Boy Across The Hall

Chapter 1

❝A little party never hurt nobody❞

ㄧ Fergie

          I woke up to my favorite song playing on my phone. I looked over at the clock. It was exactly 7:30 a.m. I answered my phone to the loudest scream of all time:

          "Lena! COME ON! IT'S THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! GET UP, GET UP, GET UP!" That was Cleo Jackson. We became besties in kindergarten, and somehow we are still inseparable. I quickly hung up, before becoming deaf, letting out a loud groan as I got out of bed. I could hear my dad cooking breakfast for me. It used to be a family tradition to wake up early and scramble a load of eggs, but my mom had passed away from an unsuccessful C-Section, while she was delivering my little sister, Spencer, about 7 years ago. After that, it was my dad and me in the kitchen at 7:00 every morning, but as I got older he let me have as much 'beauty sleep' as I could possibly get. I slapped on a pair of skinny jeans and a baby-blue t-shirt. I gave myself a quick check in the mirror to make sure I looked decent and walked out of my room to meet my dad in the dining room, setting up the plates.

          "Morning, sweetie!" He said with an excited voice and gave me a big bear hug.

          "Mornin', dad!" I replied with a non-enthusiastic expression. He grinned at me with a why-are-you-so-unhappy-it-is-the-last-day-of-school look and sat down at the front of the table. I plopped myself into the chair next to him, putting a giant forkful of eggs into my mouth. I finished my plate in seconds, chugged down my orange juice, and headed for the door.

          "Bye dad, bye Spence!" I shouted as I grabbed my backpack and walked out the door.

          I was at my locker when I felt two hands wrap around my eyes, blindfolding me.

          "I know it's you, Clo." I said taking her hands off my face so I could continue cleaning out the last couple of things from my locker.

           "Aww. I know, it's getting old, but come on! It's still a little funny!" She shouted a little too loud.

           "It's the last freaking day of school. Please tell me you are at least a little teensy-weensy bit excited for the summer?"

          I turned around, giving her an I-really-don't-wanna-talk-right-now-but-I-agree face, and slammed the locker door (that's the only way it closed properly) and put the lock into place. Cleo saw her boyfriend down the hall and ran over to him. Knowing that she won't come back after that, I slowly slid my back down the locker door and sat down on the surprisingly clean floor while pulling out my phone and putting in my earbuds. I turned on my favorite song, which was 'Spirits' by the Strumbellas, and closed my eyes, waiting for the first bell to ring.

           The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, as all my teachers were nice enough to give us free periods to do whatever we wanted. I just spent my time on my laptop creating remixes of songs I liked most. I was a musical student; I played the piano, guitar, and cello. Music was a giant part of my life, and I couldn't live without it. I'm not gonna lie, nor am I gonna brag either, but I was actually pretty damn good at making remixes. I worked on them as if my life depended on it (mostly because I wanted to be a famous DJ when I grew up). For lunch, Cleo, her boyfriend, Thomas O'Brien, and I went to Pho (this really awesome, but inexpensive Asian food restaurant that we always go to when celebrating something). This time, we were celebrating the last day of school. There, we found out that one of the grade twelve students was throwing a giant party, and LITERALLY EVERYBODY was invited. Obviously, Cleo really wanted to go, and she convinced me to go with her as payback, for the time I forced her to come to Spencer's 6th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Honestly, I was pretty excited to go to that party, even though I already knew that it was going to be chaotic.

           The last bell sounded loud, as all the 1400 people in my high school rushed out of their classrooms and into the hallways, throwing papers everywhere, and screaming inaudible words. It was like something straight out of a movie. I waited for the crowd to die down, before I stepped out of the class (just for safety reasons), and ran to the bus stop right across the road. I got onto the bus on time and got home. As soon as I changed into my house clothes (a.k.a. plain black shorts and an oversized shirt my dad gave me), I got a text from Cleo reminding me that if I didn't show up at the party tonight, she would come straight to my door and pour a bucket of icy water on my head, or even worse - delete all my music from my Macbook. She also texted me the address of the party house, and when I should get there. I checked the time on my phone, it was 4:05 p.m. That gives me six hours and twenty-five minutes to relax, eat and get ready for my first night out in a long time. I decided to eat, and then take a nap until dad comes home, and then tell him my plans. My dad was extremely chill, especially when something involved socializing, so I was not worried about what his reaction might have been.

           I woke up, hearing the sound of keys scratching against my apartment door, immediately guessing that was my dad with Spencer. I ran up to him telling him about the last day of school party. He gave me a wide smile and offered a ride. I gladly accepted and went to go get ready. Now it was 9:30 p.m., so I had less than an hour to dress up, do my makeup, and tame my hair. I took a quick shower and blow dried my silky blonde hair. I then curled it into beach waves and sprayed it, so it will stay all night. I did the only type of makeup I knew how to do, a smokey eye with a tiny bit of eyeliner, and applied a peachy-pink lip gloss. I then put on my only fancy dress that I owned: a short strapless dark purple dress with a black leather belt and put on my favorite pair of black heels. My alarm went off, indicating that I had 20 minutes left to get to the party. I told my dad I was ready, and we sprinted to the elevator and then to the car, making sure we wouldn't be late.