CHAPTER TWO » PARTY
"I'm not fuelling your ego, it's big enough already."

☽

Breaking the solid concentration of painting my nails, I glanced down at my phone, which was flashing Mason's contact name and photo. I placed the bottle of dark blue nail varnish to the side and leaned over, swiping to accept the call. I pressed the loud speaker button and sat back again, resuming what I was doing before. "Hey."

"Hey, Bex," he greeted. "So you know that party I told you about..." he trailed off and I paused momentarily.

"Please don't tell me it's cancelled and I've spent like an hour curling my hair–"

"No," he said, much to my relief. "But you might not like this."

Dread filled me. "Continue."

"We need to move the party to a place where there's protection from the supernatural–"

I cut him off. "No, don't even think about it. I'm already in enough shit with my mom and Scott. Find someone else."

"Rebecca, please," I heard the urgency in his voice and my mind cast back to what Scott had informed me about the Ghost Riders and also the nightmares I'd had about them whilst I was away. What was I thinking? I knew what was coming, what they were capable of, I couldn't just turn him away like that.

"Okay, fine," I agreed with a small sigh. "But you owe me big time."

"Thanks Bex, you're the best," he said, and I could imagine the big beaming grin on his face, which made it all the more worthwhile. "I gotta go. Love you."

I chuckled at his exclamation. "Love you too, Mase. See you in a bit."

The phone call ended and I finished painting my nails, glancing at the time. Carefully, I reached for my phone, being extra cautious not to do anything to mess up my nails. I scrolled through my message threads, pausing on Brett's.

To Brett:
You busy tonight?

From Brett:
Miss me already? ;)

To Brett:
Nah. But could do with a wingman at a party. You up for it?

From Brett:
Give me a time and place and I'll be there baby ;)

I rolled my eyes.

To Brett:
8 O'Clock. My house. Don't be late or I'll punch you again.

From Brett:
Alright princess, see you in a bit ;)

I shook my head with a smile, placing my phone back down again. I shifted from the bed, standing in front of my wardrobe. Now, what to wear?

~

"You're lucky I turned up early," Brett told me as he rifled through the pile of clothes strewn about on my bedroom floor. "Imagine the fright those lacrosse boys would have got if you opened the door with just that towel around you."

I fake laughed at his lame excuse of humour, instead glancing over at the clock on my side table. People were going to be arriving in just under twenty minutes and I hadn't even finished getting ready, let alone setting up.

I looked back at Brett again, watching him hold up a navy blue dress that I wore not too long ago on a night out to Sinema. "Definitely not. Bad memories."

Brett placed it in the discarded pile, which just seemed to be growing and growing. He then reached for a coral coloured off the shoulder shirt, lifting it up. I raised an eyebrow and he slowly dropped it to the floor again. "I'll take that as a no."

I groaned, falling back onto the bed. There were a few minutes of silence, whilst I wallowed in my own despair, before Brett had another suggestion. I turned onto my side to look properly, recognising the short, green, fitted dress in his hands.

"That's Lydia's."

"And?"

"I meant to give it back to her months ago." Brett gave me a look. "You're right, it will do."

He tossed it to me and I sat up, catching it swiftly. "I'll get things set up downstairs. You get ready."

"Deal. And if you see anything that looks valuable, just move it to a safe place," I instructed, immediately thinking to all the precious glass ornaments my mom had. I would be brutally murdered if those were broken.

"On it."

~

"What do you reckon?" I shouted out to Brett as I reached the bottom of the stairs. "Boobs pushed up or–"

I came to a stop as I entered the kitchen to see Brett, Liam, and Mason staring at me. Liam and Mason's eyes widened significantly whilst Brett noticeably stifled a laugh. I felt a blush rising on my neck as Mason cleared his throat awkwardly. "You look nice."

"Thanks," I said, my face absolutely burning in embarrassment as I looked to Brett to help me out. Of course, that wasn't going to happen.

"Up," my friend replied with a taunting grin before turning to Liam and Mason. "Would you agree?"

"Uh, yes..." Mason trailed off, looking to his best friend for help whilst I cringed internally.

I found myself looking at Liam properly for the first time, noticing subtle changes in his appearance. His hair was quite a bit longer and he'd styled it differently. I couldn't decide how I felt about it. Most notably though, he was definitely a little taller and much more built.

"Definitely," Liam practically blurted, to my surprise. "I mean like–" he cut off awkwardly and I looked back at Brett, shooting him the best death glares I could muster for causing all this.

"Hey," I heard Hayden's voice followed by the front door shutting. I practically jumped out of my skin. "I checked outside and–" she cut off once her eyes landed on me and gave me a small smile. "Oh, hey Rebecca."

"Hi," I replied, biting my lip as an awkward tension filled the air. Everyone stared at each other, begging for someone to do something. I had no clue what to say.

"Well, everything looks okay outside," Hayden said, obviously ignoring the atmosphere, and turned to Mason and Liam. "I reckon we're good to go."

The other three became engaged in their own conversation, whilst I headed over to Brett, whacking him hard against the chest. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You know what that was for."

He started to chuckle, glancing back over at the others whilst I watched him through a harsh glare. "Man, it was so worth it."

~

It wasn't long before the first few people turned up at the house.

There were a few moments where I'd completely and utterly regretted my choice to hold the party here. Especially when one of those damned glass ornaments fell and I had to do a dramatic dive to save it from smashing.

Once the first wave of hype died down and everyone began swaying to the music instead of trashing my house, I took it as an opportunity to chill out a bit. I leant against the wall, observing the situation. The strobe lights were making my head ache a little bit, but I did my best to ignore it.

"Having fun?"

I turned to look at Brett, irritated by the seemingly permanent smug look on his face. "So much fun."

"I thought you liked this stuff?" He questioned, leaning against the wall, folding his arms over his chest.

"Yeah, me too," I muttered, my eyes scanning over the huge amount of people in my house. This was definitely not my idea of fun. "Have you seen that Gwen girl we're supposed to be looking out for?"

A grin pulled at Brett's lips and he nodded. "Yep. She's cute." I rolled my eyes as Brett began to chuckle, his laugh annoyingly becoming infectious. "Hey, you remember that time when–"

I cut him off, pulling a face, knowing, just knowing, what he was going to say. Cringing, I thought back to all the embarrassing holiday memories he could pick and choose from. "Don't. Just don't remind me." I tilted my head back against the wall with a tired sigh, doing my best to ignore the look on Brett's face until it became unbearably frustrating. "Stop being annoying."

"You love me really," he teased, flashing me a huge smile.

"That's debatable," I mumbled as I glanced in front of me, my eyes suddenly catching on Liam and Hayden caught up in a passionate kiss. I swallowed thickly, averting my gaze. Brett must have noticed because I felt him reach for my hand. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Come on princess," he said as he began dragging me away from the wall. "Let's dance." I groaned, following him as he pulled me into the middle of the room.

As Brett began swaying to the beat of the music, I tried my best to do the same. But it seemed that every time I looked around, Liam and Hayden were there, right there, in my face. "I-"

"Okay, stop," Brett cut me off, placing a finger on my lips to stop me from continuing. I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Do you wanna keep destroying yourself over Liam and Hayden? Or do you wanna dance with me?"

I sighed defeatedly, wrapping my arms around Brett's neck, pulling him closer as we began to dance again. "You're right."

A smirk played on his lips. "Could you just, you know, say that again for me?"

I rolled my eyes, throwing my head back with a light chuckle. "I'm not fuelling your ego, it's big enough already."

"I'm serious," he laughed, his eyes meeting mine. I couldn't help but smile. "See, isn't it better to take your mind off–"

I stopped dancing.

I stopped moving completely.

"Rebecca?"

A sharp jolt of pain shot through the top my head, my hands instantly flying to the spot of tension. "Agh!"

"Hey, hey, hey, Bex." I wasn't aware I was falling until I felt myself stumble into a strong pair of arms. "Becca?"

The pain intensified and I gripped onto Brett tighter, grinding my teeth together in hopes the pain would wash over me.

"What's happening?" A new voice questioned, their words echoing in my mind.

"Is she okay?"

"Rebecca?"

"Bec?!"

"What's happening to her?"

My head was spinning, people's faces blurring into one. The music and people's shouts all faded into the background. I breathed out, doing my best to keep control, but I was spiralling.

"Get her upstairs! Now!"

Everything happened so fast.

I could feel my body moving, but I wasn't aware I was doing so. People were shouting my name, but I couldn't put voices to faces. The air in my lungs felt trapped, as my vision started to darken and I was pulled into something else.

I could hear horses

I could see flashes of green.

Thunder rumbled, lightening crackled, horses, lightening, thunder, flashing, green, horses, lightening, thunder, flashing, green, horses, lightening, thunder–

Then nothing.

Everyone was gone.

And I was falling.

My eyelids burst open, locking sight on a pair of familiar bright blue eyes. I gasped for breath, a throbbing ache forming on my forehead. I felt dazed for a few moments, and it took me a while to tune my senses back in to reality.

"What happened?" Liam's hand was on my shoulder, his eyes soft and filled with concern.

I lost myself in his gaze for a moment before shoving his arm away and backing up further against the wall.

"Bex!" Mason shouted, suddenly bursting into the room, kneeling beside me within seconds. Liam moved away. "Hey, what happened? Becca?"

My breathing was shallow. Mason took my hand, squeezing it tightly. I could see Corey and Hayden stood against the wall, a mixture of anxiety and...fear radiating from them both. Brett was stood by the door, and I noticed a large claw marked rip in his shirt, as well as a bloodied cut on his cheek. Did I do that?

I snapped my eyes back up to Mason, who was searching me for an answer. "Rebecca," he prompted, speaking slightly slower this time. "What happened?"

"They're coming."

❥

A/N

I never imagined I'd be saying this but Brett and Rebecca are my ultimate brotp. I know he hasn't been in season 6 so far but I felt I should write him in.

There's going to be a fairly big focus in this book on Rebecca learning to control her powers, which obviously remains a struggle for her right now.

And Liam is still acting pretty shifty when he's around her hmm..

Also, I didn't intend to hop on the train but if any of you have been watching the new TV series Riverdale, i've started a fanfic on my second account infinite_rhee which I'd love for you to check out.

Thanks for reading!