Sunset Boulevard

Chapter 2

The rest of the week came and went quickly, and when Delilah woke up Friday morning, she was in a very giddy mood.

By the time English, her last lesson of the day, rolled around, Delilah was so excited she was practically fidgeting in her seat. Not only was the lesson thoroughly boring, but she didn't even have Jae, as he'd skipped the day to get a head start on his driving.

"Delilah!"

Her head snapped up towards Mrs. Wilson, as the batty old woman stood glaring at her from the front of the class. The rest of the students had seen confrontations like this too many times to care.

"What?" Delilah asked rudely.

"I asked," Mrs. Wilson laid on the attitude thick, "If you knew the answer."

Delilah was confused. "To what question?"

The old teacher sighed as a few snickers erupted from her fellow pupils, and, in defeat of knowing she was fighting a losing battle, Mrs. Wilson turned back to the whiteboard and started rambling on again about Shakespeare and Othello, to a class that may as well have not been there.

Suffice to say, that when the final bell rang, not one students was still occupying the room a minute later, and the grey-haired old woman gave up half-way through shouting over the loud scraping of chairs that scenes 2-4 were to be read for Tuesday. Frankly, it was never going to happen.

Delilah practically skipped to her locker, piling the books and bits of make-up she'd messily left into her leather Chanel bag quickly, slamming the locker shut and spinning the combination.

"Delilah, wait up!"

She winced. She was so close. A hall or two more and she would've escaped him altogether. But alas, she turned and smiled brightly.

"Hey Seth," she greeted, voice more bubbly that usual. She was glad he didn't notice.

"Hey," he announced again when he caught up to her, and she took this as the okay to start towards the exit again, with Seth in step with her. "I was just wondering what you were doing tonight. Tommy Hughes is throwing an 18th party on the quad tonight, and its supposed to be tota-"

"Oh, sorry Seth," she interrupted, her voice sympathetic as she frowned in mock-disappointment. "But I'm already going to a party tonight. You know, the one on South beach?"

At that moment, she found it incredibly hard to keep the smug look off her face as Seth's expression dropped, and he looked as if he'd just been told he'd been kicked off the football team.

"Are you kidding?" he sounded border-line hysteric. "Please tell me you're kidding?"

Delilah wanted to laugh as they exited the main building and walked to the parking lot.

"Nope. I know some people who're going." She enjoyed the mild jealous look that passed quickly across his face. "And they say it's gonna be the party of the month." Because when you lived in California, no party could be called the party of the year.

He took her elbow in his rough hands just as she was about to fish her keys from her shorts pocket. She was a little irked, but left it.

"You realise there's going to be...gangsters there tonight, right, Delilah?" he asked, accentuating the words as if she was stupid. And although she knew she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, she certainly didn't take being talked to as if she was a fool lightly. "If they start something..."

"I'm not scared," she wanted to roll her eyes and scoff. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I have to go, now."

She unlocked the door and hopped in the car while Seth just stared with a look that clearly said he didn't agree with her decision.