Mind Games

Christian Carnival

"Please, Penny. You have to come! There's gonna be an after party!" Bryn begs as I rush to complete a five page essay that's due on Monday.

"Bryn, I already told you that I don't want to go. I don't even know if Sawyer's going, so what's the point?" I argue, deleting an entire sentence and rephrasing it to up my word count.

"Um, the point is that I'll be there and you love me. Jesus. You go on a few dates with Sawyer Henley and suddenly you're too good for me. I see how it is." She says, pretending to wipe at a tear as she walks out of my bedroom.

"They're not even real dates... We just hang out and talk." I correct her, raising my voice so that she can hear me from the other room.

She scoffs, "Sure. Hang outs and talks where you discuss how much you want to rip each other's clothes off. I get it, though. You're too cool to be seen with me now."

I can't help but laugh and roll my eyes as I save my essay, then close my laptop and place it on my desk. "Fine. You've won me over."

Bryn cheers and gives me a huge hug. She then drags me to her room where we get ready for "Christian Carnival". Basically, it's a huge carnival-themed dance that the school holds for all the girls in honor of the end of first semester. Finals are next week, so they figure that now is the best time to have fun so that we can distress. They've spent the past three days setting up the gym with decorations to fit the theme of the dance. I hate to say it, but I'm a little bit excited. I'm kind of glad Bryn has bugged me to no end so that I'll finally go. Not only will the dance be fun, but I'm definitely looking forward to the after party.

We get dressed up for the dance and do our makeup. Bryn insists on caking my face for me, so I let her. We stand in front of the bathroom mirror and Bryn starts posing like a model.

"We look amazing." She declares, flipping her hair and blowing a kiss to her reflection.

I roll my eyes and giggle.

Bryn looks at me and whistles, "Honestly, Sawyer is going to have to carry around a 'wet floor' sign all night because you look so hot. I'm so proud of me." She puts a hand over her chest and smiles at me.

"Are we going to gawk at ourselves all night or are we going to go dance and get trashed?" I ask.

"Christian girls gone bad!" Bryn shouts.

There's a knock at the door and I follow Bryn to answer it. Jacqueline stands in the doorway with a smug grin on her face. She chews some gum and discreetly hands me a flask. I take a drink and swallow hard, feeling the liquor scorch my throat as it travels down. I shake my head and blow out air, handing the flask to Bryn and watching her sputter and choke as she tries to keep it all down. Jacqueline and I laugh and then make our way down the hallway, singing and skipping to the dance. We get outside and start talking about whose party we should go to afterward, since so many people are throwing them tonight. Jacqueline explains how campus security doesn't even care about the parties tonight, since it's such a ritualistic thing for all the students here. I guess they figure the worst that can happen is a few girls passing out in the bushes or hallways. No big deal.

The three of us stride into the dance and instantly make our way to the innermost mass of the dance floor. We push and shove past all of the other girls and finally reach the middle of the floor. The DJ is blasting some really good music and everyone is singing along and dancing like maniacs. It's incredibly hot and a lot of girls are sweating like crazy. I'm too busy laughing and moving my body like crazy to notice how hot it's getting. Bryn, Jacqueline, and I sneak drinks from her flask every now and then. I find myself reaching the perfect amount of buzzed just as the song 'Pursuit of Happiness' comes on. Everyone goes absolutely insane, jumping and screaming and dancing like maniacs. The hype is incredible and the energy is amazing. We're having an amazing time when Jacqueline catches wind of a massive party going on at a house in the woods a few miles away.