Missing ↝ ÉLITE ²

SIX

CHAPTER SIX
Red Party

ARLO LOOKED IN the mirror, taking a deep breath. The music blared around her and people passed by her every second. She had to resist the habit of licking her lips so she wouldn't smudge her rid lipstick while also resisting the urge to rub her eyes so she wouldn't ruin her eyeliner. Her hand then ran down the mini spaghetti strapped red dress she wore.

"Will you relax?" Miguel laughed. "You look hot."

"Thanks." Arlo smiled.

She walked into the party, stopping at the stop of the stairs as she glanced around for her classmates. When her eyes landed on them she found they were already staring her, Guzmán in particular with his mouth agape and his eyes not blinking. The girl smirked to herself before she went over to Rebeca who whistled at her before kissing her cheek. "Look at you! I like this Arlo!"

Arlo shook her head. "Don't get used to it."

"So, you gonna tell me why you're really here?" Rebeca asked. "I know it's not because you like to party."

"She's here for a change." Miguel replied with a smirk.

Rebeca smiled at the boy. "Miguel. Lo, you moved on, huh and you didn't tell me?"

"It's not like that." Arlo pointed out.

"So why are you here?" Rebeca asked.

"Because–" she instantly stopped herself when she saw Valerio guiding Guzmán away from the rest of the group and she grit her teeth. "Excuse me."

Arlo walked in the room after the two boys and grinned, rubbing her hands together as she looked at the lines. "Oh, I'll do one. In fact, I'll do two."

Guzmán turned around, his eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

"Having fun." Arlo stated, raising an eyebrow.

"What about Izzy?" Guzmán asked. "And Diego with his ankle?"

Arlo shrugged. "He's fine on his own with Alma. Izzy's with a friend. Besides, I'll see him tomorrow at his school play. His ankle is still injured so he'll probably be sitting down on stage for most of it." She then looked at Valerio. "So, are we doing this or what? And how much for two?"

"No." Guzmán snapped. "What do you think you're doing? Do you really wanna go home high to Diego and Izzy?"

"Aren't you the one who I said I need to start doing things people my own age do? And you're my age, so if you think it's a good way to have fun, I'm gonna join. Anyways, I need to make up for all these years of not partying and looking after my siblings, which means I'll be doubling whatever you do to start– you know, try to get where you guys are. So Valerio, how much?"

Valerio smirked as he handed Arlo the roll. "It's on the house. I wanna see this."

She held it up to her nostril and bent down towards the lines, mentally pleading for Guzmán to stop her. Right on cue, Guzmán blew the coke off the surface, glared at Arlo and stormed out.

Annoyed at what Guzmán just did, Valerio let out a small groan before he bent down and tried to gather as much of the powder he could and put it to his nose. He looked up at Arlo and huffed. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do." Arlo assured before she darted out the room.

She glanced around, not being to find the boy through the Red Sea of people and she huffed in annoyance.