Rattlebones (bxbxb)

The Party

"Iggy, I hate to ask this. But what the hell are you wearing?" I ask Iggy on the way to the party.

Upon leaving the house, I hadn't realized that he had changed, and what he now wore was a stark contrast to his baggy shirts and skater boy jeans. In fact, what Iggy wore could only be described as old-school goth and a mixture of the eighties. He wore a tight shirt with no sleeves and a giant cross on the front, skinny black pants which complimented his figure nicely, and several cliche gothic accessories, like bats and chains.

"I'm goth, like you. Can't you tell by my lipstick and dark clothes?" Iggy replies, sounding surprised that I hadn't pinpointed his outfit right away.

"I just figured you were being adventurous with your makeup," I answer. 

Eugene rolls his eyes from the back seat. "Why don't I get a costume?" He questions.

"You do get a costume," I say, and I glance back at him as Iggy drives us to the party. "You're the Invisible Man, remember? The bandages and everything?" 

"Lame..." Eugene groans and then presses his face to the window.

I watch him for a second longer than I should, trying to freeze the memory and store it away. I had promised him that I would send him back to the afterlife, but I didn't want to see him go. Iggy and I still needed him, and I knew that we always would.

Iggy takes us down the road that leads us to Rainbow Lewis's giant-ass house across town. The whole neighborhood was full of gated mansions, and a couple of people were jogging or walking their dogs and bratty kids. 

"When was the last time you were at a party, Darcy?" Iggy asks me as we pull up to the mansion and buzz the gates open using a little metal box in the bushes. 

"Um..." I furrow my eyebrows, looking thoughtful. "When I was six, I think. One of my rich cousins had a party and I set fire to her birthday presents in an attempt to show her that life is full of disappointments and that we don't always get what we want."

Eugene and Iggy go quiet, and then Eugene shakes his head. "Damn, bro." He says.

"I know," I reply, as a matter of factly. "Somebody needed to burst her bubble."

The gates to the mansion open up and we drive through.

I can already hear the roar of music coming from the castle-like house and the party has spilled outside where kids lounge on the plush yard, laughing and slinging beer at one another. Crowds had always freaked me out, which might have seemed strange in retrospect because I owned a pet spider and loved death. But the spider wasn't going to corner me into humiliating myself under peer pressure. 

Iggy parks his mom's car up near the front and we all pile out in all our strange glory. The looks that our fellow peers were giving us were as dirty as they came. 

I had already been an outcast as it was, but now that Iggy was out of the closet thanks to Megan and my fight with her, he had a target painted on his back.

Eugene leads us up to the house since this was his idea, and I sidestep a knockoff Harley Quinn and a guy dressed as the Joker making out on the front steps. I doubted that they even knew where they were anymore, let alone cared.

 The party was in full swing by now and people were piled in the gorgeous main hallway as we step inside, despite the sheer amount of space. 

"Wow. How many people did Rainbow invite? The whole school must be here." I tell Eugene. "Even our football games never look this crowded." Then again, our terrible excuse for a football team had never warranted any visitors because we had always lost. 

"I don't know, but Rainbow's been talking about this party for months. It's like, a major thing for him." Eugene replies and seems perturbed by something that I can't see. I want to remind him that this was his idea, not mine, but then he smiles, and I soften. It was our last year before we were let loose into the world. Before we had to work shitty jobs and stay up long hours studying for college exams. 

I start to think that maybe we should let ourselves go for just one night.

And then quarterback, and former friend of Eugene, Mason Williams dumps beer across the front of my shirt as he tries to squeeze past. "Oh!" He pauses, looks me up and down, and then realizes who I am under all the makeup. "Dorky? I thought you only came out on a full moon or some shit like that."

"And now I smell like a dirty bar, so thanks for that," I say, and I wipe beer off my shirt and flick the droplets away.

Mason scoffs and looks my fancy outfit over. "So what are you supposed to be? An emo clown?"

Before I can respond, Iggy's pulling me aside and I'm staring up at him, my small hand caught up in his wrist. Why hadn't he worn eyeliner before? It made his blue eyes absolutely mesmerizing. 

"Should we split up for a little while?" He asks me and Eugene, sounding hopeful. "That way we don't look too suspicious or anything."

I feel my soul sink a little at his words.

"Just meet Eugene and me back here in the hallway before eleven," I tell him, not wanting to ruin the party for him or anything. I had already done enough damage as it was, hadn't I? 

"And Iggy?" I pull on his wrist before he can slip away. 

Iggy turns to look at me and I lean up and kiss him on the cheek, "Have fun." I whisper, and he smiles at me before vanishing into the crowd. 

"Oh man," Eugene sighs from behind me, and then he stretches his arms above his head and groans. "Can't drink beer. Can't hook up with chicks. What the fuck am I supposed to do?" He slings an arm around my shoulders and yanks me close. 

"How about a game?" Rainbow Lewis's voice cuts through the noise in the hallway, and I spot his glittering ass standing in the entrance of the kitchen. He's literally clad head to toe in sequins, like a giant disco ball, bits of color and light reflecting off his suit. "I have a ouija board already set up for us upstairs." He chirps and twirls a strand of blonde hair around one finger.

Ouija board?