Saying Goodbye

Kate nudged me with her elbow just at the moment that I was about to doze off in class.

"What?" I whispered, glaring at her. "I was just about to sleep!"

"Just wondering if you were going to the part on Saturday..." She whispers back to me.

Being the one who was always told last, I was clueless. "Party? What party?"

Kate merely rolled her eyes at me. "Honestly, you're so misinformed!" She leant in closer. "Maria Conner's party! Like, the biggest one of the year!"

I could tell that Kate sensed my hesitation.

Maria isn't the richest kid in the school, but she is definitely the one that shows off her wealth the most by having parties in the mansion every time her parents leave for conferences. Rose, although much richer, is conservative in comparison.

And, naturally, the whole school was invited!

I pouted at Kate. “Do I have to? It’ll be so boring!”

She gasped. “How can you even think that?! Hello? PARTAY!” She punched the air silently. I was suddenly glad that the teacher wasn’t even paying attention to our chaotic class.

I rolled my eyes. I loathed parties with a fervent passion.

It wasn’t that I was unsociable, but all the drinking and the poisoning oneself and projectile vomiting and strip poker and people losing their virginity when drunk just put me off enough, even without the knowledge that Max would almost definitely be going too. He is a ladies man, without a doubt, which made me hate him even more.

Kate knew this, but still she pleaded. “C’mon, please! I’ll be so alone!”

“Can’t Rose go with you?” I whined.

“She’s going to be out on a date with Michael that night! Liz, please, for me?” Kate widened her eyes and pouted. “Pretty please?”

I heaved a sigh. “Fine!” Then I looked her in the eyes with a serious face. “But don’t expect me to have the same amount of shots as you. I can’t handle it.”

Air was squeezed out of my lungs as Kate enfolded me into her enormous bosoms in a hug. “Thanks so much, Lizzie! I won’t let you down, I promise!”

“Kate…..can’t……breathe…..”

“Oh! Sorry!” She flung herself off me with a sheepish grin. “But thanks.” Then as if in quick explanation, she added; “I heard Nick say he was going, too.”

I grinned. “Is that a blush I see?”

Her face turned even redder. “Shut up!”

**



All through the week, to say that I was looking forward to the party was a major understatement. I was generously less than elated.

Kate, on the other hand, could barely conceal her excitement. Even I could see that this party was a big deal to her; especially since Nick, her crush of seven years, was going too.

But, that didn't stop all three of us from enjoying ourselves in the ritual of what-to-wear.

Back in Rose's humungous bedroom, we helped her prepare for her posh dinner-date with Robert while Kate and i assisted each other with party-proof outfits.

After about four hours of painstakingly throwing clothes on and off each other, Rose ended up with a simple red figure-hugging cocktail dress, scarlet lipstick and simple smoky eyes. Her long, straight black hair was fastened into an elegant chignon and she had black gladiator stilettos strapped to her feet. She looked like a classic beauty, and absolutely stunning.

Kate looked fabulous in a black halter-neck mini dress with electric blue wedge-heels and layers of blue eye-shadow framing her eyes, while her blonde curls were all held to one side in a messy side ponytail. Her dress was great in that it pinched over her boobs - no doubt a great display of her assets - but flowed out afterwards, disguising her rounded tummy perfectly.

As for me, I eventually settled with a strapless bell-dress the colour of autumn leaves with bronze-coloured heels and eye-shadow. My wavy red hair was curled and left loose and I refused to apply anything to my lips apart from a simple, nude lipgloss.

At seven on the dot, we all heard the doorbell ring. "Must be Michael!" I winked at Rose.

Not wanting to let Michael know that we were kind of spying on them, Kate and I hid at the top of the stairs while we watched Rose glide downstairs, and we saw Michael's expression of shock, then amazement, then happiness as he saw Rose sashaying towards him.

He smiled widely and kissed her on the cheek. "You look beautiful."

Back upstairs, me and Kate were squealing silently and going 'aww!'. On her way out, Rose tossed us a wink, and then as the sound of Michael's car faded away Kate looked at me and grinned.

"Let's get fit-shaced!!" She squealed, throwing her arms into the air.



As a special effort to get me into the party mood, Kate blasted catchy hit tunes in the car for us to sing along to all the way to Maria's house.

I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it, but hey, it was fun on the way there.

We parked in the street behind Maria’s house as Maria’s street was clogged with cars, and staggered over to the front door which was wide open and blaring with loud music.

I glanced over at Kate skeptically. “Do we just waltz in?”

She just rolled her eyes. “Christ Liz, have you never been to a proper, good old, jolly-piss-up party?” She cut through the front door and headed straight for the kitchen with me following her.

“Why are we going into the kitchen?”

She turned around, holding two red plastic cups spilling over with a suspicious looking purple drink. “Hello? DRINKS!”

I sipped cautiously on my purple drink – which burned the back of my throat, so I’m guessing it was vodka infused with some sort of juice – while I stood at the wall and supervised Kate having a blast. She was grinding, kissing, bopping, dancing, hip-bumping, slurping, cleavage-exposing, whispering, giggling, spilling, twisting, and God knows what else. I did see Nick staring at her more than a few times though, and I mentally took note to tell her tomorrow, when she was sober. She’d be ecstatic.

“Look who we have here.”

I squealed as the whisper tickled my ear, and I spun round to see none other than the infamous Max Rivers smirking at me. “Bit lonely on the wall, isn’t it?”

“Beat it, Rivers.” I snarled. “You don’t belong here.”

“What, on the Loser’s Wall?”

I faked a laugh. “No, in my personal bubble.” I leaned in closer to him and lowered my voice. “Restraining order of a thousand miles, minimum.”

Just then, a random voice announced over the loud music in an even louder voice that a drinking game was about to ensue upstairs, and in that moment Max turned his back on me so that he could join his friends.

In the pit of my stomach, I felt that something bad was going to happen, but I hadn’t a clue what it could be.

With that thought in my mind, I sat in the nearest chair and watched Kate dance while I sipped slowly on my drink. She was a really good dancer. I remembered that she had been practicing all sorts of dance since she was seven; tap, hip hop, ballet, ballroom, breakdance, and traditional Irish and Scottish dances. It was her absolute passion.

After a while I felt a desperate urge for a wee. On my way to the toilet I spotted multitudes of couples snogging passionately against the walls and various drunks passed out in the corridors, or staggering to the nearest plant pot or window or toilet to throw up in. See, this is way I hate parties! It’s so horrid the way people fling themselves around doing whatever they fancy, regardless of how stupid and harmful it may be…

Just as I opened the bathroom door, a familiar looking black haired boy stumbled out of it and fell flat on his face in front of my feet.
(Alliteration, much!)
When he looked up at me I felt a chill go down my spine and I shivered, but not because I was cold. Max looked like a dying man.

His features were gaunt; his jaw swinging at a worrying angle and his skin was nearly grey with fatigue. His eyes were drooping at an alarming rate and it was clear that he couldn’t see the carpet in front of his face, never mind his way home. Plus, as if that wasn’t bad enough, there was bile dangling from his chin and he looked as if he was about to pass out.

“Max?” I said quietly. “Max, are you okay?”

“Mhhmm…. Wher'm I?”

Max didn’t even look at me as he clumsily made his way back into the bathroom, and promptly threw up heavily into the toilet bowl.

He looked really ill. I followed him into the bathroom, just to make sure he was okay. After all, it looked like nobody else was willing, or even bothered to see what was wrong with him.

While he was busy…. Err… Vomiting, I checked his temperature.

Ice cold.

I also noticed that in between throwing up, his breathing rate was incredibly fast.

Irregular breathing… severe mental confusion… heavy vomiting… low body temperature …… pale bluish skin…

He was showing the signs of alcohol poisoning?!