“This is a bad idea,” Rhonda complained.
“Then don't come... I won't force you if you don't want to,” I told her.
“An' go home all by my lonesome? Ya. Right.”
“i don't see how this is so bad,” Hope smiled. “except that its cold. And parties have never really been my thing.”
“Everything will be fine. Remember that Jewel's going to be there too,” I reminded her. It was true enough. Hope was right though, it was damn cold out. I was freezing. “hey, gather round. Dan! Could you wait a bit?” I yelled. He turned and nodded. I pulled out my felt tip that i'd started to carry around. I also had a sharpie but I wanted something that would rub off easy.
I quickly drew out a diagram on each of us and touched it with a small surge of power. I smiled as Hope shivered in delight as her body was suddenly flushed with gentle warmth. Rhonda smiled at me.
“tha's one less problem, eh lass?” she laughed. We hurried to catch up with the others. Both of them also seemed to exude heat but I had no idea how.
“How are you two so warm?” I asked as we caught up.
“Dragon,” Dan said offhandedly.
“Radiation,” Aiden told me in a similar manner almost simultaneously. At that point all of us backed away from him, except for Dan. He gave us a quizzical look “I don’t let it get out… just what kind of person do you think I am?” he said with mock offence. I wasn’t really convinced and neither was Rhonda but Hope seemed to swallow the explanation whole.
“Is it true that you can explode?” I asked bluntly. It probably wasn’t the best idea but I’ve never really been subtle about much in life. To my surprise, Aiden just laughed.
“ahhh, good times,” he sighed.
“He only does in the duels,” Dan reassured us. “It’s really, really annoying.” We walked on in silence for a few moments. “i swear to god, if you ever pull that shit on me again i will hurt you,” Dan finished.
“For a moment I thought I might have overstepped the line,” I admitted, almost just to keep the conversation going.
“We crossed the line a long time ago,” Aiden said in a mocking wistful voice.
“Hell,” Dan continued, “we told the line to go fuck itself... and then we got its mother pregnant.”
“i can imagine tha’ was an awkward coupling,” Rhonda laughed, Dan grinned at her and Aiden cracked a small smile. I was still in shock with the blunt, slightly sickening statement. I really had no idea what to make of Dan. He was witty and more or less arrogant but he didn’t seem to very uppity with it. He also had a horrible sense of humour. I would find out later just how bad it got.
“What do you reckon Marik is going to be doing this time?” Dan asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” the willowy man replied. Now I looked at him closely he resembled a lot of people would think Jesus looked like but more human.
“Who’s Marik?” I asked them.
“We call him ‘the gay,’” Dan supplied. “he’s a nice guy... it’s his party we’re going to. I’ll have to introduce you,” he smiled at us.
“Is he actually gay?” Hope asked sceptically.
“About as bent as a nine pound note,” Dan chuckled. “Though he is the self-declared worst gay ever. Most people actually have to be told he’s gay... or have it proved to them.”
“Normally because Dan tried to gay him out,” Aiden added.
“Odd that it doesn’t normally work...” Dan mused in response.
As we rounded the corner, Jewel came into view. She was talking with the other girl i’d seen her walking with on the bus in earlier. The other girl was idly levitating as she spoke. I wondered if she floated everywhere or if she occasionally walked to places. That said, if I could just float without effort I’d probably do it all the time. By now we were well into the residential districts. The houses were single file terraces separated by either gardens or roads. The uniform buildings looked identical in the orange glow of the street lamps. The girl, who I assumed was Alannah, had medium length hair of mouse brown hair but i was guessing at colour... my night vision has always been terrible.
Dan actually bounced forwards. Seeing a guy with huge lizard wings bounce is one of the more funny things i’ve seen in my life. It was one of the most camp things possible. Of course, that one bounce did carry him all the way to Jewel who met him in mid air for a high velocity hug along with a gentle kiss. They looked really cute but i really had the urge to say something mean.
Does that make me a bad person?
Aiden approached Alannah in a slightly statelier manner and she glided over to him. I had that harsh urge building up again. I repressed it. I wanted to make as many friends as possible here. For once in my life I had a chance to fit in instead of being the outcast. Hell no was i going to balls that up.
“oh, hi!” Alannah said with mild surprise. “Are you going to the party too?” we all nodded in unison. Jewel was staring hard at each of us in turn, as if trying to decide something. She wasn’t quite yet separate from Dan. I got the feeling they were close most of the time. Eventually her eyes settled on me more than the rest and then she looked at Dan and smiled, hugging close to him as he kissed her lightly on the forehead.
The introductions were pretty short and we were soon moving again but within minutes i could hear a pounding beat. As time passed the music became more and more distinct. It wasn’t really my type of music but it wasn’t bad and my particular tastes wouldn’t really be worth much for party music.
“I take it we be gettin’ closer?” Rhonda said as she marched alongside me.
“Yep,” Dan replied.
“You guys are freshers, right?” Alannah asked. I nodded for all of us. “You’ll love this. Marik’s parties are awesome!” She told us all with glee almost written across her face... in permanent marker. I smiled and so did Rhonda. I looked back and saw hope trailing along behind us. She had barely said anything for a while now. I stopped as the others carried on and waited for hope. Even if Dan and Aiden left us here i’d be able to find my way.
“What’s up?”
“I’m cold and I won’t fit in. And the music is horrible,” Hope moaned with her head hanging down.
“Hope, if i can fit in then you can too, okay? It’ll be warm inside and the whole point of party music is that it’s supposed to be ignored,” I grinned at her. She smiled gently back.
“Thanks... I still doubt I’ll enjoy this but as long as i stick to you I’ll be okay.” That statement shocked me... more than that, in fact. I actually felt my heart swell a little. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me. I grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the sound.
“Come on,” I taunted, “if we carry on like this I’ll start gushing everywhere!” I laughed as I dragged her down the street towards the others. With gentle resignation she let me haul her down the concrete slab pavement under the glowing orange light. It didn’t take us long to catch up. Rhonda was actually talking to Dan of her own free will. I guessed her brothers preconceptions of the frizzy haired dragon had been a little off the mark for Rhonda.
“... Thing is, they always knew it was me because you could here this whirring from my hopper. My brother’s friend was not happy about it either,” Dan told her as she giggled. She just laughed harder.
“I’d be laughing, but I’ve heard that story at least eight times now,” Alannah sighed. She opened a gate leading to the house from which the loud rhythmic music was reverberating out into the night. She never touched it, she just pointed at it and it swung open. Alannah and Aiden were the first ones in and they were followed shortly by Dan and Jewel. Out of our little three, I was first in.
As I stepped in I was literally assaulted by the heat that was desperately trying to escape into the night as it rushed through the open door. The place reeked of alcohol too. Other than that it seemed a fairly ordinary home. True there was fast food wrapping strewn about the coffee tables but that wasn’t out of the ordinary for a party... from the rumours I’d heard they were a lot rowdier than that.
For a brief instant I saw who I assumed was Marik – and it was quite literally an instant before Dan and Jewel jumped on him and nearly toppled him with hugs. As he got steadied i got more of a look. His hair was cut close and dyed red and he wore combats and a black-grey stripped hoodie with the hood down. He had a very jovial look, almost as if he were never upset. Certainly by his expression this party was where he was at home. I waited behind Dan as I felt it was only polite to introduce myself to the host.
“Hi,” I said, grinning, “my name’s Ede...” I started to say but he just shook his head and held up a bottle.
“I’m not going to remember by morning, so what’s the point?” He laughed, “on with you! Go drink and have fun!” he commanded the three of us, ushering us into the front room. I was confused and had no idea how to take that. It seemed really rude but in all honesty it was probably true. He followed us into the front room, staggering a bit as he did so. I didn’t know what to make of him.
“Booze!” Rhonda Exclaimed as she dived away from them and pinched a drink. She started mingling immediately. I was left with hope, stood in a corner.
“And if you can’t fit in?” she whispered in my ear with a straight face. I had no idea if that was her idea of a joke.
“We grab a drink and make the best of a bad situation?” i suggested. In accordance with my plan B I quickly hopped over to the immense pile of alcohol and tried finding something. I’d already tasted cider before so I immediately avoid it and anything with the word on its label. That said, the pear cider caught my eye a little. Would you have guessed they had pear cider? Eventually i found a bottle of stuff that looked nice. It had pretty colours and that’s all I was going by. You’d never guess i had never been drinking before, would you?
Hope grabbed a bottle too and we both unscrewed the lids but where hope took a small sip i took a mouthful. It was a bad idea. The drink tasted really nice but as it hit my stomach it was like someone was scouring my insides with fire. I coughed a sputtered for a bit before taking another swig. Hope was looking at me odd.
“Are you sure you want to drink that?” she asked, looking at me with worry and confusion in her eyes.
“Why not? It tastes good!” I smiled stupidly.
“The label has forty percent printed on it,” she told me, pointing at the glass container. I looked right at it. She was right.
“Here’s to a good night!” I declared. Hope giggled and took another minute sip from her bottle. I thought that, if it weren’t for her unfamiliarity with the place she would have complained about not having a glass. Me and Hope retreated to a corner and got on with our steady paced drinking. Now i knew how strong the stuff I was drinking was I took it at a much slower pace.
We watched the mutable stream of faces. I spotted two luck spirits in the crowd. One was a traditional looking leprechaun and the other was a slightly more modern version wearing jeans and a hoodie. Both of them were almost falling down drunk. Dan, whenever he entered the room, was easily noticeable by virtue of his hair, since he had hidden his wings in someway that to this day I have not discovered. I never saw him with a drink, either.
“who. The fuck. Broke it!” a voice thundered from out in the hall. I froze. I really didn’t want to see the face that had that voice. She actually felt her heart beating against her ribcage. “My bad,” another, slurred, voice answered. There was silence for a few seconds, all throughout the house. “Shit,” the first voice said ruefully. Then the noise started again.
“I think that drink is about to turn on me,” Hope told me, holding her mouth. She launched to her feet and stumbled forwards. I was up an instant after, supporting her on the mad dash to the front door. I really don’t know how but we managed to get her out of the front and onto the garden before she finally caved and threw up everywhere.
“Chicken doesn’t taste so good the second time round...” she groaned. At that point i nearly joined her.
“Christ, I did not need to know that!” I told her, “That is fucking rough!”
“you two okay?” Rhonda yelled from the door.
“i am,” i called back, “she isn’t!”
“looks like we got here just on time,” a voice said from behind me.