Teenagers

~Part One~

James was an ordinary boy, just like everyone else, he had no special talent other than his passion for badminton and his capability of playing a few songs on his old guitar he had been given for his eighth birthday. It was a Friday evening and the first week of the summer holidays after his first year of sixth form had passed with little excitement, however that evening his whole life would change.

James threw on his favourite grey shirt and buttoned it with pride knowing he had always looked his best wearing it, he wore black skinny jeans with a belt that had faded over the years, it didn't take him long to get ready, unlike other boys who he knew. He stared at the clock, it had just turned six, he looked back into the mirror and checked he looked alright, he ran his fingers through his short dark brown hair that had been recently cut down to a reasonable length and sighed wishing time would pass quicker. James turned around and proceeded to walk to his bedroom door, down the hall and down the old Victorian staircase, 'I always hated these stairs from the moment I set foot in this house' he thought to himself.

He opened the door at the bottom of the stairs and was greeted with surprise by his mother, she had faded blonde hair that reached her shoulders, she was smaller than James by at least a head hight and had crystal blue eyes just as James had. "You look smart, where are you off to tonight then?" She said in the voice that implied that James had something to hide, "to a party, it's about forty minuets walk from here so expect me back late" "okay but don't get too drunk!" She replied with a smile on her face. She never had a problem with James going to party's or getting drunk even though he was only seventeen, as long as he kept to her two rules; never to do anything stupid enough that he was taken home by the police and to eat a good meal before hand.

James continued to walk to the front room while his mother went upstairs with a washing basket, James checked the clock again, only ten minutes had passed, he walked back into the kitchen and opened the cupboards looking for something to eat as he didn't want to break his mothers rule. James' friends were due to come in twenty minutes for a couple of beers before they would get a taxi to the party. James came to the last cupboard and opened it. He signed, there was nothing that took his fancy, 'whatever, I'll just have to have a couple of slices of toast.' He thought.

He sat at the old varnished oak table on a matching chair and began eating the toast, James was hungry, he hadn't eaten since midday, his excitement for the evening was growing and by the third slice of toast he was full and awaiting time to pass, 'ten minutes' he thought. James walked into his living room and sat on the sofa, flicking through social media until there was a knock at the door, James jumped up so quickly it made him dizzy, but he didn't care, he proceeded to the door and unlocked it, and with his pleasure, was met by three faces he couldn't have been happier to see.

"Safe" Joe said with a cheeky grin on his face "tonight should be awesome", he walked past James and straight to the unopened creat of beer that was in the room. The second boy walked in and fist bumped James, "Safe" he said, "Joe get us a beer" Charlie said taking the seat James was previously sitting on. The third boy entered, "alright James" Sam said greeting him, "tonight's gonna get messy" he continued chuckling. James closed the door behind him and took a seat with the others, Joe and Charlie were sat on the sofa, Sam was on the smaller of the two arm chairs and James was on the bigger one. "Let's get started then shall we!" Joe said giving everyone a beer and opening each one with his teeth, this was his party trick and he didn't let anyone forget it, "to a good night" Charlie raised his bottle, James and the others did the same and with the clink of glass the moment James had been waiting for had arrived at last.

James raised the bottle to his lips and took a swig, closing his eyes with delight, "it's been a while" he said, Sam laughed, "I know that feeling man", "you have no idea how happy I am now that summer has started" James replied. "Init, six whole weeks of getting drunk and relaxing with you benders" Joe said jokingly, "you're the only bent one" Charlie teased, "init shut up you little gay" Sam added. They all knew he wasn't actually gay but they liked to tease and annoy him by saying it. Joe sank into his seat quietly, "what time does the party start again" James asked, "like seven, so we'll call the taxi around then, we don't wanna be the first there" Charlie replied, he turned to Joe, "oi put some music on", Joe put his hand in his bag, moving the bottles and cans out of the way and grabbed his shiny blue portable speaker, "Init, standard procedure not to turn up first, my bag is so heavy though" James looked at the corner of the room at his jet black backpack. "What you got for tonight" Sam asked, "bottle of vodka and like eight beers, you?" James replied, "a creat of fifteen and I'm hoping someone there is willing to share shots with me" Sam laughed. Sam had always drunk the most at party's but had always been the one helping the other three whenever they got pass-out drunk or ended up being sick, he was someone they could always rely on, James had never got to the point where he had passed out but, however, he had been sick a few times and Sam was the one who always helped clean himself up.

"I rate this tune" Joe said, finally managing to get his speaker to work, rap started blaring out of it, "send me a link to this later" Charlie said. The four of them had similar music tastes and that's what James loved about them, they were the only other three guys he knew who liked this kind of music apart from the chavs. Another thing that he loved about them was being able to have a good time when around each other, but when it came down to it, he could ask for their advice and get a serious answer, he could trust these three with his life.

The evening moved on, they were all on their third beer by the time they were ready to call the taxi and James was already feeling slightly drunk. "What's the taxi number again?" Charlie asked, Joe was too busy going through his music and picking what songs he would play at the party to hear him, "it's 123 123 isn't it?" James said checking his contacts for reassurance, "yeah, it is" Sam said agreeing with James. Charlie put the number into his phone and pressed call, Joe had just caught on to what they were doing and turned the music off so that Charlie could hear the taxi company on the phone. They sat staring at Charlie apprehensively until finally, "yeah, hello, can I get a taxi please.........from 12 Whitehall road to 37 Mill lane....." Charlie moved the phone away from his ear, took a sip from his bottle and said, "it'll be outside in ten minutes lads so get ready."

James jumped up and walked over to his bag in the corner of the room, he lifted it onto his back, it was heavy, but James didn't care, the excitement of the evening was blocking out the weight on his shoulders and he was ready to go. He rolled up the sleeves on his shirt and checked his hair for the last time in the mirror hanging on the wall. The other three were also ready to go and they were just waiting on the taxi. After about five minutes they heard a car pull up, and all of a sudden Charlie's phone started ringing, this was the sign to let them know the car was outside, they all looked at each other and walked towards the door, James took the key out of the door and opened it, the three brushed past him leaving the house. James shut the door behind him and locked it, the sun had just about gone down and the temperature had dropped from how warm it was earlier in the day. The breeze gave James goosebumps as he walked to the taxi that was pulled up a few meters away from his house.James put his hand on the metal car handle and pulled it, *click*, he pulled open the unlocked rear door and sat down he was the last one to get into the car, his shoulders rubbed against Joes as he was sat in the middle, Charlie was sat in the passenger seat and Sam on the other side of Joe. James pulled the door closed and put his seat belt on just as the others had. "37 Mill lane please mate" Charlie slurred, he was already drunk and he had the whole of the night to go, James also felt his head spinning a little.

"WEEEE" Joe shouted as the taxi took a sharp turn pushing him heavily into James and crushing his shoulders against the car door. He shoved Joe, getting him off but now falling heavily into Sam, "get off me you creep" he said just as they turned the corner, "you always have to act like an idiot in taxis don't you" Sam added laughing uncontrollably, the others laughed along and Joe stopped acting childish. The journey had seemed to be going on forever for James but he hadn't been in the car five minutes. "Hey remember that time Sam tried to do a front flip to impress that girl at, who's party was that at..........oh yeah, Charlottes party?" Charlie said showing Sam up, the others laughed while Sam went red, "shut up, it wasn't as bad as the time charlie set his face on fire." They were all in hysterics. Charlie lit lighter fluid on his hand and slapped face expecting it to go out but instead, it stayed on his face and burnt him. They talked about stupid story's they had all done for another twenty minutes, their laughter continued for the duration of it.

It was around half seven when the car pulled up outside a house that looked on the exterior, huge. They could hear the music from inside the car, it looked like the party was mostly in the garden, lights flashed from behind the old wooden gate that led to the back of the house. Charlie looked at the dashboard, the total came to £7.40, he put his hand in his jeans pocket and got his wallet out and paid the driver. They all got out of the car and closed the doors behind them, the car pulled off, all they could hear was the music and bass from the garden of this mansion, the four of them stood next to each other staring at the house for a moment. "C'mon then!" Joe said walking towards the gate first, James followed, he was excited just as much as the other three were. Joe put his hand on the old wooden gate door to the left of the house that led to the garden and pushed it open. The party was just as they expected.