows. "That's too many people!"
"How many did you think were going to go?" Adriana demanded, but I could tell it was rhetorical. I had to bite my lip to avoid answering it. "Relax, will you? Me and Zoe will be there; we won't abandon you, okay? Now stop freaking out and try this on." With that said, she dug something out from one of her bags and chucked it to me. I caught it before it whipped me in the face and held it up over my torso, turning to the back of my door to see what it would look like. I shrugged, impressed. It was really cute; a creamy coloured woollen sweater that looked to be my size. I pursed my lips together, thinking of something that could go with them. I dished through my drawers again, finding a white singlet to go underneath and my favourite maroon coloured skinny jeans. I tilted my head sideways, feeling my anxiety suddenly disappear.
"Huh," I murmured, looking at the match. "Well, that won't look too bad, actually."
"Wear these too," Zoe insisted, and pulled out a pair of shoes I had only worn a couple times before. My mum bought me heels to make herself feel better about me being a walking logo for all the movies, games and shows I liked. I tried to refrain from wearing heels if I could, but in this instance, I could see I had no choice. So I took the tanned, lace-up heels from my friend and set the whole outfit on the end of my bed before taking my beer in my hand.
"Well. That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Adriana crooned. I scowled at her, gesturing at her bag.
"Fine, fine, you got me," I sighed. "Got anything in there for Zoe?"
"That I do," she sang, and pulled something else out of her bag for Zoe; this one was a grey cropped sweater. I looked at her, eyes wide.
"How come everything you own is really cute?" I demanded.
"My parents are rich," she replied with a shrug. "Comes with the burden, I spose."
"'Burden' my ass," Zoe shot back with a disbelieving snort. "I think I'm going to hold onto this for a while, if you don't mind."
"Considering how many things of mine you still have at your house since last year," Adriana laughed, "I'm going to believe that I don't have a say in that anyway."
Zoe beamed.
"Alright, I have a pair of black jeans that'll go with this," she announced, pulling the pants from her bag. "I did bring a pair of heels, but they're white; the only ones I have."
"I have some nice black ones you could borrow; they might be your size," I suggested, crossing the room to pull them from my box of unused shoes. "Hey, would you look at that," I snickered, holding up the tall black heels as the tag still hung from the inside of them. "Never before been worn. How lucky is that?"
"I like having you two around," Zoe sighed, holding the shoes to her chest lovingly. "Don't expect to be getting these back soon, either."
"I honestly won't even know they're gone."
"Okay, I have this..." Adriana continued, pausing to pull something else from her bag. It was an over-sized sweater dress thing, pale pink in colour and with a big neck scarf thing that was bound to keep her warm. I shrugged.
"Fancy that," I announced. "Another cute sweater. You have these coming out your ass or something?"
"Very funny," she shot back. "I have a pair of black boots I'm gonna wear with it, but my blue jeans were in the wash so I had to bring my white ones."
Zoe shook her head immediately. "Nuh uh," she declared, pulling the white pants away from Adriana before she could lay them down with her top. "No white jeans. Definitely not at party. You know how hard it's gonna be washing out vomit stains from pants that pale? At least go blue."
"I have some nice blue jeans," I suggested, agreeing whole-heartedly with Zoe's statement. I found them easily, chucking them over to her. "They're ripped, but only a little."
"Did you get those at-"
"Don't say it," I snapped, narrowing my eyes at Zoe. "I'll kick you out the window if you finish that sentence, I swear to god."
Zoe grinned, but didn't finish.
"Okay, easy," Adriana beamed. "Should we get ready, or...?"
"Yeah, let's," I agreed. "Hair and make-up will take two seconds."
"Not if it's done properly," Adriana corrected me as we all picked up our corresponding outfits. "And it's going to be done properly. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled, pulling my jumper over my head. "I won't argue."
We got changed with ease, and before long, we were all ready to get going. My friends looked smashing; the whole 'smoky eye' thing really did look nice when it was executed properly. It was about 8 o'clock now; people would already be at the Slater's place by now, so we figured it was time to head off. My mum wasn't home again; I was starting to wonder where it was she was wandering off to so late. But I was kind of glad she wasn't home; I didn't have to explain that I was going to a party with a bunch of strangers, alcohol and Tyler Slater of all guys. Lucky Cas didn't live with me; he wouldn't have let me go at all if he knew Tyler was going to be there.
"Alright, let's get going," Zoe announced, moving for the door to my room with her empty beer in her hands. I gathered mine and Adriana's as I followed her, and the three of us walked out into the kitchen. I left the bottles on the window sill above the sink, reminding myself to take them out when I woke up the next morning, and slid my phone in my back pocket. Once we were all outside, I locked the door, slid the key in the pillow case of the cushion that sat on the porch's swingy chair and then wandered over to my car.
"A discount?" Zoe announced suddenly. Adriana laughed aloud.
"Fucking hell," I muttered.
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I'm back! Can't believe how long it's been since I've written! I hope this story doesn't go to crap, I'm currently writing another one right now which is way higher on my priority list because its a bigger book, but this is one I'm going to continue on the side, because it's a lot easier to write than the other one (which is not on Wattpad currently). Hope you all enjoy reading!
How much do we love these girls?!
Keep reading! xx