Hold My Hand

Sixteen

She believed that there was a permanent scowl etched on her face by now. She thought she was going to a party to let loose with her friends –not watch them sell drugs in the corners. She doesn't deal with that shit.

Yes, they were known troublemakers, but she couldn't, for the life of her, do something illegal.

She pushed past dancing and grinding teenagers in the strobe-lit hallway, literally shoving drunks out of the way in search of her friends. If she couldn't find them in about five minutes, she'd be calling it a night; the party wasn't fun anyway.

Finally, she entered the kitchen where she spotted two of her friends making out, and the other two dealing with somebody with cigarettes in their mouths. The room was still full of people from their school, either snorting something on the kitchen island where there is a half-naked girl dancing drunkenly, or couples going at it in the open. She rolled her eyes at the scene, and nudged her friends who were making out, uncaring if they get mad at her for interrupting them.

"The fuck?" the guy said with a frown on his face, annoyed at the interruption.

"You don't get to be mad at me right now," she hissed. "What the fuck, Jules? I thought you already stopped this shit? What the fuck are Jay and Dee doing?"

Julian rolled his eyes as he retrieved the cig from the back of his ear. Chloe wrapped her arms around his waist, chin on her boyfriend's shoulder with a dopey expression on her face.

"It's easy money, Kayc," Julian shrugged, lighting the cigarette.

"Yeah, and an easy way to juvie," she rolled her eyes. "C'mon, man. You're better than this."

The girl scrunched her face when her friend blew a smoke right onto her face, a lazy grin on his lips. "What's gotten into your panties? It's not your problem anyway."

She rolled her eyes again, blowing a frustrated breath. She cares about them, that's what, but she wasn't about to tell them that. They all hate sappy shit.

Suddenly, hands gripped her hips from behind, pulling her against a hard chest. But she was quick to remove herself, her patience hanging by a thread.

"I'm not in the mood to fool around, Jevohn, fuck off," she glared at the guy whose eyes were bloodshot. Then she faced her friends again. "Can we go somewhere else? This party fucking sucks!"

"Yo, take a chill pill, Kayc," Dee said, appearing with Jay, finally done with their business. "Here," he said, handing her a red cup with some unknown drink.

Kaycee's brows furrowed. "You put something in there, didn't you?" Dee and Jay just cackled. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

Jay rolled his eyes. "You think so low of us, Kayc."

"No, I just know you enough," she snapped, then out of frustration, she plucked the cigarette off of Julian's lips and put it on hers.

She looked around the kitchen, trying to relax, deciding not to give a damn about their life decisions anymore. She decided to do what she came for –to let loose. She rolled her eyes again at a pair of moaning teens in a corner, then looked up to the half-naked girl dancing so slowly and without rhythm on the kitchen island.

Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a girl around their age enter the room, looking lost. She was familiar, but she couldn't point out where she saw her from. She was pretty sure the girl didn't belong in a place like this; she looked too innocent, too sweet. Her auburn hair falling around her face neatly, her shaky blue eyes flitting around as she walked in hesitantly, her left hand clutching her right elbow as if protecting herself.