Hayleen swung her legs back and forth as she stole a skewer brimming with grilled meat and vegetables off of Sydneys plate with an innocent smile.
The girl in question just glanced over at her, smiled fondly with a roll of her eyes, and turned back to talking to her companion on the right as they commented on the ongoing game of truth or dare just below them with growing interest.
She had to admit, it was more organized than she expected of drunk, fresh, graduates celebrating the night away.
The spectators and commentator, the boy sitting on the blue spring board jutting out from within the concrete walls of the drained outdoor pool, were all outside and on the edges of said pool while the participants were inside, collected in something aking to a circle as they turned an empty glass bottle that had likely once held high concentration alcohol inside it.
Leyla, the owner of the house, garden and party smiled as she took in the controlled chaos that was a drunken game of truth or dare with barely hidden pride.
"So," She starts, looking over at her companions and then takes a sweeping glance around at the rowdy crowd, a grin growing on her face, "Any idea what you're gonna do now?"
She asks, taking a sip from her beverage followed by a small burp.
Sydney, placing her plate down on her lap, taps her chin with her right index finger in thought, "Not sure, maybe I'll go to college, just send my applications out, so who knows, if not, I'm sure I can get a job at mum's." She reveals after contemplating for a while.
"That's kind'a late, ain't it Sydney?" The crowned queen asks with furrowed brows as she turns to Sydney and away from the heated game of truth or dare going on just below their feet.
"It is, but I didn't have the grades before, but through a small miracle, I now do, and I already talked it through with my mum, she agrees I should try it first before joining the company." She admits with an embarrassed smile as she ducks her head with a somewhat helpless expression on her face.
"Eh? Doesn't your mother own a clothing brand? What would you need a college degree for?" She asks confused, the girl next to her shakes her head, her braid trailing after the quick motion as she begins, "Mum wants me to take over one day, and she wants me to have better chances in the business world, having a degree of some kind and a college graduation certificate will help a lot."
"How come?" The brunette spoke, choosing this moment to throw her own question in after her continued silence.
"Others will look down on me, you know how it's cut throat business, and people will take whatever they can get to discredit another, so while I can take over just as is, it's going to be hard and people will throw that in my face, best to avoid it if you can, otherwise people will talk about favoritism and all that garbage."
She huffs after her small tirade and takes a sip from her cup to soothe her throat.
"Ahh~." Leyla replies with an understanding nod before looking at the brunette, leaning forward just a bit, stabilizing herself on the edge with both hands to look at her, signaling her turn and that she was included in the former question.
The brunette on the right looks at her with a tilted head as she swiftly rips a piece of meat off of her skewer, chewing and swallowing, before speaking up in a soft voice, "I'm not sure, I'll work for a bit, pay off the house and then see if there's something I want to do, what about you Leyla?" She throws back politely.
"You know how it goes, I'm modeling for ´Sweet Times`, won't be the lead, but I'll get there!" She beams at them with pride visible in her eyes and her chest puffed out, the rather depressing eat or be eaten world of business thrown aside in favor of lighter topics.
Sydney whistles in appreciation while nodding seriously, "Wow, you got yourself one hell of a job, I mean, you've got the figure at the very least, so it's not too surprising you'd go for modeling, good luck." She compliments, and it's true, the queen bee nestled to their left is a beauty of another level.
Girls and boys alike swarm around her like she's the most fragrant of flowers, wide, round, doll like eyes, full lips and a welcoming aura as well as a perfect hourglass figure and pale features all combined into a fair beauty comparable to a fairy with the right clothes, although she now looks like one of those main characters in highschool dramas after their gloss up in her glittering dress and high heels that the brunette does not dare to even imagine standing in, let alone walking.
"With a bit of luck and hard work, we'll soon see you on magazine covers." The softspoken girl smiles as she too compliments the stunning queen of the party, the tiara resting in her hair only accenting her presence and position.
Leyla laughs good-naturedly as she takes the compliments in stride, "You don't look bad either you two." She grins with her teeth exposed, and they are as white as the most precious of pearls, glimmering under the light escaping from the house windows not far away.
The brunette just smiles and shakes her head while looking at her friend, while the statement might not apply to her, her friend was also someone who stood out from within a crowd like a diamond between rocks.
Unlike the soon to be model, her friend was more of a country beauty, her hair done in an uncomplicated braid with a piece of grey shimmering fabric woven in between the glimmering strands of hair, complimenting her stormy grey eyes, unlike the doll eyes of the other queen, her eyes were sharp and while the girl next to them has a round face and likely still baby fat on her cheeks, her friends face was more oval and her white grin sharper and more toothy, a few freckles littered her face like little stars that settled on her cheeks and nose completing the look, adding a bit of innocence and wildness to her features.
Not willing to discuss the current topic much further, the girl said, "Who do you think will win?" while pointing to the filled ground of the drained pool.
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The game in full swings with a girl currently doing a handstand as a dare is what greets their sights as they return their attention towards the source of commotion, her arms shuddering and giving out as she lands on her face.
The whole party's gone quiet as the girl rights herself, begins to laugh and swipes a beer bottle from another participant to her right, chugging what's left of it in one long swoop, her exposed throat bobbing up and down as she swallows the content inside it before she throws the empty can aside, crushes it under her shoe and throws her hands up in victory, "I did it, who's a fatass now!?"
A few of the people drinking start coughing as they swallowed wrong before a large majority began to laugh like mad at the hilarious display below or beside them.
The group of girls all looked at each other before bursting out in laughter as well, although the auburn haired girls soon turns into quiet chuckles while the other had to hold onto each other to avoid falling into the pool, the chuckling girl grabs both of them by the hem of their clothes to pull them back when they tilt forward a bit too much in their uncontrolled laughter.
As such the two queen bees avoided the fate of falling down after losing their balance, alas, some others around them were not as lucky as they began to slide or fall down, landing with loud thuds that were soon drowned out by curses or erupting laughter before they began righting themselves and climbing out with the help of the iron ladder embedded on the inside of the pools wall.
The game soon continued as if the earlier occurrence had never taken place and a new round was started as a few remaining participants decided to quit the game and watch the show from above.
The announcer gleefully did the collected crowd a favor of counting the remaining figures still playing the game and sparing some, if not most, the tedious chore of drunkenly counting and then recounting the players in a haze.
"We are down to 24 players, people! 24 brave participants fighting for the prize of...," He broke off as he looked to the side before whispering to his friend, loud enough that most could still hear it as the crowd quieted down to hear of the supposed prize, ", do we have a prize?"
Leyla choose that moment to speak up, grinning from ear to ear, delighted to join in on the fun activities, "Whoever wins will get 500$ from me!"
"Yeah, yeah! 100$ from me!"
"Hahaha! I'll give my old phone away! Win and get a Pear12 pro!"
A few voices cut in, offering further prizes to the increasingly excited players, the competition between them beginning to boil hotter than ever at the promise of expensive gadgets and a large sum of prize money from the local high school tyrants.
Of course, such prizes would not be given out if half the crowd wasn't drunk enough to miscount their own fingers and believe it, but as such, there were a plethora of prizes that awaited the winner.
The brunette, sitting next to the instigator of this new wave of chaos, throws a concerned glance around, the feeling in her gut returning with a vengeance after it had settled down into a dull throb, she bites her lip as she holds her stomach and grabs the still filled cup from Sydney as she throws it down in one go, hoping to soothe the discomfort in vain.
She pressed her lips together as soon she stood up, looking at Sydney with a frown, "I'll go and get Laurely and Olivia, I don't feel so good, maybe one of them will drive me home." She explained at her friends questioning glance, her friend frowned as well before nodding, "Don't force yourself."
She nodded and left the pool area, stalking back inside the house, goosebumps appearing on her skin as a feeling of dread settled in, she heard the voice of the announcer shortly before the door closed behind her.
"Sorry people, the games have begun, too late to join in now!"
Somehow, the words of the announcer make cold shivers crawl up and down her spine.
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She casually threw the now empty plastic cup in the overfilled trashcan, not bothered to see where it landed, she knew Leyla would hire a cleaner in the morning to get rid of the mess, she strode towards the dance floor where both of her friends were occupied at.
Laurely Mayflie was a thin ravenette with bluebell eyes, a thin figure with porcelain like skin and cherry pink lips, a cheerleader with a seemingly perfect appearance and currently dancing with a boy whose name she forgot, although she recognized him from their football team, she had a goofy smile on her face as they danced together, following the slowed melody of the song the DJ had started.
Olivia Wrought, a short girl with honeyblond hair, dark green eyes, and a pair of glasses, she was as pale as a sheet of paper and her lips were thin but painted in a killer red, she stood off to the side, likely tired from all the dancing, their resident ace student now sipping from the punch near the snack bar.
She joined her friend at the side and asked her, "Olivia, how drunk are you?" glancing at the rosy red coating her cheeks and already knowing the answer, but asking anyways.
She would drive the car herself, but her gut feeling would spike every now and again and in her current state with her insides rebelling, she was afraid she'd cause a traffic accident.
"Drunk enough to drive into a tree on a straight road, why, you drive?" Her friend answered, revealing why she stood off to the side as she pushed off against the wall she used to stabilize herself, directly beginning to stumble around like the overly drunk teen she was.
She shook her head slowly, afraid of getting a migraine or a headache atop of her churning gut, "I'm not feeling so good, can't drive like this." She sighed after she finished speaking, somewhat embarrassed at her inability to do her appointed job as the groups chauffeur.
Olivia looks at her dubiously and Hayleen explains softly, "My gut is going crazy right now, I'll crash us."
"Ahh." Olivia made an understanding noise and motioned to their still dancing friend with her chin, "I doubt she's willing to go anywhere right now, even if she can still drive, what about Syl?" She inquired, using her nickname for their friend as a bit of worry seeps into her voice.
"She's with Leyla." She said, shaking her head in denial of the innocent question, still mindful of her understandable worry of getting a headache.
Olivia pulled a face and nodded, "Tough luck, eh?" She asked, already knowing the answer and expecting the nod on her left.
"Where are they?" The girl asked, pushing her glasses up after they had begun to slide down her sweaty nose, the alcohol already kicking in full force.
"In the back garden, at the pool, want me to bring you there?" She rose a brow in question as she knew she, and the now drunk glass bearer, would need to wait until their friend could escape the other queen bees clutches to catch a ride home as neither girl trusted another at the party enough to drive their sick, or drunk, asses home, they doubted anyone would either, considering this mansion was at the citys high end street, and both she and Olivia as well as Laurely lived across town, a two and a half hour ride from here, provided the traffic was good.
"I'll see what I can do about Miss. Jackson over there." The brunette sighed as she trodded onto the dance floor and towards her third, and final, friend.
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The music had changed to a faster pace by now and her friend had switched dance partners, now accompanied by a black haired boy with red streaks in it, "Laura!" She called, hoping to catch her attention, and she was lucky as the girl looked over after her call.
It seemed like she looked as sick as she felt as her friend, upon seeing her clutching her stomach, directly excused herself and hurried towards her.
"What's wrong?" She asked in lieu of a greeting as they left the dance floor together, a few chips crunching under their feet.
"I'm not feeling good enough to drive, my gut and all that, want to leave, Liv is drunk enough to see double and Sydney is caught up with Leyla, can you?" She went directly to the point, her gut choosing this moment to churn with discomfort and a short stab of pain as she grits her teeth, before the knot in her gut loosened, the pain disappearing for the moment.
"Damn, no sorry, can't drive, where's Sid?" She asked, following her lead towards Olivia, "Back garden, pool area." She replied curtly.
"Ah, let's go there then and wait for Sydney to free herself from Miss. Queen." She said, a bit of disgust in her tone, likely counting on the others not to hear her due to the still booming music.
The brunette furrowed her brows and looked at her friend with questions in her eyes but choose not to voice them.
They reached Olivia and Laurely threw one of her arms around her friend, helping steady the poor drunk properly.
The honeyblond groaned as she adjusted her own arm around the other, taller, girls shoulder and let her lead her to the back garden as the third girl followed, lagging behind a bit due to her stomach protesting strongly.
Instead of joining the others at the pools edge, they settled down at the recliners around the pool, Olivia sat down directly, closing her eyes to stave off a wave of nausea as she breathed in and out, "I drank too much, Laura why didn't you stop me?" She complained feebly.
The other girl rose an unimpressed eyebrow, "Are you blaming me for your pitiful alcohol tolerance now? I told you to stop, and you told me, and I quote, "Just one more Laura, it'll be fine", quote end."