WE STILL EXIST

Chapter Two- The Arrival

NOAH BLAKE 

"Yes, I will text you when I get to her house." My mom is not too keen on me going out when there is a storm coming tomorrow.

Yesterday, I tried to convince Maddie not to go, but she was very adamant about attending the party. She gave me some valid reasons and some not-valid reasons.

"Make sure you stay exactly where you are and call me if you notice any signs of rain or wind," she reminds me for the millionth time.

With my backpack and keys to the house, I start walking over to Maddie's house. It isn't too far of a walk.

Since there are three sectors, we all have different areas of land. Most of the government lives in the nicest area, with stone walls, big yards, and nicer areas. The planners have smaller houses, smaller yards, and less room in between shelters. Then the working class, my class, has one floor, a gravel yard, and less protection than the rest.

It isn't terrible conditions, it is just the way the system is made up. We all have the same amount of money and resources for each sector. The government deemed it to be fair, however, there are more working people than there are government and planners.

Do you see where I am getting at?

I make it to her house and I see her bedroom light on. Walking up the steps, I open the front door to see no one inside.

"Up here," Maddie yells from her room.

Opening the door, I see her closet full of clothes and more clothes on the floor. Dark and light clothes scattered around make me a bit jealous. I only have two nice outfits, maybe one swimsuit, and three pairs of work clothes.

She is still raiding her closet when I shut her door. A black dress gets thrown back onto her bed and she turns around.

"Hey, I was thinking about wearing a blue spaghetti-strap dress, what do you think?"

She holds up the blue dress and a red dress. The blue one is new, I can tell she has never worn it because of the tag still on the dress. The red one looks super short, so I point to the blue one.

"Good choice," she tears off her clothes and puts the blue one on.

The tag gets ripped off, "what are you going to wear?"

I know my outfit will not be as good as hers will, "a long sleeve shirt with dark jeans."

Maddie shakes her head and says, "Absolutely not."

She walks over to her dresser and picks out a few shirts until she lands on one she likes. Then in her closet, she takes her time browsing through until she reaches the cargo pants.

Handing me a black, short sleeve crop top and dar gray cargo joggers, Maddie tells me to try them on. I never wear crop tops or ever wanted to. My stomach prods out a little, but when I pull the pants on, they seem to cover my stomach whereas the shirt does not.

"You look so fucking good!"

Maddie walks over and tugs at the shirt, "this fits you really well"

I see the outfit in better lighting, the black brings out my skin tone as well as the pants carve out my curves in the right places.

"Damn," I look hot as fuck.

She licks her lips, "you are for sure getting some tonight."

My face reddens at her assumption, I don't think I will nor would I want to. Sure, I have fooled around with a few of the boys in our group, but I have never been serious with anyone.

From the window in her bedroom, I see car lights reflect. Andrew is sending out his bat signal, he flashes his lights three times.

"Okay, come on," Maddie and I grab our stuff off of her bed and walk out of the house.

We get to Andrew's car that was parked in the street, I hop in the back and Maddie gets in the front.

"Hey girls," Andrew greets us.

Maddie claps her hands together, "hi Andrew. Are you ready for some fun?"

"Fuck yeah," he draws out.

I roll my eyes at their childishness. We start to drive off and we get ready to show our ID and Andrew gets his pass out. Ten minutes on the road and e come up to the gates.

Andrew slows downs as we reach the toll and he rolls the driver's side window down for us. The guard reaches out for our IDs', "we are working at a comp in the morning and want to get there before the storm."

The guard nods and hands us our IDs back. He lets the toll guy know we are good and we drive once the gate opens up. Once we are out of the grounds, we hit the main road to the cities.

We pull up to the town where the party is taking place. It took us two hours to get here... Not very fun with a pregame like Maddie. She took three shots of vodka along with Andrew smoking tobacco out of the window.

No one is really on the roads. The people must be taken up in their homes getting ready for the storm. I know it wasn't the brightest idea to go to a party two hours away when a storm is coming, but it was spontaneous.

Andrew points out the college to our right, "there is the college and the house we are supposed to go to is about three blocks away."

Maddie pipes in, "my brother and his friends go there."

"We will probably see them at some point, hopefully not while we are drunk." She has a good point, "will your brother tell on us?"

I can see her shake her head from back here, "no. However, he will probably lecture us a bunch."

I remember when Maddie and I snuck out one-night last summer to a bonfire with the older kids home from college and her brother was there. He didn't see us at first, but when he did he was angry. Going off about how girls like us shouldn't be in a place with boys like him and all that shit.

The car stops and I see flashing lights in the house and can hear music bumping like crazy inside. There aren't too many people outside of the house, smart not to get caught outside in the storm.

The storm is hitting our grounds right now, I can just see my mother and father tucked in bed while my younger brother is hiding in his room. He isn't scared of storms but gets overwhelmed by the noises sometimes.

Zach will be fine, he is a big boy and can handle himself well.

"Alright, you two get inside and I will park on the street over. There are too many trees, don't want my car to get wrecked by the storm," Andrew points the where the car will be.

Maddie and I walk up the yard, and my heart races from nerves of never doing something this crazy. My mother would have had a heart attack if she knew what we were doing.

Opening the door, we are greeted by a stench of alcohol I have never seemed to know much about and the colors of vibrant lights flashing all around us. Maddie is the first to grab me by the arm and pull me inside at the same time cloning to the door.