What Other Side?

Why Are High School Parties So Cliche?

Why Are High School Parties So Cliche? You Know, Murder Aside.

~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~..~

If there's one thing I hate more than rich kids boasting about their birthdays, it's the ludicrously huge parties they throw themselves.

This month it was Eren Cars, everything was pink, laced with vodka, and loud. I was avoiding the masses by sticking to the stairs, where only various drunk high schoolers came stumbling up to the bathroom. I sat on the third step, a cup of cherry coke between my palms. I had long since lost my best friend, but I was sure he was having fun somewhere. Eren's house was massive, five or six bedrooms, a handful of bathrooms, a pool room, and of course a massive pool where teens shoved and laughed.

"Liv~" someone sang, I glanced over my shoulder as a girl in a party hat came skipping down the hall. It was one of the girls on the student council with me. She had recently gotten gold high lights in her already platinum hair, she smiled widely at me as she hung onto the stair railing. "What're you doing sitting here? Come on, we're gonna play-" she hiccuped, "-beer pong" she said, I hard the urge to pull a face but refrained.

"No thanks, I don't really like beer, leaves a bad taste in my mouth" I said, she squinted at my cup. I held it up, "coke" I explained, she huffed.

"Such a downer" she complained before pushing away from the railing and traveling back down the hall at a drunken pace, I stood, sighing. I suppose it was time to go. I reached into my pocket as I stepped down the few steps to the hall, I dialed Q and wandered through the house, waiting for one of two things to happen. For him to pick up or for me to hear his ringer, I could barely hear over the music though. Fetty wap, overrated.

"Y-es" he picked up, I stopped in the kitchen.

"Hey, I'm headed out, are you going to be alright?" I asked, knowing full well he wasn't the best drinker.

"Abso-toot-ilutely" he said, I rolled my eyes, turning around and going back the way I cam to the front door. I set my cup on a counter as I passed,

"Alright, I'll call tomorrow to make sure you aren't dead, don't drink too much" I said, walking out the open door onto a trashed lawn in a, for the most part, quiet cul-de-sac.

"Mmm, no can do, I see jello shots" he said, I snorted.

"Be careful Q" I said, he hummed and I hung up. He probably had a way home, if not he'd probably crash in the bathtub or something. My get away was a little white Camry that had been my mom's before it was mine.

I went around, glancing at the house that was alive with lights, music, and the shouts of teenagers. I shook my head, unlocking the car and sliding inside. As I buckled I noticed a faintly putrid smell, I wrinkled my nose and looked around. I tended to keep my car clean, I even yelled at Q for putting his feet up on the dash. I didn't have money for a new car, this baby was all I had. Even so, the smell was lingering, like rotten meat.

"What is that?" I muttered, I unbuckled and leaned around my seat, peering under the seats and between them, there was nothing. Maybe it was something beneath the car, I started it and pulled back a few paces. I leaned up, trying to see the curb. There was nothing there, I sniffed again, the smell was still there. I huffed, frustrated.

I buckled again, whatever, I need to get home. I put the car into drive, there was a sudden buzzing in my ear and I leaned away. I watched a fly buzz around, it landed on the steering wheel next to my hand. I reached to swat at it, it flew and I paused. It landed on my hand, I lifted the other one and smacked my hand over it. I yelped as there was a sharp pain, as if it had bitten me. I cursed, shaking the fly off and rolling down the window. I shooed it out, it buzzed into the street and I rolled my window back up. I looked at my hand, sure enough there was a little red bump, it was even beginning to swell a little. Do flies even bite? I shook my head, whatever, stupid bug.