ANOTHER HOUSE PARTY, THE SAME WALLFLOWER

Lily knew it was a bad idea, but here she was in front of Douglas' doorstep. Again.

The doorknob was just a few inches away from her hold. She shouldn't have come, shouldn't have tried to look pretty, and, worst, she shouldn't have agreed to be there in the first place.

She felt dumb in her 70's hippie costume–which she must say was better than her sixth-grade witch costume.

A few days ago, Dan invited her to Douglas' Halloween party. It was the first time, ever, that he invited her to a party. It was the first time he talked to her in years since ninth grade. Just this morning, she thought about the invitation for the hundredth time.

Should she go or should she just forget it? She ended up coming anyway.

Why?

Her life was boring.

Aside from the big fat fact that her life was boring, Lily wanted to have a life, not the boring one. If you asked her, her life wasn't exactly boring; she just didn't know what she was missing.

If you asked Jean, she would say that Lily's life was fat-ass boring and she was missing out on a lot of things. She remembered Jean told her that she should get laid before her eighteenth birthday and, for the bunnies' sake, she should get herself a boyfriend and a hot one at that. However, when she had her eighteenth birthday, she got nothing near her first kiss or first making out but a hangover.

Talk about the pressure, she thought. Her sixty-five-year-old grandmother thought the same. She even told Lily that she had her first kiss at fifteen and lost her "precious" virginity at seventeen.

Yep! Talk about pressure.

But, Lily was not there at Douglas' front door because she was horny. After thinking it through a hundred times that afternoon, she decided to come over because she wanted to have fun and to prove to Jean that her life wasn't entirely boring, that she was not born to be a killjoy. She could appreciate high school too.

Lily was about to open the door when someone did it for her. She looked back and saw Jake Wright. He was a good-looking guy with that dark hair and deep green eyes. He had that strong jaw and the "bad boy" stubble. All in all, she could say he could pass for a cute poster boy. Despite that, there was the feeling she got every time she came near him in school or anywhere in Fram Hill.

He was the dark cloud to her sunshine.

A bad boy, ogling girls called him while a troublemaker for the teachers. The top detainee. The "Bully" was what the Bugle List labeled him.

Lily made way for him but he stared at her, head to toe, first before going inside. Then, he looked back and winked at her. He wanted to intimidate her. Lily could tell. As f it was nothing, he went directly to talk to a "Count Dracula" Douglas and disappeared into a room that looked like the kitchen.

Now, that was weird and creepy. Boys didn't wink at Lily. So, she ignored it because Jake Wright flirting with her didn't make sense. Intimidating her was like it.

Lily knew that parties were always loud but she never thought Douglas' party was this loud. She could already hear the noise when she was still standing outside his house. When she got inside, she thought to check up her ears back home. It was loud. Blaring and deafening. And wow! She thought all kids in her senior class were there.

The house seemed to be big enough to accommodate a party. No doubt about that. Lily knew Douglas was rich. Everybody knew he was. He only needed to show off that big family ring on his finger then it was obvious. The Joneses of Fram Hill were old money that could only be rivaled by another family--the Carters.

Right by the foyer, Lily saw Amanda Norris kissing a blond guy. Making out? Yep obviously. She was also not surprised to see both Ronnie Sawyer and Charles Dais present because they were Douglas' best buddies.

Oh my gosh! Is that Lea Green? Lily hoped she wouldn't try to sing tonight. It would be a disaster.

The party was expectedly loud and crowded but Lily had to look for someone she knew. Maybe, Jean was there. She forgot to call her best friend and ask if she was coming over to the party tonight. She tried to walk past a group of cheerleaders a.k.a. the "BLONDIES". The "BLONDIES" were Missy Finnegan, Hilary Monroe, and the rest of the cheerleaders.

"Hey, Stiff. You're looking stiffer by the second. Right, girls?" Missy giggled with her friends. They were making fun of her costume. "Hippie? So boring."

Lily could only roll her eyes at Missy. Jean, where are you? She mentally asked, looking for the redhead in the crowd.

She was still looking for Jean when a shrieking sound and feedback came from the speakers and caught her attention. There, at the center of the living room, was a "Bruce Lee In A Yellow Suit" Alas Cummings, testing a guitar. Beside him was Frankie Bosworth who held a microphone and was talking about some songs they would be playing tonight.

Oh, Frankie Bosworth is here. Lily was completely sure that Jean was somewhere in the room. She pushed her way closer to where Bosworth was when she saw Dan at his back. The "little drummer boy" was playing tonight with his band and was wearing a pair of red gauntlets. She thought he was trying to look like Jin Kazama from Tekken.

Wow! She made the right decision to come over to this party after all. Yipee! She got to see Dan play.

"Yo!" Frankie, who was wearing a costume to look like a blond Iron Man, suddenly spoke to the crowd. "Just wanna ask you, kids. Do you see Carter around?" The crowd started looking at one another and asked the same thing. "Where the hell in hell is Carter, man?"

"We can't play if he's not here," Alas added and glanced at someone to his left.

Jean! There she was, Lily hurriedly went to her best friend's side.

When she got closed, she touched her friend's arm. "Jean... finally found you. I've been looking for you."

"Oh. Hey!" Jean sounded surprised.

"Hey yourself. You didn't tell me that you would be here tonight," Lily whispered to her.

"Well, you also didn't tell me that you would be here." She winked back. "So, who invited you? Douglas?"

"No. It was someone else and I'm sorry that I forgot to call you to ask." Lily was so careful not to say Dan's name so that no one would know. "You with Alas or Frankie?"

Jean gave her a confused look but in the end said, "I'm with Alas. I'd love to have Frankie invite me but, whatever. I hate that Missy Finny is here. You have no idea how many times I rolled my eyes at her tonight."

"Oh, I know. Trust me. I have an idea."

"Good you get it. Does she have to use a push-up bra? I would love to make her eat it. And…" She was already babbling. "I am talking too much, right?"

"Yep."

"I'm sorry. It's just that every time I see her I get irritated. She is looking at Frankie who is also talking, flirting, and giving all that attention to her. Enough whining about Missy. So you just got here?"

Lily nodded then took the infamous red cup of beer and drank it. She was not a fan of beer but it was all she got."What's up with you getting invited by the town vet? Hmmm?"

"I will you about it later. Promise."

"You better tell me or else I won't talk to you for a week. So they have a band, huh?"

"Yes. So cool. The Rescue Blues. They call themselves The Rescue Blues."

***