Split Together

                                                                        Chapter 1- The Start of Confusion

High school. My personal hell. Day after day of the same thing. Endless assignments harder than diamonds themselves, hours upon hours of torturous explanations of both the educational and social worlds, and worst of all…the excruciating punishment and ridicule for failure of the rules of both worlds. But that was all going to end…or so I thought.

Graduation, supposedly a celebration for accomplishing high school education. But for some it’s a reminder. I learned that the hard way.

It was just after all the boring speeches and everyone was joining in on either the post-graduation conversation or the celebrations involved once leaving. It was then that I heard what at the time was the worst idea ever suggested to me.

“A PARTY?! Dude are you crazy,” I asked my friend, Mark. “No bullshit. And keep your voice down, I think other people are staring at us,” he explains in a more hushed manner. I turned my head and sure enough almost everyone had their gaze toward us. I blushed, slightly embarrassed by my sudden outburst.

“So, are you going or what,” Mark asked, a hint of anticipation in his voice. “You know, this could be your last chance to get noticed around here, well, on a positive level at least,” he continued, a slight scowl on his face.

*Sigh* “Dude, do you know what they’ll do to me if I go? They’ll probably-“

“C’mon, you don’t know about that. Besides, I don’t think it would be right if I just left to this thing without you.”

“You need a designated driver don’t you?”

“Look, can you just come with?”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” *Huff* “Alright, I’ll go.”

“Awesome meet me there at 9:00P.M.”

Before I could voice anything else on my mind, he left clearly ready for the party. ‘Great,’ I thought to myself. ‘What have I gotten myself into?’ I disbanded those thoughts for now and went to my car. When I got in I turned the key in the ignition a brought the car to life.

The drive to the house was a rather smooth drive, no traffic thank God. The radio seemed to fit the mood as well, playing some decent songs. It was almost surreal that this kind of peace even existed. This peace would not last however. I knew what was coming up next.

I put the emergency brake on before stepping out and heading up the stairs to the front door of the house. A quick turn of the doorknob opened the door and made the room visible to my eyes. The empty place filled my heart with a saddening I always had to endure ever since… well maybe I’ll discuss my past later. At any rate, I went upstairs and got out of my cap and gown and soon adorned my work clothes. A simple cashier get-up. After this simple change in attire, I left to drive off to work. The only thoughts going through my head were the ones involving my disappointment that the one night of relaxation I could have gotten had been taken away because of Mark. That’s when my logical side snapped back that it was me who ultimately made the decision. The final thought I had was, ‘This should be fun.’

“OK, fuck this. I’m out.”

“C’mon dude, don’t be a pussy alright? Just chill man. Now let’s get going!”

*sigh* “Mark, I hope you know what I had to do to be here.”

“Yeah, you told me all about it on the way here. Now c’mon, let’s go!”

I sigh reluctantly as my friend makes his way up the stairs. Following close behind, I stepped into the scene, expecting the cliché drunk guy to walk into me. Nothing happened at the moment so I assumed the real drinking hadn’t started quiet yet. I figured it will only be a matter of time. Although that conclusion struck there was another thing that caught me off guard. It was the smell of weed. Not very strong but still there. It was at this I decided the best idea to do was map out the house. You know, just in case.

After about ten minutes of looking around I familiarized myself with the buildings layout. That and discovered where the “scent” was coming from. I was going to check out were my friend went when I was stopped by someone asking me, with a slight slur in his voice, “Hey… Wannna drink?” I thought back to the reason I was here in the first place and said, “No. Thanks for the offer though.”

He pauses for a moment before responding with, “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?” At this point I froze a bit. He does know me. His name is Jason, in case I didn’t tell you. Another thing to note about him besides his name is his background. He is a complete and utter asshole. He would waste his entire days to make my life a living hell. To that reminder I snapped back to reality and hesitantly spoke, “No, we’ve never met before.”

“Oh. Well then welcome to the party bro. I’m Jason,” he says without a hint of suspicion. It seems he bought my lie. He then held out his hand. Me, not wanting to look too outa place, took his hand in mine and shook it. “Pleasure to meet you Jason. I’m… Greg,” I lied. “Well, did I invite you or did you hear about it and think it would be fun?” he asked.

“Well, I was actually kinda dragged here.”

“So your, like, the… designer driver or whatever.”

I chuckled, “yeah something like that”

Another hour goes by and everything seemed fine. Jason was gone, hurrying to do something else after our conversation. If he hadn’t have figured it out by now I doubt he will through the night. It was, though at this point that I hadn’t seen Mark in a while. I wondered what exactly he was doing at this point. After another five minutes of walking however, I found him and a bunch of other guys in front of a TV. From the look of it though, he appeared not to be paying attention to the TV at the current moment. In fact, he looked like he was sleeping. ‘He must have passed out,’ I figured.

The funniest part of it all was what was actually being displayed on the screen of the TV. It was a cartoon; to be specific it was called ‘My Little Pony’.  I started chuckling, thinking the fumes in the room finally got to his head. Looking around, the other guys around him were watching with intent. ‘Sheesh, and as if  trekkies weren’t enough,’ I remembered thinking to myself.

While still in thought of the sight before me, I started to hear an argument. This was a little startling, considering how miraculous the evening was going. I considered it an obligation, through some random thought process, that I should be the one to stop this altercation from ruining this somewhat peaceful party. As illegal as everything was, from the ‘cigarettes’ to the ‘beverages’, I was somewhat enjoying myself.

A voice I recalled spoke to me. It was Mark’s. ‘This could be your last chance to get noticed around here.’ Well, it was time to finally do something I always wanted to do. Crash one these bastard’s parties. Not that I loved destruction or anything, but after the way these people treated me, I say, they deserve it.

So with a moment to prepare, I headed toward where I started to hear the struggle. Turns out, it involved my new ‘ buddy ‘ and another person. As I walked closer, I noticed it seemed he was trying to drag her to the upper floor of the house. Now, I’m not an idiot, I know what things go on at parties like these on the second floor. ‘Sorry for being a cock-block, but your time is up ‘I thought with a mischievous tone.