A Library of Short Stories

Secret

"I thank everyone who has attended this funeral today. Thank you, for freeing up your busy schedules for coming to see Lilly one last time..." My aunt said sadly.
Lilly, my cousin, passed away a few days ago from a car crash. No one knew who was driving the car, they didnt know if the person was drunk, full of revenge, or  if it was an accident.
"Lilly was a sweet girl. She was always full of joy. She never let anything dull her smile. I remember once when she made a 'special drink' for me when I was diagnosed with Pneumonia. She made this special concoction of iced tea, frozen blueberries, broccoli, lettuce, carrots, and any vegetables available in the fridge. And she added chocolate syrup, 'for extra flavour', she said." Aunt Harris wiped her tears. "It tasted horrible, but she insisted I finish everything till the last drop."
She sighed sadly.
"She was taken too early. I just don't understand why..." She blinked back tears. "I just don't understand why someone would take away my Lilly from me. She did nothing wrong..."
Aunt Harris kept talking about how Lilly was such an angel, and how kind she was, et cetera. Even though I agree with her, my mind couldnt focus and kept playing one memory over and over again.
The day Lilly died.

...

It was a stormy night, I was preparing to go to this supposedly 'biggest party of the century' hosted by Melissa, the most popular girl from our school. I didn't want to attend, as I was the type who preferred staying in and reading, curled up in a warm and fuzzy blanket, while listening to One Direction.
But because of clichés, I just had to go. My party-freak friend Jessica insisted on it. She said that I had to make some social status. "Taraaaaa... High School is all about partying! Why do you think party schools exist?" She shrieked while taking beer from the fridge.
"Jess, it's not even seven. You're already drunk." I sighed. Jess was never good at handling alcohol, no matter how many times and how often she drank them.
She giggled like a child. "Don't you find it funny that an odd number like seven sounds like even?" She hiccuped.
I rolled my eyes. "No, they don't. They are just spelled similarly." I sighed as I looked at my pillow-and-blanket fort that I had arranged beside my huge window. "Must I go? You're already drunk. You'll get drunk again later. It's all the same! The only difference is that you'll hook up with someone later and climb into my room from the balcony at four tomorrow! I can't keep waking up at four to let you in! Do you know how hard is it for me to sleep?"
"Nope! No excuses." She giggled. "Let's goooooo" She slurred while grabbing my wrist, pulling me towards the door. I had only a few seconds to grab my purse and phone before she locked the door behind me.
I missed the old Jess, the one who stayed at home, making scrapbooks and reading books. The one who would listen to music with me until midnight while drinking boba. But since high school hit us, she changed into a party girl. Which was ironic since she used to hate parties.
I groaned as I approached my car. Why do people like parties? All they make are babies and puke!
I drove for fifteen minutes to Melissa's mansion, while Jess was curling up up the back seats, snoring softly. "Come on!" I shook Jess awake. She mumbled a complaint, asking for five more minutes. "Before I change my mind." I scolded.
"Fine, fine, fine." She whined and got up. Her brown hair was magically still beautiful and bouncy. Her makeup was still intact and her shimmery blue dress was still tidy, no wrinkles. No one would believe that she just woke up from a nap. No bed hair or bags under her eyes. Her olive skin was even glowing.
I got out of the car and suddenly felt self conscious. Jess insisted I wear one of her dresses, which was a very tight purple strapless dress that hung above my knee. I couldn't even wear shorts under it because it was too short! I took out a pocket mirror and tried to get my black curls in place, but no luck. It just kept sticking to my vanilla skin. "JESS!" I exclaimed as I saw her making out with a random guy walking into Melissa's mansion.
"Whoops!" She squeaked and pushed the guy away. "Call me." She winked at the guy. He winked back. I wanted to throw up; I wasn't sure if it was because of what I just saw, or because everyone in school would be there. One mistake and I would be a laughing stock. God, I hate high school.
"Come on, bestie!" She giggled as she interlocked her arms with mine, dragging me into the huge door of the mansion.
As we approached the door, it swung open and introduced us to the whole eleventh grade. It reeked of alcohol and puke. I wrinkled my nose at the smell, but Jess sighed happily as if it were her dream perfume. "Please don't leave me." I whispered to Jess, but she was already long gone. Probably flirting with another guy, or girl, or both! No one could be sure with her.
I looked around nervously and saw a kitchen-slash-bar. I figured that would be the safest place. It was either this, the huge dance floor, or the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. Maybe I could get a glass of water and say that it was vodka. If someone asked, I'll just gulp it all down and throw the glass. That's what drunk people do, right? At least, that's what I see in movies.
So I walked over to the bar. There was no one there, surprisingly.  I took a glass from the cabinet and filled some water from the tap, but it wasn't working. I groaned. Just my luck. Oh well, the fridge it is.
I opened the fridge and saw all fancy brands of water. Glacier, mountain, and whatever else. I reached out to grab one, but I felt someone tugging at my arm. I turned around and saw Melissa's twin, Michael.
"Hey, you're Jessica's friend, right?" He asked sweetly. At least someone nice talked to me in this so-called fun party.
"Uh, yes." I answered, feeling even more insecure. "Why?"
"Nothing. It's just that Jess told me that this is your first ever party." He smirked.
"What? N-no... it's not!" I protested, but there was no hiding the lying tone in my voice.
He smirked. "Come on." He grabbed my arm without my permission and dragged me to the center of the room, despite my protests.
"Hey everyone!" He shouted so loudly that everyone in the party stopped what they were doing and looked at... me. I wanted to die right there and then. "As everyone knows, it's tradition in our high school that anyone new to parties has to complete this challenge or be classified as a humiliation to parties, and therefore be allowed to be bullied by anyone and just basically be trash. Because..." He gestured for everyone to complete his sentence.
"Drink or DIE --- of humiliation!" Everyone else shouted. Well, that's a stupid speech. Who ever thought of that? Or even started this idea?
"Drink?" I asked, nervous. Even though my bestie was an avid drinker, I was a have never touched alcohol --- except clinical alcohol--- in my life. Sigh.
Michael smirked. "Rob, prepare the challenge!" He gestured to the DJ. Rob smirked and went over to the bar. He took out a bottle of an exotic alcohol with words I couldn't read. But judging from everyone's faces, it would be horrible. He took out a gigantic glass jug and began pouring all that liquid, and a six-pack of coke in the jug, mixing everything together.
"Shit. I forgot about this." Jess suddenly appeared next to me. "Whatever you do, don't do it. It's horrible. Rob uses this exotic liquid that can leave you hungover for a whole week."
"Oh wow, did you finally pull yourself away from a threesome?" I rolled my eyes. "How can I not do this? Literally the whole elevent grade is here! This is my first party- EVER! I can't be- no, I won't be humiliated." I insisted.
"Tara... no. Don't." She warned. But my eyes showed an insistence. And Jess knows, if I set my mind on something, I'm doing it. "If you're doing this, we're staying overnight. None of us can drive." Jess scolded. It was true. Jess got a DUI after drinking before a dare.
But no. I had to go home. I won't stay here with all these hormonal high school boys. Nope. "My mom loves drinking and she never gets drunk." I roll my eyes. "And everyone says that I am my mom's mini-me."
"That's not a valid rea-" Jess insisted, but I cut her off. "I am not going to stay at Melissa's. Literally everyone gets pregnant here!" I shot back. "Her parents don't even live here, you know that, right? They're crazy rich."
"You're not serious. I won't let you go." Jess stomped her foot.
"HEY TARAAAAA!" Michael jeered. "Come on hereeeee...."
Great. He was drunk, too. He must've tried the drink. "I'm going. Bye." I spat. Jess looked hurt. But i couldn't take back my words, no matter how much i regretted it. And I didn't have enough time to apologize as everyone lifted me up and passed me to the center of the room. It was like crowd surfing, but instead of feeling happy, it felt like I was being surfed to my death.
Could this night get any worse?
As I was set down, a beer glass was thrusted at me. I didn't have enough time to properly look at it before someone pushed the glass to my lips and pour the weird liquid down my throat. Because I had no choice, I chugged down the liquid down my throat while hormonal teenagers cheered around me.
After what felt like a million years of fire shoved down my throat, I finally finished the damn glass. Everyone booed. "Boring..." a guy shouted and everyone agreed. I didn't have the energy to argue back.
My throat felt like it was melting, but other than that, I actually felt great! Did the alcohol actually burn 20 pounds off my weight? Because I felt so light, like I was floating. I felt carefree and giggly.
I stumbled around to find Jess, but she was nowhere to be found. Ah, probably hooking up with another random guy. Hm... maybe I should do that too? Oh right, she told me something.... something about driving to home? Oooh! Maybe she's back at our apartment! Yeah... I'm gonna drive home!
I giggled out loud. I'm a genius! I fished Jess' car keys from my purse and hopped into the car. I drove for about maybe... thirteen, fourteen minutes, before my phone rang a tune of Love of My Life by Harry Styles. I looked at my phone while driving and saw a picture of someone familiar...
Brown hair... olive skin... RIGHT! JESS. How did I forget my best friend? I tapped 'accept' and a familiar voice spoke from the other side of the phone.
"Tara! Where the fuck are you?" She screamed.
"Jeez. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the couch." I giggled. "What's up? I'm on my way to our apartment. You said to meet you there."
"What!?" She exclaimed. "No, no, no. Stop the car right now. Pull over! Where are you? What are you...!"
Jess was asking millions if questions a hundred miles a minute. My tired and laggy brain couldn't process what she was saying.  "Woah, woah." I rolled my eyes. "Slowly, please. Why are you freaking out?"
"Pull over, now." She demanded.
"Fine, fine." I rolled my eyes. I started to slow down the car when I saw a familiar figure in a few feet in front of my car. She looked around six. Oh wait! That was my cousin, Lilly! What was she doing here? I giggled out loud. Why was Lilly here?
"Jess, look! It's Lilly!" I chuckled. For some reason, I found it funny.
"Lilly? Where?" Jess asked.
"In front of my car! Teeheee!" I slurred.
"Brake, NOW!" Jess exclaimed.
"Okay, jeez." I rolled my eyes and immediately braked. But instead of stopping, my car lurched forward in a fast pace... and everything went black.
When I woke up, blue and red flashed blinded by eyes. Muffled sounds of ambulances and police cars surrounded my ears. For some reason, no one noticed me yet. My first instinct told me to get the hell out.
So I did.

...

"... if only I could have one wish. It would be to meet the person in the car. I know that they didn't do this on purpose. I just want to-"
"I know who killed Lilly." I stood up and announced. All eyes were on me now.

2229 words... cool