Over achievers

Party Disaster

November Archer was too intoxicated to pay attention to what the boy in front of her was saying. As hard as she tried to tune him in, her brain involuntarily kept tuning him out. He was cute. All she could think about was how good he probably was in bed, it would definitely be magical .. 

She hadn't had sex since she and her ex-boyfriend split a couple months back, her one and only boyfriend. They met in high school when they were sophomores. They hated each other at first, they weren't even friends until senior year. That same year he asked her to be his girlfriend at Homecoming.

If only she'd known they'd be over before their first anniversary.

She still missed it, them. Their relationship hadn't always been perfect, not at all, but the memories they shared nobody could top, unfortunately.

But November couldn't dwell on the complicated history of her relationship because it was just that, history. Besides, she was very frustrated and under a lot of stress, especially with finals right around the corner. She needed a warm body and this dude definitely was turning her off.

It's not like she could hear him anyway. She could feel the music in her body. The vibrations taking her high, well higher if this dude would stop talking.

She had to admit her first semester of college had definitely awakened a new side of her, one she'd fully embraced since she got to USC. 

Southern California had a different vibe than Oklahoma. Oklahoma was lonely and seemed almost abandoned, with cows behind fences behind houses. Its was empty terrain filled with opportunity, but until then, November wanted nothing to do with the place.

In college, she met tons of new friends she could count on, she had amazing experiences that opened her eyes to the real world. It was only the first semester, but so far, it was bearable.

"But yeah, our President always throws a mega-party at the end of each semester, right before finals week." The cute guy smirked.

She realized he'd stopped talking and she looked up at his face, or what she assumed was his face, she tried not to move so much because puking all over the dance floor was not an option.

"So do you belong to any of the sororities .. did you come by yourself?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Yes and no." she responded, and with that she pushed passed him and began looking for her friend. He talked too much anyway , she thought to herself.

November looked at the blurry faces around her. She couldn't distinguish anybody at the party. Nobody seemed familiar all she could do was get out of the crowd.

The music was so loud, November couldn't believe the police hadn't been called. The music almost seemed to lift her off her feet it made it almost impossible to get passed all of the people. 

You'd think the music would've bothered her, but she had to control herself from letting it take her away.

She had a friend to find after all.

She stepped into the kitchen that was relatively empty. She took a moment to collect herself and began patting her self down. She found her phone in her back pocket and pulled it out.

Her eyes could barely focus on the screen but she could make out three missed calls and a text message from Aria.

Aria Luft met November in Human Biology 101. They had clicked instantly and became super close to one another. November was there for Aria when her parents divorced. They had waited to separate until Aria moved out and they had also decided to wait to tell her until she was in College.

Aria had, in return, been there for November when her boyfriend broke up with her out of the blue. Aria introduced her to alcohol and marijuana and gave her a new sense of reality as well as a new identity.

November clicked on Aria's name and viewed her message.

Where are you ?? Meet me at the pool.

With a blank stare, she put her phone back in her pocket, grabbing the edge of the island in the middle of the kitchen to steady herself. She had no idea where the pool was.

She pushed some of her long brown hair out of her face. November was strikingly beautiful. She had tan skin without a single blemish in sight and chocolate brown eyes that contrasted beautifully with her ash brown hair. She only stood at 5'3 "but her attitude gave her an edge. She wore jeans paired with black booties, a jean jacket, and a crop top that showed off her amazing midriff she'd been working on since the Summer.

After managing to find some water to calm her thirst, she stumbled back into the crowd of people and headed toward the other end of the room where she remembered the door leading to the pool was. It was harder than she thought.

The main room was full of college students drinking and smoking everywhere. The room was illuminated with bright LED strip lights that changed the color of the room every few seconds. Strobe lights were strapped to the railings of the grand staircase in the middle of the room. It felt like a club in there, complete with the pounding of the music in your chest and sweaty bodies throwing themselves left and right, trying to forget the real world outside of those walls. The fog machine made it almost impossible to see passed two feet in front of you.

People shoved and screamed in her face as she pushed against the flow of people. She could barely breathe but she wasn't dying. Eventually she escaped the crowd and immediately found the exit to the pool wide open.

She stepped outside only to realize how cold it was. She shivered in her boots and squinted, scanning the area for Aria's beautiful ginger red hair. She took a few steps outside.

People were scattered around the pool and across the lawn. It wasn't huge but it was big enough to make finding Aria a little hard, especially in November's state. She stumbled down the few steps in front of her.

She began around the perimeter of the pool, hoping to see Aria. Aria had an insane sense of style, you could never miss her.

She kept dismissing any advancements made on her as she stumbled around looking for Aria.

All this walking had made November queasy, she needed to sit down, before it was too late. 

Looking around for an open seat or anything to lean against, November miss steps, causing her heel to go sideways and bending her ankle. She tips towards the pool but is grabbed roughly by the upper arm and pulled back. 

If she wasn't so high and drunk or freezing, the way he'd grabbed her probably would've hurt more than it did in the moment. The fact that her ankle was sprained didn't even make sense because she couldn't feel it.

She looked up at the boy, but at this point she could barely see. The acid tab was just starting to kick in.

"Hey are you alright, you look out of it." The boy's voice was low and warm. He sounded worried for November.

She didn't understand why, because she felt amazing.

"November!" I heard Aria cry.

All of sudden, November jumped back to reality. She could still barely see but she recognized Aria's voice.

"What are you doing?" She demanded.

"I-uh-I was look-" She stopped her.

"Not You." She said to her. "You." She said to the boy who still had her by the arm. "Let go of my friend before she tai-quan-dos your ass."

Aria ripped her out of his grasp.

"Hey she almost-"

"Oh I don't want to hear it." She interrupted.

"This is a misunderstanding." He said, but Aria was already dragging November away.