~ Prologue ~

{ March 2, 2010 }

§Justin’s POV:§

My eyes fluttered open and I felt as though someone was smashing my head continuously with a large, hard rock. I propped my body up on my elbows and looked around the place, realizing I was right in my own home, the decorations of my sixteenth birthday still up. It was dead silent, the only source of sound coming from my unsteady breathing. I scanned the place, finding bodies on the floor whose faces I didn’t know so well.

“Dylan?” I called out, my voice hoarse. Slapping a hand to my forehead, I groaned as I sat up, forcing myself to look at the clock.

9:09am

Oh no. No, no, no, no.

I jumped up, despite my killer headache, and rushed to the kitchen, picking up a pan and a big spoon before running back out to where I came from.

“Everyone wake up!” I shouted, slamming the spoon into the metal pan to create a noise loud enough to disturb everyone’s slumber. There was groaning from every angle of the room as I kept banging the two items together. “Guys, you all need to go home. Last night was a great birthday and I thank you for that but, seriously, you all need to leave.”

As I watched most people stand up and gather their stuff, I spotted Dylan laying down on the rug, running his hands over his face to try and calm the hangover he was experiencing. I dropped the pan and spoon on a table near me and charged towards Dylan, dropping down beside him. Upon hearing me, he laid his hands out next to him and we locked gazes. I was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“That wasn’t very nice,” I began, feeling a lump in my throat. Dylan’s eyes searched mine before he sat up, causing me to back away so he had more room.

“What do you mean?” he coughed.

“Thanks for throwing me a surprise party, Dylan but… Why would you bring alcohol?” I whispered. “Cigarettes? Maybe even weed? People whom I’ve never met before in my life, as well?”

He rolled his eyes, laying a hand on my shoulder. “Justin,” his voice was soft, something that was rare for someone like him. “You’ve been a good boy all your life. I just thought you needed to let loose a little. You know… Live for once.”

I gritted my teeth together. “I’m glad you thought I’ve lived life now because my mom is going to kill me.”

Dylan laughed and patted my shoulder, a smirk present upon his face. “I’ll help you clean this all up, don’t you worry.”

I sighed, staring at the floor before Dylan suddenly stood up, causing me to look at him.

“Come on,” he locked eyes with me. “Let’s find Christian, Ryan and Chaz and kick everyone else out so we can get started.”

“Wait, Dylan?” I stopped him by grabbing his wrist and then stood up to my full height. “That girl… Tori. Did you know her?”

Dylan furrowed his eyebrows together and looked at me in confusion before a lightbulb went off in his head as he pieced together who Tori was.

“Why? You like her?” he grinned.

“No,” I rolled my eyes. “She drives me insane.”

“Sometimes that’s sexy on a girl, you know,” he winked, earning a smack in the arm.

“I do not like her,” I enunciated every single word slowly, making sure he understood me clearly.

“Fine!” he scoffed. “I don’t know her very well, I just know she’s a friend of Davis.”

“Davis knows her?” I asked, shock evident in my tone. “Oh.”

“Why do you ask?” Dylan eyed me suspiciously. I scanned the group of people in my living room, some still passed out, some already leaving and others waking up with headaches from the excessive drinking they’ve done yesterday.

“No reason,” I mumbled. “Let’s go.”

I began to wake up a few people and told them they should go home and, as I was doing so, I noticed that Tori was nowhere to be found. That could only mean one thing and that’s that she went home a long time ago.

----

~ flashback ~

{ March 1, 2010 }

“Aye yo, Justin!” I turned my head to see Christian waving at me. “C’mere!”

“I’ll be right back,” I told Caitlin, Christian’s older sister, before strolling over to where Christian was sitting. “What?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“We’re playing 7 Minutes In Heaven. Want to play?” he smirked, tapping the seat next to him as if to ask me to join. I noticed the chairs were positioned to form a large circle, an empty bottle of beer in the middle, waiting to be spun.

“Uh, I don’t know about tha—”

“–Come on just try it, birthday boy!” he prompted cheerily, grabbing my hand and sitting me down next to him. The people participating in the game began to cheer and clap before Christian looked at me. “Since it’s your birthday, I think you should go first.”

My eyes nearly bolted out of their sockets. “W-What?! Uhh, no, I—”

“Please?” Christian pouted, pointing at the bottle.

“No…” I whispered. That is, until everyone around us started chanting my name, trying to persuade me to start off the game. “Alright fine!” I rolled my eyes, standing from my seat and leaning down, grabbing the bottle from its sides and spinning it, returning to my seat and watching to whom it would land on, along with everybody else in the room.

Soon, the bottle began to slow down until it completely stopped, causing my heartbeat to pick up its twice its usual pace. Everyone looked up at the person it landed on at the same time, and all eyes were on a girl with brown hair and beautiful blue eyes, who I’ve never seen before in my life.

“It’s settled,” Christian grinned, while everyone else wolf whistled at us. I felt my cheeks heat up as Christian signaled both me and the girl to follow him. He led us to one of the closets in the hall, which happened to be the biggest closet in the house. I can tell why he chose this one—it’s the perfect size for a game like 7 Minutes In Heaven. “Have fun, you two,” he snickered, leaning close to my ear. “But not too much fun.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and shot him a glare before hesitantly stepping inside the closet and turning on the small light above us. Christian shut the door, trapping me and the girl inside and I heard the click of the lock go off, meaning we wouldn’t be getting out of here until seven minutes had passed. I looked at the girl in front of me and waited for her to do something, seeing as she’s been quiet this entire time.

“So…” she suddenly clapped, taking me by surprise for a second. “We’re going to be here a while so we might as well talk.” She slid down with her back against the wall until her butt hit the floor and she just sat there. I decided to do the same and we were soon both sitting on the floor, facing each other under the small lighting.

“My name’s Justin Bieber,” I forced myself to speak after the silence was getting unbearable.

The girl let out a hearty laugh before gazing into my eyes in pure amusement. “Dude, I was invited to your birthday party by one of your friends. I think I know your name.”

“Then can you at least tell me yours?”

“My name?” she smirked, causing me to nod. “I’m Vittoria Vitiello. But you can just call me Tori.”

“Wait, wouldn’t your name be Victoria?” I asked in confusion.

“It’s Italian,” she explained. “So, no.”

“Yeah, I can tell by your last name,” I stretched my legs out while she did the same. “The name Vittoria Vitiello really goes together.”

“So does Justin Bieber,” she grinned. “It’s Canadian, isn’t it? I can tell by your last name.”

We both let out a laugh and I smiled at her playfully. “Pretty clever,” I chuckled. “But I think it’s real obvious since we’re in Canada.”

“Doesn’t mean you were born here,” she shrugged, leaning up and crawling over to where I sat so that she was closer to me. “Justin…” she trailed off, her voice lowering as she bit her lip. “What are we doing?”

I stared at her, puzzled. “What do you mean, what are we doing?”

“The bottle chose the two of us for a game of 7 Minutes In Heaven and all we’re doing is talking about our names?” I could feel her breath tickling my cheeks, our noses centimeters apart, causing me to blush.

“Uhh—”

“It’s okay,” she silenced me. “I know you’re not going to try anything with me.”

My confusion only grew bigger as she leaned away from me, sitting back against the wall. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re a good boy, Justin,” she simply answered. “I can tell you’d be having much more fun at your own birthday party if your friends hadn’t arranged it.”

“It was a surprise party. I didn’t know they were going to do this. My parents are out of town and—”

“—And your friends took advantage of it, didn’t they? They invited a bunch of people, most of them you don’t even know, to drink beers with and smoke outside in the patio. Who knows? Maybe they’ve got weed somewhere around here too.”

“How do you even know all this?”

“Oh come on. I have a gift at reading what type of man a guy is. And you? You’re the good type. The nice boy. Mister Goody-Two-Shoes. You don’t even know what it’s like to swallow a nice, huge chunk of alcohol. You don’t even know what a hangover feels like. You’ve never even tasted a cigarette, let alone weed. Hell, I bet you haven’t said a single cuss word in your life.”

“Shut up,” I spat, clenching my fists.

“Is that supposed to scare me?” she smirked, amusement in her eyes. “You’ll have to do better than that.”

“You know what? I don’t have to do this,” I muttered, standing up and knocking countless times at the door. “Christian!” I shouted. “That’s enough, I want to get out of here!”

“He’s not going to let you out, sweetheart,” she said, staring at her nails.

“Shut up,” I repeated, turning around to shoot her a death glare before resuming at the task I had been interrupted in doing. I continued to pound my fists at the door while Tori sat comfortably on the floor, watching me as if I was an interesting television show and I soon felt my arms growing tired. Realizing no one was going to open up, I let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on the floor in defeat.

“I told you,” she smirked. “Good try though.”

“Listen, we’re going to spend the rest of the time we have left in here in absolute silence, do you hear me?” I warned.

“And why should I listen to you?” she tilted her head to the side. “Here’s a hint… Because it’s my birthday is not really a good excuse.”

I ran my hands through my hair, pulling at the ends violently as I let out a loud groan. “God help me…”

“God isn’t going to help you when it comes to me,” she crossed her legs. “Might as well get used to it.”

“I don’t have to,” I growled, half of me wondering exactly what she meant by that. “After tonight, I’ll never have to see your face ever again. You’ll go back to wherever you came from and we’ll continue to live our lives in peace.”

Tori looked at me, not saying a single word back, which surprised me. When I first laid eyes on her, I thought she was one of those quiet girls, who wouldn’t speak to you unless you spoke to them. But it turns out that Tori has a mouth on her. One she should really learn how to keep shut.

The rest of the minutes we had left passed by in silence. Tori surprisingly didn’t speak a word to me and I didn’t say anything to her either. All we could hear was the loud music blaring from the living room while the rest of the party continued to talk, dance and laugh while Tori and I were stuck with each other.

After what felt like hours, there was a loud knock on the door before it flew open, revealing Christian’s smirking face.

“Time’s up!” he chanted, signaling us to get out. I stood up quickly and left the closet before Tori even had a chance to, not bothering to say anything to neither her or even Christian.

I walked past the group sitting in a circle and headed back to where I was talking to Caitlin, who had disappeared from the spot I had left her in while I was gone. I let out a soft sigh, feeling my body growing tired within every passing second. Leaning against a table, I noticed a few  small cups filled with shots of alcohol.

“You don’t even know what it’s like to swallow a nice, huge chunk of alcohol.” Tori’s past words rang in my head. “You don’t even know what a hangover feels like.”

I’m going to have to prove her wrong on this.

Grabbing one of the cups, I raised it up to my lips, the smell of alcohol dancing in my nostrils. Without much as a warning, I quickly raised the cup and gulped down the entire thing, feeling it burn my throat. I threw out the—now empty—plastic cup and grabbed another one, swallowing the alcohol bit by bit.

The world began to grow blurry as the music I once heard clearly became distorted in my ears.

It’s all worth it, though. I can at least say I proved her wrong.

***********************

That’s the prologue! What do you guys think?

This is only the beginning so expect the unexpected. And trust me, you DON’T want to miss the first chapter ;)

Picture of Tori on the side —> 

- Nina xx