It all started with Maddie

Chapter 1

When I first started to live with Peter and Helen I was very rarely allowed to attend parties. They worried constantly that something would happen to me, or that I would do something that would ruin their reputation, they made this very clear especially in the late nights arguments when I would end up storming up to my bedroom in anger. The worry was in their frequent visits to mass at all hours of the day and the pain I saw in their eyes whenever I left to go to school. But as I grew older, they realised that the sheltered past they tried to give me would not support me in later life. It would not teach me how to survive like my mother had ensured, it weakened me and allowed me to welcome negative influences with open arms.

When I reached 16, they realised how they should have been raising me, and allowed me to have a small group of friends that lived nearby and their parents had to be friends with Peter and Helen. These friends held small parties that I could attend, but only if there were small amounts of people. And that was where I met her.

A friend of mine, called Portia, had a very large family that thought highly of themselves. Peter and Helen knew Portia's parents and some of the other family members so I was allowed to attend parties she held. I did not initially like Portia or the rest of her family, as they all seemed full of themselves and most have ridiculously posh names. But over time they grew on me, and it helped that they had a really nice house with a hot tub and a gym, they still seem a little stuck up to me though. 

One of Portia's many house parties was held in the end of the summer holidays, and like all of her parties the house was immaculate and the food was amazing. However unlike most of the parties that she had held before, Portia had invited her cousin around and also allowed her cousin to bring a few friends with her.

This party, due to the cousin and her friends, was a lot busier than normal and caused my paranoia to heighten. I did not know if Peter and Helen knew that Portia's cousin was going to be at this party and I highly doubted that they would have expected her to bring friends even if they did know. But it also meant that it was harder to walk through the house, and harder to hear anyone talking over the music and the sounds of others.

Though I would like to say that I am very outgoing and can talk to anyone, it is simply not the case anymore, sure I used to be outgoing but since moving in with Peter and Helen my ability to talk freely or openly with anyone has been diminished. Therefore at this party with all the extra people, I stayed around my best-friend Habiba, because she too didn't like the slightly larger crowd. We hung around the corners of the living room keeping to ourselves. But eventually I needed to go to the toilet and get away from the loud music.

I weaved my way past the people in the corridors and up the stairs as I made my way to the toilet. There was a girl standing outside the room, leaning against the door with her arms crossed. She had twin braids falling over each shoulder and over her crossed arms, she seemed to absentmindedly watching the corridor with boredom. When she saw me approaching the toilet her face seemed to shift into an expression that I was not familiar with.

"Is there someone in the toilet?" I asked her when I got close enough for her to hear. She grinned and nodded.
"Yeah, one of my mates. She isn't used to this many people around her, and can be quite jumpy." I nodded in understanding and shuffled my feet gently.
"Are You one of Portia's Friends?" The girl asked me, seeming to want to continue the conversation. I nodded again and looked over to her.
"Yep, My name is Mina." The girl's face seemed to change to recognition and her grin widened. She moved away from the door slightly and moved toward me, she looked like she was about to hug me. My mind went into overdrive, and i was caught between running dow the hall away from this random girl and attacking the girl in the middle of corridor in this super clean house. I decided to see what she would do, as if needed I can still make my decision later. 
"Portia's told me all about you! I'm Maddie, her mom is related to my Papa." She said when she let go of me, her grin still on her face. Finally I began to understand who this girl was and why she was so outgoing.
"You're the cousin?" I asked just in case, she grinned and stuck out her hand.
"That's me. Nice to meet you." She said as I shuck her hand. The friend in the toilet came out, and Maddie grinned at me one last time before linking arms with her friend and walking down the hallway towards the rest of the party.