Make Believe

Twelve.

I stood in front of the mirror and chuckled. "Fucking hell."

"You look awesome." Kris smiled. "I know it looks weird and slutty but we'll fit in when we get there."

My top half was in a bright red crop top that was hardly covering anything, I wore a pair of denim shorts that could have been mistaken for a pair of underwear they were so tiny, fishnet tights and a pair of white converse sneakers. Kris had drawn intricate patterns all over my skin: I had red flowers, hearts and lines all over my face arms.

Kristin wore an almost identical outfit, with a blue theme rather than red. "This is fucking cool." I smirked and turned round to look at her. She grinned at me and walked into the kitchen.

"We have to go in an hour, so we need to get hyped and stuff." Kris poured two wine glasses full of vodka. "You said earlier that you're not a smoker. I definitely am a smoker, and I don't just smoke tobacco."

"Oh." I sat on the couch. "Alright."

"I'm not going to smoke much, but you can have some if you want. But if you've never smoked weed before I am not ruining your innocence." Kris brought me the glass, most of hers already gone.

"I'll stick to the alcohol." I nodded. "I'm always wary of drugs."

Kris looked understanding. "You'll get a contact high if I smoke next to you. You want me to go in another room?" 

I shook my head and winked. "It's alright. Contact high is fine."

"God, you're already getting rebellious. I like it." Kristin downed her drink and started smoking. "I'm only doing this for you because I have an understanding that you're only going to go out and get high and drunk and break the law on this night alone. I know what it's like to need to find yourself, so I'm letting you do it under the supervision of someone who is already a junkie."

"Trust me, this is a one time thing. My roommates are going to kill me." I put my head in my hands. "On second thoughts, I think the younger one will be impressed."

Kristin leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes, breathing all of her smoke out into the room. I finished my drink leant back with her. We sat there drinking for about half an hour, talking every so often about something meaningless.

After a while I could tell that she wasn't sober anymore, as she was asking weird questions and leaning her head on my shoulder. My vision had gone a little blurry too and everything was a lot brighter. Luckily my head still felt fine. I was starting to wonder if I had made the right choice in being here when the front door opened and I heard voices.

Two girls and a guy walked in, laughing loudly. "Hey, Kris!"

Kristin waved weakly at them and smiled. "Hi. You guys okay?"

"Who's this?" One girl asked, smiling warmly at me.

"I'm Lola." I introduced myself. "I made friends with Kris and thought I'd tag along tonight."

"I'm Lindsay." The blonde girl wore a pink dress and very high pink heels. "This is George," she gestured to the boy who wore the most gothic outfit I had ever seen. "And this is Anna." She pointed to the girl with the short black hair.

I waved at them shyly and they returned the favor.

Lindsay walked over to the couch and sat on Kris's lap, kissing her on the forehead. "Hey, baby. I see you started the party without us."

Kristin giggled and said something illegible.

They all laughed. "She's already fucked."

I took a backseat in the conversation, listening to them talk for what felt like ages. After a while, George had gotten up and made everyone drinks. When he presented me with mine, I frowned a little. The vodka had a weird sort of colour to it. Come to think of it, everyone's drink looked weird.

Shrugging, I downed it. I froze. It was just water. Water with a weird sort of taste.  I decided not to worry and just continued listening to their conversation. About twenty minutes later there was a silence and George spoke up.

"Can anyone feel it yet?" George asked, laying back in his chair.

Feel what? The alcohol? I was going to ask, but I didn't say anything. George looked at me. "I didn't know how much you can take, so I only gave you the tiniest drop."

"Tiniest drop of what?" I stiffened slightly.

"Oh, yeah." Kristin mumbled, her voice slow and clumsy. "Lola doesn't take LSD."

I jumped up and stood in the middle of the lounge. "LSD? You put acid in my drink? What the fuck!"

Everyone just stared at me. "How could you not tell them?" I panicked and turned to Kris, my hands shaking. "How do I stop it? What do I do?"

George stood up and approached me. "Calm down."

"You're all crazy!" I squeaked.

"You're the one shouting, dude." Lindsay frowned from the sofa. "Just chill. It'll take effect any minute and then you'll be fine."

George went to walk closer, but I shrunk back, about to make a run for the door. He must have sensed this, because in one fluid movement he grabbed me and got me in a lock. He held me against his chest, and I could hear myself panting.

"You've got to do me a favor." He whispered to me. "Stop freaking out. If you panic, you might have a bad trip or something. Acid is dangerous."

I gulped.

"Slow that breathing down." He said calmly.

"I can't." I said, my voice sounding high-pitched and terrified.

"It'll be okay. I only gave you a little bit." He said, relaxing his grip on me a little. "I'll make sure you're okay."

Instead of replying, I found myself staring at the light bulb above us. It was pulsing, turning almost orange instead of white. I felt my eyes blur and pupils dilate, the world suddenly seeming quiet and slightly distant. My hands stopped wrapping around his shirt so tightly and I blinked a few times.

The music playing in the background sounded different. I could hear all the different layers and feel the beats bouncing around the room. George flicked his lighter on in front of my eyes, and I felt my vision focus on the flame, seeing every tiny spark in slow motion and seeing how amazing the fire was.

"Yep. She's felt it." George said to everyone the other side of the room and picked me up bridal style. "How are you feeling? Are you scared?"

"I'm okay..." I blinked at him. "I think I'm good."

"You are good." He said, gently putting me on the chair next to the couch. "You're perfect aren't you?"

"Yeah..." I flopped limply on the chair.

"We're going to the rave in a minute." He said. "But I'm quickly going to talk you through what you're feeling. Don't think about being scared. Think about how pretty everything looks."

I felt myself melt into the chair and nodded dumbly at him.

"Alright. Let's go." Lindsay stood up and looked at Kristin and I. "Let's take the elevator. I'm definitely not going to be the one to drag these two down five flights of stairs."