It was a Saturday night. A perfect night for being safely tucked under the covers, reading books or trying out that one recipe I always wanted to make.
But no, I couldn't even have that.
Why?
Because of a certain (stupid) someone by the name of Claire aka my best friend.
"Brooke, get that fat, ugly, lazy ass of yours here and help me!" She hollered as she practically swum in a pool of my clothes.
"I told you I was just going to wear a cute top! I don't need a 'sexy' dress!" I whined as I stared up at the ceiling of my room. Claire was already dressed in a revealing red dress which hugged her body perfectly and highlighted her perfect curves.
I told her that I didn't want to wear a dress but she cut me off with a cold glare which could have sent me six feet under. Now she was rummaging through my wardrobe for a cute dress.
"Shut up, Darren and Brian can't see you like that You have to wear something good for them to make googly eyes at you."
I rose up from the bed to glare at her back. "Shut up, I don't care! I'm not wearing something just for someone to see me."
"Aha! Found it!" She said as she dangled a dark blue dress which I didn't remember buying.
"I'm not wearing that," I stated.
She frowned at me. "Why not? It's really good."
"It's backless and will be very uncomfortable." I said, falling on the bed on my back again.
A soft fabric landed on my face, blocking my vision of the ceiling. I groaned. "Claire I don't want to wear it! You wear it yourself if you like the dress so much," I said as I removed the dress from my face.
"I wish but I'm already dressed up but thank you very much. Now get up!" She was now at my bedside, staring down at me with her hands on his hips.
"Ugh! I hate you," I said as I sat up. I grabbed the dress and went inside the bathroom. I put the dress on. It was good but I more than wanted to tear it off from my body.
Claire knocked on the bathroom door. "Are you done yet? Or have you dozed off?"
I glared at the closed door, "I indeed have dozed off!"
"Girl, get out of the bathroom!" She hollered from the outside.
"Jeez okay. I'm coming!" I said.
I took one last look at myself in the dress. It was dark blue and backless. It had long sleeves and it reached just above my knees.
"I think I should change maybe, into something else," I said as I yanked open the bathroom door.
Claire looked up at me with a frown on her face. "Why? You look good."
"I didn't wear this dress before. I didn't even know that I had it."
Claire snorted. "No surprise there. Your closet is even messier than a gooey ice cream. Now come on!" She said, clapping her hands together. "I'll do your makeup!"
~
An hour later, I stood in front of my mirror, my mouth agape as I stared at my reflection.
I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Was this really me? Did I really look so...horrible?
This is a situation I would like to call makeup malfunction.
I turned around to glare at Claire, who was sitting on the edge of my bed, glancing at me nervously. She let out a small chuckle, curling a strand of hair around her finger before tucking it behind her ear.
"You look quite good. I think I just applied a little more makeup than required. But you look good anyway," She said, still smiling at me.
"Claire! What the hell have you done to my face?! Is this what you call 'makeup'?! I look like I-I don't know, like the stupid Joker from Batman and Robin!"
"Um...really? It's okay. I find the Joker quite good looking."
I just gave her a blank stare.
"Okay! I'm sorry. I thought I could try my hand at it but I really can't and I'm sorry that you had to be the guinea pig," She said, throwing her hands up in defence.
"I look so funny," I said, staring at myself in the mirror.
And I was right. I really did look funny. Claire had applied a lot of lipstick on my lips and some of it was smeared on my face, much like the Joker. She didn't do a good job on the eyes too. I looked like I hadn't slept for days and hence had got the dark circles under my eyes, which actually was the smudged eyeliner. Claire was being stupid when she told me that I can only get to see her masterpiece after she was done with it. I vowed to never let Claire do my makeup again, which actually was very rare. I didn't go to parties often and so I didn't use much makeup either.
I went to the bathroom to wash off the Joker look. I need to look at least presentable. I glanced at my watch and realised I just got less than fifteen minutes to do that. I quickly exited the bathroom and grabbed the stupid cosmetics and colourants from Claire and set it before me.
Five minutes later, I stared at myself in the mirror, a proud grin on my face. I turned around on my heel to face Claire. "And that's how you do makeup," I said to Claire.
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah okay. Not my fault that I'm not an expert in colouring people's faces."
I smirked down at her.
"We should get going."
We were going to take my car to the party. Of course, a party meant a lot of stupid, reckless and drunk people. I was not going to be one of them. I was the unofficial designated driver of my drunk friends after the party.
I grabbed my car keys, escaping the hawk eyes of my mom who would have stopped us for a few dozen pictures because it was my first time going at a party for quite some time. And I hated that.
The party was at Blake's house. Firstly, I didn't know who he was. And neither did I know where his house was. But Claire seemed to know. She gave me directions to the house and we reached their in less than twenty minutes.
I parked my car a little far away from his house, not wanting any drunk people to puke on baby.
"The others are already here," Claire said, unlocking her seatbelt.
Blake's house was huge. While driving to his place, Claire had told me that he was one year senior to us and in the school's football team. I wondered why I didn't know him before if he was in my school. But then again, I didn't pay attention to anyone in particular so it seemed fitting why I didn't know about him.
The place was really crowded. I vaguely recognised some people from our school, both juniors and seniors. Some people were out on the yard, some were passed out, some were making out and some were doing stupid things, which meant they were drunk. I saw a couple sitting on the edge of the swimming pool, their feet in the water. The girl was staring at the water while the boy had an arm around her. They were talking about something but they were out of earshot. They looked cute together.
We went inside the huge house which was as crowded as I had expected. People were dancing wildly, swaying to the loud music blasting from the speakers.
Typical high school party, I thought to myself.
"Let's just grab a drink. I think we'll find them there," Claire shouted at me over the deafeningly loud music. I nodded at her. We made our way over to the bar, pushing past delirious people who were grinding against each other and muttering our apologies which the people didn't hear or they were too high to hear anything that we were saying or they didn't care at all.
Soon enough, we found the rest of the guys there, each with a drink in their hands. Claire greeted them and grabbed a drink for herself. I, being the driver for tonight didn't want to get drunk, so I just ordered a cold drink. Jake was there too but Claire was completely avoiding him. I wondered if she was going to be like that with him the entire year. But that was a pretty stupid thing to do. Jake was her friend before he told her that he liked her. She shouldn't ruin her friendship with him just because he liked her and wanted her to be more than a friend to him. And they were acting like exes right now.
Jake was talking to Sam. He looked a bit happy now. And I was glad to see him like that. Was he over Claire? But none of that mattered if he had a smile on his face and was not lying in an endless pit of despair.
"You look beautiful tonight," Darren whispered in my ear. I smiled up at him.
My eyes raked over his figure and he looked pretty hot. "You don't look so bad yourself."
"That is an understatement. I actually look very hot," He said and I rolled my eyes.
I looked around for Brian. He still hadn't come. But Gemma was already there and already very drunk. She was dancing with a guy I didn't recognise and I'm pretty sure she didn't know him either.
As if on cue, Brian came into view, his fingers playing with his car keys.
The boys greeted him, giving him brotherly half hugs. He grabbed a drink for himself and then turned to look at me. His eyes raked over me, making me feel self-conscious.
"Brooke! Aren't you going to drink?!" Claire shouted in my ear, making me jump away from her.
"N-No. I don't drink," I said.
Claire shrugged and before I could say anything, Jesse pulled her towards the dance floor. She didn't protest. Everyone except Brian, Darren and me remained. Others were already getting drunk and dancing like there was no tomorrow.
"Don't you drink?" Darren asked me, sipping on some colourless liquid which I was sure was alcohol. He couldn't be drinking water.
"No. Seriously, why do you guys drink it? It's not good for your health!"
Darren chuckled. "I know. But we still do. It's cool. A bit of it won't kill me."
I sighed, "And do you smoke too?"
"Sometimes, when I need a distraction. Just wait here for a sec. I'll be back," Darren said before placing the empty glass on the counter and disappearing into the crowd with the rest of his friends.
Okay. This was awkward. I turned to see Brian casually leaning against the bar counter, his eyes fixed on me.
"Hi," I said, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.
"Hey," He said, his eyes running over me from head to toe again, "You look beautiful."
"Thanks," I said and placed the empty glass on the counter.
"Where has Darren gone?"
"I don't know but he'll be back soon, I guess. And do you have any idea where Gemma could be?"
Brian shrugged, "She must be dancing with someone."
"She's drunk. It's not safe for her to be alone with a stranger at this party. You're such a terrible boyfriend."
"I'm sure she can take care of herself."
"What if something happens to her? What if a douche tries to get her in bed? She's drunk, she won't even know what she'll do," I said, genuinely concerned for her safety. I might not like Gemma but I was worried for her.
"You worry too much about others. You worry about Darren that if you told him the truth, how he will react to it. You worry about what will happen to Gemma at the party. You worry about Claire, you think she's being used by Jesse. You worry about Jake, about how he is after Claire rejected him. You just worry too much about things you can't control."
"Well, of course I'll worry about them. They're my friends!"
"You're too good a friend."
Before I could say something to him, Gemma came into view. She threw her arms around Brian and he staggered a bit at the weight around his neck.
"Brian!" She screeched in his ear and he flinched away from her. "What are you doing here, baby?! Let's party!" She howled and began dragging him into the crowd.
He looked back at me and I waved goodbye to him. "Have fun," I said sarcastically before he disappeared into the crowd.