Project Happiness

09 || party from hell 1.5

My mother sent me a rule of 30 things. I pretended to read it and sent her a thank you with a little heart emoji. She ignored my message.

I went downstairs, after locking my bedroom door and I saw Arlo sitting on the couch, just staring blankly at the screen. It seemed like he hadn't joined in with the rest of the party goers and was instead going out of his way to hide...in the middle of our lounge area.

"Arlo, you okay?"

I sat down next to him and he gave me a side smile. It wasn't really a smile, more like an acknowledgement of my question.

"Sometimes I want to kill Ashton."

That startled me. I barely knew the guy, but I could relate. "I understand."

He finally looked at me. "I suppose you do. What were you guys up to?"

I told him the situation of what my mother said, and he nodded and looked at me thoughtfully. "Huh. Who would have thought that she was actually...okay with it."

I shook my head. "She sounds calm but I already know that I'm going to be in so much trouble when she gets home."

I looked around the room and could barely remember how my house looked like before this. Everything was so different. There were tables I had never seen before and camping chairs that came from who knows where. I looked out the window and saw that any people were hanging out in the backyard, enjoying the night sky and the fresh air. They were also smoking. I hoped that scent wouldn't linger.

I noticed Ashton, he had three girls surrounding him but seemed more interested in whatever they were talking about than the fact that they were clearly trying to hook up with him. I rolled my eyes. Honestly if I saw him again tonight, I was going to deck him. It didn't matter that I had no idea how to throw a punch.

"Do you know how to hit someone, like really punch them, hard." I dug my nails into my palms as I glared as Ashton.

He really threw a party at my house because I made a stupid bet with him. That's what I get for trying to be funny. Karma.

I wasn't sure If I wanted to get revenge because, clearly, he would win.

"I always want to punch Ashton, to be perfectly fair. He's the worst sometimes." He followed my gaze. "Yeah I can show you how to punch him."

I shook my head. " I don't think it's worth it."

"He's really not, so you're not wrong."

"I would still love to know how to punch someone so one day you need to show me that."

"Sure, Jaylene. It would be my honour, who knows, maybe you'll use it when Ashton does something even worse."

I paused, "he can be worse?"

He gave me a look, completely serious, "yes."

There was some cheering and my eyes automatically followed the sound. I tensed. Just seeing so many people made me want to retreat to my room. I wistfully looked upstairs and hoped I could leave. I was scared. I was scared that I was going to be noticed. Someone was going to look at me and point at me and say, 'it's her.'

I was on edge. If that happened, I'd probably fake fainting, drool a little even just to really pass it off.

I didn't want to be here, but I had to. I hid my face in my hands.

"Hey, Jaylene, you okay?"

"You never answered me so I won't bestow you with a reply."

He went quiet. All I wanted was to watch a movie and introduce Arlo to the world of marvel movies. I could finally indoctrinate someone into liking somethings that I was so passionate about.