September 24th

September 24: Part 1

Beep beep!

It was Jake. Alex quickly ran downstairs and opened the door.

"I'll be back later Mom!" He called out.

"Be safe, honey!" She yelled back. "Don't forget to be home before curfew!"

"I won't, Mom," Alex sighed.
Jake honked the horn again.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," he muttered under his breath as he closed the door and jogged over to Jake's car. Alex hopped into Jake's old, beat-up truck. As usual, Jake's custom playlist was playing way too loud, the rock music drowning out what Jake was attempting to say.

"What?" Alex shouted over the music.

"I said, I can't wait for tonight!" Jake shouted back.

"Me neither!" Alex said, straining to be heard over Aerosmith.

Alex and Jake had been best friends for as long as they could remember. When Jake moved in across the street, they became instant friends. Every summer they would explore the woods at the end of their dead end street and go swimming in the lake on the edge of town. They hung out after school every day and were practically inseparable. And so now, as seniors, the two partners in crime were attending the biggest party of the year. Despite the cheap beer, and in his opinion, tasteless music, he enjoyed parties a lot. And this was no exception. Kyle always held a huge party every year when his parents went on vacation. Practically everyone in the school went. Fueled by booze and horrible teenage decision-making, some kind of massive drama always happened at Kyle's party. Usually the details would begin to surface in the few days after, and those involved usually regretted what they did. Alex had never gotten caught up in the drama, and he planned to keep it that way.

As they turned the corner onto Kyle's street, Alex could hear loud rap music over Jake's rock. Jake turned off his music and the full sound of the rap hit them. Alex could feel the bass in his bones as the old truck rumbled down the street towards Kyle's sprawling house. The whole street was packed with cars already, and Jake had to turn around and park down an adjacent street. As they walked back towards Kyle's place, they joined other partygoers who had neglected to come early and as a result had to walk a ways to reach the party. By the time they stepped foot into the McMansion, it was already overrun by teens drunk on convenience store beer probably purchased with fake I.Ds. Jake promptly wandered off to who knows where. Alex tried to locate where Jake went, but he was long gone, presumably already flirting with the ladies.

"Looking for someone?" A voice asked.

Startled, Alex whirled around. Standing there was Samantha. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's great to see you Sam! You scared me for a second," he exclaimed.

"Who did you think I was, an axe murderer? Come on, let's have fun!" Sam replied with one of her trademark sassy replies. Alex smiled. He really liked Sam, but in a friendly way. She handed him a red cup. "Drink up! Even though it's terrible, and you'll probably regret it tomorrow, let's have fun tonight. Come on, let's go see if we can find someone we know."