high school....how original

Dear Gandhi, please do not notice this poor boy over here in the corner. Anxiety was something you got used to when you were the main target for football teams and underclass queens to shove into lockers. Or suspend your underpants on the flag pole while you're still in the locker room. Or dunk your head in the toilet. Malecai Valasco was that guy, all because he was super smart and could get you more than an A on your homework if you paid him the right amount or hit him hard enough. Midterms were coming up so his "homework business" was pretty slow since he was concentrating on his own crap. This made him get hit harder rather than paid more. He constantly had to remind himself not to squeeze the life out of his girlfriend's hand while they were just sitting there on her bed. Anytime now there would be someone storming around the corner to yoke him up by his plaid shirt collar and make him do something stupid and embarrassing. The image of him from the Christmas party managed to sneak into his head. Ugh. No, he would NOT have another incident like that one. He could try to make conversation with Marina to ease his nerves maybe. But she kind of scared him. She has her cartilage pierced for crying out loud. She could snap any minute. Mal still found it kind of hot, which was why they had been dating since the beginning of Junior year. That and because she was a super genius like him. Those are really hard to find. Malecai jumped a little when she finally did say something. "Um, yeah." His voice sounded a tad squeaky. His anxiety hadn't lessened at all. Clearing his voice he proceeded. "Yeah. Fun and stuff. Whatever." That was a little bit better. Nope, nope, he was still freaking out.

Adan Lightfoot was only here for one reason. His girlfriend. He was invited to the party in the first place (people were continuously blowing up his phone about it; like how did they get his number in the first place?), but what was so fun about hanging in the corner surrounded by freaks, weirdos, and a sugar-hyped twelve year old? When the other few people told him about the party, he completely ignored them and went back to making a rocking chair in his Carpentry class. Then Aliana mentioned it and, well, she's pretty so he came over. This wasn't what he was expecting. All of these drunk teens bouncing around to a beat the music wasn't even playing. He didn't do this. He was called "Socio" for a reason. The first five minutes he was there was spent looking for Aliana and avoiding stumbling kids. He was 18 now. Everyone was a kid to him. He did manage to look around a little bit more while looking for her. Over there was Marina and her nerd boyfriend. Marina was creepy. Malecai was a dork. Adan probably would have been bullying Malecai if his foster mother and the dork's father didn't know each other. Adan wasn't even a bully. It was just that Mal was so darn  bully-able. Oh, look, over there was a small space that Adan's band would be playing at. If he had one. Do you know how many times he tried to form one in the two years he's been at this stupid school? None, but when you see a scene guy with guyliner and ripped jeans you should just assume that he wanted to start a Beatle-themed band. Adan's chin flicked up, half in greeting to a turned up Leah and half to flick his bangs from his face. What? If you have a lip-ring and an eyebrow piercing you need to have some bangs that are just there. Anyway. Where was Miss Goody-Two-Shoes? Adan needed her to remind him why he was here.

Okay, before anyone jumps to conclusions. At this point in the party, I was not wasted. I might've looked like it, but no. A hostess is supposed to stay sober. At least I think that's a rule. Well, I did my best to keep that up. Because who else was going to get everybody to go home. Or back to their dorms, or wherever they belonged. I wasn't going to be that idiot girl who passed out halfway through. I was never that girl and I never have been that girl. Because unlike everyone else, I know my limit. So, going over it was a rare occasion for me. Twice. Twice in my life had I been drunk before that night. The reasons are unimportant. And yes, there were reasons before. Something distracted me and kept me from counting the amount of alcohol I consumed. And now I know what you're thinking. This girl has a drinking problem. And maybe I do, okay? But that's unimportant right now. Let's get back to the story. So, ten o'clock and everyone that was coming was already there. It was more people than I was expecting, but when people hear the word party, they just come running. I was actually surprised that no one came in to make sure we were following the rules. Maybe someone did, I don't remember. I was busy having fun, having meaningless conversations with random people that I've barely spoken to before. I was on my second drink and wasn't drunk but probably shouldn't be operating any heavy machinery. I saw Aliana's boyfriend, Adan, nod to me and I politely nodded back. It wasn't long after he disappeared that I found myself staring absentmindedly at a boy from my astronomy class. Wyatt, his name was. Nice guy, from the small conversations we had. We sat next to each other. He was new or something. He seemed really into the class. Unlike everyone else who thought it was an easy A. I suppose I was the same as them. My dad had pressured me into taking another science class even though I already had enough credits. So I chose astronomy because I thought the stars were pretty. That's about all there was to it.

"You should talk to him" That brought me out of my trance and back into reality. I turned my head to find Aliana standing next to me. She looked amused at my confused face. "You've been staring at him." She tried to explain, and almost immediately I shook my head and laughed. "No. I've just been thinking... about stuff."
"Liar."
I have to say I was impressed on how forward Aliana was being. She's the subtle type. Quiet and lenient. So having her urge me to go talk to some guy that I was apparently ogling at, was surprising.
"Am not."
"I can't believe you're too scared to go talk to a boy."
"Shut up." I said, a laugh escaping, "I'm not scared. If I wanted to I could go and talk to him, I just...don't want to."
"Okay." And the look on Aliana's face communicated that she wasn't convinced. So, I did the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. I took the plastic cup from her hand, and drained it (mind you I had thought there was much less alcohol in it) and then I handed her back the empty cup and I started to walk towards Wyatt.
"Hey." I said, really hoping that I would be done talking to him before the extra alcohol I consumed started to take effect. "Wyatt, right?"

After Leah had left Aliana with an empty cup and a small feeling of guilt, she started to walk around some more. To tell the truth, she hadn't even had a sip of whatever it was. So Leah might've taken more than she could handle. So Aliana made a mental note to keep an eye on her. Maybe she shouldn't have teased Leah about that guy she was staring at. Because Leah's buzzed brain might've taken that as a challenge. And the last thing Aliana needed was to feel responsible for Leah's downfall. Those thoughts escaped Aliana's mind as she saw Adan hanging out near the otherside of the dorm room. And after pushing her way through everybody and waving to Marina on her way, she found herself standing in front of her boyfriend. Or person who was more than a friend. I mean they had been officially dating for about a month. Enough time for people to come up to her in the hall and ask her if she really was dating the 'punk rocker guy' or whatever. People she didn't know came up to her and asked her about her relationship with someone. It was actually pretty rude. But Aliana never pointed that out. She just smiled sweetly and gave them a cryptic answer. Because it was none of their business. "Hey, you came." Finally someone Aliana could talk to. Someone who wasn't drunk or with their boyfriend.

Wyatt had waved the girl who he had been previously dancing off as she went off to the next poor guy who had no idea of what was going on at this party. Don't get Wyatt wrong, he was enjoying himself. Believe it or not, Wyatt Ortiz was climbing up the social ladder whether he knew it or not. He was already midfielder on the futbol team, which was pretty good for him, he had only been at this school for like, a week and he's been doing pretty well. And if he was just a little social at this party, then he could probably make a few friends instead of having everyone staring at him. I mean, attention is pretty good; but when no one is talking to you that's pretty weird.
Wyatt spun around when another voice seemed to be talking to him. It was that girl who sits next to him in Astronomy. Man, he really likes that class. He was pretty sure her name was Leah, she has never really talked to him in class. But he has noticed her name on all of her worksheets. All the boy knew about her was that she's pretty popular. I mean, no one would be here if she wasn't, right?
"Oh, yeah. I'm Wyatt." He grinned sheepishly. What do you say to a girl at a party? He didn't talk to the girl, Hadley the whole time they were dancing, she wasn't very talkative from what he gathered. When Leah spoke, he could smell the alcohol on her breath, which made Wyatt cringe a little. No, Wyatt isn't straightedge or anything, he just doesn't drink. Daddy issues and stuff, okay.
If he's correct, and he usually is in these types of situations, Leah might've had too much. But he wasn't exactly sure, it's a 50/50 chance. But, like the smart senior he is, Wyatt clutched Leah's wrist. Nothing in a teen way, but like in a I-don't-want-you-to-fall way. Well, obviously Wyatt has to go and be Little Captain Brazilian and help the girl out. Alcohol is not his favorite topic to see, or to look at. I mean, his mother is in rehab for that. And why he is here sooo, it's a love-hate relationship.

Marina may admit she had one cup, but like she had to keep it together. Her brother and herself were in a competition to see who was the best child in the family. Gabe was her step-brother who just happened to be in her grade. And that might seem just dandy to any other girl who wanted a sibling their own age. But not a disgusting overly preppy brother who wants to be known as the Dean's child instead of Marina. So they made a bet to see who is the better Wildabee child. Being posh, and  proper and getting good grades, and the winner gets to be called the Dean's child.(obviously, they're still a Wildabee. But one gets to be the only one associated with Dean Wildabee.) Sadly for Marina, the perfect Dean's child does not have 13 piercings on her ear and wear a lot of plaid. Tonight she looked pretty different. Marina was borrowing what she thought to be Aliana's dress. It was black with purple flowers all over it. Plus her hair looked pretty nice, go her. She thinks that she is winning, currently Gabriel dear is eating that sophomore girl's face off. What's her name, the little redhead who tries to think she's smarter than Marina. Ha,nope.
"Come on, Malecai. Can you at least stop freaking out?" Marina smiled, squeezing his hand, "Calm down."

Marina was right: Malecai needed to calm down at least by a fraction. He took a breath and nodded, surveying the scene in front of him once more. People were laughing, dancing. Some were drinking while others were eating finger foods. They all looked like they were having fun and not paying any mind to certain nerds cowering in the corners. On top of this, Malecai didn’t even look as nerdy as he did during school hours. (Courtesy of his father, who of which he stayed with instead of the dorms here due to some issues. His dad refused to let his son desecrate his legacy at the school.) He hated how his undershirt was revealed because it “wasn’t cool” to button your shirts up to the collar, and how his socks weren’t ironed. Disarrayed clothing meant disarrayed mind, and nothing was worse than being brilliant without organization. And there he was freaking himself out again. He thought that maybe one of the choice snacks over there would help, but he didn’t really see anything for vegans. Well, except some type of fruit-gelatin in one of those little sample cups you get at Sam’s Club. It was weird, but it was food.
“I probably need to just eat something. Be right back.” He said to Marina before getting up an cautiously making his way to the table without bumping into too many people. He didn’t see any forks or anything...was he expected to eat this without one? Maybe he had to, like, drink it or something. He did. The fruit on the inside tasted like strawberry, but the gelatin DID NOT taste normal. It was a bad type of not normal. It just...didn’t taste like the packs you got at the store. It was better. Mal had to have grabbed at least twenty of those little cups before making his way back to his spot on the bed next to Marina. This was good. These little Jell-O things were spectacular even. Mal started to feel happy in some sort after a while of eating just that, going to get more after he was out. Finally, eyes alert and smile wide, he looked at Marina once again. “Want to dance? We should dance.”

"Ouch." Adan grumbled when some tipsy guy stomped on his foot on his way to the bathroom. Adan managed to take the red cup from his hand, sniff it to confirm his suspicions, and continued on walking with his new drink. The music was so loud that he was sure to have a wicked headache by the time he managed to crawl his way back to his dorm. Maybe he should at least try to enjoy himself at a party of which was thrown by one of the most popular people at school. I mean, at least he was invited to it. That meant something, right? On a more important note, you would think that being four inches over six feet would enable you to see your way easily through a crowd. With everyone bouncing off the walls Adan's height was useless and he was more lost than his foster siblings were at Wal-Mart that one time. He just needed to calm down, and maybe Aliana would be easier to find. Right? Right. This whole event was meant to relax people before midterms came ‘round to punch people in the face. It was like a numbing drug, and when it finally wears off you’re blindsided by the pain of reality. That, of course, wouldn’t go for Adan. He was confident about it all because, unlike most of the people here getting drunk and dancing, he actually studied his butt off. Regardless of whether or not he was affected by the midterms, this party was meant to calm those who weren’t so confident. He needed to suck it up and have some fun. Adan had taken a sip of the drink in his hand when finally his prayers had been answered. Lo and behold, Aliana had appeared through the crowd right in front of him. Adan lowered the cup and smiled kindly to her. Funny, whenever someone asked him if they were dating he wouldn’t think twice before telling them that they were. Whenever he saw her he began to understand why people asked in the first place. Take now for example, with this look of guilt on her face. She looked like she had signed someone’s death note. Adan knitted his eyebrows as he prepared to ask her about it, but her words made him alter his own. “Of course I did. Mostly for the mob of drunk teenagers and the loud choice of music. You’re here, too, so I guess that’s a plus.” He drank from the cup once more in order to conceal his grin. In the back of his mind he made sure to take the note of not to drink too much or do anything stupider than usual. Why? Well, he had his reasons.

After Wyatt spoke I started to feel the effects of whatever was in Aliana's cup. And so began my ultimate screw up. I was still sober enough to make a few logical sentences. "You're new here, aren't you? Well, welcome to James Madison Academy. I can assure you, everyone here is definitely as messed up as they look." It might've seemed a bit cynical, but trust me, once you've been here for almost seven years, you start to hate this place. The faculty is alright and they're probably better teachers than any public school, but the students can get on your nerves. Last year the whole senior class was full of idiots. This senior class is better, although I might be a little biased. The middle school, well, let's just say I've heard enough stories from my dad to know that I will not be coming anywhere near the school when they've reached high school. It's a good thing I don't have to.
Back on subject, after I made my superlative joke, someone bumped into me from left. And given the fact that I was somewhat intoxicated, I stumbled the other way, and would've collided with one of the desks if Wyatt hadn't grabbed my wrist a minute earlier. "Oh, thanks." the last word seemed to stumble out of my mouth. And I suppose that was the last moment by brain was "recording". Of course, there's more that happens after that. Oh, so much happened. Part of me wishes that I did remember it, so I could have some memory to keep me humble. Then again, I'm pretty sure if I could remember what happened, I would cringe every time I thought back to it.

Across the room, Aliana was not paying attention to Leah. Why should she? Aliana was probably worrying too much. Leah could handle herself. So, Aliana pushed the topic from her mind and instead focused her attention wholly on the person in front of her. She did notice the quizzical look Adan gave her, but was distracted by the words he said after. He did make her laugh, and it of course reminded her of why she liked him. Not that she needed reminding. She knew full well why she liked him, and continued to like him. "The music might be damaging my ear drums. Which is not good at all." Aliana commented, "But I can't really go anywhere else. It's sort of my dorm. And wandering the halls and waiting for it all to blow over isn't any more fun than being here." It's true, Aliana isn't really a party person. Most of the time the music gives her a headache and everyone is way too close together. But, it's senior year and what the hell. Maybe it was time for her to act more sociable, instead of being a buzzkill. That was part of the reason she urged Leah to go talk to that guy. Well, that and Leah's always trying to get her to do things so it was sort of revenge in the nicest way possible. Of course, she wasn't going to go overboard with it. This was her second party of the whole year. Which is an all time high. She wouldn't have even shown up if the party wasn't hosted in her dorm room. Suddenly, Aliana realized that she was probably going to have to do a good portion of the clean up. Great. Being sociable is not all it's cracked up to be.

Malecai was confused, and not because he made a terrible choice in snacks within the hour and a half of being at this party. The logical part in his mind (the one not clouded by the stench of drink and the image of a Gwen Stefani music video featuring the president) continuously asked him what the hell was he doing? He was a nerd at a popular person's party, indulging himself on spiked vegan-safe hors d'oeuvres. And yet...he was sitting here while his girlfriend frantically went to search for help. He should be dancing. Even if she didn't want to, she was probably too scared. So Malecai combed a hand through his black hair and stood up, moving to a nice empty section in the middle of the room. Whoa, this makes two new things for Malecai today: trying what was in the Jell-O and dancing! It was like the snack made him more bold or something. Now he was dancing with this small group of people who were smiling as wide as he was. He didn’t know whether or not they were laughing with him or at him or at the fact that they had their share of party snacks and beverages as well. He didn’t care. Do you understand how much fun he was having? He hadn’t had this much fun since his dad’s wedding reception at the beginning of the school year! Malecai let out a gleeful laugh as he looked over to where Marina was, ready to tell her to get over here and dance with him. But she was talking to Aliana, and he suspected as usual that once two girls start talking they won’t stop for hours. So he instead looked around for anyone else that would want to dance with him and this cool new group of friends. There was Socio, the New Kid, and the main hostess. Speaking of which, she was stumbling around with the New Kid supporting her. He had to watch this thing unfold, all the while making sure he didn’t stumble into anyone just as she was.

Speaking of confused boyfriends, Adan was part of the club. One minute he was talking to Aliana and doing what he calls his “poor attempt at flirting” because he was freaking socially impaired. The next minute the preppy grunge girl that lived in Aliana’s dorm too was over here on some rant about a funk Malecai and some bet. Then he had to back space a little bit. Funk Malecai? Adan hadn’t used that term since a few months ago at a wedding...Oh my God, not again. Don’t get him wrong. Adan absolutely hated that dorky little a-hole. But there’s this thing that if Malecai gets in trouble when Adan’s there, Malecai’s father will tell Mrs. Lee. Then if she found out, that would be violating his probation stuff. Then Aliana’s mother may find out about it. Then poof. Good bye cheesy relationship with Good Child and hello emo sadness that matched his bangs. And yet,he wasn’t even going to go over there to knock some sense into the dancing fool over there. He wasn’t his problem...well he was, but Malecai hated Adan just as equally in return. So Adan just adverted his gaze and took another drink from his cup. That was none of his business. Aliana could take this one.

OOC: This is going to be in a slightly different format. It'll go back to normal after this post
BIC:

Since we are past the point where my memory fails me, I suppose I have only one thing to say. Nobody should have more than four martinis. Fact. I have learned this lesson the hard way.

And just like that, it was no longer just Aliana and Adan. It was Aliana and Marina, with Adan standing off to the side. Granted, Marina did seem a bit more anxious to talk to her. Aliana gave Adan a quick look of apology and then directed her attention towards her friend. "Okay, calm down." Aliana said putting her hands on her friends shoulders, really trying not to be bugged by the fact that Marina was wearing her dress. "As long as Gabe doesn't see Malecai, you should be fine." She knew that each of those jello cups contained hard alcohol. Or the equivalence of a shot. And judging by Marina's panicked reaction, he had more than one. The best way to deal with the situation would to contain Malecai somewhere where he wouldn't cause any harm. Which, the only place in close proximity would be the closet. Despite popular opinion, Aliana didn't always have a good solution to problems. So, in other words, she was useless. Aliana looked around the room for Marina's drunk boyfriend, while saying "I'm sure that everything will be fine if you have faith..." Aliana's words trailed off as she did not find Funk Malecai, but something worse.
So maybe forgetting about Leah wasn't a good idea. Because there she was, one hand on some poor boy's chest the other clutching the desk chair, keeping her from falling onto her face. She was obviously drunk, because she knew better than to make public displays of affection. Especially after last year. She's had bad experiences with dating, and she's told Aliana and Marina countless times that this year would be different. And that wave of guilt that Aliana experienced earlier was back and stronger than ever. "Excuse me," Aliana found herself saying. As she started to move towards her friend and the guy she was harassing, Leah's voice rang through the air. "I do have to say, you are very hot and if I wasn't hosting a party you and I would be in that closet." Of course everyone had to hear that. Luckily they didn't hear the curse that Aliana spoke out of shock. Nobody needed to hear that.