Party in The Woods

Chapter 2

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The music was deafening. It thumped and pulsed in my chest almost painfully. Megan hanged her handbag on one of the hooks at the entrance, but I held onto mine since I didn't feel like getting it lost. We had entered the main area, an open space where the music grew even louder. The centre of the room was the most crowded. People were dancing and sweating and slumping over each other, and I could basically smell the drunkenness. It was hard to see, as it was quite dark, despite the occasional flashes of lights filling the place. Red, green, blue, purple. Red, green, blue, purple, and so on.
Oh dear, I thought. Chaos. I again started to tell myself that 'I was in control', and felt Megan's hand grab my own. She pulled me and we meandered towards the front of the room, where people stood around more calmly and there was a table with snacks displayed. I recognised most faces from school. Even some people from the younger years had showed up, and they were all a blurry image of drunk faces. I guess the party was a big deal, although I didn't understand why people enjoyed it so much.
     Deep in the crowd I spotted Janine Jennings, the popular cheerleader from my year. No surprise. She was someone who no one messed with and everyone appreciated. I couldn't understand those type of girls. There was even a brief rumour at school that she had slept with a teacher— definitely not my type of person. Janine was wearing a short purple dress, whipping her bleach blonde hair around and dancing (somewhat sexually) with two jocks, both equally as 'important' and 'relevant' as her.
When we reached the snack table, I poured myself some raspberry punch, whilst Megan had gone for some stronger alcohol I didn't recognise. We also grabbed some cookies. They were arranged in a pyramid next to a post-it note with a smiley face on it. When I took a bite Megan looked at me and laughed, and then shouted something. I couldn't hear her over the loud music. 'What?' I shouted back. I couldn't even hear myself.
She read my lips and shouted even louder, in my ear. I could just about hear 'let's go to the dance floor'. I looked over at the clump of people dancing, and didn't feel like getting all messy and sweaty so early on. I said, 'you go! I'll be there soon!' and I could tell by her expression that she would have liked to argue about it and try to convince me, but there was no point over the loud music, so she squeezed my hand as a 'bye for now' and I watched her enter the crowd.
     Sipping on my drink, I looked around and awkwardly bopped my head along with the beat. I didn't know where to get started, what to do or to say, so I looked around for friendly faces. Behind me I saw some people from my year sitting on a couch in a more reserved hallway. I walked over to them, thankful for the quietening music and the less blinding flash of lights. On the couch was Willow, a girl from the poetry club, looking all gothic with some of her friends. She looked up at me, smiling.
     'Oh Abbey, hey, come sit down.' she said, shuffling over to make some space.
     'Thanks.' I said. We still had to talk significantly loud, but at least I could hear her voice properly. She didn't look as high as most of the other people I'd seen. Her short, black hair lay straight and brushed the metal spikes on her leather jacket. All the black made for a strong contrast against her pale skin.
     'So,' she said, 'I heard that you won't be around for the holidays.'
     'Yeah. I'm going to a beach with my mom.'
     'Oh, that's nice! Good for you, better than hanging around in this dead town.' She said.
     'Yeah.' I let out a forced laugh, looking down. 'So... cool party, right?'
     'I don't know,' she said, 'I haven't been to many so I don't have much to compare it to. I don't really like parties.'
     'Me neither,' I said. 'I just wanted a little fun before I left, you know.'
     'Well, unlucky you.' She said. 'There's too many people, literally everyone came. I don't know what this 'best party ever' deal is. Just because the guys found this old place and turned it upside down, I guess. I mean, everyone was posting about it online. Have you seen it? The picture?' I nodded my head that I hadn't. She got her phone out. 'You must have, it went around our year, and the one below.' I looked at the screen and saw a black image with tiny, white text in the centre. 'Best party ever.' And even smaller, in the left corner read, 'Don't miss it.'
     'Hmm...' I said.
     'Weird.'
     'Yeah.' I stood there a little longer, still looking around and constantly checking the snack table to see if Megan had returned. 'Well, I better get back to my friend.' I said in an end. 'See you around!' Willow waved at me and I stood up to leave.
     'Oh! Abbey, by the way, the cookie your eating? You know it's a weed cookie, right?'
     I looked at the almost finished cookie in my hand, bewildered. 'Oh, oh my' I said, and spat it in the empty cup. 'Thanks', I laughed. 'Jesus!'