Ghosted

1 | Party 'Til You Drop

----Flashback----

Saturday, three nights ago:

I entered the Twins' house with eager excitement as cars had begun to crowd the humongous driveway. A number of people clustered about with drinks in their hands, already divulged in the party mood.

The Twins, Jasper and Jenna Keller, were the most enthusiastic party-throwers in school, also making them equally popular and well-liked. From every occasion, every holiday, to almost every weekend, they would throw an epic party at their house, which just so happened to be a mansion.

Tonight they were throwing their annual back-to-school party. As usual, there was an endless supply of booze, huge stacks of pizza-filled boxes, and extremely loud music blaring throughout the whole manor. Almost half the student body was present, including my friends and I. And almost all of them were inside, partying in the ball-like foyer.

A very upbeat Drake song was booming loudly from the large speakers set on both sides of the room, everyone hyped up by its rhythm. Some folks looked completely buzzed while others were bouncing to the music, sweating with wild enthusiasm.

I swam my way around the throng of dancers in search of my best friends, Riley and Edge. When I reached the other side of the room, I spotted them almost immediately.

Edge's tall figure loomed over Riley's small, petite one. Edge was rocking a stoopy black v-neck with rhinestones and sequins embedded across the low V. Riley was sporting a black leather skirt with black stockings and a tight-fitting tee that said 'BITE ME' with a fangy-looking mouth design printed below the text. Both my friends had Solo cups in their hands as they were cheering on some guy doing the keg stand.

"CHUG! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!" everyone echoed as the guy did a perfect handstand on top of the keg. He maintained that position without faltering for a full two minutes, all the while guzzling from the tap. Total pro.

I automatically joined in with everyone else and chanted along, pumping my fist energetically in the air. When I reached my friends, they immediately stopped cheering and shouted in glee instead as they saw me approach.

"Alex! You made it!" hollered Riley as she practically pounced on me. She smiled broadly as she slipped a red Solo cup into my hand. "Drink up, girl," she coaxed.

Edge smiled as well as he shot me an encouraging look while yelling over the loud music, "Yass, baby, make us proud!"

I smiled timidly at my friends then peered down the plastic cup. It was halfway filled with a dark liquor of some sort, it's strong odor causing me to scrunch my nose. I figured it was probably rum and Coke.

Both Riley and Edge had scooted closer to me, anxious for me to drink. Winking at my friends, I then tipped the cup over my mouth as I downed the liquor in one gulp.

"Yeah! You go, girl!" Riley whooped as I made a weird face once the liquor hit my throat.

Okay, that wasn't Rum and Coke at all, that was just straight up rum.

I shot my head towards my friends, who were jeering at me as Edge mockingly held up an empty glass bottle of Captain Morgan, waving it in the air.

My friends knew for a fact that I had very low tolerance for alcohol. Regardless, everytime we attended a party, they'd always try to get me to drink. The problem was, they would be drinking, too, and as much as I loved them both, I didn't trust them at all to take care of drunk me while they were intoxicated as well.

So not only was I always 'Buzzkill Alex' for refusing to drink, I usually had to play babysitter for my two alcoholic friends.

With the exception of tonight, of course. Because tonight we were celebrating the kick-start of our Senior year in high school, which was only two days away. And by rite of passage, I was supposed to drink, all in the spirit of school tradition. Yes, for generations, it had been a James Leo High tradition for pre-seniors to party hard before the school year began. A pretty bizarre tradition if you asked me.