FOUR

I had successfully made enemies with the bartender first floor down seven of his drinks in my bid to find something non-alcoholic. Thankfully the eighth drink met my standards.

“For someone who doesn't take alcohol, this is the wrong kind of party to be in.”

I turned to my side and met the eyes of a smiling girl.

“I know, but I'm actually here for a friend.”

“Oh, ok.”

“I don't think we've met before, what school do you attend?”

“K. C. A.”

“Really? I go there too, how come I've never seen you around.”

“I'm not that popular.”

“Neither are my.”

She smiled “I'm Claire.”

“Nice to meet you, and I'm Jason.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I remained quiet.

“Want to dance?” Claire asked after a while.

“I'm not really the dancing type.”

“I know, it's pretty obvious, I just didn't want to judge a book by its cover but I guess in this case, the content of the book is not too different from its cover.”

My eyes widened ‘it's obvious’.

Really?

I am a great dancer!!

“Actually, I would love to dance.” I blurted out.

“Really?!”

“Yes!”

“That's nice but I'm beginning to rethink my offer, I mean, I would hate to see you embarrass yourself in the presence of all these people just to prove me wrong.”

I smiled a little. “I think it would be worth it.”

Claire smiled. “Alright, let's dance.”

She dragged me to the dance floor within seconds and joined in the dancing.

“I don't see any moves!!” She yelled.

I laughed. “You really want to see some moves?!!”

“Actually, I want to see many!!”

I was about to join in the dancing when my phone vibrated in my pocket, I pulled it out, Tyler was calling.

I muted it and returned it to my pocket.

Tyler was not going to ruin the fun I was surprisingly having.

*~* ~* ~

Claire and I danced two more songs before returning to the bar to grab some water.

“This place is really stuffy.” Claire commented.

“Yeah, let's go outside for some fresh air.”

As soon as we walked out of the building my nostrils welcomed the pure oxygen and cool fresh air grazed my skin.

“This is nice.” I said unconsciously.

“What?”

“Um?!” I had almost forgotten I was with someone.

“What's nice?”

“Oh! The breeze, it's really... nice.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

There was a moment of silence between us before Claire spoke again. “You're a really great dancer.”

“Thank you. You're not so bad yourself.”

Claire smiled. “You must be taking science classes because I've never seen you in any of my classes.”

I really wished she would stop assuming things.

“I take math classes.”

“Oh, then we must have a few classes together. Are you that weird guy that always sits directly in front of the teacher?”

My head swung in her direction swiftly. “What?!”

Claire laughed. “I'm just joking, I've never seen you in any class.”

I managed to smile.

Thankfully she was unaware that I was actually the weird kid that always sat directly in front of the teacher.

“I've never seen you either.”

My phone vibrated again, this time it was a text message from a strange number. It read : ‘Your friend is about to do something crazy, I think you should come and stop him.’

I read the text two more times trying to figure out what it meant.

Tyler!!!!

I turned around and ran towards the building ignoring Claire's yelling of ‘What's wrong?! , where are you going?!’

The thought of what Tyler had gotten himself into was all that filled my mind.

*~*~*~

“Tyler!!! Tyler!!! Tyler!!!” I yelled pushing through numerous human beings frantically.

In a few minutes I realized that he was not on the ground floor so I hurried up the stairs to continue my search on the first floor.

The first floor looked empty but I could hear a few voices coming from various rooms.

I opened every door that wasn't locked, but he was not in any of them.

After checking the entire floor with no sign of him, I pulled out my phone and dialed his number but it was switched off.

I continued to dial his number as I climbed the next set of stairs that led to the second floor but it was still switched off.

The second floor had a few people on it but Tyler was not among them.

I swung open the first door I saw and was greeted with a stench worse than that of the ground floor. Loud music filled the gloomy and stuffy room.

I couldn't recognize most of the faces in the room, but I could recognize a few seniors and some guys from the basketball team. I moved further into the room and saw Catherine Sanders standing by one of the windows.

I rushed to where she was and tapped her shoulder. “Catherine!!”

She turned toward me with a goofy grin “Ye...sss, want to da...nce!!!” She slurred.

I glanced at the half full wine glass in her left hand, she was drunk.

“Where is Tyler!!”

“Who?!”

“My friend Tyler!!” I shouted impatiently.

“He went off with Sophia and the others!”

“Where are they?!!!”

“On the roof!!”

“What?!”

I rushed away from her before she could reply.

I ran up the next set of stairs that led to the third floor. And after a two-minute search, I finally found another staircase that led to a door with ‘ROOF’, written boldly on it.

I ran up the staircase and pushed the door open. Thankfully it actually led to the roof.

Usually rooftops were just rooftops, but this rooftop had a pool extending out of its left corner.

WOW!

I stared at the pool for a while before remembering why I was actually here.

Tyler.

I saw a couple of human beings not too far from the pool.

I rushed toward them and was greeted with an image I knew I would never forget.