People were scattered throughout the house. The music pumped through the speakers, shaking the walls and coursing through my veins. Everywhere people laughed and danced around. The living room had been transformed into the dance floor. The DJ a guy I knew by sight but not by name. I was pretty sure he was in my Biology class, always doped up on something.
Red plastic cups and empty bottles littered every available surface. I pushed my way through the crowd, looking for a particular familiar face, unable to find him in the throng of dancers grinding against each other in time to David Guetta's Sexy Chick. The double French doors had been left open since this afternoon, letting my school friends to spill out into the massive garden. The night was cool and balmy, a nice welcome from today's unusual heat.
A group of people had commandeered the outdoor furniture, and I saw Amanda on the hammock with a guy from another school.
"Amanda!" I shouted over the noise of the music, trying to get her attention. She looked up at me, annoyed that I had taken her attention away from the guy.
"What?"
"Have you seen Seth?" I asked. "I can't find him anywhere!"
Amanda shook her head as the guy she was with started to nuzzle her neck. He pushed her brown hair away, biting her earlobe which caused her to burst out in a fit of giggles. I looked away uncomfortably.
"Have you tried upstairs? I saw him go up there with a few people earlier on." She winked at me, turning back to her guy. Our conversation was over.
I sighed. I don't know why I had even agreed to come to the party. Something Katy had said about needing to 'get out more'. Since the fall, all I'd done is stay at home and mope, according to her.
Pain shot through my left leg as an evil reminder that I shouldn't be here. I'd only just rebuilt the muscles in my calf, able to walk again without such a mean limp. Trying to squeeze my way through teenagers who had taken one too many hits of 'Barbara', Will Anderson's bong, was not what the doctor had ordered. The staircase too, was jam-packed with people, either just gossiping or making out with another.
This was not what the doctor ordered, I grimaced, pushing off some frat guy from a neighbouring college. My parents had thought I'd gone to the movies with Cassidy Harrison, one of the girls I used to dance with. According to them, I'd been going off the rails a bit ever since I'd fallen, and it was best if I started being chummy with the dance girls again. That way when I went back to the Academy it wouldn't be so hard. Like usual, they hadn't taken one notice when my doctor had told them I wouldn't be dancing again - not professionally at least. That's why they'd gotten me a new doctor and paid God knows how much to get my leg reconstructed.
Upstairs, the house was divided into bedrooms and two bathrooms. All of the bedroom doors were closed, either in use or earlier locked by Seth. The main hallway opened out into a giant loft-like space, where Seth and his sister had rule of the roost. A couple of couches, including one big 'L' shaped sofa were set up in front of a large plasma screen TV. Currently it was being occupied by a group of guys playing Seth's Xbox, the massive screen divided into four as the guys battled it out in some sort of war game. The room smelled heavily of weed, despite the window being opened wide.
Katy sat down in between the legs of the one the guys - Chris, one of Seth's friends, and Katy's man of the moment. Her eyes were bloodshot and red, a stoned smile playing on her lips as her hand ran up and down Chris' legs absentmindedly. Anyone would think she was watching what was happening on the TV, but I knew she had no idea. Chris was holding the console just above her head, swearing and screaming along with the guys.
"Hey Boo," Katy said languidly, flipping her hand up at me in recognition. "This is fun, isn't it? Told you we'd have a blast." She giggled, causing Chris to pat her on the head.
"Quiet babe," he said, totally baked as well. Katy picked up the bottle that was sitting next to her.
"Drink?" I shook my head. No alcohol was one rule I was definitely abiding by. All the medication I had to take each day would see me in the Emergency room of the local hospital if I added alcohol to the mix.
"I'm just looking for Seth," I said. "Have you seen him? Amanda said he was up here."
Katy's nose wrinkled in disgust. "That slut is here? Who invited her?"
I shrugged. "Well, Seth's outside being all broody," Katy said. "You should go and join him and be broody together." This was apparently funny to Katy, who burst out into another fit of giggles. I rolled my eyes, shaking my head. The comment just rolled off my shoulders. Katy and I had been best friends since the dawn of time, and though were two completely opposite people, she of all people knew the suffering I had been going through over the last few months.
I smiled sarcastically at her and made for the large window that was wide open. It was one of those types of windows that sat on the slanting part of the roof, which made for great escapes from all sorts - dinners, parties, studying. There was a small balcony, if you could call it that, which could comfortably fit two not too far away from the window. It was here I'd tasted my first sip of wine. I'd inhaled my first joint of marijuana here. It was where I'd also had my first kiss, with the boy who was now sitting on the balcony, gazing at the stars.
"Hey," I said, alerting Seth to my presence as I clambered through the window. I wasn't as agile as I had used to be, and looked uncoordinated trying to pull my left leg through the window.
Seth, who was sitting cross-legged with his knees up by his chest and arms hanging loosely around his shins, looked up at me, a smile forming on his lips. My stomach dropped a little, as it always did when I saw him.
"Hey," Seth replied back. I came and sat by him, my legs stretched out as far as they could and my back against the wall. Seth's gaze returned to the sky, where the city lights twinkled in front of us. The music from downstairs floated up, but it wasn't as overbearing as it was downstairs. My body was touching his ever so lightly. I shivered, but not from the cold. I gazed at him. When the moonlight hit his face, you could see the light brown streaks in his normally black hair.
"Not feeling the party mood tonight then?" Usually Seth was the life and soul of these parties. And it was his house.
Seth sighed wistfully. "Nah. Can't be bothered really."
I understood what Seth meant. My relationship with Seth was kind of strange. We'd known each other for ages. Our parents were on the school board, they threw dinner parties at each other's houses. Our mothers went to the same yogalates classes and played tennis at the same Country Club. But my bond with Seth was more than that. We'd never officially gone out, but we'd definitely fooled around. Nothing more than heavy kissing and light petting - sort of like friends with benefits without the sex. I knew Seth had sex before with a couple of girls in our year - with him, there were no secrets between us. Our friendship was open and honest.
It wasn't until Seth had fallen sick that we'd really grown close. A bad case of pneumonia had kept him out of school for three months. That wasn't the worse part. He'd also lost his spot on the soccer team because of it. Now, he had only just won that place back. I'd spent weeks and weeks convincing him it wasn't the end of the world. I'd make him listen to stories of players who had gone through far worse and still played today. I told him what sort of mischief and mayhem we'd been up to at school and around town, keeping him filled in on the gossip. I'd moan and complain about the homework we'd been given and how lucky he was he was exempt. A couple of months had gone by and we were on Spring Break, and Seth was better. We spent every day down at the lake - with a group of friends or just by ourselves. Then April ended and everyone went back to school - Seth included, and we were back to just being friends.
And I wasn't sure if that was what I wanted.
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