Cool Kids [p. parker] || SLOW UPDATES

TWELVE

CHAPTER TWELVE
( SNEAK OUT )

"ARE YOU GOING TO the party tonight?"

Nick raised his head from reading a passage of the book they were assigned to read for English during the class time, looking to Gwen Stacy who sat in front of him. The class was quiet for the most part since everyone was working, but there was the occasional loud laugh or moment where everything got loud for a second or, which would make the teacher to scold them until they all got quiet again. He frowned in confusion at first since didn't remember what party she was talking about, but then he did, a memory of a few other students talking about another mid-week party being thrown by one of the upperclassmen again.

"I'm still grounded until Friday, Gwen," he told her. "I can't possibly risk sneaking out so close to getting my laptop back. I'm not even allowed to hang with friends still."

Gwen nodded. "That's alright, I get it. But if you change your mind, it's at Liz Allen's place, and a lot of people are going. Liz didn't know if you were still grounded or not, so she just had me ask you."

"Cool, I'll think about it, then," Nick said with a small nod, giving the girl a closed-mouth smile.

And that was the end of their little conversation. It was quiet between the two of them for the rest of the class period, the two teens working on the English assignment.

+++

"You really are a dumbass, Blueberry," James Rogers breathed out as they stood in front of each other outside of Liz Allen's house after running into each other some minutes earlier.

The only reason James was there was because Olivia had invited him – with Liz's permission, of course – and he wasn't one to back down from going to a party. Olivia's mom works at a bakery Nick's uncle frequents a lot, and Olivia helps out there as well, so when James and Ryan entered the bakery, Olivia jumped on the chance of inviting the cute boy to a party. Or, something along those lines happened; James had rushed through the explanation when seeing the grounded boy at the party.

"From throwing a water bottle to a bully's head, to running on a sprained ankle, to this," James shook his head.

Nick had to agree that, yes, he was a dumbass. But being a dumbass was better than being bored to death with nothing to do at home. He had finished all of his homework and even did some studying before listening to the record player his dad had given him. The teenager was bored within minutes, though, because he would rather be either watching Netflix or be with his best friends. He couldn't do either of those things. So he had thought back to Gwen's question about the party earlier that day, and sent her a direct message on Twitter since he didn't have her number, asking what time the party started. Once he had gotten the time, he made a plan to sneak out once his parents went to bed.