"Hey," April sauntered downstairs, holding onto the railing as her attention was fixated on her phone. She looked up, anticipating Mark's reaction, who sat in the living room watching T.V. "I'm going to my friend Eric's house, I'll be back." She didn't bother waiting for his answer, only wanting to inform him.

"What time are you coming back? And who exactly is Eric?" The man muted the show he was watching, turning around to look at April with his curious face. Despite not paying much attention to her, he made sure his tone was stern, hoping she would get the message across of him being non-lenient while she stayed under his roof.

"Probably around 12 and Eric Jarder. He used to l-" She began to speak, until she realized how late she was, beginning to grow frustrated. "Ugh, I'm already late! I'll tell you later when I'm hopefully not murdered or kidnapped" April responded sarcastically, rushing out of the door as she texted Eric.

"Alright," Mark huffed, feeling guilty for not being able to question her any further about this party she was going to. "Just don't do anything stupid." He called out as the front door opened.

"Trust me, with that stick up your ass, anything would be stupid to you." April retorted, finally closing the door behind her as she began to walk outside of the premises.

***

Eric and Chad took turns passing the joint. The atmosphere of the party from Jarder's living room echoed throughout the house, the muffled sound of 'Swang' by Rae Sremmurd being the background noise for the two boys.

"I'm done." Chad shook his head, resting it back against the headboard of Eric's bed. He shut his eyes, feeling the wave of euphoria circle around his system.

Eric chuckled while looking at his friend, finding it very amusing that he was able to snort cocaine like a New Yorker businessman, but quit smoking a joint after five puffs. He glanced at his phone, checking to see if April was still going to come to the party. The boy felt slightly nervous seeing his childhood best friend after having moved from Oxnard to Brighton, and this became evident as he blankly stared at the wall in front of him, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

He was snapped out of his nervous trance by Chad, to which Eric looked over at him, a confused look masked upon his face.

"Why are you so nervous for tonight?" Chad asked curiously. "Don't tell me it's your fifth hook up." He joked, nudging his friend's arm playfully as he teased him about his sex life, or lack thereof.

"No, it's not that – it's just meeting someone after such a long time." He spoke. "I haven't seen her since-"

Chad's jaw dropped, the anger and disgust beginning to show on his face very clearly.

"Dude, no fucking way is April Fenning coming to this party." His tone evidently indicate he was disappointed that his ex-girlfriend would be attending the one night he was looking forward to. "Hope you got that new i8 stored somewhere safe, in case she slashes those tired too." He rolled his eyes at the memory.

"Maybe if you hadn't cheated on her, she wouldn't have done that?" Eric added, sounding more like a question than a statement.

"Let's not forget the time she accused half the football team of r-" Chad added, before being interrupted by Eric.

"OK, I understand that was fucked up, but we're talking about your relationship with her, not her committing a complete felony."

Chad groaned, irritation evident on his face.

"I didn't cheat on her, we were already broken up. Is it my fault she's fucking insane?" He contorted his face in disgust, disappointed Eric was taking her side, but he really wasn't surprised. "She's a pathological liar, Jarder. Literally everybody knows it."

"OK, enough gossip, let's just go downstairs." Eric suggested, changing the topic as he didn't want to pick sides between his two best friends.

The two boys made their way downstairs, letting the smoke from inside Eric's room escape towards the rest of the house. They passed through bodies of people huddled together in small and large groups – personal space being a foreign concept to them. It didn't take long until Eric and Chad reached their friends, James Abbas and Matthew Franc.

Eric Jarder and Chad Santino were the text book definition of rich boys, although one actually worked harder than the other, the personality trait of partying, hard drugs and flexing with daddy's money was ingrained into them from birth.

The Jarder family name was synonymous with the oil industry, his father (or step-father as Eric liked to correct) being the fourth richest oil tycoon in America. Eric's mother left her abusive husband in Oxnard and remarried a much wealthier and less aggressive man who'd ensure the safety of both her and her son. This led the family to relocate to Brighton Valley, a neighboring town to Calabasas. The family hold's their reputation tighter than a mother with a newborn baby.

On the other hand – Chad Santino is your typical frat boy, there wasn't a party he missed, no matter how boring. He was born and bred in Brighton, making him a long time resident of the neighborhood. His mother – Lisa – was once married to a successful lawyer, Mark Helms, but the marriage began to crack once Lisa found out Mark had been having an affair, causing her to file for divorce. She now resides with Chad and her new husband, surgeon Matt Dawson.

The relationship between April and Chad was a rough one – due to being long distance, she barely knew anything about his life, including the fact that his father represented her mother. However, the relationship came to an abrupt halt when Eric told the girl about Chad's multiple hook ups, causing her to snap and while in a rage, slash the tired of Chad's new Mustang. The two haven't talked since then, as tonight would be their first time meeting after three years.

In present, April opened the door to the Jarder house, being greeted with drunken bodies rubbing up on one another. She looked around, hoping to spit her best friend's familiar face.

"There she is..." Matthew mumbled to his group of friends, their eyes turning over to the girl like a pack of hungry wolves, stumbling upon a vulnerable prey. They all eyed her with the same, judgmental look.

"She really looks like a stale piece of bread..." Chad mumbled, the grimace on his face intensifying, until an idea lit in his head. He gestured Eric to come over to him, leaning his lips against the boy's ear. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?" Eric backed up and asked with a questioning look on his face.

"Bring April upstairs and just wait for me to come." Chad sounded rather excited at his plan, a glimmer of hope twinkling in his eyes.

"What? No. You grow some balls and talk to her yourself."

The boy kissed his teeth, rolling his eyes.

"If you want your two best friends to get along, this is the only way to do it." Chad spoke nonchalantly, shrugging as if Eric had no other way to get those two to be on good (or at least mediocre) terms.

Nevertheless, Eric nodded, huffing as he made his way over to April, tapping her shoulder with a small, yet cheerful greeting.

"Oh my God, finally." April sighed in relief, being thankful she was finally able to find Eric. She leaned up on her toes, embracing him dearly, genuinely missing the platonic touch of his body. "I was literally going to leave if I didn't find you in time." She joked, pulling away with a smile on her face.

"Yeah," Eric responded rather awkwardly. "Let's go upstairs?" He gestured his hand upwards, feeling slightly nervous as to what Chad had in mind for the three of them.

April nodded in agreement, eager to have some alone time with him as she followed his lead. Meanwhile at the bottom, Chad eyed them like a hawk, a small curl turning the corners of his mouth upwards.