❝My youth is the foundation of me.❞
In the all-white, fully-heterosexual, placid suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned - from the layout of the winding roads to the colours of the houses to the humdrum lives its residents will go on to lead.
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THREE
DAWN
The bus drop us off three blocks away from Kaden McFuller's house so we actually end up walking quite a bit before we arrived at the party. From the outside, the only thing that will make people suspicious is the massive amount of cars park near and around the place.
When we walk in, our noses are immediately assaulted by the familiar stench of weed and alcohol. The Notorious B.I.G's Big Poppa is bumping out of the stereo and the house is packed wall to wall. Some people are nodding to the mellow beat but the party is still at it's starting stages so people are just awkwardly sipping out of red solo cups and sticking their hands into bowls of potato chips put out. It's still a pretty good crowd though. Everybody and their dog knows that Kaden McFuller throws the best kind of back-to-school parties. People from all walks of life come to his parties and they come to kill. Girls show off their summer outfits- babydoll and slip dresses while boys rock their new kicks and acid wash jeans.
Familiar faces from Jameson High are scattered across the room. Some wave at me, some don't. I'm not terribly popular in school but I'm well-liked- generally. Mostly because my dumbass of a brother is captain of the football team and I'm always generous when it comes to sharing my weed. What can you say, I'm a giver.
"You guys came!" Kavya Singh calls when she sees us, raising her wine cooler in our direction. There they are- all clustered together in the same sofa, squeezing around six people in something that's obviously meant for two. While Zelda and Miguel are my main friends, we usually hang out with three other people- Kavya Singh, Andy Hong and Terry Bouldin- the same faces we've been looking at since kindergarten, the ones we've been sneaking beers with since we were twelve.
"Of course!" I grin at her, squeezing through the swath of bodies to join them. But before we can make it, Kaden appears and wrap his arm around Zelda. He hands her a beer but not before pecking her sloppily on the cheek. Then all of the sudden, Miguel and I are shove to the side as they start a heavy makeup session.
Miguel and I clear our throats simultaneously.
"Oh sorry," Zelda laughs, pushing her boyfriend off and drinking the beer immediately. Amber liquid drips down her pale chin. "Kaden, can you get beers for Dawn and Miguel?"
"They're at the kitchen so help yourself," Kaden tells us, albeit less enthusiastically than he was when he was greeting his girlfriend.
"Drink?" I ask Miguel over the music.
Miguel take one look at Zelda, who's resuming her hot and heated makeout session with Kent, the dumb but attractive blonde jock, right in the middle of the room. To be fair, I'm not surprised if they fuck right there. I just hope Zelda had remembered condoms. "Fuck yeah."
"We'll join you later! Getting drinks first!" I yell over to the room at Kavya and the others as we make our way to the kitchen.
Much to my demise, my dumbass brother happens to be standing at the kitchen, pouring him some kind of soda mixture. "What are you doing here?" Jonah, my dumbass brother, whines when he sees me enter the kitchen space.
"Enjoying myself," I reply, fake sweetly. "What else do you think?"
"How did you get invited to Kaden's party?"
"Ways, brother, ways," I say. "Anyway, got any beer that doesn't taste like shit?"
"Doesn't exist, little sister. Try some tequila and coke instead of that prissy ass shit you call alcohol."
I roll my eyes at him. My brother's so lame. "Whatever. You're useless."
"Jonah Wilson, you're a fucking dick!" A girl accuses him as she marches through the room and into the kitchen. The sea of people parts for her like she's some white girl Moses. Boys are drooling over her and girls are clamouring over. She's blonde and skinny- the preppy type that I don't associate myself with. She's leading an army of girls just as gorgeous as she is- all of them are the lean and athletic type, all probably on the cheerleading team but one sticks out to me- her face makes me catch my breath.
She's absolutely beautiful. Her skin is warm brown and so annoyingly smooth like those Neutrogena bitches you see in commercials, with slanted almond shaped eyes and thick long eyelashes that aren't store bought, framing her cinnamon gaze perfectly. She smiles at me when she catch me looking, dimples carving into her cheeks. Instantly, I'm aware of who she is. Arabella Jones, Prom Queen, Captain of the Cheerleading Team, Church girl and so sweet she'll make your teeth rot.
"What did I do?" my brother holler back. As a Quarterback he stands at 6'3 easily but somehow the blonde girl manage to make him squirm a little bit, even though she's like 5'4 and tiny.
"You know what you did! You hurt Arabella!" The girl points her finger at him. "How dare you."
"Adrian, let it go," Arabella sigh, tugging on the other girl. "It's not worth it."
"Like fucking shit am I gonna let him get away with it," The blonde girl- Adrian- snarl, ripping her arm out of Arabella's consoling grip.
"It's not worth it!" Arabella pesters a little more insistently. "Adrian, come on. We don't have time for this."
Adrian sets her jaw and recoil, finally listening to what Arabella has to say. She starts to retreat but not before saying: "Jonah Wilson, I feel so sorry for whatever sorry bitch that let you put your tiny dick in her vagina, because it isn't worth it."
"Holy shit," gasps Miguel from behind me, watching Adrian and her posse of girls, Arabella included, stride out of the kitchen. "Who the fuck is she?"
"Adrian Flores," grumble Jonah, "A fucking crazy bitch."
"Apparently," I laugh, tipping my beer back into my throat. It's cold and disgusting, as how all beer is supposed to be. "What the fuck did you do this time?"
"Nothing!" Oh please, I want to snort. Jonah's one of the most popular guys in schools. He gets girls to have their legs open 24/7 like a goddamn Walmart. Adrian has probably found out Jonah had cheated on Arabella and now she's exploding all over the place like a broken geyser.
"Yeah right."
"Arabella and I just dated for a while and we broke up because she won't put out and I found someone who will."
"Adrian's right, man. I do feel sorry for whoever lets you stick your dick into them," Miguel says, shaking his head at Jonah. Jonah flips him off.
"Whatever," says an obviously disgruntled Jonah. He takes a sip of his drink and make a face. He pushes it into my open palm. "Here, take it."
I look at it cautiously. You can never trust older brothers. "What did you do with it?"
"What do you think I did? Spike it? You're my sister, that's disgusting."
Sometimes I really do wish I was a single child.
Nonetheless, I accept the drink and start to sip on it. Miguel and I walk into a room of hot, grinding sweaty teenagers, getting it on, and we are trying to find our friends but my mind is kind of out of it, sticking permanently on Arabella's sweet-natured face and her fiery friend.
But just as easily as it comes into my mind, I push Arabella out. After all, I barely know her and she's just one of the girls my brother had fooled around with. We hang in different social circles, we'll probably never really see each other again.
