Hope «h.s.»

Eighteen.

Chapter 18:

You could hear the sound of Max's party twenty blocks away. Maybe not twenty, but quite a few. The music was loud and it for sure wasn't any Mozart or Bach.

"It looks packed," Lexie gushed, pulling up to the curb a good walking distance away because there were so many cars.

"He's quite the hit at school," I said. They giggled.

"I'm so ready to get wasted," Mandy said clapping her hands. I, on the other hand, was ready to keep my promise of not consuming even a drop of alcohol this whole night. Seeing the huge crowd was almost enough to make me run off.

I took a shaky breath as Mandy and Lexie exited the car and I followed a bit behind them. They went straight in as tried to pull my dress down a bit before opening the door back up.

Tons of people were packed in the front room. It seemed to be the designated dancing room. A few people looked my way when the door closed behind me. A couple of guys eyes trailed my body making me feel more disgusting than I already did.

I saw a glimpse of the back of Lexie's head, her platinum blonde hair walking into another room. I said about ten excuse me's and sorry's as I pushed my way through in order to catch up. In exchange I got a whistle and a couple rude faces.

I entered the room and saw the back of Lexie's head again. Less people were in the room but there were still quite a few. As I made my way through, I realized Lexie and Mandy were now standing with a group consisting of Max, Jay, Rebecca, Ben, a couple others from my school and Harry.

My eyes went straight to Harry's and so did his as I walked up next to Mandy. His eyes scanned my body up and down, and for some reason I felt even more self conscious in his glance. He grinned when our eyes locked again and then stayed there uninterrupted for a while.

"Glad to see you made it... Piper?" Max asked, pulling both of us out of trance. The group stopped talking.

"Yeah," I said nodding. All of the eyes of the group were on me now. "Nice party," I said awkwardly. I started to pick at the end of my dress.

"Want a drink?" Max asked as he handed two full beer bottles to Lexie and Mandy. Everyone else already seemed to have one in their hands.

"No I'm good, thanks," I said.

"A brave one I see," he said, getting a smirk from a few. I did not know what he meant by that.

Conversations seemed to disburse throughout the group. I was glad that everyone was not focused on me anymore. I leaned against the wall, holding my forearm in my hand unsure what else to do with my hands.

For the first time that night I noticed the air was heavy, not like I was scared and feeling claustrophobic, it seemed as if the air was smoky especially in this room. As much as I wanted to start sniffing the room for the source, I did not want to be a dork. I could even feel myself slowly being relaxed by the smell too. I didn't know what it, therefore I chose to not mind.

I watched as the people around me conversed. Harry was talking to Lexie. Her cleavage almost pouring out of her low cut dress as she talked his ear off. I snickered to myself. I could see he was trying his best to seem entertained. For about the third time tonight, our eyes locked. This time it was brief, not a smirk, not a welcoming smile, just an easy glance. It was like he was trying to say something to me. But being a good ten feet away didn't help. If he wanted to talk to me, he should have just walked up.