The Fall

Happy hour

Cascadia Falls

I sat in front of my laptop, my eyes straying to the clock that sat grinning at me sadistically on the shelf like a Cheshire Cat. 2:25 am, roughly five hours till this essay was due, which wasn't nearly enough to answer why Hitler might not have been the villain we thought he was. There were too many answers to that one and not enough time to satiate the insane curiosity that was infecting my mind. I pulled away from the table and turned just a small my phone lit up. At this happy hour it could only be one person. Dee. Sighing, I grabbed my phone and read her text:

Hv u done the Nazi essay? 

I smiled knowing that if I hadn't finished it, she probably hadn't started. 

No, I texted back 

Wanna do something more interesting?

I paused as I read those words. Down the many years that Dee and I had been friends something along those lines had always lured me into some form of trouble. Detentions, suspensions, loss of job. I snuck a glance up at the laptop screen and my eyes fixed upon 'Jewish cleansing'. Grinning I texted back:

Meet u at the bus stop.

Ten minutes later, with burning eyes and a splitting headache, I sat on the crimson seat outside the bus stop waiting for Dee to show up. Just like her homework assignments, she was always late. I pulled my jacket closer to myself in the December mist, sneaking a glance around- it was extremely dark except for the flickering street lamp in the distant next to a neon sign outside a chicken and chip shop and there was no sign of Dee. I pulled my phone out and quickly tapped out a text demanding for her current location but I had just sent it of when I saw her purple Audi streak up the end of the road. I started walking just as she pulled up beside me. She honked a couple dozen times making my head pound; I was beggining to regret having come out here, my comfy desk and beanbag was sounding much more appealing. She rolled the window down and stuck out her blonde head looking way too pleased for 2am in the morning.

"Don't look so depressed, your finally going to lose your virginity" she grinned at me.

I groaned as I warily slipped into her car, wondering what she had in mind. She pulled out of my road whilst digging through her bag.

"Fake ID's" she didn't even blink. I turned one over and saw a pale-faced brunette starring up at me.

"Where are we going?" I asked

"To a party. The party of all parties. Logan Frayne's place" she nodded at me as my eyes widened.

"How did you get an invite?" I paused 'did you...get an invite?"

"Relax kiddo" she smiled "perks of being on the prom comittee. You just smile and nod and you get all access. His girlfriend runs it so she said I could bring an extra"

"Happy birthday to me" I murmured, suddenly realising that I looked like shit. I grabbed Dee's bag and rummaged through, finding some mascara and foundation. If I could make my hair look less like a posset then maybe they'd let me in.

"What are we even doing at this party? Other than it being better than writing about nazi's" I grabbed some bobby pins and pulled curls of crimson hair up into a messy bun. Pretty good for 2am, I mused.

"Didn't you hear me? Free sex" she grinned making a right turn into a  large neighbourhood.

"I'm not doing it with any drunk seniors" I starred at my phone and saw my article on a website endorsing the Times. They walk among us, it read.

"Earth to Cassy, it won't kill you to live a little" Dee spoke. I turned and saw a huge mansion in the middle of a clearing, the sound of music throbbed against the window panes. My stomach contracted with fear, nerves I told myself; I wasn't the first to raise my glass in a party, I never had been.

"Don't puke in my car" Dee warned turning the engine off. "Smile. Fake it. Drink some booze. It's easy pickings in there"

She trotted out of the car, somehow managing to become as delicate as she was aggressive. I followed her out of the car, hoping for the best. I saw her stroll in, a styrofoam cup already in hand, as I pulled back a little. She was in her element. I wasn't.