MALUM

Chapter 4

Two Years Prior...

Inside an older red Toyota Camry, five college students were crammed like sardines, all going to a huge party someone at their college was throwing. In the back seat, passing around a bottle of Jack Daniels and a weed vape, three college kids sat sandwiched together. To the left side sat a blonde woman wearing a short skimpy dress named Rebecca, often going by the alias Becca for short. In the middle sat a tiny, petite woman wearing more casual clothes than the rest. Tight-fit jeans, white Converse shoes, a hoodie, and a beanie. Her name was Brittany. To the right side sat a man, framed with pink highlights in his room and dark-colored hair. He had been wearing a flashy but not too gaudy outfit that flowed nicely. His name was Chris. He had been drinking most of the three in the backseat, which irked Becca since they would initially get a 'small buzz' before the main event. Chris, however, had a very different idea in mind. Being on the cusp of just breaking up with his boyfriend, Zach, he wanted to get hammered and "fuck" as he put it. The relationship he was in was not only doomed to die a painful death; both parties in the relationship saw the writing on the wall, but it was a game of chicken as to who would do it first. In the passenger seat, Delilah sat proudly as ever. She was dressed in a black, revealing dress. Since the dress was sleeveless, it revealed a very dominant-looking snake tattoo that wrapped across her left arm. As for the driver, it was none other than Ava herself. She was sticking out like a sore thumb that yearned to be cut off. She didn't want to be there in the first place, and she wasn't even dressed up for the party. She almost looked as though she had just crawled out of bed.

"Chris, slow the fuck down, bro. I know you're trying to get fucked up, but can we please wait until the part?" Becca asked sternly. Chris giggled at that.
"Sweetie, this IS the party," Chris said in a sassy tone.
"I didn't even want you guys drinking in my car in the first place," Ava said coldly as she didn't take her eyes off the road.
"Ava, why didn't you get fixed up?" Brittany asked.
"Party's aren't my thing," Ava responded.
"Who the fuck is even hosting this shit anyways?" Becca asked.
"Matthew? Clayton? I don't know; it's one of them..." Delilah said as she started to hit the weed vape. Immediately, Ava reached over and smacked it out of her hand.
"What the FUCK, Ava!"
"I told you guys that I didn't want anyone drinking and smoking in here!" Ava said annoyedly, almost like she was babysitting a group of temperamental toddlers.
"Ava, darling, we are just trying to have fun," Chris said in a severe but apologetic tone.
"I get it, but please try to save it for the party. We are almost there; if something happens and we get pulled over, I'm dead. I don't have anyone to bail me out." Ava said.
"I'd bail you out," Delilah said in an almost seductive tone.

Everyone in the backseat looked at each other with an awkward stare as Brittany mouthed the words "Yikes." It would only be another fifteen minutes, what felt like two hundred years to Ava, before they would arrive at the party. There had been at least fifteen to twenty cars all parked outside of a large fancy house. It's way too fancy for Ava's taste. Immediately, they all knew who out of the two was hosting the party. It was Matthew Miller. Coming from a long bloodline of people with more money than knowing what to do with it, Matthew lived with a silver spoon and plate. His whole livelihood would have been silver if he had been honest.

Not only were his parents beyond wealthy, but his surrounding family were filthy rich and only getting richer by the day. Matthew had everything in his life handed to him. People had even speculated that his father had made under-the-table dealings to get him into the Minnesota University he was in, which wouldn't have surprised anyone in the slightest. The Miller family had their name drug through mud for almost an entire generation. From fraud to dirty business dealings, even to Matthews's birth mother being found dead alongside a running trail. Nothing had ever come from it all, nor did they catch who shot her, but the time was probably the most convenient part of the situation. All when Matthews's parents decided to get divorced. Matthew suspected her father had a hand in it but never imagined asking him about it. Especially when Matthew was much closer to his father than he had been with his Mother since Matthew never spoke on the topic, almost like the two knew but had a mutual oath of silence; Matthew's father would buy him anything and everything he had ever wanted, including hosting wild parties like the one that was hosted that night. Pulling up to the residence, it was almost shock and awe. Even Ava, who didn't particularly want to be there, had her jaw drop to the ground when she saw it. It was incredibly modern. Sophisticated.