Elias Alizadeh, sixteen and a half

Ch 2: Next Door to Timbuktu

***

The party was on. That night.

As I predicted, mom and dad weren't exactly overjoyed about my choice of Saturday night entertainment and nagged me like hell about it.
Going into town at night is dangerous, my friends are slackers and up to no good, (except for Alex – him they love since he's such a friggin' sneaky bastard when it comes to charming just about everyone) they were suspicious about the possibility that I would be drinking, (which I totally intended to) and just overall sceptical of the whole thing. 

I had to play the secret card - that I already am so far ahead of the curriculum at school,

that there really isn't any need for me to limit my free time all that much.

With that, they're usually satisfied and just caution me a bit.

As long as I promised to call home and let them know if I would be coming home or spending the night at a friend's place or at my sister's – green light.

I have to say that the process went unexpectedly smooth this time.

So, anyway – party.

The bus into town was already packed with people, all of them more or less drunk.
We'd fixed beer and were already kinda' tanked-up ourselves. Or well, Alex was, blabbering and laughing happily, cheeks red and eyes twinkling.
As for myself, I'm not all that fond of being canned to a degree that makes me stagger around, so I usually go pretty easy on the beverages. 

It was me, Alex and a couple of classmates since Junior High, Jenny and Albin, who also live in our neighbourhood and were going to the same party. Albin's cool, a really nice dude. Sometimes we go down to Oxie Skatepark or together. He's a completely sick freestyle skater, almost in class with , I'm practically green with envy over his skills.

But Jenny... I have a hard time coping with her. Mostly because of her constant Koala-clinging on Alex. It's annoying to have her in the proximity when Alex is around.

She tends (more than tends, actually) to get on my nerves. Badly.

I have friends that are girls, absolutely, but Jenny... She would probably be the illustration, if you looked up the word "Bimbo" in an encyclopaedia.

That night, she was being a fucking bandaid on Alex and giggled at everything he said, whether it was something she even had the possibility to comprehend or not. She was ticking me off already before we'd got to the party.

Hasan and Firas squeezed themselves into the, by now overloaded, bus and made their way to us. They're also skating buddies of ours, and it turned out they as well were going to the same party. Hasan is in my class, btw. And really nice. We haven't known each other for more than a couple of years, but I'd say he's my closest friend except for Alex.

At the next stop, Elin entered, one of Alex's ex girlfriends (whom I also detest – she was so possessive over Alex, I was exhilarated when they broke up) who's together with Firas nowadays. (Which never stops her from twinkling her eyes at Alex and flirting when Firas isn't watching. Very cute. I wish he'd realize what a fake bitch she is.) 

I really can't remember ever liking any of Alex's girlfriends. (Now I'm starting to wonder why...)

Everyone was babbling away, more friends joined the ride and eventually, the whole pack of us tumbled off the bus at Södervärn and started searching our way to the right adress. The streets in this busy part of town were, as usual, bustling with activity and people out pubbing, enjoying the nightlife.