Dreams of Tomorrow

Chapter 19.

“Brian?” she called, looking inside his room.
She entered the room and closed the door after her when she saw him laying on his bed, an open book resting on his torso. He was probably reading before he fell asleep.

The song ended and Athalya was expecting ‘Only of You’ to be on, since it was the song after ‘Dry Ice’ but much to her surprise, it was ‘Dry Ice’ once again, the song was on repeat. She smiled as it was one of her favourite songs of the album.

“Brian, wake up…” she said, sitting next to him on his bed and shaking his shoulder slightly. He groaned. She chuckled and shook him again.

“Brian, Jimmy’s waiting for you downstairs.” She said as Brian opened his eyes slowly. He blinked a couple of times before his eyes drifted off to Athalya and his eyes opened wide in surprise.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, sitting up quickly, making the book drop on the bed. He quickly grabbed it.

“Well, Jimmy sent me here to drag you downstairs, he said he was too lazy to come and see you.” She explained. “Apparently, we’re staying for dinner…” she explained as her eyes landed on the book in Brian’s hand. Her whole face light up and a smile appeared on her lips.

“Are you really learning French?” she asked, beaming.

“Huh, well…” trailed off Brian, rubbing his neck nervously. “I’m trying?”

“Can I take a look?” she asked, holding out her hand. Brian handed her the book and got up.

She happily started flickering through the pages while following Brian out of his room and down the stairs, her smile not leaving her face. Brian entered the living room, rubbing his eyes.

“What took you so long?” asked Jimmy, doing the man hug thing with his best friend before Brian let himself fall down on the couch next to Jimmy. Brian’s father was sitting on the armchair, watching TV.

“Where’s Athalya?” asked Brian Senior, looking at his son.

Athalya was in the kitchen, holding the book against her chest.
“Do you need help with dinner?” she asked Suzy.

“No thank you Athalya, you should go sit with Jimmy and Brian, I’ll call you when dinner’s ready. Thanks for asking.” The woman smiled.

Athalya smiled back, and headed to the living room, still holding the book.

“Where were you?” asked Jimmy, frowning.

“I was in the kitchen” Athalya replied, pointing over her shoulder. She went to sit between Jimmy and Brian, and opened the book on her lap.

“Are you learning French too?” asked Brain’s father.
Athalya looked up from the book and shook her head.

“I’m French.” She said, blushing slightly.

“Ah, and I bet you like Green Day?” he asked, with a small smile, glancing at his son.

“That’s her favourite band” replied Jimmy as Athalya just focussed on the book again.

“Well, that explains a lot…” said Brian senior, smiling at Suzy as she entered the living room and went to sit on the arm rest, next to her husband.

“What are you talking about?” asked Suzy, linking her fingers with her husband’s.

“About Junior’s sudden interest for French and Green Day.” He said, smiling at his wife. Suzy instinctively turned to look at Athalya and both Brian senior and Jimmy nodded. Brian was trying to act cool, pretending he hadn’t heard anything.

“Where are you in the book? I mean, which lesson?” Athalya asked, putting the book on Brian’s lap and looking at him with her bright green eyes. Brian swallowed slowly and flickered through the book until he reached page 12.

“I’m halfway through the first lesson” he said.

“What book it is?” asked Suzy.

“French for dummies.” Replied Athalya, barely looking up from the page Brian had just showed her.

Brian’s cheeks became a slight shade of red as everyone else except Athalya started chuckling.

“You know, you don’t need to know everything in that book… I could always help you if you don’t understand something. French isn’t all that easy to learn. Well, of course, Chinese is harder, I think… But French grammar is one of the worst ever, to my mind… At least, it’s harder than English.” She ranted, flickering through the pages once again. “How do you say I in French?” she asked, suddenly looking at Brian.

“Je” he replied, not avoiding her gaze.

“What are the 2 ways of translating you in French?” she asked, closing the book but marking the page with her finger.

“Tu, if you are familiar with the person, otherwise, if it’s a stranger or whatever, it’s vous” he said, slightly chewing on his bottom lip.

Athalya beamed,
“That’s right! Well, except for the pronunciation… You do not pronounce the ‘s’ at the end of vous, same goes with nous, which in English means?” she asked, looking hopefully at Brian.

“We or us?” said/asked Brian.

Athalya just smiled brighter.
“That’s right! Damn, when did you start learning French?” she asked, opening the book once again, but this time she kept looking at Brian.

“Huh, on Saturday…” he replied, rubbing his neck.

“Damn, you learn fast.” She said, nodding to herself.

“I wish you could learn the other subjects as fast too…” started Brian senior.

“Like math, right Papa Gates?” said Jimmy, before reaching behind Athalya to pat Brian’s back.

“And pretty much every other subject… Maybe, just maybe, you should do your homework with Athalya… Trying to find some motivation.” Suggested Suzy.

“Mum!” groaned Brian, fake glaring at his stepmother who just smiled at him.

“Well I don’t mind… Maybe Jimmy could join us too? I should ask Johnny if he wants to work with us too…” suggested Athalya, finally letting go of the book and handing it back to Brian.

“I’m gonna put it back in my room, Jimmy, I got something to show you, come on.” Said Brian, as he got up, holding the book and headed towards the stairs, followed by Jimmy.

Athalya stayed on the couch, feeling less secure without the book in hands. It was weird how that small book, full of French words had boosted her confidence even for a couple of minutes. She started playing with her hands, looking around the living room.

“Athalya? Can you help me to set the table?” asked Suzy.

“Sure” replied Athalya, smiling faintly as she pushed herself from the couch. Suzy quickly pecked her husband’s lips and then lead the way to the kitchen.

“Why didn’t you follow them?” asked Suzy, as she handed the plates to Athalya. Athalya shrugged and walked towards the table to put down the plates.

“Brian would have said something if I was supposed to follow them. He probably wanted to speak to Jimmy in private.” She replied with a shrug. “I mean, they’re best friends, that’s understandable.” She added with a smile, before taking the forks and knives from Suzy.

“If I may ask, how old are you?” asked Suzy, setting the glasses on the table.

“I turned 17 in September.” Replied Athalya.

“Really? I thought you were older… You’re very mature for your age.” Said Suzy.

“Huh… Thanks?” replied Athalya. “There are only 5 plates?” she asked, looking weirdly at the table.

“Brent and Suzy are not here tonight.” Explained Papa Gates. Athalya nodded shortly.

“Athalya, can you tell the boys that dinner’s ready?” asked Suzy.

“Sure…” she replied, turning around and heading towards the stairs.
She walked up to Brian’s room, “Dry Ice” still playing and knocked on the door.

“Dinner’s ready!” she said through the door, loud enough for them to hear over the music before she headed back to the kitchen.

Athalya walked back downstairs and went straight to the kitchen, wanting to help Suzy with whatever she wanted her to do. It still felt weird for Athalya to be invited for dinner almost every week and the boys’ place, like she was one of them. She still had some problem dealing with this, it was new for her.

Those situations never happened to her when she was in France, sure she had friends but they weren’t as close as they are. It seems to her that Jimmy, Brian, Matt, Val, Michelle, Justin, Zacky, Matt & Jason Berry were all a big family.
And sometimes, even though they were trying to make her fit in, she felt like an outsider. That was part of the reason why she chose not to follow Jimmy and Brian when they went to Brian’s room. She didn’t wanted to be a burden.

“Thank you Athalya, can you tell Brian that dinner’s ready too? He didn’t hear, he’s probably too engross in the TV or whatever show he is watching.” Said Suzy, rolling her eyes in a joking manner.

Athalya nodded, happy to make herself useful somehow and went to the living room.
“M.Haner, dinner’s ready!” she said, just loud enough for him to hear, but not too loud.

“Yeah, I know. I was just pretending to be deaf, I just love that show!” he said, turning to look at Athalya over his shoulder while pointing at the screen with the remote. “I’ll come in a moment. Just tell my wife I went to the bathroom or some excuses of the kind. Can you do that?” he asked, whispering.
The small smile on Brian Senior’s face made him look like a young teenager, about to do some mischief.

“Sure...” she said, as she turned around and bumped into Brian junior.

“Oh shit! Sorry Athalya!” apologized Brian. She wrinkled her nose and rubbed her shoulder.

“No problem” she said, while heading to the kitchen.

“He’ll come in a moment, he went to the bathroom.” She said, still rubbing her shoulder.

“Huh? Dad’s in the living room watching TV, Jimmy is in the bathroom though...” said Brian, following Athalya. She turned around and smacked his arm.

“You weren’t supposed to say that, you were supposed to shut up.” She muttered, glaring at him just as Brian’s father entered the kitchen.

“Hey, how was I supposed to know that!”

“Just think before you speak!” she said, shaking her head in a desperate manner, and as if Brian’s case was hopeless, she patted his head. She sat down at the table and shook her head, sharing an amuse glance with Papa Gates and Suzy.

Brian stood confused in the middle of the kitchen, looking at his step-mother who just chuckled and went to grab the dishes.

“I’m hungry!” said Jimmy, skipping in the kitchen. He went to sit next to Athalya, Brian sat opposite Jimmy and Papa Gates sat at the end of the table, leaving the sit opposite Athalya for Suzy.

Suzy brought the dishes to the table.
As soon as the food hit their plates, the boys started digging in, stuffing their mouths with the food. Suzy clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

Athalya said nothing and slowly but surely, she started to eat. She had just swallowed her first bit of food when Brian was already handing his empty plate to Suzy.
Shortly followed by Jimmy.

“Boys...” Suzy sighed, serving them.

“So son, when’s the party of the year, hey? Is everything planned already?” asked Papa Gates, looking at his son.

“No, not yet Dad. It’s in two weeks or somewhere near that...” he said, as he stopped eating, just long enough so he could talk to his father.

“It’s going to be a blast!” said jimmy, with a wicked grin on his face. “With fake spiders and shit of the kind.”

“Are you coming?” asked Papa Gates, looking at Athalya, still smiling at jimmy’s craziness.

“Huh... Well... I don’t know. I was supposed to go to San Francisco that week end. I don’t know yet.” She replied, briefly looking at everyone around the table before focussing back on her plate.

“You’ll have plenty other opportunities to go to SF, but that might be the only time we will ever left the house all to Junior so he can throw a party.” Said Papa Gates.

“And that might be the last time we will ever see the house again...” added Suzy.

“Aw come on Mom! You know I won’t burn the house down.” Defended Brian.

“Oh I know you won’t, I trust you. But I have doubts concerning the others. I know how you teenagers are, there will be a lot of alcohol involved an-”

“There will be no alcohol!” defended Brian, cutting off Suzy.

Both Papa Gates and Suzy started laughing.

“We might be older than you are, but we surely aren’t stupid. You probably won’t believe this, but we used to be young once, and we know how it’s like in parties.” Said Brian, looking directly at his son.

Brian rubbed his neck nervously, glancing across the table at his best friend. Jimmy didn’t seem to care, as he leaned back in his chair.

“So, did you find a costume yet?” asked Papa Gates.

The conversation drifted away from the alcohol to the costumes and how to decorate the house. Papa Gates was just as thrilled as Jimmy when they were talking about how to decorate the garden.

At the end of dinner, the conversation moved from the kitchen to the living room. Athalya stayed behind to help Suzy with the washing(?).

“Athalya, I don’t want to pressure you or anything but I’d feel better if I knew that you’d be at Brian’s Halloween party... Because despise everything they say, I know damn well that there will be alcohol and probably other illicit substance involved and there’s nothing we can do about it. Nothing. But, I hope that you will be able to knock some sense into them... I don’t want it to get out of hands... The last thing I want is for any of the kids that will be present, to end up at the hospital...” she said, as Athalya was drying off the plates and putting them on a pile.

Athalya chewed on her bottom lip, really torn by the situation.
She could hear Brian and Jimmy talking with Papa Gates in the living room about the party. She had to admit, it sounded great. She kinda wanted to go. If it wasn’t for Billie Joe, she’d say ‘yes’, but there was Billie Joe and his family. She wanted to see them too.

She thought about Joey disguised as a little ghost with an old white sheet, carrying around a basket and knocking on doors asking for candies. She’d probably go with him, and maybe even with Billie Joe.

On the other hand, there was Brian and his party.
She could imagine the whole house decorated in a creepy manner, the music blasting loudly, beers and alcohol, drugs... People smoking, everybody dancing to the music.

Her choice would be easily made, if it wasn’t for the fact that something wrong could happen. She knew she would hate herself if anything happened during the party and she wasn’t there.

She let out a tiny sigh.

**

It was the end of the week. Saturday afternoon to be exact. The conversations were now all about Halloween and Brian’s party. The group of friends had taken residence in Athalya’s grandparents’ living room. Suzan was more than happy to bake for the whole group.

Right now, Athalya was sitting at Jimmy’s feet, as the girls and Brian were asking her opinion on every single detail.

“Huh... black?” she asked/suggested as Val was asking her what shoes colour she should wear.

She heard the phone ringing somewhere in the house.

Her grand mother had been sharing her time between baking and answering the phone.

“What do you think about that list?” asked Brian, handing her a piece of paper with a lot of names scribbled on it.

“I think that there are too many people...” she said, as her eyes scanned the list. It seems that the whole school was invited.

“Lya? Billie Joe on the phone!” said her grand mother, standing at the doorway, holding the phone to her chest.

Athalya’s eyes widened and she shot up on her feet. Brian and Jimmy watched her curiously and she grabbed the phone from her grand mother and ran to her room.

“Hey Suzan, who’s that?” asked jimmy. Not caring if his question was indecent or whatever.

“Excuse me?”

“On the phone...” explained Jimmy.

“Oh! That was Billie Joe.” She said, before going back into the kitchen.

Jimmy and Brian exchanged a curious look. They were the only one who seems to notice her absence.

**

“Hey B!” Athalya said as she closed her bedroom door behind her.

“Hey Lya, how are you?”

As his voice hit her ears, she smiled, sat cross-legged on her bed.

“I’m good, thank you. And you? How’s everyone?” she asked.

“I’m fine, everyone’s fine... and Joey miss you.” he said.

She felt her face fell a little at his words.

“speaking of the devil, he’s jumping around me, asking to talk to you, do you mind?” asked Billie Joe, you could hear the smile in his voice.

“No problem!”

“I’ll talk to you in a minute then, here you go buddy!” she heard some noises and then a small voice talking in the phone.

“Lya? Hey!” shouted Joey on the phone.

“Hey buddy! How are you doing sweetie?”

“I’m good! We went to play basket ball with dad this morning. And mum is cooking chicken with French fries for tonight, Tré and Mike are coming.” he explained.

“Well, that’s great Joey. How is Jacob?”

“Still small, but he’s fine. He doesn’t cry as often.” he explained. “You are coming next week, right?” he asked, excitedly, his voice raising.

“Hum, it’s a bit complicated sweetie. I’m sorry...” she sighed in the phone. She felt bad for saying that to Joey.
Really bad.

“Oh...” he said, sounding disappointed. “When are you coming then?” She felt her heart tightened in her chest.

“I don’t know Joey...”

“Dad wants to talk to you. Bye Lya, love you and miss you.” he said in the phone.

“I love you too Joey, I miss you. Bye.”

“Lya? So what’s up?”

“I cannot go to Oakland next week...” she said. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh... all right. Well, that sucks... Now I understand Joey’s reaction. When are you coming then?”

“I have no fucking idea!” she swore loudly.

“Hey, chill out! It’s not that important, we will see you the next week or something...”

“Of course it is important... I wanted to come! But one of my friends is throwing a party for Halloween, and his step-mother wants me to be there in case some bad things happen. I’m sorry.” Apologized Athalya.

“Well, I’ll explain the situation to Joey, I’m sure he will understand. You’ve got friends over at your house, right?”

“Yeah, they are planning the party.” She said, sighing.

“All right then, I’ll let you go back to them. See you soon Lya. Bye!”

“Bye Billie Joe.”

Sighing, she dropped the phone on her bed and let herself fall backwards. She laid there, motionless, her eyes wide open, starring at the ceiling. She took a couple of deep breaths and left her room, taking the phone with her. She put the phone back on its base and went back in the living room. She clenched her jaw, glaring at Brian’s back for a few seconds before turning around and going to the kitchen. She grabbed a can of coke and took a long gulp before sighing deeply.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” asked Suzan, looking worriedly at her granddaughter.

“Joey est triste car je ne peux pas aller à San Francisco. Je me déteste. Joey’s sad because I can’t go to SF. I hate myself.” She said in a low, desperate voice. “Je voulais les voir. Mais je dois rester là au cas où ces débiles auraient un problème. Je serais la seule personne sobre… Super! I wanted to see them. But I need to stay here incase those morons got themselves in trouble. I’ll be the only sober one... Great.” She muttered.

“C’est quand? When is the party?” asked Suzan.

“Samedi soir Saturday night…” she said with a sigh. “c’est naze, vraimant nul… It sucks… Really sucks.”

“Dis toi que c’est pour une bonne raison, quelque chose pourrait arriver lors de la fête… Tu seras peut être la seule personne en mesure de les aider. Well, it’s for a good cause, something wrong could happen at the party… You might be the only one who’ll be able to help them.” Said Suzan.

“But fuck it! I don’t give a fucking damn! I want to go see Joey!” she swore loudly, slamming both fists on the table. “They could handle themselves without me! Don’t they understand that I got a life besides them?”

“Lya, Suzy was just trying to get you more involved into the party, you seem like the kind of girl people can trust and can rely on.” Said Suzan, not so happy to see her granddaughter so upset.

“Joey was trusting me and relying on me. I let him down just to watch after older people who just want to ‘look’ badass by getting themselves fucked up by drugs and alcohol. I’ll go to that fucking party, but if any of them get hurts, I’ll let them bleed themselves to death.” She swore.

“I know you won’t…” whispered Suzan, kissing Lya’s cheek. “You’re a good person sweetie. You did the right thing.” She added.

“Calm down Lya. You know it will turn out to be the best decision in the end.” Whispered Suzan, wrapping her arms around her granddaughter.

“But I feel so bad...” she whispered, before letting out a heartbreaking sigh. “I feel bad because of Joey and Billie Joe, but I also feel bad because Brian is so thrilled about his party and I’ll feel bad if I decide not to go.”

“I need to see him.” She whispered, barely audible. “I need to. It’s a damn necessity.”

“Lya, please calm down.” Whispered Suzan, getting worried. “You’ll be able to see him soon. I’m sure you’ll see him in no time.”

Athalya kept her head low, glaring at her shoes. She felt like crying. It was a stupid reason to cry, but still. It was part of the few things she was looking forward to, seeing Billie Joe and his family.

She took a few deep breaths, closing her eyes as she did so.
“Thank you.” She said, kissing her grandmother’s cheeks before heading back to the living room.

Her face clearly showed how upset she was.

“Is everything all right?” asked Johnny. Her face went blank for a second before she replaced her previous frown with a smile.

“Sure... You’re still staying here tonight, right?” she asked, letting herself fall on the carpet, sitting at his feet.

“Well yeah, if you still want me to.” He said, playing with her hair.

“Johnny, why would I ask you if I didn’t want you to stay. I would have told you to fuck off if that wasn’t the case.” She said, resting her back against his legs before grabbing the nearest paper on the coffee table, it was that supposed ‘guest list’.

Brian was glaring at Johnny, he tried to be subtle about it, but clearly couldn’t as Jimmy smack him upside the head.
“Stop that” he said before turning back to his conversation with Michelle about nails and varnish.

Athalya couldn’t help but to be frustrated with Brian, it was his fault after all. He chooses to throw a party, he should assume the consequences of his decisions.

She glanced at the ‘guest list’ and rolled her eyes. Half of the names on that list were girls. Of course. She’d have to baby-sit girls probably older than she was.

“So what do you think?” asked Matt.

Inside, she was boiling.
I don’t give a flying fuck about that damn dumb list. Just get them drunk and fuck those sluts all ready
That give you a slight idea of what was going through her mind.

She shrugged,
“It’s a list.” Before giving it back to Brian who smiled at her. She ignored him.

“When do you think it should start, at 8pm or 8.30pm?” asked Val.

Athalya pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh, she tried to be discreet about her annoyance and boredom. She didn’t wanted to hurt their feelings.

“Is everything all right Athalya?” asked Michelle.

“I don’t fell all that well” she mumbled “I’m probably just tired.” She said, she was only half lying.

“You need some fresh air, we could go to the beach?” suggested Val.

Everyone cheered. Athalya had no choice but to follow the movement. She did not cheer, she just got up as everyone else did.

She was biting the inside of her cheek. As the seconds ticked by, she felt more and more upset and angry. She tried to refrain herself from saying anything as they all thanked her grandparents and told them they would be back later in the afternoon. Her grandmother was going to invite them for dinner, she could feel it.

“Athalya, you’re going with Brian?” asked Matt, twirling his keys between his fingers.

She merely nodded. She opened the passenger door and sat down, buckling her seatbelt. Turned out she was the only one riding with Brian. Matt, Michelle, Val, Zacky, Justin were piled up in Matt’s car while Jimmy was driving Johnny.

As Brian started the engine, Green Day came out of the speakers. She cringed but said nothing.

The drive was silent and Athalya was thankful for that.
But after a while, Brian broke it.

“You seem upset Athalya...” he said, glancing at her.

“I am.” She whispered, crossing her arms over her chest and sinking further in the seat.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” he asked.

“No, not really.” She sighed, looking out of the window.

“Does it have something to do with that phone call you got earlier?” he asked again.

“Yes Brian, this and other things.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

Athalya dropped her gaze to her hands that were resting on her lap. She should probably talk to him about it, but she was afraid her anger and frustration would get out.

“I’m your best friend, you remember?” he asked, sounding slightly hurt.

Athalya closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.
“I had plans for the week end of your Halloween party. I was supposed to go to San Francisco. My mother’s best friend has children, 2 boys. One of them had asked me to go with him on Halloween. We were supposed to go ask people for candies and stuff... I talked to him on the phone. I had to tell him that I couldn’t see him this week end. He was upset and so am I.” She confessed.

Brian’s breath got stuck in his throat. She was seeing someone.

“I’m sorry Athalya... You can always go to San Francisco, you don’t necessarily have to come to the party.” He said, feeling his heart sinking in his chest.

“I told Suzy I would look after you, in case something bad happen. It just hurt to hear him through the phone, poor kid.” She sighed.

Brian sat up straighter as he heard those words poor kid.

“Kid?” asked Brian, puzzled.

“Well yeah, kid... He’s like 5 years old, 7 years old at top.” She explained. “He’s like my little brother... You should see him, he’s so cute! He truly is an awesome kid.”

Brian let out a sigh of relief and tried to hide his smile.

“I’m sorry Athalya... But really, we’ll be fine. Just go to San Francisco. No worries.”

She glared at him.
“Yes I’m upset but that doesn’t mean I’ll take the risk to see you and your friends ending at the hospital. At least Joey has his parents to look after him. Your parents won’t even be there.”

“I...”

Athalya cut him off,
“don’t even dare to say that you feel bad or responsible or whatever.” She said.

Brian held up his hand in surrender and parked the car as they had just reached their destination.

“You could always go to San Francisco on Friday...” he suggested. “Even on Thursday afternoon... You ditch school on Friday and you come back on Saturday... I’ll make sure that someone in your class will take notes for you so won’t be late with the lessons and such.” He said.

She smiled,
“That’s nice Brian, but I don’t think it’d be possible. Thanks for trying though.” She said, smiling at him. She no longer felt angry at him, the situation seemed to upset him too.

“I wish i could help you.” He said, rubbing his neck nervously.

“Nah come on Brian, it’s nice of you to try and help me. I appreciate it!” she said, before quickly kissing his cheek and leaving the car.

Brian blinked a few times and unconsciously touched his cheek. He, then, hurried out of the car, following his friends.

“You already seem less frustrated!” said jimmy, swinging his arm over Athalya’s shoulder as soon as she reached them.

“Brian cheered me up.” She explained, “after all, he’s my best friend.” She added, grinning.

“Stop looking like an idiot Athalya, just smile, don’t look like a monkey.” He said, pursing his lips. Her grin faded and she replaced it by a smile. Jimmy smiled back and kissed her cheek. “You look better with a smile on your face than a frown.” He added. She rolled her eyes.

“So, I heard Shortshit staying at your place tonight?” hinted Jimmy.

“Well yeah, his parents are out of town.” She explained.

“How come you never invited me?” he asked. Athalya raised an eyebrow and looked at him, almost glaring.

“Are you joking? Of course you came to my house! About a week or less after I arrived.” She argued.

“Oh that... Well, yeah that’s true!”

Athalya rolled her eyes, knowing damn well what he was implying.
“All right, you can stay too if you want.” She said.

“You could have done better than that...” he replied, pouting.

“Huh?”

“Yeah, you could have asked more politely or nicely or whatever.” Said Jimmy.

She, once again, rolled her eyes.
“Dear Jimmy, would you do me a favour and accept my invitation? It would make me really happy.” She said, batting her eyelashes and smiling sweetly at him.

Jimmy shrugged.
“Sure...”

Athalya frowned and smacked his arm.
“Moron...” she muttered as he started laughing.

He laughed harder as he wrapped his arms around her and twirled her around, fast.
“I’m happy you asked Frenchie, we’re gonna have so much fun!” he shouted

“All right, all right... Don’t make her sick by spinning her around!” instructed Michelle, stopping Jimmy.

He let go of Athalya as she tried to walk straight, all the while holding her forehead. She lost her balance and fell on her butt, in the sand.

“If she throws up, I’ll hold you responsible!” said Michelle, helping Athalya to get back on her feet. However, she wasn’t strong enough to get her back on her feet.

“Jesus Christ...” muttered Matt, letting go of Val’s hand just long enough to carry Athalya to where everyone had chosen to sit. He dropped Athalya at Brian’s feet.

“Keep her away from jimmy. The guy is going to kill her...” he mumbled, rolling his eyes.

“Hey look! She’s green, like Green Day!”
Brian glared at Justin for even thinking about that joke in the first place.

“That was lame buddy!” called Val, taking a beer.

Where she got it was beyond Athalya’s knowledge at the moment. It seemed like her eyes couldn’t focus. When she tried to open them, all she could see was blurry faces around her.

“Frenchie, are you all right?” asked Michelle, pressing her hand to Athalya’s forehead.

In reply, she just moaned and cradled her head.
She was half lying on the sand and half lying on Brian’s lap.

“It’s spinning.” She whispered, clenching her eyes shut.

“Jimmy, next time please, do refrain yourself for shaking her around like a broken doll. She might be French, but she’s human.” Said Matt, as he, too drank a beer.

Slowly but surely, Athalya opened her eyes and saw that everyone was drinking beers. Turns out Zacky was the one who brought the beers. They were in Matt’s car trunk. As if they had planned they would end up drinking.

Finally, her head stopped aching, her eyes could focus and she sat up on the sand, between Brian and Michelle, who had insisted on staying by “Frenchie’s side”.

She blinked and rubbed her eyes a couple of times, and when she hoped them again, someone was holding a beer in front of her face.

“I don’t drink” she said, hastily pushing the can away from her face like it held some kind of disease.

“You should start.” Was Zacky’s reply.

“I won’t.” She said, her face hardening.

“Ow, touchy subject it seems.” He added.

Athalya clenched her jaw, and gave him a look that could have made Hell frizzing over.
Right now, she didn’t wanted to start an argument about her view on alcohol, drugs and other stuff of the kind. It could turn ugly.

“You’re going to feel extremely lonely next week end... Pretty much everyone will be drunk!” laughed Justin. Leave it to him to laugh about something like that.