It was nine in the evening. Zalia had put a mask on her face and was listening to some soft music on an old gramophone while Harry was busy playing video games on his computer. Mr and Mrs Louverne were having wine together in the living room. Louise was trying to fall asleep in his bed with some ice around his face, wrapped in an old hoodie. He had escaped his mother's field of view by running straight into his room after school and refusing to have dinner to leave his room. He hoped that all the marks would calm down by the morning and then he'd simply say he fell from the bike.

While Louise was having all these thoughts, MJ was slowly crawling towards his window. He came across Zalia's room and watched her put some undereye patches around her eyes. She was standing in front of her mirror in her pyjamas and looked like she was unwinding after a long day. MJ just hung against her window and watched her do her thing.

Suddenly, she looked in his direction and he hid, "Shit!"
"Whose there?"
He decided to jump into the window right beneath her room, it was an open window. He landed on a table and dropped both the wine bottle kept on it. He got up and watched Mr and Mrs Louverne make out. They stopped and looked at him, "Sorry, I'm here for Louise. Please, continue," He got up and walked out towards the stairs. 

They looked at each other, "Our son surely is making some absurd friends,"

"LOUISE!" He opened the door and found out it was Harry's room, "The one opposite to me," Harry spoke without looking away from his computer. 
"Thanks, mate," MJ closed the door and opened the room opposite to Louise, "LOUISE!"

Louise was laying on his bed and pretending to sleep the moment he heard his voice, "I came to fetch you. Let's go to Nolan's!"
Louise continued to pretend that he was asleep. MJ snatched the bag of ice from Louise and emptied the ice over Louise's joggers, "OUCH!" Louise got up and kicked the pile of ice away, "OH MY GOD I FELT LIKE I GOT AN ED!"
"Let's go!"

Louise got dressed into a white Tee and blue denim jeans, "Bye mom, gotta go to a friend's place,"
"This late?"
"For a sleepover," MJ said and his mom agreed. 

"Why did you tell mom we're gonna have a sleepover? He invited us for a party, we'll have to go back home, where will I sleep?"
"You can sleep at my place,"
"I'm not coming to your place!"

He stood behind MJ who was trying to start his motorbike, "Aren't you like fourteen? You don't even have a licence!"
"I don't need one. If we get into trouble, Tony can help me out without a mugshot,"
"Who the fuck is Tony?"

"A friend. Now, hop on!"
"Ugh! If we get into trouble, you'll take responsibility," Louise sat behind him.
"Yes, honey!" MJ began driving and looked into his phone, "He texted me the address. Here, tell me where to turn,"

Louise looked at MJ's phone and then looked ahead. They had been driving straight for about a minute and then Louise said, "I think, we are going in the opposite direction,"
"What? I must have misread it. My bad," MJ turned and began driving in the opposite direction. They crossed Louise's house. Zalia was beginning to wash her face mask by then. 

MJ drove for another two minutes, "You haven't told me to turn anywhere,"
"This map is so weird. You need to take a U-turn,"
"What? Did we miss some spot?"
"No, just take a U-turn,"

MJ turned back again and began driving. They passed through Louise's house again. By then, Zalia was wrapping her hair around her rollers. "Aren't we going to the same place we were initially going?"
"No, turn right,"
"Right?" There was no street on the right, only a huge chunk of Californian woods surrounding an old woman's flower garden. MJ passed through the garden, crushing all the flowers and finally began driving through the woods. 

"Are you sure this is the way?"
"It's a shortcut. If you have a problem, then you see yourself,"
"Nah, I trust you," MJ drove. 

Henry entered Ryan's party with his girlfriend, who was friends with Chelsea Nolan, Ryan Nolan's twin sister. Chelsea was with her boyfriend who had still not gotten ready and was in her room, finding his pair of boots. She looked at Ryan, "Well, where are your friends? They are late,"
"They must be on their way,"

MJ and Louise were struggling through the mud across the forests, "Son of a bitch, these mosquitoes keep biting me!" MJ scratched his knuckles as he drove, "How much further, Louise?"
"The blue lines on the map disappeared. I think the network is gone"
MJ stopped, "Give me my phone. Where the fuck are we?"

MJ saw the blue dot blinking on the maps and a yellow warning box beside it, "No network" MJ zoomed out and realised that they were in the middle of the forest, the city was left far behind and they were heading towards a cliff, "Louise! What map were you reading, mate? We are the middle of a forest"
"Are we lost?!" Louise looked worried. 
"Nah, are we?" MJ smiled, "Listen, I just gotta pee real bad. So first, I'll pee and then we'll think about what to do,"

"SO WE ARE LOST!" Louise screamed. 
"Shh," The entire forest suddenly seemed to move as the birds got disturbed by Louise's scream, "You are disturbing the animals," 
Louise started crying, "I should have never come here with you,"
"How is this my fault?" MJ walked to a nearby tree and began peeing. 

"You decided to go to this stranger's party! Look what he did! He sent us a fake address. It's your fault!"
"You're right," MJ zipped up and turned towards Louise, "Punish me, then,"
"Erm, how the fuck do I punish you?"
"I don't know, you decide," MJ leaned towards him as he sat on the bike, "By the way, we're all alone here, in this forest, Louise,"

"SOMEBODY HELP ME! THIS DUDE IS WEIRD!" Louise turned around and began screaming. MJ laughed and suddenly saw a pair of eyes, "Oh no..."

"What?"

"Louise," MJ grabbed Louise by the neck and covered his mouth, "Shut up,"
"Mhph!" He began kicking his feet on the wet grass and mud underneath them. He scratched MJ's neck with his curled fingers simultaneously. MJ looked ahead at a group of people with guns. Suddenly, he saw Tony with his men. They punched these dudes and snatched their guns away, those who fought back and shot back, were so shocked that they missed and Tony's men dealt with them. He left Louise, "MJ! What the fuck are you doing?!"

"Sorry, I just...couldn't control myself,"
Louise remembered saying this to Mr Warren, "You're teasing me now, huh?"
One of the men began getting up while Louise was turning back. MJ threw his shoe at his head and he fell back again. Louise looked at him, "Stop it! It was an accident. No need to mock me,"

"Hehehe" MJ brushed the sweat off of his forehead while he watched Tony and his men carry those men on a stretcher while wearing sunglasses in the dark. Louise, oblivious to all this, looked ahead at the foggy forest. "What do we do?"
"Follow me,"
MJ followed the footsteps Tony's monster truck had left behind. And soon, they were standing in front of Ryan's house.

"FINALLY! It has been an adventure. Right, Louise?"
"I wanna go home..."
"Aw come on! Now, we will socialise. Imagine the girls! All these hardships would seem nothing in front of those cuties,"

At the party, Louise sat before of the ugliest women he had ever seen in his life. She was stinking of sweat and her hair looked greasy and messy. Her clothes were stained and she was munching on a bowl of nachos and cream which was falling down her chin. It was Ryan's neighbour who happened to always be around. Ryan asked her what job she did. She told him she was unemployed, but he had never heard of that profession so he told his friends that she was in a complex professional position. Everyone was fascinated and began coming up with the most high-paying professions they could think of.

'This is what he came for?' Louise wondered and looked at the other sofa set laying in the yard. MJ sat there with three other girls. And he was flirting with all of them. 'I hate him and hate these women he's chasing after. Idiot,' Louise was grumpy and got up to get himself a fruit punch. On his way, he ran into Ryan and Chelsea.

"Louise! Welcome! Where's MJ?"
Louise reluctantly pointed towards the sofa set outside, "Oh, I see. Do you like the party?" He was yelling because the music was too loud and so was everyone else.
"I'm not a party person,"
Ryan couldn't hear him, so he just replied, "Good! This is my sister, Chelsea,"

Chelsea shook hands with Louise, "Pleasure to meet you,"
Louise heard "Pressured to meet you," and was confused for a hot minute until Ryan quit staring at him, " He's got purple eyes,"
"Yes, very pretty. Where's Mal?"
"I have no idea. Okay then, Louise, we'll see you. Enjoy yourself!" Ryan patted his shoulder and left with his sister to look for her boyfriend.

They left and Louise drank his fruit punch in his red cup. He felt sleepy. It was late at night and he was usually in bed at that time. The music was loud and annoying. Everyone was either making out or dancing. He walked to the yard to ask MJ if they could leave, but he was gone. He looked around, "Where did he go?"

He left while Henry and his trolls traced him through their eyes, "Look! The anus is here too!"
"Well, it doesn't seem like he's enjoying himself," Evans snickered.
"In that case," Henry took a small paper blot from his pocket, "Let's help him out,"

Louise looked around the place in order to find MJ. It was hot and sweaty and he could feel everyone breathing hard from all that dancing. It was suffocating him. He walked up to the bedrooms and entered an empty room. He could finally breathe normally. After calming down, he decided to lie on the bed for a while before looking for MJ again.

But as soon as he turned back, he found a stranger standing on the balcony, smoking a cigarette, "Lemme guess," He inhaled the cigarette smoke, "Not a party person?"
"Not at all," They could hear the muffled music from downstairs and the voices of strangers as they passed by the bedroom door in order to use the bathroom upstairs. He smiled at Louise, "Hey, that's Katy Perry,"

"Ah, yeah," Louise remembered hearing that song on the radio the previous week.
"Please, have a seat. Don't mind me,"
Louise sat on the bed. He felt awkward and he just wanted to leave. But if he did that now, he thought it would be very rude of him. And where would he go? Back in that unbreathable heat? He looked up at the black-haired stranger and they smiled at each other.

"Are you scared of crowds?" He asked.
"No, I just prefer being alone. People tire me out,"
"Tiring people tire you out. People are amazing to be around if they are yours,"
"Well, I've personally never met anyone like that. Guess I've never had anyone 'mine'; whatever that means,"
"I could tell," He looked into Louise's eyes, "I feel sorry for you,"

Louise was confused, 'Me? Why? I am not pitiable. I didn't even say anything remotely sad,' He quietly stared at his cigarette,

"Are you Ryan's friend?" He asked.
"Yes. You too?" Louise replied.
"I'm his sister's boyfriend. Malcolm Bevery,"

"Oh, she was looking for you," Louise told him.
"Was she?" He pressed his cigarette into his ashtray, "Well, in that case, I shouldn't keep her waiting, should I?" He snickered and moved his hands across this teased hair, "See you, erm, what's your name again?"

"Louise,"
He just gave an affirmative nod with a smile and left the room. Louise remained sitting on the bed for a while. Then, he decided to get going and find MJ. He walked downstairs and poured some more fruit punch for himself. But little did he know, the glass had been drugged by Henry and his trolls. 'I feel sorry for you,' He took a few sips and then felt a little hazy, 'What did that dude do to me?' He chugged the entire glass and dropped it.

"Where the fuck is MJ?"

-To be continued