The Girl Who Chased Stars

XII

It's eight forty five. Precisely.

I sit on the edge of the open trap door inside my treehouse, with my feet dangling in the air.

I'm so going to get caught...
No I'm not....
Yes I am..

" Hey! Psst!"

I look down through the opening of the treehouse to find Skai looking up at me. "Amy! You ready?" She's extremely loud.

" Skai! Shut up before my dad comes out here and shoots you with a shotgun." I'm whispering as loud as anyone can whisper. " hold on. I'm coming."

I not so swiftly climb down the rope ladder, and then grab onto Skai's arm for support as I hit the bottom.

"My car is parked in the front. It's behind your dad's tru-"

"Who the HELL are you?!"

My blood runs cold as I hear my father's voice, shouting loudly from the back door. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!"

Skai immediately jumps into action, grabbing my arm, she pulls me roughly along with her. " We've got to go!"

For a moment I stand paralyzed, watching as my dad quickly advances on us. " Amy Rosalie Deaton! Do not take another step, or I swear to God-"

"AMY! God damn it move!"

After a moment of pure terror, I grab onto Skai's jacket and follow her to the truck. "Don't look back! Don't look back." Skai has my hand now, and she squeezes it tightly. " get in!" She hisses. I jump into the passenger seat, and She follows my lead. It isn't until we pull out of the driveway that I turn to look back at my father, who is barely visible in the dark of the night. His hands are raised and waving and I can see his lips moving. Screaming words I can no longer hear.

I feel my heart beating, most likely way too fast, and I look over at Skai, who is grinning at me with flushed cheeks and raised eyebrows. "well!" She says. "That was fun!"

I stare at her incredulously for a moment.

And then I start to laugh.

Because holy Hell! That was fun! It was terrifying, and sure, I almost peed my pants but... Oh man. That was so...so... Exhilarating.

" This party better be good." I say. "Because I am in so much trouble."
_________________________

Skai ends up takin me downtown. She explains that the party we're going to is at this really cool laser club.

"What is a laser club?"

Skai grins, and says vaguely, " The best thing you will ever see in your life."

Okay. Sure.

" So... We're going to a club? I thought you said it was a party..."

" It is." Replies Skai. " I have a friend who's parents are like multimillionaires. It's her twentieth birthday, so she literally just rented the whole club for the night."

"Woah. Is that even possible?" Skai laughs at me. " well obviously." Skai turns the car into an alley, and as we drive farther into it, the darker it becomes.

"Umm."

Before I can ask her what the heck we're doing in a dark alley, Skai pulls over and puts the car in park.

"Okay... This is it."

"This?" I ask incredulously. " yeah." She replies blankly. " the doors down that way a little ways. The club is basically just a huge refurnished warehouse."

I nod, and follow Skai out of the truck. "Why is it so hard to get to?" I ask her. " I mean, there's no parking lots-" Skai and I both look on at the endless line of cars parked up against the alleyway. "-and it's creepy and dark. Usually clubs are all flashy and a big deal."

Skai looks at me nervously. "Well, uh, you know how like, in your books or whatever they sometimes had clubs that the state and the government didn't really know about?"

" what the hell? No." After a moment I understand what she means. "Skai! Are you taking me to an illegal Club!? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Skai frowns, and keeps walking. " come on. You don't even know what it's like inside. It's awesome! There are crazy strobe lights and music. and the people there paint your face and stuff in neon colors so you look crazy! It's awesome."

"That sounds fucking weird, Skai. I don't want to go to an illegal club."

Skai sighs, and turns around to face me. " Alright look," she begins. "at least let me show you what the club looks like. Five minutes, okay? If you still don't want to be here after five minutes, I'll take you back home."

After a moment, I finally give in.

After all, illegal clubs, fucked up as it is, does sound better than returning home to dad...

"Alright, alright. Fine."

Skai squeals, and grabs my hand. Then from out of nowhere, she grabs the handle of a door that is barely visible in the nauseating dark, and she flings it open.

My jaw most likely hits the floor.

I get why they call it a laser club... The strobe lights are everywhere, and shoot down and up and on and off like lasers from some James Bond movie. The warehouse is absolutely huge. I mean huge, and the music is so loud that I can't even hear Skai speaking to me right beside me.

And holy crap. The people. They were all mostly teens, it looked like. A lot of college kids too. But the crazy thing was that most of them weren't Westbrook wearing any tops. 3/5s of the girls were in there bras and pretty much all of the guys were topless in general.

And the cherry to top off this crazy ass icecream, is that almost everyone was glowing.

Yes, glowing.

Some kind of blue and green and pink stuff was painted all over their bodies in crazy patterns. The ultraviolet light only made it stand out more.

"What the hell..."