The six of us stood by the curb, staring at the house in awe
The six of us stood by the curb, staring at the house in awe. The bright glow coming from property, what with the strings of lights and paper lanterns hung everywhere, put the other dark houses on the block to shame. Vibrations of loud music were practically making the glass on the windows shake, and slurred chatter and laughter could be heard from the teenagers sitting on the lawn.
By the time Beanie got to Julie's house, it was around 8:30 PM. We had all decided that we were going to stop by the party, if only for an hour or so, to check it out. Jess was the only one who had enough room in her car, since she had borrowed her parents SUV for the night, so it was decided that she would drive. The house was anything but hard to find, but the block was swamped so we parked on one of the cross streets and the six of us walked the rest of the way.
"Alright," Tompy said, breaking all of us out of our dazes. "Worst comes to worst, we can always just meet at my house. It's like, three blocks way from here."
Once we were in the front door, I lost track of everyone. Each of my friends went off in a different direction, getting lost in the dense crowd. It was going to be nearly impossible to find Seth in all of this.
Deciding to start my search just about anywhere, I stepped over a seemingly passed-out kid lying on the floor and walked into the living room. A haze of cigarette smoke filled the room, making it difficult to see. Beer bottles and red plastic cups covered just about every surface.
Most of the people sprawled over the couches looked familiar, but there were also some faces hadn't seen around school. Either way, no one seemed to pay much attention as I glanced around.
Someone suddenly clasped onto my wrist. I whirled around to see my brother, looking confused but, thankfully, sober. "What're you doing here?"
I testily pulled my wrist out of his grasp. "I was invited."
Jaime raised his eyebrow, shooting me a skeptical look. "Do you even know whose house this is?"
My mouth opened so I could retort with a smart come-back, but I closed it again upon realizing that I, in fact, had no idea who lived here. "Actually… Not a clue."
"Pffft," Jaime replied, rolling his eyes. "Who invited you, anyway?"
"Why don't you ask your best friend?"
"Seth?" My brother's voice was skeptical. "You mean he can dial the phone?"
My eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"Well… He's not in the best…" Jaime paused, thinking of the correct wording. "shape right now," he decided.
"He just called me a few hours ago… Why, what happened?" As much as I tried to mask it, panic was still evident in my voice. But Jaime looked pretty calm, so it couldn't have been anything too bad.
He shrugged. "Guess you'll find out soon enough. Last time I checked, he was upstairs."
After shooting my brother another cautious glance, I pushed past him and headed for the staircase on the other side of the room.
Teenagers lined the steps, either sitting or sprawled out on the wooden stairway. I stepped over them and their beer cans, attempting to reach the top without tripping and maiming myself.
