Skin Deep - A Marcel/One Direction Fanfic (IN PROGRESS)

Part 1

Everything started in the early hours of the morning. The world felt quiet and empty, and we felt invincible. The night air was frigid and cold, but we were collapsed in a pile on the trampoline, blankets and pillows piled around us in an attempt to ward off the chill. We were just a bunch of teenagers, our biggest worries homework and who was crushing on who. And, at that moment in time, the swarm of mosquitos descending on us with a vengence. We wanted to go inside, all of us, but we were all too stubborn to say so. We were determined to make our lives as much like a movie as possible, and to us that meant camping outside and drinking cheap drink as fast as we could. 

"Le, Chuck that here," slurred a voice out of the darkness, as a hand grabbed for the bottle of alcohol I clutched in my lap. Leia, thats me. The star of this unfortunate mess. And the catylyst. And, now that I think about it, the complication too. See, this mess, this mess is my mess. It's all on me. It started off small, but like a rip in a favourite pair of jeans, it stretched and grew and evolved to the point where there isn't really an easy fix. No undo button, and no delete key. All because of a stupid alcohol fuelled promise. "Geddoff." I was drunk. I'll admit that, probably in hope that it makes me a little less to blame. I was drunk, but not drunk enough to be scared of the headache I would wake up with in the morning. I yanked the bottle back from the hand, slopping the vodka-and-who-knows-what-else mix all over my sleeping bag. Oops. Drunk Leia was a clumsy Leia. Drunk Leia, I had discovered, was also easily bored. And lying on the cold trampoline staring up into the cold sky at the equally cold stars with vodka mussing the edge of my vision just wasn't really cutting it for me. What we needed, my drunk brain told me, was a game. Wrestling my way up to a half-lying, half-sitting position, I concentrated on making my words come out both clearly and at an audible volume. "TRUTH OR DARE GUYSS." Double oops. Slightly too loud. Slightly slurred. Oh well. Noises of agreement, varying shades of alcohol colouring them, filled the air for a few minutes, and we arranged ourselves into suitable positions, all falling and tripping and stumbling and laughing over each other. FInally, we collapsed in a spoke formation in the middle of the trampoline, heads all together in the centre with our bodies sticking out straight in all directions, the moon bleaching our faces to alabaster. I remember thinking that it would be nice for the stars to finally look down on Earth and see a familiar shape smiling back at them. In my defense, I was drunk. After an uncoordinated game of paper scissors rock, we had the order settled. I slurped happily on my drink as the standard truth questions were quickly asked, and answered, by the more sober, less adventurous members of our group. 

Someone asked me. I don't really remember who now. Not that it matters. I remember thinking finally. I remember being excited to be the first to pick dare. I remember the nervous rush of energy as I prepared to be told to streak, or eat something I didn't want to. Possibly dirt. Been there, done that. I prepared my scoffing face, my incredulous 'too easy'. I'm the adventurous one, you see. The one to never back down, to never say no. Up-for-anything Leia, that was me. I had a reputation to uphold. Sure enough, the only thing my poor friends drunken imaginations could come up with was a ding dong, dash. Minus clothes. Whatever. Not like anyone would answer at this hour, anyway. I jumped off the trampoline, shedding my pyjamas along the way, and they streamed after me, shrieking and laughing at my drunken audacity.

Up the drive I went, over the fence and to the neighbours. I rang, they didn't answer, and back to the yard we all went, me heading for the mad scramble back into the warmth of my clothes. Bored with the lack of drama surrounding my dare, talk quickly turned to school. Boys, in particular. "Liam is so hot, Cass, I swear if you break up with him he is mine." That was Spencer. Tall and athletic, she could get any guy she wanted. But she (jokingly) had her sights set on Liam. Liam was one of the elite five, the guys that every girl lusted after and dreamed about,and the male half of our friend group. He was also my best friend Cass' boyfriend. Cass swung out an arm, drunkenly hitting my shoulder in her attempt to land one on Spence. I good-naturedly guided her to her proper target, snickering at the thought of the guys talking about us that way too. The elite five girls. Queens of the school. The thought pleased my RTD drenched brain, and I laughed again, impressed by my own wittiness, before rolling over and joining back in the conversation

We chatted our way through talk of the rest of the five. Zayn, in all the accelerate classes yet oh so good at football. Niall, the ladies man, with a new girl every other minute. Louis, the swimmer, student body president, and all round good guy, and Harry, somehow managing to be shy while outgoing, good looking in a rakishly devilish way. The girls meandered through plans for the rest of the weekend, when we were going to see them, whose house we are all staying at. To be fair, we did have a pretty fairytale life. We lived the perfect cliche. The five of us, the five of them. Ditching school for the sake of it, yet maintaining good grades. Taking road trips, our group of ten, just for the hell of it. Getting drunk and partying together, because why not? I suppose we were all meant to grow up, fall in love with our male counterparts, and move to suburban neighbourhoods, having play dates with our strollers full of adorable kids every other weekend. Friends forever. Heck, a part of me even wanted that. Used to, anyway.

"Le," someone exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. I turned to look, raising my eyebrow. It was Ivy. With her flyaway red hair and infectious laugh, she was the self-proclaimed 'fun one' of the group. She would end up with Lou, there was no doubt about it in my drunken mind. "You can get anyone, right?" I blushed. I couldn't. Truly, I still can't. I tended to be the girl who changed her mind last minute, the girl who is so sure until suddenly she's not. It used to drive me insane. "Yeah, well how about a dare?" She ploughed on, and I was suddenly listening, interested. "Okaay," I spoke hesitantly, stretching out the vowels, unsure as to what I was agreeing to. "I dare you," she begun slowly, and then finished in a rush "-To get with Niall. Be his girlfriend." I sighed. Lame. "No, that's not fair. I don't like him like that, Vee, and you know it." Even my drunk self wasn't going to agree to that. But she was determined. "No, come on, that's why it's hard. Only for a month, no two, and then you can let him down easy." "Yeah, actually, cmon Le!" Emer piped up now. Damn, I thought she had fallen asleep. What happened next wasn't fair, I know. Not to him, not to anyone, but I felt myself begon to waver. I did always like a challenge, and I began to wonder why I couldn't apply that to boys. "No." Cass suddenly had something to say. "It's too easy. It has to be someone completely new, completely unexpected." I was definetely listening now. Impress my girl friends without hurting my guy friends? I was so close to up for it. "Someone who won't just fall straight at your feet," Cass continued. "Someone like Marcel."

"Marcel??" Incredulous was an understatement. "Marcel as in, 6th period history Marcel?" He sat at the front, as far from me and my friends as possible. I didn't think I'd ever spoken a word to him. "The same." Cass was smirking in the moonlight now. "Whaddya say, Le, you up for it?" No. A thousand times over. He was just so, well, uncool. You couldn't find a more opposite person to us. No. A hundred vodkas couldn't convonce me otherwise. "No way. Sorry. Not happening." I took a long drink from my bottle, feeling my throat warm and my indecision start to disappear. They couldn't make me. "Whatever then, guess you're a wuss." I ignored them. I could take that. "Chicken." "Pussy." "Boring." "Lame-o." The words were coming from all directions now, and I began to feel a little trapped. They were backing me into a corner, goading me with words they knew I would respond to. And I did. I'm still not sure if it was the alcohol that decided for me, of simply my determination to show my friends that I did deserve my reputation. "Allright! Fine! Back off, jeez." I was still slurring a little, my words blending at the edges and tinged with the red of anger. "You promise?" it was Cass' turn to be incredulous now. I took a deep breath. Whatever, it was just a month or two right? I could do it. Up-for-anything Leia, that was me. "I promise." My best friend stuck out her pinky, the little ring on it glinting at me daringly. I twined my finger through hers. No going back now. 

"I promise." I repeated.

this was so long for a first bit :o what did you think though, should i keep going???

comment what you think!

lots of love, 

alexis