Kevin had to park the car four blocks away from Natasha's parents' mansion as it is seen that the lane was jam packed with a number of cars. He volunteered himself to be the designated driver for the night as he is firmly standing on his 'I will not drink tonight' vow.

We all get out of his car and slowly start dragging our feet towards the mansion. Looking over the hill top and no house visible within a mile radius; the perfect place to throw a party where the neighbours cannot call cops out on us are just one of the few reasons why Natasha's place is known for throwing marvellous parties.

"We still have a chance to turn around and leave," Kevin reminds us in a sing-song tone.

"It's alright, we are already here. Let's just drop in and say a hello to Natasha and sneak out in an hour. Sounds okay?"

We all mutter our 'yes' and 'yup' to Zach's plan.

While only a few steps away, Mason gives us his parental instructions, "It's been a while since we attended a party and let me give you a heads up: Do not drink out of the cups which are already laid out and don't hesitate to refuse if someone offers a cup to you. Make sure you drink from a new bottle or can and if someone is preparing a drink for you, do not take your eyes off it, you might never know how they will spike your drink. Also—"

"That's enough of do's and don't's in a party, now shut your mouth," I stop him.

As we approach the front yard, the ground beneath us vibrates with the upbeat music that is being blasted through the various speakers throughout the house but then I realise that there are two different songs playing inside and outside the house. The mansion is brightly lit in every nook and crook and occupied by all the teenagers. We enter inside and 'Wannabe' by 'Spice Girls' hits our ears for which I resist myself not to sway my hips to the song immediately but my lips don't stop from singing the song to myself. People are moving and swaying their bodies to the beat on the makeshift dance floor, shining under the various colours of the disco balls arranged right above their heads.

"You guys came!" A surprised voice  startles us from the bustling music and turn to see a stunning Natasha in her little black dress approaching us. She reaches forward to hug me in greeting while she waves her hand to the others seeing as she is yet to have a friendly chat with them.

"There are drinks and snacks on the kitchen counter and refrigerator, there are some games that are going outside in the backyard, video games on the first floor and karaoke on the other side of the house which is actually a disastrous decision, but hey! That's going to be even funny. I mean to watch the drunkards making a fool out of themselves is obviously fun to watch." We laugh along to her joke she tried to attempt. "I'll be back in a few," with that she flees off into another direction.

"Now that she knows that we attended the party, can we please leave now?" Kevin begs.

"Let's just stay here for a while and then leave okay? And steer clear from the drinks," Zach warns but rephrases it when he sees Mason pulling a gloomy face, "Just stay at bay if you decide to drink," and then his face lights up like a Christmas tree.

And just like that, every single one of us go off in different directions. Kevin was dragged away by his lacrosse teammates, Dawn went outside in search of Dylan, Mason went to the kitchen to pour a drink to himself and hit on a few girls, and I am stuck being the third wheel with the couple.

Feeling bored already, I get up from the leather couch to go into kitchen. As I reach, I scan the counter for food and pick up a sealed packet of Lays along with a Coke tin from the refrigerator and turn around to leave but a strong voice which I've come to know by heart and recognise immediately halts me from taking another step.

"I see that you've found yourself a fascinating companion."

I turn around in my steps and come face to face with his green eyes glinting in humor.

"Food is always the best companion for a girl. If you didn't already know, it is the only way to win a girl's heart."

"Duly noted."

He looks extremely good in his black shirt folded up to his elbows and light wash jeans, making me go weak in my knees but I restrain myself and give him a tight lipped smile and turn in my step to walk away but clearly Mr. Jay Evans here has another plan.

"Wait, Emma, are you alright?" He starts speaking behind me but I don't stop in my step.

"Yep, absolutely!" I shout over my shoulder, not bothering to stop.

"C'mon! I only made a joke back there. A girl's gotta eat."

I continue to push past the semi-drunk teenagers in order to loose him but it is damn hard to escape from his sight and too stubborn to give up and take a hint.

"I thought that our friendship is progressing everyday. Now why the sudden ignorance?"

Right! I forgot that we were friends. Now why did this hit close to home?!

This time, I stop in my tracks where we only have less people surrounding us. "Our friendship is being built on a very strong foundation. But it can only stand once you stop with your ridiculous judgements on people you barely know."

He scrunches his eyebrows, automatically pulling his lips into a small pout—which is quite the adorable sight—in question, having zero idea about the meaning behind my words. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Meet me when you finally understand what I was hinting about," with that, I walk off with food in my hand, this time Jay not following me. He is still standing in the same spot, scratching the back of his neck in confusion which almost pursue me to look at him with heart eyes, but I don't.

Seeing that we already came out of the house, I turn around to a corner and strand myself in some secluded area where there is no human being in sight. Accepting the loneliness in this place and the calmness to myself—even though I can hear the hum of the music—I sit on a stone bench which is big enough to accommodate two people. Finally getting the chance to open the packet, I munch on the unhealthy snack, the reel playing in my head again and again.

I don't have any idea why I am giving Jay the cold shoulder. Okay, maybe....I do, but I didn't want to accept what he said. I did not want to acknowledge the bitter truth. Soph confirmed it herself but I am childish, immature and stubborn as hell to admit it. And I almost wanted not to believe Soph. They both are this particular image which screams PERFECT in my head. They the the couple right out of those fictional books. And I didn't want anyone to spoil it for me.

But here is my crush, parading all over my beliefs!

"Got some space over there for me?" A girlish voice snaps me out of my thoughts and I look up to a smiling Natasha.

"Sure thing!" I slide over so that she can sit on the stone bench.

Not knowing what to do, I offer my drink for which she politely refuses and I don't bother to offer it again because who in their right mind wants to share their food?!

"I see that you're enjoying a lot there," she teases me and I don't bother to lie.

"You should come inside and mingle with others. Get out of your safe zone of your friends and have fun with others as well. Get a drink—not this soda— an actual alcoholic drink. Loosen up!" She shouts the last two words at the top of her lungs and I already guess that she is drunk.

"No thanks, I prefer to stay sober tonight." I refuse her offer.

"Still hungover from that Vincent's summer party?" She questions me, knowingly.

"I still cannot believe that he and his friends managed to pull of such an amazing prank. I am still angry but I appreciate his mind blowing idea."

"I know, right!" She smiles at me. "That was one hell of a party. Some people went to jail that day it seems. It was a wild one."

I turn to her smirking, "That would be me and my friends!"

"No way!" Her shrill voice startles me again and she stares at me in disbelief. "That was you? My gosh, I had no idea. Damn, gurl!! You guys are so wild! The entire school was talking about you all for days!!"

I laugh and shrug at her. "Well, we were out of our minds then. But we were scared as shit when the cops decided to call our parents. It was an adventurous day." I grin, recalling that night and dust my palms on the ends of my red dress to rub off the small bites of chips.

We both fall silent for a few moments before I decide to break it with my question. "Do you have any idea why most of the girls hate me in the school? It really started escalating since a few weeks."

"Quite easy, they don't actually hate you but they are jealous of you." She says nonchalantly.

"Why?" I press further.

"It's quite obvious, Emma! They are jealous because you are partnered up with theee Jay Evans. One of the most handsome hunks of the school; fangirled by every girl and envied by every boy. And being paired up with him on the topic where you sit for hours and talk about love and stuff where there is chance that you could actually fall in love with your assigned partner are enough reasons why girls are jealous of you."

I stare at her dumbfounded. She is right! She is hundred percent right. I remember that very day when we were assigned partners for that project and Dawn told me that girls will start to hate my guts.

Damn! How the hell did it slip out of my mind?!

"Umm...am I crazy if I say that I'm pretty proud that girls are jealous of me?" I ask her, not caring to hide my opinion from her.

She smirks. "You have every right to be proud of yourself. And seeming that he is your crush, you are allowed to feel that way."

"Now will you stop dropping those bombshells of yours on me?!" I cover my face with my palms. "How the hell did you know?"

She giggles. "We might have talked about it."

Her revealings are like a thunderstorm upon me. "Jay knows?!"

"I won't lie though, he is not really sure about it. But girl, you need to get your act together. At least be subtle when you're around him." She suggests.

Holy freaking molly. Am I that obvious around him?! And props to him and his friends for actually doubting on my behaviour.

"So what should I do?"

"Just be yourself, Emma. And when the right time comes, maybe ask him out because I think he might say yes. And you both could possibly become a thing." She stands up and smoothens the end of her dress. "And I already placed my bet with Dylan that you both will start dating within a month. So please make that happen."

"Wait wait!" I hold her hand to stop her from leaving. "Does that mean that Jay likes me too?" I get excited.

She chuckles. "I don't really know, Emma, but I really wish I did. Find it out yourself." With that, she leaves without bothering to say a goodbye to me and I don't really care because I am too much busy grasping all the brand new information and forcing myself not to freak out.

Oh. My. Gosh.

The all too familiar anxiety says hello in the pit of my stomach and I take in deep breaths to make it vanish but I am too much overwhelmed with happiness and nervousness.

There is possibility of him liking me!!!!!!!

A vivid image of my friends appears in my head where they are jumping up and down with pom-poms cheering for me and happy that I am with my crush and all.

But what if he doesn't?

Booooooo!!!! Are the friends in my head who shouts and get upset and pack up their stuff and leave.

Exasperated, I hunch my shoulders after the exhausting brainstorming session and rub my hands over my face, not knowing what to do.

"There you are!"

Oh yeah! I am supposed to stay mad at him!

Jay takes a seat next to me on the stone bench. With Natasha sitting beside, it seemed comfortable enough for two people, but with Jay with his well built body beside me, this stone bench is not at all sufficient enough where we are almost clinging to each other so we don't fall down.

"I finally took the hint." He starts.

"And?"

"Seriously? You are mad at me because I told something wrong about your friends which were against your beliefs?"

"You really could take a hint, Jay Evans," I appreciate him, "And yes, that is the reason why I am mad at you."

"But—"

"How could you expect me to be alright with you talking shit about my friends? First, you have the audacity to talk about someone you barely know, and second, you still don't know them, you don't even know when they started dating and how deep their bond runs and you are saying that they are not going to last forever?! Do you think you are this Romance Guru and can predict their future by just hearing about them?! You are such a—"

"Whoa whoa whoa, calm down, firecracker! I never told that Zach and Sophia are not going to last forever, you've got it all wrong. I only said that every relationship has it's own ups and downs and that's going happen in theirs as well. With all you said, I was only warning you that their time is going to come soon. Not break up, but face some serious trials together. It can be minor or major—I'm not sure, but all I was saying was no relationship can escape from it's test."

Ohhhhhhhhhh.

But still like the stubborn girl I am, I keep my mouth shut and get up from the place, taking the empty can and packet with me to throw it in a nearby dustbin. Without bothering to utter any word to him, I simply start walking away.

"Two years."

I stop short in my step and tilt my head in confusion. "What?"

He raises his head in my direction, bending forward a little to rest his elbows on his knees. "Zach and Sophia—two years. You told me when we were talking over the phone the other day. I remember."

So how should I react to this situation? Should I smile or jump in happiness or freak out and hug him?

I go with the first option. I give him a small smile to which he returns with his own half smile-half smirk; the kind which creeps up his lips in a lazy manner.

I turn around the corner and go back into the lively house again. I find a dustbin on the way filled with a mountain of red plastic cups and shove mine into it. I look around me and see everyone enjoying to the fullest. Each and every person are drunk out of their minds and laughing with their friends, drowning their troubles in drinking and having silly competitions between themselves, and the most important one— making a fool of themselves and not giving a shit about it. That is the confidence that gives you when the alcohol enters into your system.

Loosen up! Natasha's voice echoes in my head.

Screw that, I'm drinking tonight!

And in that spur of moment, I walk past the crowded living room and into the kitchen and take out a beer bottle from the refrigerator and drink it one go. I squirm at the taste burning inside my mouth and throat, where at first I feel that I am going to spill the liquid out on the floor, but I manage to drink all of it and feel so good. I immediately take out another one where I scrunch my eyes and shake my head as it kicks in. I smear the liquid near my mouth with the back of my palm, careful not to smudge my lipstick.

I know that I am not a lightweight so I need some more alcohol to act out of my mind. So I open a new bottle again and raise it to my mouth to drink but the bottle gets snatched away from my hand.

Upset and angry, I act on impulse and raise my fist to knock the living daylights out of that person, but that earthling sees it coming and dodges the punch, capturing my wrist in their's and forcing me to stop.

"Calm down, Emma, it's only me, your best friend, Kevin."

"Why did you take my precious little thingy away from me?! Imma just kill you with..with..—" I look for something, anything remotely possible to threaten him and find a red cup beside the counter, and take in in between my hands "—kill you with this plastic cup."

"Clearly!" He agrees with me, "I thought you told me that you weren't drinking tonight?"

"I never said anything about not drinking tonight. I knew that I will definitely get drunk tonight."

"How much did you drink?" He folds his hands in front of him and looks down at me like some disappointed parent.

"What are you? Drink Police? There are already people for that job, go find another one," I swat him on the hands where he immediately lets them fall to his sides.

"How. Much. Did. You. Drink." He sets his eyes at me in firm.

Automatically, I hiccup. "Finished a six-pack all by myself. Check it if you want," and then I move closer to him and blow the air from my mouth onto his face and he backs out immediately, waving his hands in the air to dismiss the bad smell, in front of him.

Besides him, I see my other best friend Mason literally and figuratively rolling right there on the shiny marble floor and laughing. "That was so hilarious."

"More hilarious than your face?" I snap at him and he shuts his mouth to glare at me.

Kevin helps him up from the floor and Mason leans on him for support and speaks. "And, Emma, you had a six pack all by yourself? How selfish are you?! Don't ya have the decent knowledge to share it with your best friend in the entire planets and galaxies and universes?"

"Uh..buddy," Kevin interrupts, "do you mean her 'second best friend' in the entire planets and galaxies and universes? Because you are forgetting that I'm ahead of you in the line."

"No, buddy, I was not wrong. I really am her best friend."

Kevin murmurs to himself but I hear it like the owl ears I inhabit of. "Never argue with an idiot. He will bring you down to his level and beat you," he shakes his head at Mason and makes him sit on the bar stool near the kitchen island.

Bad idea!

Mason, already being out of control over his body, falls flat on his back on the floor. His agonising screams catch the attention of few and they rush towards us to see what happened but they return back seeing that it is just another drunk idiot hurt.

"Easy there, buddy, Kevin assures as we both help him to get up. Mason, learning his lesson, sits on the floor this time, resting his back on the pillar of the kitchen island.

Kevin gets a frozen French Fries packet from the refrigerator and silently gives it to Mason so that he can put it on the back of his head to ease the throbbing pain.

"I'm sure he is not much in pain," I crouch beside Mason and knock on his head with my knuckles, "this one is empty anyways."

Mason glares at me murderously, for the second time in the past five minutes, and swats my hand away, "I forgot that you turn into a bitch mode when you're drunk." Unfazed, I give him a flying kiss.

"Speaking of," Kevin looks at me, "how much did you drink?"

"Chillax, the one that you snatched away was my third one. I am fine!" Then my smile broadens as I realise something, "Did you see what I did there?! Chillax...I said chillax. I combined two words and it sounded even more cool! Damn, I'm a genius than Einstein!"

"Oh my gosh," Mason shrieks in pure delight, "My friend is going to be famous, please don't forget us when you are toxicated with money and fame. We loooove you!"

"Of course I won't forget you all when I'm dripping in stacks of dollar bills. You peasants will be working for me, so we will see each other every day," I give him a wide toothy grin and he flips me off.

Kevin sighs above us. "Okay, an hour is up, can we please leave now?"

"Party pooper!"

"Buzzkill!"

"Boooooo!"

"Joykill!"

"Alright, alright, let's stay for another hour, but this time I am not babysitting you both."

"Nobody asked you to!" Mason and I shout in unison and turn our heads towards each other. "Hey! High five!" We shout again and high five each other, giggling together.

"Okay, dumb and dumber, I am seriously leaving you," and Kevin really abandons us all alone in the kitchen.

"How rude is that guy? He left us all alone on the cold, numb floor in some stranger's kitchen! In the middle of the floor! Just like that! To death! What kind of a best friend is he?"

Mason nods along for everything that comes out of my mouth. "I know, bro, I know. And that is why I am your best friend. I am right beside you. I will never leave you to death."

Getting all emotional at his speech, I let the tears escape from my eyes and hug him tightly. "I love you so much, Mason, you are the best friend anyone could possibly have," I hug him even more tighter and he suddenly squirms and shouts in pain.

"My back, my back." I remove myself from him immediately and he relaxes a little.

"Well, that was fun, I gotta zayn." I stand up from the floor, reuniting with the beer bottle once again and leave the kitchen and Mason on the floor, him shouting 'traitor' behind my back.

Sipping the drink, I carefully stumble to some room and flop on a single chair and look at the scene in front of me.

There are so many couples— no scratch that— there are only couples on the dance floor dancing to some stupid, sappy love song which is making me gag all the alcohol that I consumed. Anger boils inside me as I look at their happy faces and happy smile who are gazing into each other's eyes and declaring their love to each other wordlessly. In the midst, I also find my friends, Zach and Sophia alongside Dawn and Dylan who are doing the same thing, except the latter couple is kissing each other very passionately.

I am done watching this crap!

Gulping the rest of my drink, I put the bottle beside and make my way toward the DJ, with a jackpot idea in my head, who is scanning through his laptop for some other songs with all concentration. Now I know how they are so possessive about their stuff, but I have absolutely nothing to worry about, because I already came up with a plan.

I cough to get his attention and he immediately snaps his eyes at me. "Hi, there!" I flash him my kilowatt smile.

"Umm...hi?"

"I just want to say that you've got an amazing mix there. Great songs!" I praise him.

"Really?" He eyes me suspiciously but I see small ray of happiness there.

"Yup, I never knew some of these fantastic songs existed until I heard them. It is all because of you and your amazing taste in music, especially the remixes are mind blowing."

"You seriously think that?" His eyes light up in hope and excitement.

"I really do," I grin back.

"Wow, thank you so much. Nobody even cared to come and tell me this. Let alone acknowledge my presence here," he confesses and I start to feel bad lying to him. I didn't really pay attention to the music, I am only doing this as a part of my plan, but now I really feel sad that no one appreciates him for his efforts.

Now this time, I mean it from the bottom of my heart. "I think yours is one of the toughest jobs. To keep a track on all the latest songs on all types of genres, to go through all that hardwork and search for songs that people will actually like and groove to the music, improvising them with your own remixes—dude you are under appreciated," acting on impulse, I hug my new friend. He awkwardly hugs me back, surprised at my gesture.

I let go off myself from him. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It is Justin." He smiles.

"Emma," I introduce myself.

"I already know that," my new friend Justin enlightens me. "You're the girl who punched 'Giant George' in his face. You really did a huge help for me. Because of you, I finally found the courage to stand up to him. From then on, he stopped bothering me. So all thanks to you."

I fan myself in the face with tears already rolling down my face, "I am glad that I could help you," I hug him again.

"Justin, can you help me with something?" I give him my best puppy eye look.

"Anything for the legend!" He winks. "Tell me what should I do."

And then I go on with narrating my master blaster plan to him. I persuade him to help me when I see him still contemplating on the plan, but he finally gives in.

He gives me the mike and I signal him to stop. The music stops bustling and all the couples on the dance floor freeze in their places immediately. They start booing at the DJ, so I take as my cue to silence them down and start speaking in the mike.

"Hey y'all! I am extremely not sorry for interrupting your groping sessions that you were shamelessly doing right in the middle of the stage—" I am met with some loud gasps and howls of laughter from my brilliant audience "— but I want you all to vacate the dance floor immediately."

They still stay on the dance floor.

"You see," I clear my throat to start my inspirational speech, "We singles are done watching you boys and girls being all happy and in love, you guys are DONE kissing and smooching each other. You people are the exact reason why depression rate is increasing day by day in this world and why everybody is turning to suicide in search of comfort. Isn't it sad that because of you, all these negative emotions are taking birth inside our heads?! The world is suffering from great deals of anxiety, mood swings, depressions and such negative stuff and all these great Psychologists and Psychiatrists are working with so much effort to find reasons, but lemme tell you that I found the answer; you people are sole reason why singles are suffering in silence."

I stop to let out a breath of exhaustion, tired after rambling my long speech. "I discovered the secret, I should actually be awarded with a Nobel Prize."

And then slowly, some kid completely moved by my speech, starts clapping his hands and then one by one, one by one, one by one fall into the line which turns into a thunder of applauses.

But when the couples doesn't move from the dance floor, the now frustrated single boys and girls start pushing them away from the floor and instead they occupy the dance floor, already encouraging their friends who sadly weren't present for my marvellous and moving speech to join on the stage.

Meanwhile, my best girlfriends Sophia and Dawn come and stand in front of me, looking at me like I just said that I am from Mars.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"Are you drunk?"

"No she is not!" Mason suddenly appears besides me and addresses me, "Hey, Em, I heard your announcement, can I join your troop?"

"Of course! All the singles are invited!" I encourage and push both of my girls aside by their faces when they don't stop flooding me with their questions.

5 to 10 minutes later, the stage is filled with all the enraged singles chanting 'Couples, down down! Couples, down down!'

I take the mike into my hands again to calm down the commotion. "Chill y'all, they are already down. Down the stage. Hahahaha, damn I'm too funny!"

"She really is!" Some guy shouts from the crowd and I blow a kiss to him in the air.

"Justin!" I announce in the mike, "You know what to do!"

He winks and starts the song and everyone shout in excitement as the perfect song for the mood I've set starts playing through the JBL speakers installed throughout the house.

At first I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong
And I grew strong
And I learned how to get along

All of us dramatically swing our hands in the air and choose different random boy and girl as their dance partner, to dance to the break up anthem of the world— I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. I am scuffled in some group of girls that I've never ever seen in my life but we dance and hold on to each other emotionally.

Go on now, go, walk out the door
Just turn around now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I'd lay down and die?
Oh no, not I....

"I WILL SURVIVE!" We scream those words at the to of our lungs and move our hips to the beat. We slowly move on the stage in zig zag movements. We swing our hands into the air and dance with no care in the world to the 80's hit song. Drops of sweat start dripping off our faces and body but we have more important work to care about.

The song ends and Justin takes the mike into his hands with a huge grin, "This one is for all the Harry Styles' fans!!!"

"Wooo hooooooo!" The excited shrills of the girls overpowers the energetic howls of guys and we wait for Justin to start the song.

She worked her way through a cheap pack of cigarettes
Hard liquor mixed with a bit of intellect
And all the boys they were saying they were into it
Such a pretty face, on a pretty neck

The first line doesn't even end and all the girls like me freak out and jump up and down as we recognise the banger 'Kiwi' from his album. We all shout a thank you to Justin over the music and he replies with a thumbs up.

This time, I am taken to Mason and we act out of our minds and just dance to the rock and roll beat. Singing or rather screaming the words of the song so loud, putting all of our lives at risk of an asthma attack, but we just act on adrenaline and go crazy, go nuts, go bananas, go batshit crazy.

"IT'S NEW YORK BABY, ALWAYS JACKED UP!" echoes throughout the entire house. The power that this song contains, the power in which Harry Styles sings passionately, and with the power that we are dancing and bobbing our heads to the powerful strums of the electric guitar resonates through some other people and they join us on makeshift stage making it even more crowded, but most of them decide to stay down the stage and dance along, almost turning it into a mini Harry Styles' concert.

I'm having your baby!

"HEYYYY!"

It's none of your business!

"OHHHHH!"

Pure happiness, pure excitement, pure love pumps in our bloods and I'm so happy to be a part of my Directioners family—or in this case, a Harrie fam.

She sits beside me like a silhouette
Hot candy dripping on me 'til my feet are wet
And now she's all over me, it's like I paid for it
It's like I paid for it
I'm gonna pay for this.

And then the beat drops, the strums of the electric guitar and beats of the drum take a violent turn, making the people go irretrievably crazy. The contagious rock beats turn everybody into some wild animal, bobbing our heads so violently that an outsider who is watching is almost afraid that our necks are going to snap out of its place. The hairs of girls, especially, fly wildly into the air. The stage beneath us shakes with all the jumping up and down, more effective because of the boys.

The song ends but the buzzing is still left in the crowd, the music still tuning in our ears.

My head spins, and I already sense a headache coming, so I get down the stage and fall onto the plush leather couch, resting my head. I take out my red stilettos and put them beside the couch. I massage my forehead with my fingers to ease the pain, to make it vanish magically but it just refuses.

Plus I also feel like puking right now, so I am not really fine!

"That was spectacular."

Hey.... I know that voice.

"You watched me?" I ask without opening my eyes.

"Of course!" Jay answers. "I was surprised at first, but you were amazing."

I sense his tone, "More like amusing? Entertaining?"

And then he replies with his beautiful laugh. "If you say so. I m sorry but y—"

I shut his mouth with my palm from blabbering further, but it takes a second to recover from the slight shock I get from his soft lips against my palm. "As much as I'd love to here another chapter from the 'Chronicles of Emma's Embarrassing Moments', I want you to stop talking right this second." I open my eyes only to be washed away into his beautiful emerald eyes, already sobering me up.

"Ohhkehhff" his answer comes out muffled and I put down my hand, going back to the small nap again.

"How about a glass of water?"

"How about a glass of shut the fuck up?!"

"Whoa!" Jay whispers slowly beside me and I sigh, realising my mistake.

I open my eyes and look at him in defeat. "I'd like to take up on that offer, pleaseeeeee."

He chuckles, "Just a minute."

And as promised to his word, he gets me water bottle and I drink it without putting the bottle down.

"If you didn't already guess, I get extra sassier when I'm drunk."

Jay nods, knowingly, "Ohhhh! That makes more sense."

"Yes!" I nod failing to catch his sarcasm.

He doesn't speak any further. He doesn't even have to stay, he can leave now. But he just sits there.

So taking advantage of the situation, and sobered up a little, I speak up. "You are right."

I don't meet his eyes, but I can see that he turns his head towards me from the corner of my eye. "I'm always right, Emma. Be more specific."

I clench my jaw in frustration, knowing that he is taking full advantage of the situation. "What you said about Sophia and Zach; you are right," I take a deep breath, before continuing to admit that I'm wrong—one of the toughest jobs that a human can do, "It's just that I didn't want to admit it. You just came in and waltzed your way on my beliefs, so how do you expect me to react?!"

He slightly smiles. "I get it. It's okay."

This time, I slowly turn to look at him sheepishly, "Are we good now?" I raise my eyebrows in hope.

Jay chuckles, "We are."

"Cool!" I pump my fist in the air. "Now let's get drunk."

"Okay, clearly you did not sober up."

"Yeah, so what will ya do? Sue me?!" I put on my stilettos again and pull him by his upper arm. "Let's get going."

Damn! He is muscular!

"Wait wait wait," he stops me. "You wanna get drunk because you wanna have fun?" He questions me.

"No shit, Sherlock!"

"Whoa!" He murmurs. "We can have fun by not getting drunk as well."

"I know that. But when alcohol added into the equation, it's just over the top!" I beam in glee.

"Trust me, my method is so much fun than yours."

"What are you gonna do?" I challenge him. "Make me?!"

"Wow, I really really prefer Sober Emma so much than Drunk Emma."

"You and me same, bro!" Kevin snickers beside me and they high five each other.

Now why Kevin is always the one to cause some problem between Jay and me?

And more importantly, when did they become 'bros'?!

"When did you sneak into this conversation?" I ask Kevin, agitated with his presence.

"When Jay said that Sober Emma is much better version." He smirks. "And I agree with Jay, we can have much more fun staying sober."

"And if that not happens?" I raise a brow.

"Then I will let you drink." He stares at me with equivalent intensity.

"Challenge accepted!" I forward my hand to shake.

He nods and shakes my hand.

"Cool!" Jay comments. "Now let's get going."

So we do as we're told. Seeing that it's no use staying here inside the house, the three of us push past the crowd and go outside after I come back from the restroom. We go to the backyard where the other half of the crowd and other half of the party is going in full swing. Like usual, beer bong is being conducted with some other usual games.

"Now how can you have fun at looking at all the puking on the ground?" I question.

"Now who asked you to look at the bad parts? Just wait for a few minutes and then you'll know what I was talking about." Kevin comments beside me.

And true to his word, 5 minutes later, a very drunk Jonah comes stumbling towards us with a carefree grin and falls over Jay, but he sees it coming and holds him by the shoulders.

*7 hours later*

I squint my eyes in irritation and stir over to the other side for comfort and try to go back to sleep. But I feel something on the top if my head. No, not the top of my head...now wait, I do feel something heavy on the top of my head but it is ten times stronger than the pain that I feel inside my head. Inside my head? I don't know what I am talking about.

With my eyes closed, I try to feel the duvet below my stomach, to cover my whole body into it like cocoon but I cannot find it. I want to open my eyes but it's like my eyes are glued and I have to force all of my will power into opening them but no avail.

Damn! Is that the headache I'm experiencing?!

And I hear some voices, but very loud noises, like someone is arguing with someone. But it also sounds like it is more than three people. I don't know I need to rest.

"Wake up sleeping beauty!"

Not me, no care!

But then I feel something inside me coming up. I try to swallow it, but it comes back with double force and that's when I realise that I am going to puke.

My eyes open in sudden realisation and jump up from the floor and rush towards the bathroom. Luckily I find a steel made bowel right beside me and I go there to puke down the contents.

Gah! Here comes that stale taste.

I spit some more and flush it and go back to my place to lie on the floor.

Floor?

I rub my eyes to make sure that what I'm seeing right now is true.

"Yeah, it is true."

"Are we..."

"Uh huh."

"How did we....."

"Now don't start with the conversation again. We all spent the last half an hour trying to blame the other person— although we think that half of the fault is yours, Emma, but in the end, it's the all of us."

"So....all of us?"

"That's true!"

"All of us...like in.....our ten members?"

"Your eyes are not lying."

"How did they end up with us?"

"That's a really long story, maybe next chapter?"

"Huh?"

"Don't mind him, he's still drunk."

I pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration.

We are in a jail cell....again!

But this time, we've got four new guests with us!

And if you didn't already figure it out, all of my questions were answered by—in order— Dylan, Sophia, Jonah, Kevin, Natasha, Mason and Dawn.

Zach and Jay are still passed out.

A guard outside bangs the iron rods with his stick to shut us up. "Can't you even be quiet after everything you've done. Soon, the person you've called will be coming to bail you all out and you will be out of my hair forever." And then he goes out of our view still cursing all of us under his breath.

Wow!

I turn towards them in confusion, with another new bunch of questions. "Why are we here in the first place?"

"A lot of things, apparently. Mob fight, stealing, rash driving, drugs, and these are just to name a few."

"Drugs?!" I shout in horror.

"Jonah, will you shut up," Dylan scolds him and answers me, "No drugs happened, Emma, but some of them really happened."

"It seems that it was all mine and Dawn's idea," Natasha tells me.

I turn to look at Dawn in confirmation, "Yeah, I admit it, but I still hate her."

I shake my head in exhaustion. "So who is coming to bail us out?"

"Diana." Dylan answers, shuddering a little.

"Jay's sister?"

"How do you know that?"

"MY SISTER IS COMING TO BAIL US OUT?!" A thundering sound makes all of us jump in our places and see a frantic Jay scuffling to get up but fails miserably. "And you couldn't think of anyone else?"

"Glad that he called me instead of someone else."

I see Jay and his friends shiver at the sight behind me. I slowly turn around to face our saviour. But if anything, she is looking at us, especially at Jay with such anger, resembling a devil in disguise.

She continues, "Be thankful that I came here. Your friend was still drunk that he dialled mom's number instead of mine. Luckily, I picked up the phone."

"We're sor—"

"Save it!" She cuts her brother off harshly from apologising. "I know that you are not at all sorry."

And a few minutes later, with some signatures here and there and deathly warnings by the cops, we all are out of the police station.

"Just so you know," Diana speaks, "all of you kids are in trouble as it is already mentioned in the town's newspaper. Now you will finally come to your senses and never drink again."

That was.....a pretttyyyy long chapter!😅😅

Did you enjoy the chapter?? Did you have fun reading about drunk Emma?! Let me know in the comments.

Half way through the chapter, I realised that I'm jealous of Emma, a girl who doesn't even exist in real life. I mean, this girl is living her life with her friends, enjoying and doing stuff that is dangerous and exciting and something that you can recount when you get old.

But here I am, not supposed to go out on the weekend with my friends because apparently I had 'fun' last weekend or I'm not allowed to call and chat with my friend because I just spoke to her the day before!!!!!😑😑😑😑

Vote and comment, peeps!