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"Syd! For the last time, I am not wearing that," I said with utter disgust as she held up a pink two-piece outfit. It was skin tight, the skirt too short and the top showed too much cleavage. It was a nice set, don't get me wrong, I just wasn't going to be comfortable in any of that but Syd kept on forcing me to wear it.

"Oh, come on. Lighten up a bit. Get out of your comfort zone," she complained at me, dramatically throwing her arms around her. She could try all she wanted but I would rather not go than wear that. I didn't want to be going out to a party with only one person I knew and a whole load of strangers in something I wasn't comfortable in. That would make everything unnecessarily worse. For me at least anyway.

I walked back into Sydney's closet for the one hundredth time this afternoon. I skim looked over all her dresses that were hung up and deeply sighed, my shoulders lower than their usual straight position. I used to have terrible posture but fixed that when I became insecure of it.

I was on the verge of giving up and just not going.

We had been searching for the perfect outfit for tonight for hours. At first it was fun. It was nice spending some quality time with Syd. To start, we were catching up with all the drama in each other lives, then we were messing about with the clothes, dressing up in the weirdest combinations we could but now I was just stressed. She seemed alright, the same light and bubbly vibe that she had when we started but I wasn't. That's the way it has always been though. Sydney was always upbeat and didn't allow the little things to bother her whereas I did. I guess that's why our dynamic worked well – we balanced each other out.

"Sydney, I'm not go-" I stopped mid-sentence when I remembered something I had bought on Syd and I's shopping spree a few hours ago. Just at the thought, I felt the grey clouds that had formed above my head leave.

"You're not going to what?" Syd questioned my unfinished sentence and walked into her giant closet. She frowned at me as I smiled at her. "You look like a fucking weirdo right now," she very politely added as she glanced around the room with her arms crossed over her chest.

I moved her out the way and ran to my bedroom and hastily snatched my bag of clothes off my very messy bed. I ran back into Syd's room and ran straight into her body, flooring us both. I immediately jumped off my groaning best friend and ran into the bathroom. I didn't have time to listen to her complaining at me because I crushed her. I had to get ready and ASAP. It was 7:45 and I was supposed be picking up Darius at 8.

Either Syd was going to have to perform some magic or I'll have to be late. I was not going to turn up half ready. Not happening. Darius would just have to wait.

-

"I'm ready," I sang and stepped out of the bathroom finally feeling confident in what I was wearing.

Earlier on, when Syd and I went shopping, I was scanning through the rails of clothes when Syd called me over to her and showed me a mesh top. It was black with cream moons and stars around it. It had long sleeves and was see through, meaning you could currently see the black bra I was wearing underneath. It wasn't usually the sort of thing I would have bought, but I was feeling brave and did buy it. That and Syd blackmailed me into buying it. Then, I regretted buying it but now I'm glad she pressured me into doing it.

"Okay, wow. You look amazing. Oh my God!" She clapped her hands enthusiastically before walking over to me. She grabbed her expensive perfume and sprayed so much on me I started choking.

I coughed into my hand, "Syd. That's enough." One, I was literally choking from the fumes and two, I didn't want her to use a lot of it on me as it was so expensive.

Syd threw some shoes at me and began pushing me out of her room. What the hell was she doing? She switched up fast.

I took her arms off my shoulders and stopped her from moving, "Sydney. What are you doing?" She was acting weird for no reason.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, her attitude shining in all its glory, "You've got to go," she told me and started pushing me again. Even though she was trying her hardest at pushing me, I had hardly made it out her bedroom door. She wasn't the strongest, that's all I'm going to say.

"Alright, alright! I'm leaving geez. Give me my phone and then I'll go," I said once I realised my phone wasn't in the pockets of my black flared jeans. I knew it was on charge in Syd's room.

She huffed and plodded over to my phone, yanking the charger out and forcefully giving it to me.

Huh? What's up with her?

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

She looked up at my eyes and gave me a stern look, "Go to this party and I don't want you to come back until you have completely gotten over Jace. You're finally acting like yourself again after being all sad and this is what you need to finish it all off and finally be done with him. Now go!"

I laughed at her words and smiled whilst looking at her. I missed hanging out with Syd and joking around with her. In that instant, regret hit me like a bus. I felt guilty for pushing her out when all she would have done was try and help me.

I shook the feeling away. I didn't want to go into a party feeling down or spoiling the fun, not only for me but for Darius too.

I engulfed Syd in a tight hug, not wanting to let her go for a few extra seconds. I let her go and ran down stairs. I shut the door behind me and got in my car.

-

I pulled up at the house. There were already people hanging around on the porch. I could already tell that the place was packed and that the party obviously had been going for a while. I saw some boys hanging around outside with trails of smoke drifting in the wind off of them. They looked younger than me and I braced myself at the possibility of bumping into a few rowdy guys drunk off their face.

"Ready?" Darius' voice rose asking me.

I turned towards him and felt a slight state of panic settle inside of me. Now that I was sitting outside, I had no idea what my thought process was in coming here. I wasn't with Syd, Lucas or Calla. Instead, I was here with someone I met not long ago and definitely not long enough to know him properly. I was wearing something I wouldn't usually and the amount of people here already, intimidated me. I had no idea who was going to be here nor anyone that I knew properly.

Darius' eyebrows drew together and I broke out of my daydream. There was obviously a reason as to why I agreed to coming here tonight. Right now, I had absolutely no idea what or why I thought in that moment, but I had to trust my past self.

"Yeah, let's go." I took the key out of the ignition and climbed out the car. I waited for Darius to get out before locking the car as I followed Dar to the front door.

Nothing bad could happen. Well, extremely bad anyway.

Maybe it was a good thing, not knowing anyone. No one or anyone of my past drama would be here as it's too far away. It was an hour's drive here in the complete opposite direction to anyone I knows house. It would be way too weird and coincidental for anyone to be here.

Darius just walked through the open door and was instantly greeted by two other males. They did that weird male greeting as I just stood to the side of Dar. I didn't know what else to do so I waited for him.

I couldn't help but notice the disgustingly strong smell of alcohol and other stuff that came with entering the house. The floor underneath my feet shook from the boosted bass of the distant but loud music coming from somewhere lower that here. There must be a basement.

"This is Ivy," Darius introduced me to his friends. I smiled and waved to them both and they nodded their heads in a polite way.

"So, you're the famous Ivy. I'm Jack," he slurred, holding his hand out for me to shake. He was the tallest of the three, him being taller than me. He had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes; his hand was wrapped around a red cup assumably filled with some type of alcoholic beverage. He smiled lazily at me as I shook his hand.

I looked towards the other guy. He was the same height as Dar with dyed red hair and thick round glasses. He looked like the nerdy type of guy that knew everything there was to know about computers. I recognised the beats resting around his neck and the bracelet he had on his wrist when he held out his hand for me. On his nails was chipped black nail varnish. I placed my hand in his and shook it, "And what's your name?"

"I'm Ollie," he said with a hard British accent. I glanced behind me to see Dar knowingly smiling at me. I returned my attention back to the guy who was still holding my hand and smiled before taking my hand back.

"Well, it's nice meeting you both. Now where can I get a drink?" I questioned standing on my tip toes and looking around the packed room to see if there was a table or bar or something. I stood back with my feet fully back on the ground only to be suspiciously grinned at by both Jack and Ollie.

"What?" I asked through a nervous laugh.

"I like you already," Jake said and Ollie threw this arm over my shoulders. Darius pushed Ollie away and guided me with his hand hovering on my lower back. I turned my head to question Darius with my eyes. He shrugged at me so I removed his hand from me. If he wasn't going to take the hint, then I'll do it for him.

"What do you want?" Ollie politely asked as we and a few others surrounded a small table. There were a ton of different types of beverages on the table – both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. I scanned my eyes over the different options and sighed when I realised that there weren't many choices for me if I was going to drive home, which I was.

"Uhh, is there a tap here?" I asked Ollie when, out the corner of my eye, I saw Jake glance up at me.

I looked at Jake, not knowing why he suddenly started staring at me. I hadn't done or said anything, not that I was aware of anyway.

"You're from the UK too?" He queried, however, I still felt confused. What in that sentence made him figure out where I'm from?

"Yeah... Why?"

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, "No reason, just decided to wonder if you were the different as the others."

I had no idea what he meant. The only thing I could make out was when he said there was no reason and I suppose that was all I needed to know.

I nodded, pretending to understand what he meant before turning back to Dar and Ollie. They were both staring at Jake and I. What was it with people staring at me today?

"What?"

"There was absolutely no way you understood what he just said," Darius told me, holding back a snigger. He was right though; I had no clue.

"You're one-hundred percent right. But if there is one thing I have learnt, it's just to pretend and move on," I joked whilst grabbing a cup and walking over to the tap Ollie had showed me.

I filled my red cup up with water. Red cups at a party, how typical.

"Come on then, should we go back downstairs?" Jake heavily slurred but I still understood it better than the previous sentence.

Darius turned his attention to me, "You want to go?" I nodded my head and braced myself for the loudness and busyness of everything.

"Let's go!" Ollie cheered loudly as I lead the way into the basement.  

(A/N) I had such a good day with writing today! I felt and still feel extremely inspired. 
I also started playing this game thing called typing.com and it's so fun omg. I'll be able to type super fast soon. It'll be my secret talent ;) 

Thanks for reading :)