Mess of a Party

Saturday, 8:45 PM

Stephanie undid all the little braids throughout her hair. The effect of it was pretty cool. Her hair was now kind of wavy and she pulled it back into a high ponytail. Then she did her makeup quickly because she wasn't putting much on.

People were going to start showing up in 15 minutes and Steph was excited. She was always excited to throw parties, but tonight was different. Special. It'd be a night to remember. Steph's dad had recently gotten his hands on the old, abandoned buildings in the woods that surrounded the town. They apparently used to be part of a whole town, but the place mysteriously burned down. Now only a couple buildings still stand and they're a huge historical monument. But nobody goes there anymore and now that the national treasure company or whatever didn't own it her dad can do whatever he wants with it. It'll be the perfect place to throw a legendary party.

She got into her outfit now that her makeup was finished. She was wearing a black tank top and black skirt that ended just above her knees. The night was going to be warm since the sun was just going down now and it's summer in the town of Edwin. Stephanie finished the outfit with knee high black boots. The black made her blond hair look electric and she loved it. She saw a car pull into her driveway and knew her guests had arrived. She took off running down the stairs and to the door.

"Dad, I'm going out!" She yelled into the house and heard an "Okay" come from the other room. When she was younger, she might've missed the days when her dad cared where she went and who she went with. She knew exactly what he would've said. "Use your head, kid." But now she uses her father's cluelessness to her advantage. If daddy dearest doesn't want to know where she's going, she isn't about to let him know.

She walked outside, feeling wonderful in the sunset's orange rays. That made her blond hair look absolutely amazing and she knew it. The vehicle that pulled in was a black Jeep, the same Jeep that Skylar owned. Skylar was usually the first one to Steph's parties. And she was always the first one to know about it.

Four people stepped out of the Jeep. There was Skylar, wearing a pair of jean shorts, a tan tank top, and a faded green button up T-shirt. Stephanie always liked how edgy Sky looked with her half-shaven, half-chin length hair. She even dyed the longer part and Steph loved it.

Then there was Ty wearing jeans, a white T-shirt, and a leather jacket over it all. He was always wearing edgy stuff and if he wasn't best friends with Sky, Stephanie might've made out with him already. But she respects that Ty doesn't like her like that and that's all good and fine. Steph knows who he really likes, and she just lives for learning those kind of secrets.

The third person was Payton, Sky's brother. He's cool for a 15 year old and he knew it. He was wearing just a navy blue T-shirt and jeans. Maybe jeans are in right now. He had his sisters darker complexion. They weren't super dark, but compared to Stephanie they were practically the colour of titanium. Stephanie liked Payton. He's a lot like Skylar and she liked to hear about all the gossip in the ninth grade.

Then the fourth person was someone Stephanie didn't know all that well. Someone she'd only seem at school and never spoke to before. Her name is Crystal? Or maybe Calli? Steph didn't know and, until now, didn't care. She was a redhead girl with a ton of freckles and was usually pretty quiet. She was wearing black yoga pants with a red T-shirt. She had a small yellow backpack and her long, red hair was up in a top-knot bun. As far as Stephanie could tell, she wasn't wearing any makeup.

"Hey, guys!" Steph gave Skylar a hug and ruffled Payton's hair. Then she glanced at the new girl questioningly.

"Oh, this is Claire everyone." Skylar said and pointed to her. "She wanted to come to the party and we were her only ride."

"Only ride?" Stephanie asked, wondering why no one else had come. Having all her friends at her parties was the best, but not necessarily when they're the only ones there.

"Yeah. As far as I know, nobody else is coming." Ty said, leaning against the jeep, trying to look cool.

"Apparently there's some event at the mall right now and lots of people are going there." Sky mentioned.

"Yeah and some kids in my class told me they were going on vacation." Payton piped in.

"Should we wait?" Claire's first words were quiet and she didn't look anyone in the eye. Steph knew she was shy, but she couldn't understand why Claire had wanted to come. She'd never been to any of Stephanie's parties before. Steph sighed.

"No, let's just go." She smiled confidently. "This is too good to postpone." They all piled back into Skylar's vehicle and took off. Stephanie was up front with Skylar and everyone else was squished in the back. Jeeps are pretty big, but having five people fit into it is a little tough. Steph told Skylar where to go and told everyone about how her dad had acquired those buildings.

"It was great. The company that had it before didn't even want that much money for it. They just gave them up." Stephanie told everyone.

"What do you guys plan on using it for?"Claire asked quietly, squished between the two boys.

"Whatever we want!" Steph grinned wildly. "We can do whatever to it now."

Just then they pulled up to the broken town. Everyone had their heads pressed to the glass and was gazing outside. The ground was clear of grass and weeds, it was all brown or black. The opening in the trees was pretty big with enough room for three or four buildings. And on the edge of the opening in the trees were three, old, rickety buildings.

One of them might have been a house. It was two stories tall and looked as if it was ready to break any minute. The door was opened and barely holding onto the hinges.

The next one was pretty far away from the first. It might have been a hall or something. It was pretty big and Steph knew that that would be the best place to party. It didn't have an upstairs and it looked like it was in the best condition out of all of them.

Then way, way at the back was another building. It was considerably smaller than the rest, but it looked like it was doing okay. It might've been a bank or something like that. Stephanie didn't know. But the door was open and it seemed to be staying on okay.

They parked near the road and everyone got out. They all took a moment to look around and take in the burnt town.

"This is where we're spending the night?" Payton asked.

"Yep. You guys brought drinks, right?" Stephanie asked Skylar and Ty opened the back. He pulled out two six-packs of drinks.
"Oh yeah, this'll be fun." Stephanie muttered to herself.