Beneficial | ANTHONY VAUGHN

004

Music blared as the four walked through the cemetery arm in arm.

"Okay, there's actually a lot of people here," Darren spoke nervously and Amerie frantically nodded her head. "I told you!"

"It's gonna be really fun." Quinni squealed and Tori nodded along. She may not be fond of other people but she would never let them stop her from having a good time. "Just remember what we said. Just own it." Darren gave Amerie a pep talk.

"Okay, I've never made an entrance like this before." Darren lowered their voice.

"Oh, I like this song" Tori instantly broke off from the group to go dance by herself. Amerie reached out to grab her, wanting as much protection as she could get but Tori was already doing her odd dance moves. "We should definitely go," Amerie whispered. "We have to at least get Tori back first" Darren whispered back. "No, we -"

Quinni's words were interrupted by the new guy, better known as Malakai. "Hey, cunt." He smiled at Amerie and Darren and Quinni snuck off.

"You doing alright?" Darren quickly checked in on Tori who was still dancing. "Having the time of my life" She grinned back. Darren gave the girl a once-over. "We really got to get you dance lessons red dog"

Before Tori could even complain about the nickname they had already snuck off. "Sneaky bitch" Tori muttered to herself, though she held a wide smile on her face. She decided to just shrug it off as she continued dancing. Next thing she knew the new boy was on the dance floor as well. He smiled at her, as he began to copy her robot-like dance moves.

Tori avoided eye contact with him but still continued to dance side by side, even copying some of his dance moves. After what felt like a while he turned to her "Hey my name-"

"I'm getting a drink" She quickly spoke, turning away and walking off the dance floor. As she did she slapped her head slightly. She knew it was rude but she already felt vulnerable letting Amerie get closer to her, the new guy felt like too much. But the more and more she walked away the more stupid she felt. Of course, it would be nice to have made a friend but she had to go and ruin it like she did so many things. God, she felt so-

"Nice dance moves Rusty"

She looked up to see Spider snickering at her as Dusty laughed and Ant let out a much less enthusiastic chuckle. "Ugh...thanks" Tori shrugged, reaching for a bottle of water.

"How much did you smoke to get those dance moves out" Spider kept pushing, stepping closer to her.

"None" Tori spoke quickly, hoping if she brushed them off they would stop talking to her. Unfortunately, this had the opposite effect.

"You did that sober?" Dusty spat out laughing, before shaking his head "I mean no disrespect... just your braver than me" Spider and Dusty both continued to snicker. Tori rolled her eyes at the passive-aggressive comment.

"Yeah well at least I'm having fun" Tori mumbled, causing Spider to frown "And you think we're not?"

"All I'm saying is while I've been dancing you haven't left this corner all night. I'm yet to see you talk to anyone other than each other"

Ant looked nervously at Spider, not too sure if he would laugh it off or not. Spider narrowed his eyes at Tori. "Who even invited you to this. No one wants you here"

"You are so right" Tori nodded at his words "Which is why I'm going to head out" She tried to smile at the boy, but ultimately snuck out as quickly as she could from the conversation. She was able to safely get to the other side of the party, but could still feel the boys' eyes staring at her.

"Hey," she jumped slightly at the sound of a voice behind her. She quickly turned to see Cash behind her "Sorry, sorry didn't mean to scare you" Cash gave her a small smile.

"No it's all good, I'm just a bit jumpy today" Tori brushed off. "Well, I got something to help you with that" Cash spoke taking a small bag, containing what Tori could only assume were some joints. "Oh cash I don't-"

"No I'm not trying to sell you, these are the ones I owe you" Cah insisted pushing the bag into her hand. "You paid me last year, but I didn't see you much this summer" Cash seemed to almost be concerned.

"Oh yeah, you know... did some travel with the family" Tori shrugged. She knew she should give it back, tell him that she quit, just something responsible. Instead, she slipped the bag into her pocket. "Thanks Cash"

The boy gave her one final nod before slipping back into the crowd, likely looking for his next sale. Tori sighed, inspecting the crowd to see if she could find any of her friends. Failing to, she decided to slip off the concrete into a more quiet area of the cemetery.

Tori sat in the bush, just staring intensely at the little bag. She contemplated giving it to someone else, maybe even throwing it into the bush. But it was something she wasn't ready to let go of yet.

Suddenly she heard a rustling behind her, so she quickly slipped the bag into her pocket. "What is with everyone and sneaking up on me?" She thought out loud expecting to be joined by Darren or Quinni. Looking up she was surprised to see Ant, sheepishly looking down at her.

"Hey" he simply spoke and Tori gave him an odd look. "...hi" She spoke with caution. She had never spoken to the boy before, so she found it odd he was addressing her.

He sat himself next to her smiling. "I liked your dancing" he smiled. Tori just slowly nodded, not truly believing him. "I mean it" Ant pushed "I know Spider and Dusty were being dicks about it but they don't know what they're talking about. I thought it was sick"

"Why are you telling me this?" Tori asked, not in a harsh way, but out of genuine confusion.

"Well... you know... I..Fuck" Ant suddenly leaned forward kissing Tori. Her eyes widened for a second, confused about why this was happening. She just kind of let Ant slowly make out with her lips, sitting still.

"Shit" Ant spoke as he pulled away, realising she wasn't doing anything back "Maybe I should have-" he was interrupted as Tori reconnected their lips. Her brain seemed to have caught up with what was going on and decided it liked the feeling of his lips. It didn't make any logical sense, but sometimes you just needed to do things without thinking.

Ant groaned slightly as his hands entered her hair, pulling her in closer. Tori wrapped her arms around him, slowly tugging on him to move on top of her. Ant seemed to understand the gesture as he swung himself so he was hovering over her, not once disconnecting their lips. Tori pulled him in, deepening the kiss.

The two separated for a second, Ant was smiling wildly, to breathe before they were about to go in to continue whatever they were doing. "Oh shit" Tori suddenly muttered, suddenly distracted by something behind Ant.

Ant turned to see where she was looking to see a police car had shown up. "Fuck" he muttered jumping off her. Tori looked wide-eyed, never had a run-in with the cops before. "Shit ok" Ant began stressing "We got to tell the others" Grabbing her hand he dragged her back to where the rest of their classmates stood. Earlier in the night Tori would have been worried that people would question her and Ant being together but everyone was more distracted by Ant's yelling about the cops.

Allowing Ant to drag her along, the pair reached a fence, to which Spider was already standing there. Surprisingly the blonde-haired boy helped her over the fence, where she almost fell over from her impact with the ground. Turning around she looked at Spider and ant expectantly not knowing what to do. "Go" both boys yelled as they began gesturing for others to get to the fence.

Tori didn't need to be told twice, instantly sprinting as fast as she could to the general direction of her house. After a few turns, ensuring she was deep into the sydney suburbs, Tori came to the conclusion she was safe.

She had been one of the first to get out so she doubted she would be the easiest target for the cops. Plus she would rather get arrested than have to do anymore running.

Sending a quick text to Quinni and Darren, ensuring them she was fine and on her way home, she closed her phone allowing her to think of the decisions she had made that night.

The very, very stupid decisions.