Jersey Girl - Extended Version

Prologue

"Shh. They'll hear you," Lisa whispers.

I can't help the little giggle that escapes as I watch her slide down the drainpipe. Her skirt is bunched up around her waist, with her knickers on display as she slips down to the ground with a little more difficulty than she was expecting. A gasp escapes as she loses her grip, but she quickly regains her hold. This is the first time I've crept out of the house while our parents are fast asleep in the room next door.

I bounce from foot to foot with excitement. "Hurry up!" I plead on a whisper. Lisa is a seasoned pro at making an escape to party the night away.

We'd pretended to be asleep, but once the clock hit eleven p.m. and our parents – as regular as clockwork – hit the hay dead on an hour before midnight, just like they do every night, we threw our duvets off us and finished getting ready. The rush of adrenaline that sweeps through me at the thought of getting caught by our parents is exhilarating. We know we're doing wrong, but there's no way they would let us go to this party, no matter how much we begged. Lisa and I made the decision to pull the wool over our parents' eyes and betray their trust, and if we're caught, we'll end up paying the price until we're well into our thirties.

We manage to escape, although we have a few scrapes and scratches caused by the rose bushes and house bricks.

Just around the corner, we can hear the pumping baseline of the music playing inside the biggest house I've ever seen.

"Who lives here again?" I ask, aghast at the sheer size of the imposing Victorian building before me.

"Jensen, and his sister, Julia," she reminds me, with an exasperated sigh. "Julia invited me."

"She invited you. So, I'm not actually invited?" I thrust a hand on my hip, annoyed that my invite came from my sister.

"It won't be a problem. Stop whining and get a move on. We're wasting good drinking and flirting time."

"Who've you got your eye on this month?"

"Don't be cheeky, but F.Y.I...." She shapes the letters with her fingers, flipping the bird on the 'I'. "...Jensen is so hot, and even though he didn't actually invite me formally, I can tell he's interested."

I don't have the heart to tell her I think it's all in her head.

We enter the large house and we're immediately hit with the sounds of dance music, the smell of weed, and the loud chatter of hundreds of teenagers, all behaving like animals. I hold onto the strap of Lisa's bag as she makes a beeline for the kitchen. Feeling uneasy, I hold on tighter, not wanting to be separated from the only person I know here. My shoulders take a battering as I follow Lisa through the mass of people. My arms will be black and blue in the morning.

Cans of beer line the work tops, along with vodka shots, and a bowl of punch. I decide on a glass of punch while Lisa grabs a can and flicks the top, taking a long swig like she's been starved of water in an arid desert.

I pick up the ladle, and that's when I notice all the cigarette butts floating in the punch. "Gross!"

"How about some lemonade for the little girl?" I hear a male voice behind me. I spin round and come face to face with the biggest fuck-wit on the entire planet – Jack Howard. He laughs in my face. "Hey, Johnny. Who invited the shrimp?" he shouts out over his shoulder. I know he's referring to me, because this idiot has teased me about my height since we were eight years old. He keeps laughing, clearly thinking it's highly hilarious to keep picking on me.

I stand on my tiptoes. "Shut up," I yell in his face, then turn to walk away. I stand next to Lisa, feeling comfortable and safe in her company. I knew I shouldn't have come, but my overbearing sister insisted. I grab a beer and sip my drink, while Lisa is drinking everything in sight.