Chapter 2

It was loud in the house. Very obnoxious was blasting loudly, causing an impending headache to settle into my brain. I repeatedly wiped my face in hopes of magically wiping away the headache. If only I were wearing boots, I could click the heels together and I'd be home. Wouldn't that be amazing?

A guy began approaching me, or at least the area I was in. I didn't think much of it- I am near the kitchen and he probably wants a drink. Leaning against the wall, I sighed. I can't wait until the girls decide they want to leave. Knowing them, it'd be half past three in the morning. "Hey."

I stood up a bit, furrowing my eyebrows at the guy who had been walking in my direction. "Hello?"

He smiled. "You sound surprised that I'm talking to you."

I returned the smile before shifting on my feet. "What's your name?"

"Spencer," he told me. "What's yours?"

"Kennedy," I responded and he frowned slightly.

"That's a guy's name," he informed me as if I hadn't heard it a thousand times before.

I shrugged. "It's actually a unisex name."

He nodded. "So, Kennedy, why are you here?"

I pursed my lips. "Well, I'm actually a designated driver."

He leaned forward slightly, making me press my head against the wall to avoid coming into contact with him. Talk about personal space intruders. "Why is a pretty girl like you a designated driver?"

I coughed awkwardly and pushed him away gently before moving myself away from the wall. "I don't drink."

His face fell and he licked his front teeth. "You don't drink? As in ever?"

I shook my head. "In case you didn't realize it, I'm underage."

He snorted, motioning to the people surrounding us. "That's not stopping all of these people!"

I suddenly knew what type of guy he was. He was the type of guy that once did things to fit in but then found out that he actually liked those things. Drinking being one of them, and partying just might be another. Who knows what he does in his free time? "So? I'm not like them."

"Have just one beer," he spoke, placing his hand on my shoulder.

I shook my head, growing annoyed with him. "No."

"Come on, it'll do you some good," he tried to persuade me but I continued shaking my head. Why can't he take no for an answer?

"I doubt that," I sneered and he grabbed my hand, wrapping it around the bottle of beer he was holding.

"Just take one sip," he told me and I tried to push it away but he closed my hand around it. "Come on, beautiful, it's not that bad." His hand was tightening around mine as it was pressed against the beer bottle. I noticed my fingers turning white beneath his fingers and his grip only seemed to be tightening.

"No," I told him again but he only tightened his grip. Panic began to set in. People around us were drunk. They wouldn't know what was going on. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, literally.

I stared at him for a minute. Bringing the bottle up to my lips, I swigged it. The taste was disgusting and I wanted to spit it back out- into the boy's face, just to show him that he can't control me. He nodded as if telling me to drink it. Swallowing the bitter liquid, I nearly gagged when I realized that the taste doesn't get any better. It tasted odd. I've tasted beer before, but it usually doesn't taste like that. He motioned for me to sip the bottle again and I shook my head.

"I took one sip, now leave me alone," I told him trying to bypass him but he grabbed my arm, tightening his grip once I tried to pull away. My eyes widened as I stared at the guy. His eyes were now hard and dangerous. "Let go of me."

"Don't be like this. You came here to have fun. You can't have fun staying sober and leaning against the wall like a wallflower, now can you?" he purred, allowing his hand to run through my hair while his other had an iron grip around my wrist. "Now take another sip of the drink."

I brought the bottle up to my mouth again, sipping it as he stared at me with satisfaction on his face. He continued urging me to sip the beer and eventually, the bottle was empty but he continued to drag me over to a table where several bottles of liquor were lined up. He grabbed two shot glasses and placed them beside each other before snagging a random bottle of liquor and pouring it into the glasses.

"I'm not drinking those," I tried to tell him but he placed his finger to my lips and with his other hand, he raised the glass to his mouth and downed it in one go.

"Your turn," he spoke, nudging the drink towards me. I began to shake my head and he sighed. "The only way you'll be accepted is if you're drunk. And you want to be accepted right?"

I nervously brought the small glass up to my lips and poured a bit into my mouth. My face twisted in disgust and once again, I urged to spit it out but quickly swallowed the revolting drink. "Now the rest."

I shook my head and he nodded, placing his hand on my shoulder as he pouted his lips. "For me?" When he saw I wasn't going to drink it, his grip tightened on my shoulder and his jaw clenched. He gave me another shot, and another. And the more I told him no, the harder his grip on me got. He'd only loosen it when I'd drink the shot he was putting out for me. What do I do? What do I do?

I quickly downed the rest of the shot, allowing the disgusting liquid to pour down my throat. "I'll be right back, stay right here."

I nodded and the moment I knew that I was out of his vision, I struggled to make my way through the crowd- looking for the stairs. I had to get away from him and away from everybody else. I know what happens to girls who get too drunk, they get taken advantage of and I really don't want that.

Slipping into an empty room, I sighed and quickly locked it before flopping onto the bed and closing my eyes. I sat like that for about twenty minutes, wondering what the girls were doing. I felt lighter and giddier when I decided to open my eyes. The moment I opened them, my vision was a bit blurrier and I groaned loudly at the pain in my stomach and I knew I'd vomit sooner or later. I took out my phone and scrolled through my contacts before dialing Noah's number. It rang a few times before his cold voice came through.

"Who is this?" he snapped.

I closed my eyes and sighed. "One of your sister's friends, from today."

"The creep?" he inquired.

I made a sound of confirmation. "The creep, and uh, listen. Trust me, I wouldn't be calling you if I didn't need your help, but uh, I'm drunk."

"And that's my problem, why?" he barked.

"Well, it's your problem because your sister told me to call you if anything happens and something happened. I'm drunk and I can't be a designated driver," I told him.

"And why should I help you?" he retorted.

I felt lightheaded, as if everything was slowing down. "Well, if I drive your sister and her friend's home, I can crash and we can all die."

"And how am I supposed to help you?" he asked.

I sighed, suddenly feeling giggly. "Can you walk over here and drive us back home?"

"I'm not bringing you back. I'm not even going to try and find you! You're irresponsible," Noah hissed into the phone, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Oh then how are you going to get the other three drunken girls back to your house?" I slurred. "You need the keys to the car."

He groaned, swearing under his breath. "I'm just going to take the keys from you."

"Not if you can't find them," I giggled, rolling over on the bed I was on. I began rolling around, giggling as I did so.

"I'll find them," he retorted.

I began rolling around even more, giggling loudly as I did so. "Doubt it," I managed to reply. I suddenly felt a churning in my stomach as I dropped my phone on the bedside table, grabbing the small trash can beside it and emptying my stomach's contents into it.

I groaned as I picked the phone up again. I expected him to hang up. "That's disgusting. You're disgusting."

Wiping my mouth with the back of my hand, I managed to reply. "Shut up. Why'd you listen?" 

"Did you just tell me to shut up?" he barked and for some reason, I began to laugh.

"Everybody pukes! No, not just me! Everybody! Do-do-do! Everybody pukes!" I began to sing, my words slurring together.

"Shut up!" he exclaimed and I giggled, continuing to sing. "If you don't stop singing, I'm going to hang up and tell my sister about how you got drunk on your first night on the job."

I quickly stopped singing. "No, no, you can't. She'll stop making me beautiful."

He snorted. "My sister may be a beautician but she definitely can't work miracles."

I frowned. "Shut up, you idiot."

"What'd you just say?" he bit back.

Giggling at his anger, I turned over on the bed again, staring at the locked door. "Are you almost here?"

Muttering obscenities under his breath, he sighed. "Yeah."

"You swear a lot. You should stop, it's very unattractive," I told him.

He began shouting swear words at the top of his lungs, causing me to recoil away from the phone. Eventually he stopped and I sighed. "You know, if you want to find a girlfriend- you can't swear."

"Who says I want a girlfriend?" he responded.

"Okay, then maybe your boyfriend might like it or maybe he won't. Who knows?" I told him and he quickly cut me off.

"I'm not gay," he told me.

"Okay, then what teenage boy doesn't want a girlfriend? I mean, I know that I want a boyfriend. That's why I'm doing this whole thing," I told him.

"You shouldn't change yourself for a guy," he muttered.

"Guy's won't notice me unless I'm beautiful," I explained.

"That's why you have to dazzle them with your amazing personality... Oh wait, you don't have that either," he scoffed at his own cruel joke.

"A guy doesn't walk up to an ugly girl hoping that they have a good personality. They go to the beautiful girls and get to know them," I explained.

"No, they go up to the beautiful girls and use them," he clarified. 'So you're saying that you want to be used?"

"What? No, I won't let him use me. I just want a guy to like me because he thinks I'm pretty and cool and interesting and smart. I want him to like me for me, but I have to somehow reel him in," I told him.

He snorted. "Have fun finding that guy. It'd be easier to find Waldo."

"And that's why I'm trying to become beautiful," I explained, ignoring his retorts and allowing a tired sigh to escape. It was quiet for a few moments.

"I'm here," he told me and I stood up before stumbling and falling.

"My legs are like jelly," I muttered as I struggled to get up again. It's probably because I was twisting them around on the bed, trying to sit in different fashions which would cause pain to shoot up my thigh.

"Don't get up, you'll fall and die or something," he muttered, his anger dulling down. I heard him entering the house on the phone. The loud music entered my hearing and he groaned. "I hate parties."

"So do I," I replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed. I knew he probably wasn't listening and he definitely didn't care.

"Where are you?" he asked me.

"I'm on the second floor," I told him. I faintly heard him walking up the stairs and the music getting quieter.

"Do you know what room you're in?" he asked me.

"Well, it's painted red," I told him.

"That information is very important to me, seeing as I'm outside of the rooms," he scowled.

"Well, when you put it that way, no," I informed him.

I heard him opening doors and around the third door, he quickly slammed it shut. "So you're not in that room," he muttered. I snorted.

I began to grow impatient and I stood up, trying to catch my balance. I managed to walk over to the door by clutching the wall. I unlocked it and peeked out. I hung up the phone when I saw Noah standing by a door across from the room I was in. At the sound of the door opening, he glanced at me. 

I went to walk out of the room but I stumbled and fell. He didn't even make a move to catch me. Instead, he just walked towards the stairs as I struggled to get up, using the wall as an assistant. I followed him down the stairs before poking him in the back. He flinched away from my touch, absolutely disgusted with the fact that my dirty little hand came in contact with his precious jacket. "I'm going to wait out in the car."

He didn't even acknowledge my statement and he just turned and began walking towards the crowd of people while I walked in the opposite direction. I pray that I don't see that guy from earlier. I used people's backs as walls and moved along at a slow pace. I reached the door and groaned when I realized that the walk towards the car didn't have railings that I could hold onto.

Managing to make it down the walk, I groaned even louder when I realized that I had to walk down the block in order to find the car. I started walking, using the cars to my advantage and leaning on them, but not with too much weight because that might set off the alarm. Finally reaching the car, I struggled to get the key into the lock and unlock it. I sighed as I opened the door.

"Kenneth!" I furrowed my eyebrows as I glanced around. I was the only one out here. Surely, the person wasn't talking to me. They can't even get my name right. A few seconds later, I saw Spencer stumbling over towards the car. He had an angry look on his face and I quickly got into the car, locking all of the doors. He stood outside of my window, talking to me through it. It was hard to make out what he was saying because it was muffled and his words were slurred.

"Where'd you go? I was hoping we could've had some fun. We can still have some fun if you're up to it." He was leaning against the window, smiling sloppily. I almost sighed in relief when I saw Noah walking over to the car, an agitated look on his face. His sister was slumped on him and the other girls were barely making it to the car. They were laughing loudly and it was annoying, even in my drunken state.

Spencer looked up when he saw Noah dragging his sister to the car. Noah made eye contact with him and narrowed his eyes. "Get away from the car."

I read his lips and even though I didn't hear his voice, I knew that what he said wasn't in a friendly tone. Spencer winked at me before backing away, holding his hands up. Once he was out of my sight, I unlocked the doors. I swung open my door and allowed the contents of my stomach to lie on the gravel. "You couldn't wait until I was done shoving them into the car?"

I looked up at Noah and rolled my eyes. Glad to see he was feeling sympathetic. Slamming the door shut, I watched as he tried to avoid stepping in my vomit as he placed his sister, Dana, and Chloe into the backseat. Once he finished, he walked around to the driver's side and opened the door, climbing in and yanking it closed.

I leaned my head against the side of the car, the seatbelt wrapped around me. I lolled to sleep and was awakened by the sound of a car door slamming. I looked up and saw him carrying his sister into the house. I looked in the backseat and saw the other girls lying on top of each other, dead asleep. Did he leave us out here? I tried to sit up but the seatbelt jerked me backwards and I groaned, taking it out of the lock and sitting up, rubbing my head. I already felt the headache coming on. I calmed down when I saw him approaching the car. He looked angry. Well, at least we got home safely.

He grabbed the other two girls and dragged them inside. I got out of the car and stretched, leaning against the car as I let the cool air hit me. I walked towards the house, a bit unsteady. I entered the house and locked the door behind me before shuffling upstairs and into the room I was told I'd be sleeping. I fell onto the bed and allowed myself to drift back to sleep.

<<>><<>> 

I woke up with a pounding headache. I winced as the door opened. Expecting it to be one of the girls, I tried to look as if I wasn't in pain but I saw that it was only Noah. I raised an eyebrow as I looked at him. He raised his hand and an air horn loudly screeched throughout the room, causing me to cringe backwards, covering my ears in pain. Sending me another hate filled look, he exited the room. And I'm the creep. It's obviously okay to enter a girl's room when she's sleeping or could be changing.

I got up and looked down at what I was wearing, groaning loudly. I walked over towards my bag before looking towards the door. I quickly locked it and changed into sweatpants and a random t-shirt, throwing my hair up into a pony tail. I walked towards the bathroom once I was finished, with my tooth brush in my hand. I brushed my teeth and washed my face. Once I returned my toiletries, I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where the girls stood with medicine in one and glasses of water in the other.

I noticed Noah's presence. I also noticed that he was doing things a bit louder than normal and he sported a small smirk on his lips as he did so. He slammed the cabinet, causing the girls to wince. I grimaced but quickly wiped it off of my face, trying hard not to show the pain from my hangover. They can't know I messed up on the first night on the 'job,' as Noah would say.

Once they downed the cups of water, the girls grabbed bottles of water and took them into the living room, handing me one on their way out. They motioned for me to follow them and I did before sending one last look towards Noah, who didn't even acknowledge my presence. Once I reached the living room, I plopped down onto the couch, watching the television on the lowest volume possible.

I heard Noah walk upstairs as I continued to watch the television. It didn't seem as if the headache was going away after fifteen minutes and I decided to go upstairs to the room my stuff was in and gather my belongings. It was 2 and I need to be home by 3, so I guess it's time for me to leave. I was greeted with loud music playing from the end of the hall, causing me to cringe. I definitely need to get home and take an aspirin. Definitely.

Although I knew the song, I didn't feel in the mood to listen to it, whether or not someone was singing along. I saw the air horn that Noah used to nearly kill my eardrums earlier resting on a shelf beside the room I was staying in. I hoisted my bag over my shoulder and grabbed an extra hair tie off of my wrist. Deciding that it'd be worth it in the end, I walked over to Noah's room with my hand preparing to wrap the hairband around the button that'd alarm the horn.

The song continued to play and Noah sang along, sounding half decent. If it weren't for the fact that he's an unpredictable jerk, I'd pay him a compliment. Not. Although he's a good singer, I'd leave it to the band.

Cracking the door open, I wrapped the elastic around the air horn and tossed it into his room, slamming the door and running down the stairs and out of the door, despite my pounding headache and feeling of sickness. I was in my car, struggling to get my keys into the ignition from the fear of being beaten to death. I made sure the doors were locked as I managed the get the key into the ignition. The door swung open, revealing a heaving Noah. I internally screeched. I squealed aloud as my car roared to life and he stormed across the lawn. That was a bad idea, a very bad idea. What was I thinking?

I quickly drove away, managing to escape his wrath that I'm sure he'd place upon me if I were to stay a second longer. I looked in the mirror and saw him glaring at my car. I escaped! I let out a mocking laugh as I stopped at a red light. I'm good.