Steal my Heart.

67

'No. No. No. No. No. And a very big no." I say loudly into the phone, pacing around the room as usual.

"Why not? It's Stuart's house, no chance of you feeling unwelcome. We all know you don't drink. And I will be there. And it's Halloween, so much of fun!" Alastair pleaded from the other side.

He was taking me to a Halloween party at Stuart's mansion. They had arranged it on 28th, so that it doesn't clash with New Year's. Whatever. Who even kept a Halloween party in December? Apparently it had got postponed.

Keeping in mind the previous parties' proceedings, I was in no mood to go.
"And what will we do there? Dress up in fancy dresses and go to people asking trick or treat?" I ask him sarcastically.

"Kids do that. We'll just have a good time. A great time. And you're with me. Trust me Grace, it'll be awesome. Stuart is the best party animal. There is a horror house set up, masks given and scary food. You know you wanna come. Please baby please, for me?"
Can I ever win in an argument against him? "Okay." Was all I said.

"Fuck yes. You won't regret this. I'm coming to pick you up at 9:00 pm." He says excitedly. I just hope that it will be as good as he says.

I am wearing skinny black jeans accompanied with cheetah print ankle length boots. Above that is a flowing frock like dark purple top. I've applied black eyeliner after a lot of days and given it a smoky effect. Pink gloss, sweet scent and one last check in the mirror, I'm done. Of course, Vanessa did all that for me, considering I'm cosmetically impaired, if that's even a term. My hair tied in a puff and let loose from behind, I emerge out of the door. He got his bike today. The sparkle in his eyes was enough.

"You look...different." He said.
"Just a bit of make up." I said.
"Sexy nevertheless." He said.
Wrapping my arms behind him, he kicked the beast.

"You really love your motorbike, don't you?" I say in his ears.
"Yeah she's my love." He says.
"And who am I?"

"You're not a thing. I can't compare you with anyone, let alone a non living thing."
"Cheesy."
"I thought you liked cheese."
"I love cheese! I eat everything which has cheese in it."
"Cheesy."

We pulled up in front of Stuart's mansion. We entered the house to see the usual sight. Girls and boys grinding against each other, kissing, making out, drinking. Was this the first time I was seeing all this? No. Do I still get surprised? Yes.

The house had been given a spooky background. It was dark in most of the corners. I went and sat down on a couch. The bar was right next to me. Right then, a bunch of boys and girls came and sat all around me. None of them were people I knew. I was annoyed at Alastair. He had this tendency to leave me all alone at parties like this. A guy with spiky blond hair announced in a hoarse voice.

"Everyone! Let's play a game. The game  is 'Never have I ever'. Basically, we all have to tell things that we haven't done and the people in this group who have done these things will take a sip of their drink. Is that fine with everyone? Woohoo then, let's began!"

Before I could protest, a glass of vodka was thrust into my hand. I tried getting up, but the girls beside me held on tightly to me. What's wrong with them? How come I get caught up in situations like these each and everytime? I decided to play along. There's nothing else I can do anyways. The blonde guy with spiky hair speaks up,"I've never done it in the car." A few girls and two boys giggle and have a sip. I look at them deadpanned. Someone please hand me a manual describing what I should do now.

The girl next to spiky blonde, with green highlights says,"I've never given a bj." Yikes. Dirty language. There's more laughter around the group and two girls take a sip. Some more people speak rubbish like this until it's my turn. They all look expectantly at me. "I've never failed a test." I say innocently. They all burst into laughter and take a sip. All of them have failed at a time. Careless people.

The surroundings were getting suffocating for me so I got up and went to the washroom. My glass had remained untouched throughout. Teenage hormones were always on a rage at parties like these. I passed a couple of people having drugs and went to the washroom.

I heard a whimpering sound from one of the cubicles. I gently opened the door to see a young girl of about my age  crying her eyes out. She was quite hot, from what I could see. But she was a mess. She had red hair flowing till her shoulders and was tall, upto my height. She was wearing a sparkly red dress and huge red heels.

"Excuse me." I croaked.
She looked up. "Umm what's wrong?" I murmur nervously and hold out her hand so she can get up.
"My name's Gracie. Gracie Hyde. From the Presidency Convent." I say.
"Alastair's girlfriend, aren't you? Everyone knows." She says, wiping away her face with the tissue I offered to her.

Uh ho. I didn't like my identity to be 'Alastair's girlfriend.' As if reading my thoughts, she said,"Chill. I didn't mean it thay way. Alastair is just so crazy about you. He has spoken quite a few times about a certain Gracie. So here we meet." The girl says. She smiles. She has a soft, warm smile. I smile back.

"I'm Jessika Woods. They call me Jess."
"How do you know Alastair?" I ask him.
She waves her hand about. "Oh mutual friends, nothing else."
"Do you mind me asking, but why were you crying?" I ask.
"The same old. Matters of the heart." She says, giving me a sad smile.

I hug her. She's surprised at first, but then she hugs me back. I whisper,"I just hope you get through all this."

"You're a great girl Gracie." She says. We exchange numbers and head out. I found a friend. Before leaving, Jess pulled me in and clicked a selfie of our's. So typically cool.

I got a text from Alastair.
Where are you? -A

Coming... You? -G

Waiting in the lawn for you. Come fast. -A

Yea yea -G

Finally, a party which ended on a good note.