Loud music.

Hormonal, drunk teens.

Provocative dancing.

Underage bought alcohol.

If you see all of these things in the same place, you know that you're in a party. If adults were to see what's going on, you can't blame them for wanting to end it. They're used to their kind of parties with classic music, good wine, and no underage drinking. And I bet they would wonder why or even how such a party would become like this. Well, I only have one thing to say to them.

Welcome to the 21st century.

But the question in mind is: What is someone like me doing in a place like this? Why would I waste my Friday night stuck in a party like this? Well, let's go back earlier that day.

It was a typical school day in Dartwell high. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the Musketeers were openly flirting with the Angels. Yup, it's just a typical school day in Dartwell High.

"How about if you walk me to my next class, sugar plum?" Hannah suggested to Declan, her arm wrapped around Declan's arm.

Declan gave her a smirk. "Why not to all of them, sugar?"

"You're so sweet, Declan."

"Muffin, what about you?" Abby asked Bennett. "Will you walk me to class?"

"Honey, that's the only thing I want to do," Bennett told Abby, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, Bennett," Abby sighed.

"Sweet pea," Jordan said Candice. "Let me carry your bag for you." He offered, already grabbing Candice's bag out of her hands.

Candice batted her eyes. "You'd so that for me, peanut?"

"I'd do anything for you, Candy," Jordan said. He emphasized the word "anything".

It's been a week when I first saw found out they were dating each other. When news broke out that they were, they were the main gossip topic of the whole school. All three of them were the perfect "it" couple. Well, of course they were. All six of them were the most popular and hottest kids in the school.

And it's not that I'm surprised that they're still dating (which I honestly am), I'm surprised they're able to keep this up. Not the dating I mean, but the flirting. There were pet names, the compliments, the dates, the gifts, all of it. Just yesterday, Declan bought Hannah chocolates and happily fed them to her, eating some for himself as well. Bennett went as far as to send Abby flowers during each of her classes, some being sent by a student having service (which happens to be me many times) while others were there waiting for her on her desk. And from what Candice kept on going on about, Jordan took her out to the amusement part with her. During the time, he won her a stuffed animal which she either carries around or keeps it suffocating in her locker along with her strong perfumes that if unleashed, could make the whole school smell like the perfume section of Victoria's Secret.

"I think I lost my appetite for the next... decade." I muttered.

"But you can't help but think how funny this is, right..." Parker paused and smiled, "dumpling?"

I made a face at that. "No, don't call me a food pet name, please. Or else I'd lose my appetite for the next century. Sweetheart is just fine."

He chuckled. "Okay, sweetheart."

"But you have a point," I told him. "This is so weird, it's funny."

Parker laughed. "I know. I wonder when they're going to run out of foods. Next thing you know they'll be calling each other broccoli or spinach."

"Promise me we'll never do-" I caught myself, my face was turning warm at what I just said. I looked at Parker who wore the same look of surprise as me with reddened face.

He quirked an eyebrow. "You want me to promise you that we'll never call each other pet names?"

"I- uh, I mean..." I stammered, not knowing what to say. I looked down at the ground in embarrassment. "Just the food ones," I mumbled.

Parker burst out laughing, but finally calmed down to say, "Okay, sweetheart, I promise."

I smiled at this.

The both of us looked at the six of them who were openly flirting with each other. Kids passed by the group in the hallway. Guys envied the Musketeers while girls envied the Angels. People have been calling them Benby, Declah, and Jordice. Speaking of ship names...

"I heard people are starting to call them the Angelic Musketeers," I told Parker. "And let me tell you this, none of them are or anything near angelic."

Parker gave a small shrug. "You got a point there."

I continued watching the couples shamelessly flirting with each other. If you've missed it, don't worry. The next show will be in five minutes. They've been doing this like a schedule, before and after school plus between classes and during lunch. I would have honestly been okay with this if they weren't overdoing it with the flirting and pet names, mostly the pet names.

Ever since that "small chat" I had with the guys, I still can't help but think about that. I know the guys couldn't lie to me. Most of the time, they would just avoid the question entirely, changing the subject, or saying something else. But they said they liked the, right to my face. I keep telling myself that they couldn't lie to me, but I know that I'm in denial. They could be doing this for many reasons. Maybe they really do like them. Maybe they were blackmailed by the girls. (But with what? You can't blackmail the Musketeers with anything) Maybe it was out of a dare. Maybe Parker and I stepped into an alternate dimension, a parallel universe. But then a sudden thought crossed my mind.

Or maybe they're doing this for payback for Parker.

I remembered the little spat the four of us had back at my house. The guys never liked Parker to begin with. And they thought that he was playing with me. But when they figured out I actually liked him, that was the last straw for them. And when I kicked them out- well, politely asking them to leave -my house didn't help the situation as well. It would make perfect sense to all of this. But I still can't believe they would go this far to teach me a lesson. And to think that Bennett told me that they weren't mad, that they couldn't hold a grudge. My fists clenched in anger not that I know this.

Well then, two can play this game, but in this case, two more.

I looked at Parker and tugged on his sleeve. Parker looked down and noticed my gesture that I wanted to tell him something. He leaned down and I went on my tip toes to then whisper something into his ear. He was silent for a moment, thinking what I said over. But then the two of us wore the same smiles on our faces.

"What about you, gorgeous?" Parker said out of the blue, and I was thankful that is wasn't a food pet name, though I would prefer one instead of this pet name. "How about we go eat out somewhere once school's out?"

The flirting and pet names came to a halt when Parker said this.

"That's a brilliant idea, handsome," I cooed, batting my eyes for effect. "I'd love to eat somewhere with you."

"Where would you like to go, beautiful?"

"Anywhere, charming," I replied back. "As long as I'm with you, I don't care where I am or what I eat."

Parker took my hand having the both of us hold each other's hands. Then we looked at each other in pure adoration. The guys snapped their attention away from the girls and looked at the two of us. Then their eyes landed on our hands that held tightly together.

My face lit up all of a sudden. "Here's another idea." I said, playing with the collar of his jacket. "How about we go watch a movie before eating out?" I offered.

Parker tucked my hair behind my ear. His hand lingered there before it dropped to his side. "You're so smart my little nerd."

"Not like you, Mr. Jock." I replied back, leaning my head on his chest.

"What kind of movie do you want to watch, love?" He asked me, whispering the question in my ear, but in a stage-whisper for the guys to hear it. "The choice is all yours. I'd watch anything my girl would want to watch."

I reddened at that, which was good for the act as well. "Well..." I pondered over that, slightly glancing at the guys who were narrowing their eyes at me. "We could watch a chick-flick, maybe set the mood-" they paled at the sound of that genre "-or we could watch a horror. As long as I could go to you for comfort, I would never be scared-" they turned so pale they could be mistaken for ghosts for the horror film.

"How about both?" He offered and the both of us wore the same devious smiles.

"Well, aren't you slick," I mused with a smirk. "I like the sound of that, O'Neil."

"I'm glad you do, sweetheart," Parker said, making me blush at the sound of my real nickname. "I don't care what we do as long as we're together."

We looked into each other's eyes in adoration, my brown eyes staring back at his blue ones. Someone, cue the aw's for us.

I sighed. "Oh, Parker, you can be so –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up," Jordan said, abruptly shoving Candice's bag back to her when he offered to carry it only a few minutes ago.

I finally willed myself to tear away from his gaze after a few seconds as if I didn't hear the question at first, and asked innocently. "What's wrong?"

Declan took Hannah's arms off from around his neck, making her jaw drop in surprise. "Who said the two of you can go to the movies?"

"And what is this whole couple thing all of a sudden?" Bennett asked, taking his arm off Abby's shoulders. Abby grabbed Bennett's arm and tried to put it back on her shoulders, but Bennett just took his arm off again.

"We don't know what you're talking about," I simply replied.

"Yeah," Parker agreed. "Did we do something bad?"

 "I don't think we did."

"Yeah, we didn't."

"And besides," I said. "We aren't doing anything wrong."

"We're just having a small talk."

"And since when did we have to ask for your permission to go to the movies?" I asked them.

"We didn't know we had to do that."

"Actually we don't have to."

"Really? Good. It would be terrible if we didn't go to the-"

"Stop saying we!" Jordan ordered.

Parker and I shared the same mischievous smile and began to say in unison, "We, we, oui, we, wii, we, we, we can say we as many times as we want."

"But you don't have to go as far as to do all that couple stuff." Declan pointed out.

"Yeah," Jordan said. "You shouldn't be doing all of this PDA in front of us."

The both of us stared at the two of them for what seemed to be a long time. But then we suddenly burst out laughing.

"You're one to talk!" Parker said between laughs.

"Shouldn't be doing PDA," I repeated to myself. "This is too funny."

"Guys," Bennett hissed at his friends. "Stop making such a big deal about this."

"What do you mean stop making such a big deal?" Declan asked Bennett. "This is a big deal!"

"These two love birds over here-" Jordan said as he gestured towards the two of us "-are making a huge show for the whole school to see."

Bennett glared at them "Can't you tell they're-"

"Why are you making such a big deal about this?" I asked them. "Does this... bother you?"

"As a matter of fact, it is," Jordan confirmed, crossing his arms.

"Well, I bet this-" I wrapped my arms around Parker's neck and had him lean down to my height so that our faces were inches, centimeters away, the sudden gesture took him by surprise, me as well "-must bother you much more."

I didn't know where my sudden confidence was coming from. Under this situation, I should be blushing as bright as a tomato right now. But maybe because I'm so mad at the guys and so focused at angering them, that I'm not realizing how close Parker- Oh wait, now I'm realizing it. The both of us were turning redder and redder by the minute.

Jordan blinked. "What are you-"

Parker regained himself and replied by wrapping his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. "Or maybe this would hit a nerve, don't you think, sweetheart?"

"I can tell you that this is pulling a few heartstrings," I admitted sheepishly.

Parker gave me a boyish grin. "I'm going to take that as a good thing."

I smiled back at him. "You should."

My eyes flickered back at the guys who looked like they were about to pop. Jordan looked like he wanted to break us apart and punch Parker, repeatedly. Bennett looked like he wanted to give me a huge lecture about PDA after punching Parker, repeatedly. And Declan looked like he just wanted to punch Parker, repeatedly. In the end, all three of them just really wanted to punch Parker, repeatedly.

Poor Parker.

The girls on the other hand were quite different. They looked annoyed, maybe even pissed that the guys weren't paying attention to them. It was honestly funny, watching them try to get their attention. They waved their hands or snapped their fingers in front of their faces, trying to get their attention. But none of it worked. The guys ignored them because they were too busy imagining different ways to murder Parker.

"I could tell you what will get hit unless you take her hands off of her," Declan growled.

I smiled at him. "Who said I want him to?"

All three of them narrowed their eyes at me.

"Well, we do." Declan said.

"You're not my parents." I stated.

"No, we're worse," Jordan retorted back.

This again.

They act like my parents, well, what my parents should be acting. They lecture me, scold me, and try to control me. I know they're only doing this because they care about me. I should be happy about this, that even though they chose the girls over me, they still care for me. But this is nothing compared to what they've been doing right in front of me. They've been constantly flirting, exchanging cheesy pet names, and ignoring me. And besides...

I liked Parker first.

I tsked, looking away from them. I unwrapped my arms off of Parker as he let go of my waist. I grabbed his hand, and then turned to glare at the guys.

"Let's go Parker."

"Okay."

The both of us walked down the hall, are hands clasped together. The kids in the hall parted like the Red Sea, letting the two of us walk away in ease. Parker glanced back at them, probably seeing the guys watch us walk away. But I didn't look back.

I didn't want to.

"Was that how it was supposed to go?" Parker asked me.

I shook my head. "No. It was just supposed to annoy them for the fun of it. But it just pissed me off instead." I glanced back at him. "Sorry for making you do that."

He chuckled. "Don't be sorry. I was the one who agreed to do it. And it's not your fault it didn't go according to plan."

"Yeah, well, nothing ever does."

He gave my hand a slight squeeze. I looked down and became conscious that we were holding hands. I guess I was so caught up in the moment that I got bolder. Then I started to remember what I just did a few minutes ago, like when I wrapped my arms around Parker or flirted with him entirely.

I reddened in embarrassment. "S-sorry," I stammered, letting go of his hand. But he still held my hand tightly, not letting go.

"No, you don't have to let go," he told me, then blushing at what he just said. "I-I mean, that-" referring to squeezing my hand "-was just for reassurance."

"Oh, oh okay," I said. In a late reply, I squeezed my hand back. The both of us smiled at each other.

"Wait," I said suddenly, stopping us from walking.

"What is it?" He asked me.

I was about to say it, when his thumb began massaged my hand sending waves of electricity. I blanked out for a moment, now knowing what I was going to say in the first place. But then I finally got my thoughts together.

"You know what we said back there..." I said slowly, "The stuff about a dinner and a movie?"

"Yeah," he said. "What about it?"

"Are we seriously going to do that?"

I thought for sure Parker was going to burst out laughing at my stupid question. But instead he grinned at me.

"Why? D'you want to?" 

I looked at the ground, embarrassed. "I don't know."

"Well, how about this?" He suggested. "How about we go to a party instead?"

"A party?" I repeated.

"Yeah, Daniel's folks are out of town and he's throwing a party Friday night."

 "But I don't even know a Daniel."

"Don't worry," Parker said, his grin widening. "I do."

"But I didn't know there was going to be a party-" cough, obviously "- and I wasn't invited."

"It's alright, I was. He said friends of friends can come. So what will it be? Would you be my plus one, sweetheart?"

You could obviously tell what my answer was to that.

After that, the rest of the day was a blur. School went on as usual, I did my schoolwork, no one bullied me, I had lunch with Parker, I had a chemistry test which Jordan and I ignored each other, and Declan and I didn't even look at each other during P.E. My mind was somewhere else the whole day. I thought about the guys and their girlfriends, the reasons behind why they were doing this, though payback for Parker seemed the most reasonable one. I thought about Parker and the party I was going to. And most importantly...

I thought about what I was going to wear.

Okay, maybe the outfit wasn't too hard. It wasn't going to be chilly tonight, it was only the middle of September. So I decided to go casual. I chose a loose grey tank top with a black and blue flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows and unbuttoned. To go with it I have black sweats with my favorite pair of high top sneakers to go with it. I didn't bother to bring a purse, I just stuffed my phone, keys and wallet in my pockets and I was good to go. I didn't want to go all out in a party. It was a party after all.

It was then I realized that I haven't even asked my parents if I could go to the party. This will be the second time I was going to a party, the first was going to Rider's or Rodney's party who turned out to really be Raymond's party, with the Musketeers right after signing the contract. They were pretty okay with me going to a party the first time. So the thought didn't cross my mind until the last second to ask if I could go.

I went out my room and down the stairs. But I halted midway from the steps when I saw my parents waiting for me at the bottom. I held back a sigh and walked the rest of the way down.

"My, you seemed all dressed up this evening," my mom mused, looking at my outfit up and down.

"Are you going somewhere?" My dad asked me, his arms crossed.

"Yes."

"What are you all dressed up for?" She asked.

"A party."

She pressed on. "What kind of party?"

How can you reply to that?

"I don't know. A party, party."

"Will the boys be there?" My mom asked hopefully, referring to the Musketeers.

Hopefully not.

"I think so."

My dad frowned at my answer. "Who will be taking you to there, then?"

"A friend," I said rather bluntly.

They gave me the 'be more specific' look.

"Fine, a guy," I admitted. "His name's Parker, the guy I tutored for calculus."

My mom's face lit up at the sound of this. She must have remembered when I mentioned tutoring a classmate named Parker for calculus.

"Ooh, is he cute by any-"

She was interrupted when the door bell suddenly rang. The color in my face drained away. This is the worse timing anyone could imagine. I was about to run towards the front door to open it, but my dad beat me to it. With a twist of the doorknob, he opened the door with Parker standing at the other side.

"Never mind," My mom said. "I already know my answer."

Parker was wearing a maroon long-sleeved Henley shirt which is more of a collarless polo shirt, the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. Along with it, he wore skinny black jeans with maroon Vans. He was surprised at first for seeing my dad when he was really expecting me, but he regained himself and smiled at him.

"Hi, I'm Parker, Parker O'Neil," he introduced.

My dad grunted. "Yeah, we figured." The earned a glare from both mom and me.

But the cheery self he was, he ignored my dad's rudeness and instead just smiled. "You must be Mr. Lorraine, Naomi's dad."

Parker held out his hand for my dad to shake. He blankly stared at the hand. My mom slightly hit my dad's shoulder.

"Hank, don't be rude." My mom said sternly.

He sighed. "Fine." He took Parker's hand and gave it a shake.

My dad was conveniently blocking Parker's way into the house, telling him, 'don't even think about coming inside.' But Parker looked over my dad's shoulder, and saw me. His smile widened at the sight of me, making me smile.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi," I replied back.

Parker then looked at my mom. "You must be Naomi's sister."

My mom reddened at the mistake. "No, I'm actually her mother."

"You are? I'm sorry, Mrs. Lorraine."

"No, it's alright. And please, call me Marisa."

I held back an eye roll and looked at Parker. "That's cheesy."

He winked at me. "Oh, I'm all about cheesiness, Lorraine."

"Parker, come inside," my mom offered. "Sit down and we'll have a chat."

Parker blinked. "Oh well, I-"

I looked down at my imaginary watch. "Oh, look at the time. We have a party to go to. Right, Parker?"

He looked at me in confusion. "But-"

"Right, Parker?" I pressed.

He got it and nodded. "Right."

I walked out of the front door. Grabbing his arm, I was practically dragging off the porch. He was able to look back and wave goodbye at my parents.

"It was nice meeting you Mrs. and Mr. Lorraine." He called out to them.

"You too, Parker," My mom called back. "Have a nice-"

The door closed before she could finish. Parker's Mitsubishi was parked (ha ha) right in front of our house. As an act of chivalry and extreme cheesiness, he opened the door for me, even bowing for effect. I burst out laughing and entered the car.

"It's best to leave as quickly as possible in that place," I told Parker as sat on the driver's seat of the car. "My mom was only seconds away of inviting you to dinner instead of us going to the party."

"I wouldn't mind that," Parker said as he buckled his seatbelt.

I buckled my seatbelt as well. "Really?"

"Well, let me see..." He said, thinking it over, his head hitting the back of his seat so he would stare at the car's roof. "Getting interrogated by your parents, awkward silences, free food," Parker paused then turned to me and smile. "But at least I'll be with you."

I snorted. "That's cheesy."

"It is," he admitted with a small shrug, "but it's the truth."

I shook my head, smiling. "Just hit it."

Hey everyone! How do you like the new update of the book? I hope you all enjoyed this extra long chapter. What did you think about it? What was your favorite part, or your least favorite part? I have two favorite parts. The first was when Jordan shoved Candice back her bag, hilarious. And the seconds was when Naomi and Parker kept saying we, then to annoy the guys said "we, we, wii, we, oui, we, we, we" part. Notice how I added wii (the game console) and oui (the French word for yes). The next chapter will be the party scene, hope you're all excited.

RubixCube89201