The Thirteenth

~Chapter Fourteen~

The Thirteenth

Chapter Fourteen

"How about this? " I groaned. We'd been at this for almost an hour and Al was still raiding my closet, each time bringing out a bunch of clothes for me to try out. And nothing pleased her or brought out the so called 'wow factor'.

"Eh...How about –" She started before I cut her off.

"Just no! You're testing my patience, Alexis!" I hit my mark. That was all I could take. It was just a stupid party I was attending, solely because Al wanted to distract me.

Of course, she didn't say it directly, but the way she was scooting around trying to make up for something, said it all.

"But this party will be awesome. Tasha invited us. Her dad is influential. Just imagine; it could get our band to places."

"I don't wanna kiss anyone's sweet ass for that." I deadpanned.

"Calm down, Lia. I'm doing it for our good. I know today is... hard. And I'm trying my best here to, you know, lighten the mood, but you've gotta help me."

"I don't wanna lighten the mood!" I shouted, throwing the dress at the bed. Tears threatened to come down from my glistening orbs. I took a deep breath and tried to clear my head. Al was right. I should try to overlook it. It might be hard, but I would try, because that's what my mom would have expected me to do.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing... You know what? Let's go to that party! Now! Leggoo!"

"Now that what I'm talking about, my b*tch."

The drive was just ten minutes. The party was in full swing. Tasha was the high school cheerleader, rich and famous. Cliché, I know. But at least, she wasn't half as bad as they portrayed high school cheer leaders in movies. She gave us a blinding smile when we entered and lead us into the hallway. There were too many people, making her mansion of a house look slightly smaller.

"Make yourselves at home, guys! Mocktails over there and cocktails," she pointed towards another corner, "there. So... have fun. I've got to go visit others, see you later."

I nodded to whatever she said and let the environment sink in.

You're here for one reason and one reason only. To have fun. Forget the pain. Just let yourself loose. Be insane. Get into the madness.

"Hey, I'm gonna go there and talk to Jesse," she winked at me, adjusted her hair and waltzed in his direction.

I stood there alone, contemplating my next move. A guy suddenly knocked into me from behind, pushing me onto the floor. "Hey, I'm –"

"Get your hands off her, punk!" The other guy shouted at the one who pushed me. They were having a fight of their own over another girl. Scrambling out of the mess, I crawled till the end of the hallway and looked up to see a beer pong match going on.

Beer pong? Good times.

I peeped through the shoulders of many people, gathered around the table. When I supported myself on a guy's shoulder and stood on my toes, he turned and smiled. "Hey, you're the band girl."

"Uh, that I am. Do you think I could join the game?"

"Yeah, absolutely,"

He let me in and I entered in the next game. I was good at beer pong, a game I used to play often soon after my mother's death. I wanted alcohol to drown my sorrow and a stupid game to distract my thought-process while drinking.

I was nearly getting addicted. But soon, Al's parents invited me over and gave me a talk, along with Jason, Alexis and Will, which pretty much seemed like an intervention.