Written. (JB//Complete)

Chapter 30.

        Ryan and I—or maybe only me—have received many stares from several teenage guests on our way inside. I instantly feet uncomfortable and self-conscience and keep scolding myself for actually attending this thing.

"Ryan, I don't think this was a good idea..." I mutter to him.

"You just need to warm to the party, is all," he smiles, waving to some people in the distance whom he probably knows.

His advice isn't very helpful since all the people I've come into contact with so far don't seem very warm at all. But I'll do my best to ignore them, for Ryan. Forget about what everyone thinks for a while; what they determine about you, everything, Justin's voice adds. Go away, I don't need you right now, I shove him out of my thoughts. As much as his advice could lessen my uneasiness, I don't need his guidance at the moment.

As we shove our way through crowds of people, Ryan spots more people he knows from school and waves to them, walking up to them with me on his tail.

"Hey, guys," he addresses three rather good-looking boys. And they don't look like jerks, like half the boys at our school, they look awfully nice and polished. They're probably even in some of mine and Ryan's classes, I just haven't noticed since I don't feel the need to because no one really notices me.

They all greet us and one of them, one that really catches my eye and is bizarrely cute, keeps staring at me at the corner of his eye with a smirk playing on his lips. That's a first.

"Party actually started yet?" Ryan asks them.

They shake their heads and mumbles a few 'no's. Then one of them, a red head, speaks.

"So who's this?" He juts his chin towards me.

"This is Scarlett. She dreads parties and doesn't seem to find any fun in them, so sorry if she's a bit under the weather," he jokingly laughs. I shake my head at him, shyly smiling. I feel the cute boy's eyes on me again.

"Scarlett, this is Ed,"—he points to the red head—"that's Andy,"—the one with long hair—then he points to the one with the wandering eyes—"Logan."

They all flash quick grins at me, then focus back on Ryan.

"You want a drink?" Andy asks. "People brought a bunch of stuff for this party, a huge variety, since it's the last of the year."

Ryan looks to me as if it were my decision, and I tell him, "Sure," even though I won't be drinking anything. I should have brought a bottle of water. All they're probably going to have here is alcohol. We follow the three boys to the kitchen and see the kitchen island piled up with tons of different beverages. All of it being alcohol.

"Wow, this is a lot," Ryan says.

"What did we tell ya?" Ed chuckles. "Looks like people are looking to have a ton of fun tonight."

While Ryan, Andy and Ed are conversing topics of their own, Logan takes a stand next to me and I suddenly feel uncomfortable.

"Don't worry, there's some water in the fridge," he quietly says to me. I look up at him and feel embarrassed at first, but hide it with a small laugh. I mutter a 'thanks' to him and he shrugs it off like it were no problem.

"So, you don't like parties?" he asks in disbelief.

I shrug. "I just don't see any organization in them, it's just a bit of a mess to me."

He chuckles, but not in a 'making fun of' kind of matter, more of an amused chuckle. "Oh, you're one of those types of girls." He shifts on his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. "That's alright, I'll get you to see the fun in parties tonight," he smirks, looking to me as I look down at my feet avoidingly. As much as I like this Logan guy, I'm not looking forward to this party fun.