Chapter 5

Time passed pretty quickly. Soon, it was 7 pm and most of the guests, including my classmates, headed home. I spent the rest of the evening with Julian and Emily in my room. We had decided to check out my room rather than join the rest of the guests dancing and drinking downstairs. Julian and Emily accepted after I told them I was angry with mom.

"I still can't believe we're up here while everyone else is down there" Emily whimpered and dropped her phone on the bed. We had seen the whole room and now lay in bed surfing the internet and listening to the soft melody coming from the party downstairs, after running out of ideas.

"You know why we can't go down there right?" I said to her without lifting my head from the phone in my hands.

"That's not fair. It's more painful than separating Romeo and Juliet"

"What?" This time, I turned my attention from the phone to her face. Julian also turned to her too.

"Really, Emi? There are hundreds of thousands of stories you could pick from but you chose that tragedy" I said trying to sound offended, but it was no use of course.

"And what does that mean?" Emily shot back.

"Maybe that you are a little bit too dramatic" I rolled my eyes as I responded before adding. "Besides, Emily, none of our classmates are down there anymore. It's just the old folks''.

Emily was president of the drama club at school. She always had a way of making little things too dramatic and that got me annoyed at times.

"Hello, you have been extremely quiet, Julian" I hit Julian's leg a little.

"Hey, what the hell, Melina". She shrieked.

"Sorry…" I raised my hands like criminals did when cops had them at gunpoint. We all burst into laughter.

"You know what, I've been thinking. Instead of staying here doing nothing, why don't we play video games?" Julian suggested. At that, I knew what was in her mind.

"Tomb Raider," We all said together.

Tomb Raider was our favorite game. We became fans after having watched Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft-Tomb Raider movie.

"I’m actually pretty surprised The Puff Girls sat at the same table with us,’ I admitted to the girls.

They laughed. "You’re not the only one. I wouldn't have believed it if I’d not been there" Julian said as she went for my laptop. It was a brand-new MacBook Air, one of the many new things we had found in the room.

"You know what's intriguing, Stephan stole glances at us throughout" Emily looked like she was dying to say that.

"What?. you serious?" I yelled, a little louder than I wanted.

Stephan Sphat was the hottest guy in New Ville high school. Being a star player, he had a body built so perfectly that girls were carried away by his presence….well, except the three of us.

"You didn't notice? He was way hotter today than ever" Julian added as she started downloading the Tomb Raider game. Of Course, I noticed all that, but at that moment, I didn't want to admit to them that I paid any attention to him.

"Nah, I had other important things in mind," I scoffed. Clearly I was wrong to think his presence didn't affect any of us.

"Merlin's beard. What other thing could be more important than Stephan Sphat" Emily shrugged, and scratched her hair and chin briefly as if there were beards.

"Erm, Lee Demy perhaps" Julian pouted. Emily rolled her eyes and shot Julian a look that could be translated as saying 'really'.

I blinked, my brain trying sluggishly to catch up. I almost asked who Lee Demy was before I realized he was Emily's boyfriend.

"Well, the only person I noticed staring at me is Ben" That was the only information I was willing to share with them.

"I noticed too," Emily giggled.

"Wait, what was your main goal? to notice people who stare at other people? I'm confused" I teased Emily. She smiled broadly and gave a little bow of her head.

"Seems so" But she sat down once more and made a surprised face.

"Maybe Ben is crushing on you," She Said. I gave Emily a look. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous, He's never shown any..signs of liking me".

Ben was a nice-looking guy though not as much as Stephan.

"I think Emily is right," Julian supported. She let go of the laptop and moved closer to me and Emily, squashing us in a tight hug, an act each of us did when we wanted to say something important to the group.

"I have an Idea girls," she giggled. "You'll go for Ben since we now know has a crush on you" When I looked at her face, it was buried behind a triumphant smile.

"Me?," I asked

"No, I'm talking to Emily. Jeez, it's you dude, Emily already has a boyfriend" Emily laughed at that. Julian was becoming so unbelievable. I pulled away from her grip and climbed down from the bed to stare at them.

"Yeah, I think Julian is right," said Emily "And you said it yourself that Ben has a crush on you already, so…"

"See, someone is on my side" Julian shouted. I rolled my eyes and then began thinking about it. It wasn't too bad, Ben was manageable.

"Okay, if I accept, who are…."

"Yes!, I'm so glad you've finally accepted" Julian cut me off before I could finish my sentence. She climbed from the bed and clutched me in a tight embrace that got me staggering a few steps behind.

"Wo-wo-wo-wo, I'm not done yet, young lady," I said, pulling her away from me. She let go of me and continued setting up the game.

"If I were to pick Ben, who would you go for?". "Oh, simple Stephan Sphat" She answered without looking up at me.

"WHAT!?" I screamed but was thankful for the music playing downstep because it muffled my voice.

"And here I thought I was supposed to be the dramatic one" Emily laughed. I was about to retort when I heard a knock at the door. Emily and Julian seemed to have heard it too because they both turned in the direction of the door. Then the knock came again.

"Hey, baby please open up. I just want to have a word with you". It was mom. She tried the door handle but it didn't open because I had locked the door from inside.

In the last couple of hours, I hadn't felt the anger of my mom's betrayal but hearing her voice now made my stomach ache.

"Okay, hold on". I wouldn't have opened the door but I remembered she had promised to tell me everything about her new marriage.

"Uhn-uhn," I said when she tried to enter. "I would rather talk with you outside. You can't come in, my friends are inside"

"I know". I locked the door behind me and stood, facing her in the corridor.

"You can start talking now mom," I said, but her face was not buried in that usual grief and shame a promiscuous person had after being caught in the act, rather, concern shown brightly there...concern for me.

"Baby, I promise to tell you all that you want to hear about your dear uncle Richard but not now" she started caressing my jaws. "Oh my beautiful baby, right now I'm only worried you're locked up all here and missing the rest of the fun down there. Today is Saturday and you have only a single day before school resumes. Please join us and have fun, you and your friends".

Though I was angry, I couldn't agree less with mom, so I had to join the party below.

"Fine, I'll join you"

"Really? She smiled and hugged me. "Don't be long," She said, going back to rejoining the dancing when I told her I wanted a minute to get my friends.

"I won't"

Julian and Emily almost eagerly agreed when I asked them to join me downstairs after we agreed to postpone the game to the next day. Though our classmates were no longer there, there were some teenagers and kids around. We joined them in dancing and soon, drinking. When I asked for a glass of vodka, I was simply told;

"Sorry ma'am, no alcohol for those below 21s"

"How would you know I'm below?"

"Only one way to find out...your ID, please!."

"Fine, I'll have Coca-Cola"

We danced till we were tired. Emily and Julian decided to spend the night at my place, after being granted permission from home.

We got up very late the next morning with tired bodies but were grateful it wasn't school. We spent the whole day playing Tomb Raider, chess, and eating leftover cookies. When it was evening, Emily and Julian left to wrap up with last-minute preparation for school the next day.

Mom was so busy that she pleaded to postpone our discussion. I was very happy when she said that Chris was also moving in and that he had been accepted to study at my school. When I slept that night, the only thought I had in mind was about Ben.