From First to Last

“Smile, Avery, the day has only just started.” Jason chirped as he walked past my desk. I had my head against my folded arms on the desk. I was already sick of the first day back, and it was only 10 o'clock.

“I'm guessing by the overly-enthusiastic looks on all of your faces that you had a terrible school break and are all just dying to get back into this wonderful English work?” Jason asked the class. Communal groans sounded from all the other students in the class who were equally as disinterested as I already was. “Lucky for you guys, I still remember how terrible it is on the first day back, we we'll just take it easy. How about we start by watching a video or two?”

The class all sighed with relief as Jason turned to his computer and flipped through his files to find something we could work with. Jason was considered to be a pretty cool teacher – he taught his students well because it wasn’t hard for him to relate to them. He was still a teenager at heart, and knew how to have fun yet make it educational too. Students didn’t ever take advantage of his caring nature, and even when junior students tried to, he would put them in line right away.

After an hour of watching clips of people speaking about courage, the bell rang throughout the classroom over the sound of the video. Students packed up their books as fast as they could, so they could get to lunch already. It seemed nobody was particularly enjoying being back at school for the second term.

Once everyone else had left the classroom, Jason was still packing up his electronic equipment. He noticed me dawdling around, and smiled at me. “Hey Avery, do you think Katherine will let you out of the prison tonight?” he asked. Katherine was my mother, but he always just called her by her name.

“On a school night? You’re crazy if you think she’ll let me out.” I groaned. I was sure Jason was going to invite me out to some fun event that I would hate to miss. However, my mother was a real tight-ass when it came to doing anything “fun” on a school night.

“Tell her you’re studying or something. Whatever you tell her, make sure it’s believable. We’re going to be out all night and I don’t want her to get mad at me for it.” Jason said. He began walking out of the classroom, and I followed alongside him.

“Where are we actually going? I want to be know if it will be worth the potential grounding I will get if I get caught sneaking out.” I said as we passed by where my friends usually sit at lunch and towards the staffroom. I casually followed him inside, getting weird looks from the students waiting in the foyer to speak to staff. None of the other teachers questioned it, simply because they had seen it so many times before.

“One of my old friends is having a party across town. I knew him back in high school, he always threw the best parties.” Jason explained as he dumped all his paperwork on his desk, collapsing into his chair. I propped myself up on the desk, taking his lunch out of his laptop bag and helping myself to some.

“He’s having a reunion of the old gang and he said I could bring you if I wanted.”

I thought about it for a few moments. I had snuck out of my house on many occasions before, but the last time I did and I came home too drunk I woke up my mother and I got into so much trouble. I was finally old enough for her to let me make my own decision, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to risk her trust for one night of drunken fun. But on the other hand, drinking and partying with Jason was always a blast.

“Of course I’ll try to get out. But in return you have to pay for all of it. I’m broke ever since I bought you that stupid iPhone,” I whinged, and he just smiled and lightly punched my arm.

The day droned on, like any normal school day in April would. Classes seemed to go on for a lot longer when I was excitedly awaiting the final bell of the day, so I could go home and prepare for my night out. Tuesdays weren’t usually an eventful day, so when I got home I acted like I was just preparing for a night of homework and lounging around. My mother and Pierce had only just returned home, so they barely even noticed me entering the house when I did.

I waited until both of them went to bed at 8pm before getting ready for the party. After the usual routine of showering and straightening my hair, I changed into my party attire of a tight blue bandage dress and black heels, piling on as much makeup as I could to hide all my facial imperfections. I was an average height at 5’7, and relatively slim. I had to work constantly for my body to look the way I wanted it to, but I was happy with where I was at. I could wear tight dresses without my large chest dominating my look.
I quietly made my way through the house, down the stairs and out the door to where Jason was waiting for me in his overly expensive car. He looked at me and grinned, holding up a paper bag with two large glass bottles in it before hurrying into his car. I slid into the passenger seat, closing the door as Jason sped off to the party.

It was held in the richer side of town, right across the road from the beach. The house itself was massive – it was a grey coloured modern two-storey house with massive glass windows that reflected the moonlight. There were lights illuminating the perfectly maintained garden all the way up to the house. Cars were parked on every gap in the driveway and on the street. Loud dance music could be heard as soon as I opened the car door, along with equally loud voices.

“Make sure you stick by me tonight, some of the guys here tonight were total creeps in high school and I really doubt they have changed much since then,” Jason said, taking hold of my forearm to keep me upright. I had taken a few swigs of vodka and whiskey on the drive and I was already feeling the effects.

“Jason, don’t be such a worrier. I can handle big tough douchebags myself,” I scoffed, my words not flowing out of my mouth as easily as usual. I wasn’t ever a really messy drunk, but occasionally I would find myself unable to walk straight or talking way too much slightly slurred.

“Whatever, just find me if you get too drunk and I’ll take you home.” Jason said. Still holding onto my arm, he walked up to the house, entering without any declaration. Within a few moments of being inside, Jason recognised one of his old friends and instantly began chatting to him. Jason left me alone, so I decided to make some new friends. There was a blatant lack of females at the party, but that didn’t stop me. I noticed someone that I had met once before when I was out with Jason, so I approached him and his group of friends.

“Hey! Avery, right? Jason’s friend?” the man said. My memory was telling me that his name was Adrian, so I went with that.

“The one and only,” I announced, slinging my arm around Adrian’s shoulder so that I wouldn’t stumble over. I took his drink out of his hand and took a large sip, swallowing whatever it was without any hesitation. It had a feint taste of bourbon mixed in with coke. Adrian didn’t seem too care much.

Despite the words Jason said to me about the ‘creeps’ at the party and how I shouldn’t stray away from him, he was quick to forget about me. I looked over to where he was immersed in his conversation with his old friends, and decided that I didn’t want to be a bother.