Noelle:

Laleh sighed.
"I don't get why you're so stressed about this. It's just a party, it's not prom or homecoming."
I rolled my eyes. Laleh didn't get it. She is so comfortable in her own skin, never caring what anyone else thinks of her. I wish I was like that. Other people's thoughts and opinions matter to me. I wish that they didn't, but it's true. I guess I wanted to use the party to prove I'm not...boring. Teacher's pets, smarty-pants, know-it-all, bookworm. I had heard all of those, and I was tired of people only knowing me as that. I wanted to be interesting, to show everyone there was more to me than school. This party was the perfect opportunity to show that. 

I was wearing Not Noelle Clothes™.  A light blue, tight crop top, low rise white jeans, and silver hoop earrings. My hair had been straightened. Kind of. It was already starting to protest, curls reappearing in places. Laleh even helped me put on makeup after a lot of begging and bribing her with my mom's gingerbread cookies.
Laleh sighed, dramatically flopping onto my bed.
"I am dying of boredom," she whined. "Can't we go soon? Please? Do you really want to be responsible for your best friend dying of boredom?"
"Okay, okay," I said, accepting that this was as good as it was going to get. "Let's go!"
Pulling up to Pablo's house, the vibrations of the music were audible from all the way down the street. My mom pursed her lips.
"Well, I guess this is where I drop you off. Let me know if you want to be picked up early, I'll come as soon as you call."

I sighed. It had been almost impossible  to persuade her to let me go. She seemed convinced that I'd come home in a police car or something.

"I'll be fine. This party looks awesome!" I said, faking a smile so wide my cheeks hurt. 

She nodded. "Right. Yup. It will be fine. Nothing to worry about." 

She was talking to herself. That was never a good sign.

"Come on, Laleh, let's go!" I said, hopping out of the car before my mom could change her mind.
"Bye!" I waved, backing away as Laleh took her sweet time getting out of the car.

"Bye, sweetie!" my mom yelled. Oh. My. God. "I love you! Make good choices!" 

It was like she was trying to embarrass me. Thankfully, she drove away. Hopefully, no one heard that, other than Laleh, who is snickering.

"Make good choices!" she mimicked.

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes. I heard a snicker from behind me. I turn around, and it's none other than Katie Smith, my ex-best friend. She was wearing a short, white dress and holding purse from a brand we used to make fun of because it was so expensive you'd have to be stupid to buy it. I guess she changed her mind. You'd never know it if you met her now, but Katie used to be nice. She was the most loyal person I knew, she was incredibly good at math, and she always stood up for other people.  Now, she spent her days badmouthing people both behind their backs and to their faces. 

I missed hanging out with her. We used to have sleepovers every other week, sat together at lunch, had fake concerts, and acted out wizard duels. (I know,  a little weird) She'd make me watch Star Wars, and I'd force her to read Harry Potter. I still watched the Mandalorian because she introduced me to it. Once you are hooked on Star Wars, you can't stop (This is the way). I wondered if she still had the Hogwarts robes we made together (She was a Hufflepuff, I was a Ravenclaw).

"First time at a party?" Katie sneered.

"No, actually. Don't you remember the summer before 9th grade? Dominique's party? If I'm not mistaken, we left early because of you," I smiled sweetly. Katie had started crying because she overheard her crush at the time, David Anderson, making fun of her braces. She cried so hard in the bathroom that she got snot all over her sleeves (and my shirt when I hugged her). We left after that.

That was the problem with dumping your best friend. They knew everything about you. Secrets, crushes, bad grades, embarrassing moments, the person you used to be. Everything.

"That was a long time ago, Noelle. Although you haven't changed much since then." 

I honestly didn't know what Katie and I were now. Enemies? Frenemies? Acquaintances who used to be sisters? We usually just ignored each other, but sometimes we had weird moments like these where we almost fought. Other times, we acted like best friends again. Like when I found her crying in the bathroom because she didn't make the soccer team, so I gave her a pep talk. When my dog died, she gave me an old photo she had of him and hugged me. Her eyes were puffy too. Her casual cruelness now hurts more than I want to admit. I stayed silent and headed inside. She's won. Again.

"Thanks for the compliment!" Laleh sneered back at her. "It's nice to know she hasn't gone through an annoying personality changing crisis, unlike some people." 

Laleh was the best. Even though her comebacks were sometimes, well, a bit lacking.

"Thanks," I whisper to Laleh once we're inside.

"Pfft," she says. "Smart comebacks are my thing. Just next time, maybe stand up for yourself? I hate watching her trample all over you." 

I nodded, but didn't promise anything. Although she had changed, Katie still had been my best friend. It was hard to forget that kind of thing. It felt wrong to be mean to her.

The living room and kitchen were crowded with sweaty teenagers. The lights were too dark, the music too loud (and pretty awful anyway), and the smell was pungent. There was stuff everywhere--food, empty cups, sweaters, jackets, purses, phones. It was mayhem. People had no class, honestly. I wished I lived in the Victorian Era, where people would be banished from society for throwing a party like this (maybe a bit of an overkill, but my point still stands). 

The party still looked fun. It couldn't hurt to stay (and eat pizza). Heading into the kitchen, me and Laleh grabbed three pieces of pizza each (there were at least ten boxes of pizza, all opened and very greasy) and collapsed onto an unoccupied couch. Well, mostly unoccupied. There was a couple getting to know each other better on one side. Maybe getting to know each other a bit too enthusiastically?

"At least there's pizza here," Laleh said. "That makes up for the music." She had already finished two of her slices.

"How do you eat so fast?" I asked, shaking my head.

"It's a gift," Laleh answered, mouth full of pizza. Gross.

"Hey! Noelle, I didn't know you were gonna come here." 

I turned around and saw Emilio heading over to us. 

I grin, "Yeah, everyone keeps telling me that. Am I that boring?"

"Only a little boring." Emilio winked. I slapped his arm.

"Oww!" he complained. 

Emilio was my oldest friend. We had known each other since we were two years old. Things had been weird between us lately, but I didn't understand why. I thought maybe we had just grown apart--which was sad. Emilio had been doing great in local cooking competitions and working at Truffles (an old restaurant in our town that survived the siege of 1851). And me? Well...I had been busy with...doing...yeah, I had nothing. I was in poetry club, art club, and took karate lessons (but I was only a blue belt). That totaled to activities three times a week. Not exactly a full plate. Maybe I should ask him to hang out soon? I didn't want to lose another friend. 

After about an hour at the party, I got bored. Laleh, despite all the complaining she did, loved parties. She was at home among big crowds, lots of people and noise.

"Hey, I'm just gonna go for a walk, get some fresh air," I told Laleh. 

She nodded and turned back to continue listening intently to Ali's story about skateboarding or something. Grateful for the escape, I quickly grabbed my coat and walked out. Outside, I headed towards the shopping plaza nearby. They had benches and a bakery there. As I was walking past an alleyway, someone barged into me, shoving me into it. I screamed as I fell, my head smacking the concrete with a thud. My vision was blurry, and I saw a silhouette of a man in front of me. It looked like he was drawing something on the brick wall. The wall started glowing, and the trash in the alleyway began flying toward it. 

Then, to my horror, I started getting pulled towards the wall. I tried and hold onto the ground but there was no use. I was pulled into the wall and was suddenly flying through a bright tunnel of colorful lights. I heard someone screaming, and a girl flew by me. 

A girl who looked just like me. Our eyes met for a moment, widening in matching expressions of shock, and my vision went dark.