Soda Pop

Chapter 10- The Party

"Casey. Come back here young lady, I left work to be here," My dad yells after me.

"Why? So you threaten to ground me some more? No. I'm done here."

I run up the two flights of stairs to get to the third floor of our house. I get my own floor and my brother and sister share the second floor. My floor is small, but it has all the essentials. A bathroom, bedroom, mini kitchen, walk in closet, etc.

It's actually supposed to be an apartment, but my parents let me have it all to myself when I was first into science and had all this lab equipment. Now, all my lab stuff is in the basement and I have converted my old lab space into a lounge area complete with bean bags, bungee chairs, and an espresso machine.

I plop down my bag and open the door to my bedroom. I go inside and start removing my clothing piece by piece. Once i am standing there, almost naked, I walk into my closet and pick out some comfy pajamas. I pick pink ones with clouds on them. And a matching tank top. I take out my contacts and trade them in for a pair of glasses. The thick, black kind you commonly associate with nerds. I got them before the whole popularity thing.

I comb through my light brown hair and wash my face, not planning to go out again tonight. Tonight, I will do my homework then watch some Netflix and go to bed.

But that whole plan was nixed as soon as I heard my phone vibrating on my nightstand. A text from my boyfriend saysing to look out my window.

"What the heck are you doing here?" I look out my window to see Marcus standing there.

"There's a party tonight! At some guy from the football team's lake house up north a bit. Wanna sneak out and have some fun?"

"Marcus," I sigh.

"C'mon, just for a little bit. Please, babe."

I smile down at him, "Ten minutes."

I hurry to put on my shortest dress, a cute red one that stops mid thigh and shows a little cleavage. I toss on a pair of black wedges and a black necklace. I remake my face again and look in the mirror. Perfect.

I sneak past my parents, who are absorbed in a documentary on some type of endangered bird. They won't even know I was gone.

I slide into his waiting car, proud of myself for sneaking out even when they wanted to ground me.

"Hey babe," I say, leaning in to give him a kiss. But my lips never touch his.

"Are those yours?"

"What?" I say, confused. I take one glance in the mirror and realize I forgot to take my glasses off.

"Are you going to take those off for the party?"

"Uh. Uh. Sure." I say, sliding them off and plopping them into into the cup holder.

"Much better, now I can see your beauyiful eyes," He smiles, hitting the gas and propelling down my driveway and into the neighborhood.

This causes me to smile, but secretly I can't even see the dashboard. Yeah. It's that bad.

My vision has been bad since 5th grade. It got to the point where i couldn't see someone clearly three feet in from my face. I had to get glasses, and that's when the teasing started. Some kids called me the usual Four Eyes. Others called me Glass Face. There were more, but I choose not to think about that.

"So who's party is this again?" I ask, squinting to see the radio. I randomly turn a knob, hoping it's to turn the loudly playing rap music down.

"Just some football players."

Another rap song comes on, nearly blowing out my eardrums. As well as teaching me at least 5 new cusswords.

"Dang Casey! Turn it down! Do you want to get caught?"

"Sorry," I mumble, fumbling for the volume button. I finally find it and turn it down.

A half hour later we arrive at a cabin in the middle of nowhere. People crowd inside and out. Music is blasting and a girl on the porch takes off her shirt and allows someone else to pour beer all over her.

"This is a high school party? Seems a little extreme," I say.

"Yeah," Marcus steps out, and I fumble for the car door handle.

We make our way to the front door of the cabin, and more than once I nearly trip over a stick, rock, woodland creature, etc.

"Hey bro! What's up?" A tall guy with big muscles comes over to us.

"Hey bro. Nice party!" Marcus replies.

"And who is this hot tamale?" He says, extending a hand for me to shake.

"This is my girlfriend," Marcus smiles proydly, kissing me intensely with a little too much saliva.

"Dang Mar! You got yourself a good prize there!"

Woah there. No way was he just referring to me as a trophy. I am not a prize for the contest of life. I am a human being, and don't deserve to be treated like an object.

Feeling a little violated, I push Marcus off a bit. Not that he would notice because he is too busy talking to his friend anyway.

"Hey, babe I will be right back. He wants to show me something real quick. Why don't you go in and grab a drink or something?" Marcus says, abandoning me.

"Okay then," I sigh. A girl and boy laugh as they walk past me. They stop right by Marcus' car and start making out.

Ew. Who are they? I gotta go inside, or something. I can't stand here and watch them stick their tongue down each others throat. Or at least I think they are making out. It just looks like blobs.

I open the door and the music suddenly gets louder. Much louder.

I squint my eyes, looking for anyone I know. Then I think I see this semi-popular girl's familiar hair, so I go up to her and tap her shoulder. She turns out to be a he.

"Can I help you?" He says, flipping back his hair.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else."

I turn around, my face heating up. I am about to accidentally break up a conga line when someone says, "Casey?"

"Who said that?" I whip around, squinting furiously.

"It's me, Brett."

"Brett? As in Brett Jenkins?" I squint at the person who is talking to me."

"Yes, as in Brett Jenkins the the tutor."

"Oh thank God, I don't know anyone else here."

"What are you doing at a college party, anyway?" He asks.

"College party? No, this is a high school party," I laugh. He clearly had one too many drinks or something.

"No, this is a college party for my school," He shakes his head, pointing to a bunch of people wearing Penn State shirts.

So Marcus lied to me.

"Can I ask you a favor?" I say warily, looking around.

"Sure," He says pulling me away from someone who was going on a drunken rage.

"Will you take me home?" I say, watching as the person smashes a beer bottle over his own head, knocking himself out cold.

"Sure. Are you okay?"

"No," I frown.

....................

Thanks so much for reading! I know I say that every chapter, but I really mean it.

Is this a new blossoming relationship between Brett and Casey. Someone mentioned their couple/ship name should be Brasey, lol. What do you think? Comment below!