Amy

I began to feel more and more like myself as the week went on. Obviously there was a lot of whispering in school about the weekend at the start but by Friday, it had pretty much died down and everyone was more focused on some party some girls in the year above were hosting. I didn't really have any interest, especially as Henrietta was going on bragging about knowing the hosts like they were her best friends.

"Seriously it's going to be the best night ever!" She was telling Esther from behind me in History. "Olivia says she's going to bring an entire stash of vodka!" I involuntarily let out a laugh, luckily not loud enough for them to hear, and James joined me.

"Ooh sorry." He said in a low voice from next to me. I couldn't help laughing again.

"Absolutely scandalous." I replied. God, from what Henrietta was like I couldn't believe that she was this naive when it came to parties. I'd been drinking at them since I was like fourteen or fifteen, accompanying my friend Sasha who would obtain alcohol from her older brother. We didn't really have house parties at the time, so we mostly resorted to hanging around in random fields where no one could find us.

By the time Verity and Nick came to meet us at the end of the lesson, Henrietta had mentioned the party and vodka what felt like a hundred times. If she hadn't convinced Esther by now that it was the event of the century, I don't think anything would've.

It had become a bit of a routine for Verity and Nick to walk to our classroom together and then we all go to the cafeteria every day. We'd just about claimed our own table right near the doors, which was nice. I liked routine a lot because it meant a much smaller chance of getting lost or having to figure out new routes from places.

"It's so painful!" Verity was explaining a guy in her physics class that was apparently very annoying "All he does is interrupt the teacher with all of these irrelevant questions about stupid stuff no one cares about!"

"Have you mentioned the creaky door voice yet?" Nick added.

"Creaky door voice?" I widen my eyes, laughing. I was starting to enjoy lunch time more and more as time went on. Verity was opening up so much now and Nick and James were a really nice addition that kept things interesting. I just felt a lot more comfortable now than I had when I'd just joined the school.

"Yeah he has this voice that genuinely no joke sounds like a creaky door. I'm sorry that's the only way to accurately describe what it's like, it's just actively frustrating!" Verity explained "Anyway, Nick makes the situation worse every lesson."

"Nick stop being a menace." James said and they laughed

"I cannot believe you just threw a chip at me, that was pure disrespect from you." Nick replied and I laughed "Anyway I'm not a menace! I'm just interested in the relevance of Elias' questions so what better way than ask him directly? Plus it just distracts Mr Williams so he doesn't harrass Verity any actual physics questions."

"Okay fine that's a little bit true." Verity admits in an amused tone "It just makes Elias go on this whole rant about how great he is because he's part of Mensa and how his thinking is just so out of the box that he understands why 'normal people' like us might have a hard time grasping his advanced questions."

"Actually I think you'll find he called me a mentally challenged peasant today not even a normal person." Nick said.

"Ain't no way." I replied, bursting out laughing "There's no way he got away with saying that in front of your teacher surely?"

"Nah he got off with a verbal warning which basically means nothing." Nick said, emphasizing the words verbal warning with a formal accent. "Anyway how was History for you guys?"

"The usual. Henrietta's an absolute madlad on the loose currently because she's going to a party with real vodka there!" James said sarcastically and I heard the whole group laugh.

"I wish he was joking." I laughed along. "I think she mentioned it to Esther every five minutes."

"That is... oh my god seriously please tell me you're both being sarcastic?" Nick said, as surprised as I was earlier.

"Nah what you on about, vodka is like the most metal thing of all time, haven't you heard?" James replied sarcastically between laughs. "Seriously how old were we went we first got wrecked at one of Sean's parties?"

"I want to say fifteen? Honestly Henrietta would have an aneurysm if she knew what went on at his place, especially last year." I guessed this was linked to the boys' school; it wasn't a reach to assume Nick and James went there before moving here for sixth form. "Anyway you can definitely come to the next party, not Sean's because his parents have banned him from hosting anymore but a few of our friends from Redwood host them and they're really chill."

"Yeah sure could be fun!" I replied. It would be nice to go to parties again. Obviously as Henrietta seems to know everyone, parties hosted by the boys' school would be the preferred option as well. Verity hummed along with the sentiment.

"Great! That way I'll have some people to actually hang out with when Nick passes out because he's had too much to drink." James said in a mocking tone

"Fuck off. I literally blacked out one time and that was because you suggested doing shots."

"Riiiight, that's what they all say."

XXX

"Do you want to come to mine?" I asked Verity, while we were getting off the bus. I'd noticed she'd been slightly quieter than normal all afternoon and I kind of wanted to figure it out. I just really hoped it wasn't because of me. Plus we pretty much always went round to my house after school anyway.

"Yeah for sure, more love island?" She proposed and I smiled.

"Of course, of course. What else would we do?" She laughed and I joined.

"Hi girls!" My dad said as we opened the door. I was pretty sure he was used to our routine as well at this point. "How was school?"

"Yeah it was good," I replied as I felt Verity shift next to me, probably indicating that she had nodded. We resumed our places on the sofa, sat close with our shoulders touching.

"Amy I err.. I need to... um.. admit something." She said nervously halfway through the episode we were watching.

"No worries, go ahead." I made my voice reassuring so she didn't feel scared telling me what she wanted to. The more I spent with Verity, the more I realised that she thrived off reassurance, probably due to the lack of it she received everywhere else. It was kind of sad that way.

"It's umm.. it's so embarrassing. I've just never... drank alcohol before." My shoulders compressed slightly as relief surged through me. "I know it's really sad and stuff it's just I haven't really ever had friends in school and with my mum-"

"Hey it's fine! Seriously it's not a big deal at all."

"Really?"

"Yeah! I only started because I hung out with those kinds of people in my last school and anyway it's better to have never had it than had bad experiences with it."

"Yeah I guess that's true. I just feel like it makes me sound so lame."

"Nah honestly it really doesn't. The only reason we were taking the piss out of Henrietta was because she was trying to brag over it to probably gatekeep it later. You're all good."

"Yeah." She definitely sounded more convinced but I could tell there was something more "it's just with the boys inviting us to their parties... what if I make it super weird?"

"It's fine you won't. There's absolutely no pressure to drink at all. I've had friends that haven't at parties and still had good times."

"Yeah I know... it's not that I don't want to drink, it's more that I just don't know..."

"How you'll react?"

"Yeah exactly. Sorry that's so stupid."

"It's not stupid, that's totally normal!" I replied, remembering how I'd felt the exact same before I'd first gotten drunk. "Honestly the best way to deal with it is to drink for the first time in a controlled environment. So like, just me and you when we're home alone or something."

"You'd be okay with that? Even if I reacted really badly?"

"Yes! It's absolutely fine seriously. I mean, you can't be that compared to the things I've done while drunk." I laughed and felt her moving closer to me. I put my arm around her shoulders so her head ended up leaning on my chest. It was true after sleeping in the same bed, we'd become more physically intimate.

"I want to hear those stories." She said laughing and I shook my head. "Come on, tell me!"

"Fine!" We laughed again "One time... I thought it was absolutely hilarious if I pretended to be Harry Potter at this party and use my cane like a wand," I had to have a little break because I couldn't stop laughing thinking back to it "and so I was just like waving it around until I apparently hit this guy in the face with it."

I heard her crack up next to me "okay yeah that definitely makes me feel better."

"Glad to me of service."