Chapter 7 - Not Another High School Party

"Know I've done wrong

Left your heart torn

Is that what devils do?

Took you so low

Where all that fools go?

I shook the angel in you

Now I'm rising from the ground

Rising up to you

Filled with all the strength I found

There's nothing I can't do"

The party at Lia's started at 5 p.m and it would probably last for several hours after that. Aiden texted me asking where he would be picking me up. Don't ask me how he got my number, because I have no freaking idea. I texted him back saying that we should meet at a nearby park. There was no way I was going to let him know where I lived, so the park was the safest and best idea.

I didn't prepare myself for the party. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect or where I was getting myself into. The only things I knew about high school parties I had learn from movies and believe me, they never ended up well. So I decided to go with a simple outfit, some jeans, a rock t-shirt, a leather jacket and a pair of combat boots.

Once I got out of my house I couldn't help but look at Dylan's. His car was not parked, so I guessed he was already at the party. Most likely making out with Janice. I walked towards the park and waited for five minutes before I heard the noise of a motorbike. I saw Aiden parking near me, with no helmet on his head and with his stupid smirk spread across his stupid face.

Gosh, how could I have been so stupid? This was starting as a bad idea, so from now on it could only get worse.

"Ready?" Aiden asked, looking me up and down. I scowled at him but he simply smirked, grabbed a helmet from his bike and handed it to me. "Here it is, love."

"Please, stop calling me that." I firmly but politely asked, looking hesitantly to the motorbike, also known as the killing-machine.

"Don't worry." He said "I'll drive you safely. Scout's honour."

"Yeah, right." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Come on, we don't have all day." He teased with that annoying half-smile playing on his lips.

I sighed, my heart bumping in my chest. I hesitantly sat on the freaking bike, trying to put the damn helmet on my head. For the record, it's not easy.

"Oh, please." Aiden sighed, turning back to face me. He grabbed the helmet and put it gently on me before I could even reply. Then he turned again and started the motor. 

"I think you might wanna hold onto me." He warned and I could hear the teasing in his voice.

"I won't need to if you go slowly. And what's up with you not using a helmet? What about the police?"

"Have I told you that you good girls are extremely annoying?" He asked.

"I thought bad boys liked that." I said, a smirk playing on my lips. He turned to stare at me, but instead slammed his head on my helmet, which of course, made me laugh. Which of course made him mad. Which of course made him go at full speed through the roads, making me instantly grab his waist. I swear I screamed all the way to Lia's house. I probably looked like a crazy person, but we were going way too fast and besides who wouldn't go crazy driving like that? I was so going to kill him!

After a while of screaming, Aiden parked in front of a big house full of cars and motorbikes. There were teenagers outside, mostly from my school, dancing, laughing, drinking, making out. I sighed of relief. At least he hadn't brought me to some creepy club.

"Well, here we are. Enjoyed the ride?" Aiden chuckled. This time I didn't need help to take the helmet off my head. I took it furiously and harshly gave it to him.

"You." I said, anger slipping from my voice. "You are a crazy-despicable-rude person who doesn't give a damn about other people's requests! You were going to kill us out there! Are you insane?"

"Jesus, woman, calm down. Everything went well, ok?" Aiden lifted his hands as if surrending himself.

"But it could have been really wrong! I swear to God I'm going to kill you, Stuart--"

"Don't you wanna grab a drink first?" He questioned, shutting me up. I shot him another glare but slowly made my way towards the house,disgustingly watching the people around us. Most of them were already drunk and others were throwing up. I rolled my eyes.

The music roared once we got inside the house. In there the scenario was even worse, with girls dancing on top of tables, couples making out in sofas or pushed against walls, etc. I glanced around the room searching for Dylan or Janice, but I didn't find any of them.

"Here." Aiden handed me a drink. As soon as he stopped looking at me I dumped the drink into a vase of flowers. Did he think I was stupid or something? I mean, he had probably put some drug on it! I came to the party with a mission and with a mission only: I didn't come to have fun or enjoy myself or all the other crap people did at parties. I needed to find out what was going on, but I didn't know how I was going to do that.

Before I could think anything else, I spotted Dylan at a corner looking uncomfortable. I knew him, he didn't like parties either.

Without saying anything to Aiden (who I thought wouldn't care as he looked more interested in the miniskirts of the girls dancing) I made my way towards Dylan.

"Hey." I said quietly. He seemed surprised to see me there.

"Hi." He replied softly. I smiled a little at his tone of voice.

"Nice party, huh?" I tried to make conversation but we looked like two strangers awkwardly placed next to each other and not two best friends who knew each other for there entire lives.

"Hmm... who did you come with?" Dylan asked me curiously.

I bit my lip, fearing that the 'awkward conversation' would turn into one of our now common quarrels.

"Aiden."

He looked emontionless at me.

"Really? I swear I don't understand what's going on, Kiara."

"I... I just came with him because I didn't know where the party was and I was afraid of asking you, you know, after our... discussion." I said, trying to mantain a resolute tone of voice, but with someone who knew me as much as Dylan did, it was really difficult to do so.

"Sure, and you had to choose the worst person to come with." Dylan sarcastically stated.

"Dammit, Dylan, I know. I know he's all dangerous, with all the bad boy looks and his stupid motorbike, I know, ok?" I said, getting tired of our arguments. "I'm not dumb. I'm not turning into one of those girls that think they can change the bad boy or just want to hook up with him. But I know he and Matthew are up to something. And I need to find out what. Also, I think this is the perfect opportunity to do so. And I understand that you care about me and that you don't want to see me getting hurt, but I'll promise I will not. I just need to find out, Dylan. And I'm letting them talk to me and invite me to parties just because I want to figure things out. It's not because I like them or something, I obviously do not! I'm even letting myself argue with my best friend because of them. And I hate it. I hate that we have to argue so much because of all of this, but I just wish you'd understand. I know what I'm doing, Dylan. I can take care of myself. I just don't want to be mad at you, nor do I want you to be angry with me."

I said all this without even thinking, the words just came flowing out of my mouth. I took a deep breath while staring at Dylan.

"Sorry." He finally said after a silent moment. "I should have listened to you, I should have known that you wouldn't change from day to night and that you were just trying to know. But instead I got mad and shouted at you and I'm sorry."

I smiled. "It's okay, Dylan. I shouted at you too."

"Just promise me you'll be careful, ok?" Dylan asked.

"Of course."

He smiled. "Thank--"

He was interrupted by Janice who approached us with two drinks.

"Dylan, darling, I--"

She stopped once she saw me. I gulped. "I should leave now. Enjoy the party."

I forced myself not to think about Dylan and Janice and instead focused on my plan. But what plan? How could I find out the truth?

"Hello, Kiara." A voice woke me up from my thoughts. I looked up to see Matthew smiling brightly at me. "I see Aiden drove you here safely. Good."

"No need to worry about me, Matthew. And I wouldn't exactly use the word 'safely' to describe our ride."

He chuckled. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No, thanks." And then it clicked. Just like that, I knew what I had to do to find out. They say in wine there is truth, right? So I just needed to make them drunk. Which wasn't going to be a problem considering that we were in a party full of alcohol and those guys probably loved to drink. I was going to make them talk to find out the truth. And the bonus was that they weren't even going to remember because that's the good in alcohol. You wake up the next day not remembering a thing. Well, I guess sometimes that's good and sometimes it's not, but whatever. 

I couldn't drink not only because I didn't want to but also because if I did I'd be as drunk as them and then I couldn't make the questions or at least would not rembember them the next day. I'd just have to put my acting skills in action and pretend I was drunk too so that they wouldn't suspect. It couldn't be that hard, especially when there was so many people at the party I could imitate. 

"Hey, Kiara, you alright?" Matthew asked. I woke up from my thoughts and answered "Yeah, everything's fine." I forced a cheeky smile to appear on my face while chuckling. "How many drinks have you had so far?"

"Just a few. I don't get drunk that easily though. But what do you wanna do? I mean, we're in a party, so..."

"You tell me." I grinned at him which hurt me on the inside. I hated being fake, but it was for a good cause, at least that was what I kept telling myself.

"I think there's a group over there playing truth or dare, and outside they're preparing the cake to sing happy birthday to Lia."

"Pff, I hate truth or dare."

Matthew smirked.

"You hate it or are you just scared of what you might have to do in the game?"

"I just think it's a rather stupid game. Why would anyone do what other people want? And most of the time it's just disgusting and stupid things."

"Oh, come on, Kiara, it's just for fun."

"People can have fun without submitting themselves to other people's stupidness." I bitterly replied.

Matthew stared at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"You really do have a strange personality."

I rolled my eyes. I was so used to hear that that it didn't bother me anymore. In fact, I considered it to be a compliment rather than an insult.

"Whatever." I ended up saying.

"I didn't mean it like that. I mean strange like strong. You have a very strong personality. It's like... you know who you are and you're so sure of your convictions that you don't let anyone influence you. In my opinion that's something very rare in people, let alone in teenagers. For me, it's something really special and good. Don't lose it, Kiara."

Matthew words startled me a lot. Personally, I never thought the popular football player was able to say something like that. I never really thought about it, but now that he said it, it made sense. And I was proud of it.

"I can't believe it! Did I manage to make Kiara, the queen of replies and sarcastic comments, speechless?" Matthew asked, eyebrows raised.

"Of course not, idiot!" I finally replied. "But enough with philosophies, what are we going to do after all?"

At that moment the music changed to "Love Me Again" by John Newman.

"Tell me, Kiara how are your dance moves?" Matthew asked with a smirk. 

"I bet they're better than yours." I retorted and I couldn't believe the words that had just come out of my mouth. Did I seriously just say that? Not that I was a bad dancer, but I wasn't going to dance with Matthew Clarke, was I? But then again, it would make him feel more comfortable and make him think that I really wanted to have fun, and that made it easier for me. He wouldn't suspect my plan. 

People around us were already dancing and Matthew started to make some moves, pulling me with him. I sighed. Well then, the things I did only to find out what this boys had in mind. I might as well just enjoy.

I need to know now

Know now

Can you love me again?

I need to know now

Know now

Can you love me again?

Can you love me again?

On the side there's the music "Love Me Again" by John Newman, I love the song!