8:34pm.
"Hey Ardy, I'm home, how was school?" Arden's mom yelled to Arden in the other room. She walked in to the Tv room where Arden was sitting giving her the 'answer my question' face. Arden looked up at her and said "it was fine, how was your day?".
Arden's mom walked over to where Arden was sitting and sat down next to her.
"i got a phone call from the school this morning, informing me that you were late, again. Ardy whats going on? is there a boy or something?" she asked Arden in a motherly concerning way.
"mom, no. i just got a little lost when i went for a walk this morning, there's nothing for you to worry about." she assured her. Ardens mom looked at her in concern then she sighed and said, "well you shouldn't even be going for walks before school, you should just go straight to the school. oh well, what do you want for dinner? pizza?"
Arden turned the Tv off and picked up her ipod. "i already ate, and i made you some leftover pasta, im going out." Arden said as she swung her rain coat over her back and pulled on her rain boots.
"you cant go out now, its too late. Honey there are some strange people out there." her mom said.
"its ok mom, I'm meeting up with some of my friends and were going to a party." she said as she opened the door and walked out.
"alright have fun, dont be out that late." her mom said in an eager way. She was happy to hear that Arden made friends.
"i'll try" Arden said as she closed the door and walked down to the fire escape.
As Arden walked down the street from where her apartment is, she felt guilty for lying to her mom. There was a party that night, a few blocks away. But Arden hadn't made any friends since the school year started, and she wasn't going to go to the party by herself. So she just stuck to listening to music and walking.
it was 9:56pm and Arden wasn't sure what to do, she had walked a long time and was getting bored. She didn't want to go home either, her mom was there and she expected Arden to be home later than 10:00pm or else she would suspect that she didn't go to the party, or that something bad had happened and would want to hear about it. So Arden decided to walk a little longer.
after twenty minutes she stopped and looked up. Arden always lived in the city, so she had never actually seen stars, but it was one of her dreams to go see them. Arden stared at the sky, but all she saw darkness. nothing more, no stars, no nothing. so she put her head down and walked on. She walked to earl street and stopped at her favorite bench and sat down. she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her right pocket of her rain coat and took one. then she reached into one of the pockets on her cargo caprees and pulled out a lighter. she lit a cigarette then put her pack of smokes and lighter away. she sat on the bench and smoked her cigarette.
Arden had started smoking when her and her mom moved. She hadn't started for any particular reason, it wasn't because she was sad, or because she was pressured or anything around those lines, but simply because she wanted to. she liked the idea of a cigarette and nothing like health matters ever bothered her. When Arden finished her smoke she started walking again.
after a while she found herself walking towards the house where the party was. Maybe going in and talking to a few people wouldn't be such a bad thing.
as she got closer to the house she felt nervous, when the house got into sight she started shaking. there were people outside drinking. there was music coming from inside the house and sounds of loud voices here and there. Arden stopped a couple houses down from the party house. she took a couple deep breaths, then took another cigarette, lit it and walked forward. when she got to the front door, she stood, took a whiff of her smoke then rang the doorbell.
