Revival

5. Stella-Descent

~~Stella-Descent~~

By the end of the week, Stella was invited to her first High School party.

On Friday at lunch, Chase arrived at their table with a haughty grin. Stella had realized with a start that, that was probably one of the few times she had ever seen Chase smile that widely before. "I got us in," he announced proudly, "My cousin said so long as we keep our mouths shut about the party, it's good."

Holland grinned too, a much more expected expression from her. Her eyes were a darker blue today and looked twice their size in her small face without her hair, which was swept into a bun. She said she was trying out the 'clean girl' look, but Stella thought it made her look like an eight-year-old. "I don't care to tell any of these other losers anyway," she said waving her hand dismissively, referring to the rest of their grade then she looked up at Chase dreamily, "And have I mentioned that your cousin's awesome?"

Chase scowled, face falling back to its default setting. He ignored her look and took his seat next to Dane, setting down his tray of lumpy mashed potatoes and gravy in front of him. "Aren't I the one, who had to make the effort to convince my cousin to get them for us?"

"Yes, but your cousin is hotter than you," Holland shot back mockingly, her smile electric with mischief.

Chase glowered. "When we go, you better not flirt with him," he warned her, "And I had to do the heavy lifting to get invited when your brother, the actual senior here, sat on his ass." Holden began to object, his expression twisted into one of offense, but Chase raised his hand interrupting, "Don't bother," he said in a voice that suggested he wasn't interested in debate. He rarely was, Stella noticed.

Holden looked at Dane across the table with angry eyes. "Back me up here, Dane."

Dane shrugged, though his eyes were laughing as he leaned back and glanced at Chase. "He's got a point, dude."

Holden rolled his eyes. "You already know what my beef is with Brandon," he said, grumpily stabbing into his salad plate, though he clearly didn't feel any desire to elaborate on what exactly his beef was with Brandon, or who Brandon even was. Stella felt like she had wandered in on a random conversation, "My own invite is hanging on by a thread."

"Invite for what?" Stella asked. They all turned to look at her in silence. Stella shifted uncomfortably in her chair under their stares and raised her brows. "Or am I interrupting?"

"Yes, you are," Chase answered in a bored tone.

Stella glared at him resisting the urge to throw one of her peas at him. She'd only been at this school a week, and she was always one annoying quip away from strangling Chase, affectionately irritated by Holland, and just tolerant of Holden. But Dane reminded her of Carter, and he made her laugh. She told him so in study hall during a free period, and he joked about not wanting to remind her of a British white boy. And aside from her dad getting her a new phone to replace her water-damaged one, Dane was the only good thing about her week.

He punched Chase lightly on his forearm, and Holland rolled her eyes. "It's the senior party. Brandon Samuels is throwing it at his aunt's place in the Upper East Side," she explained excitedly, "Clearly, we don't fit the bill, but thanks to Chase, we can go and join in on the fun," she said with a maniacal gleam in her eyes.

Dane eyed her warily before looking at Stella with a wide, flirtatious smile that made her heart skip a beat. "They won't complain about one more person. Plus no one can say no to a pretty face," he said, and dropped a wink at her that made her stomach flop, "Wanna be my plus-one?"

At first, Stella wasn't sure. After her conversation with Jesse in the car park, she did her best to avoid him for the rest of the week. Her migraines thankfully stopped, but what he said stayed with her, like a ghost haunting the periphery of her memory "You're being watched, Stella... I think you might be in danger." She thought it must be her imagination, but since then she couldn't quite shake the unsettling feeling of being watched.