15No one's reading this but here's the second chapter anyway.
Malkom hung out on the top floor of the multi-storey car park with his 'gang'. There was a large bunch of them, people like himself who were shunned by everyone else by having diverse tastes in everything from clothes to music to sexual preference. There was about twelve of them in all, not including a couple of others who were busy today. He relaxed; sitting in the shelter the wall gave from the cold wind that swept around up here.
"So Skitzo, what's happening Friday?"
If there was any more reason to show that he belonged here, it was this casual use of his nickname. At school, he was called 'Mr. Foxe' by the teachers and 'Oi', 'Geddouttadaway' and 'Faggit' by everyone else, if he was noticed at all. Here, he was named after his deceivingly innocent looks covering the deviously sharp and agile brain beneath them. He had fooled a lot of people with his vapid expressions and blank looks, while he took stock of their mannerisms, weaknesses and strengths without them even noticing it. He shrugged and the speaker, a straggly-haired brunette named Sylvia, turned to another member of their group, Mark, and asked him the same question. Malkom looked with no particular interest across the skyline, which was already humming its bold fiery reds and oranges down to mellower and more soothing indigo and blue. He heard the tail end of the conversation behind him.
"…gatecrash it, show her a thing or two."
That got his attention like a hot poker to his skin.
"What was that?"
"Friday. Some cheerleader's party, some guy my brother's friend knows told him about it. I'd thought we'd gatecrash, you know? Stir things up for the preppie squad a bit."
Malkom thought about this and seeing that he hadn't been to a party in ages and that he really had nothing else better to do on that Friday he might as well.
"I'm cool wit it." He said. And that was that.
By the time Friday came around, the party at Brittany's house was the main gossip of the school. Brittany had bragged about her meeting with the 'older man' and all kinds of rumours were going around about who would be at the party. Brittany had spent a couple of hours getting ready, sorting out music and food and dressing up. She came down when the bell rang as the first guests started arriving. Pretty soon the place was jumping and a couple of people had already started making out, but she hadn't seen hide or hair of Christian. She had hooked her boyfriend into being the bouncer, so he wasn't anywhere around to mess things up between her and Christian. He was so overprotective sometimes, sheesh! You'd think he owned her.
She sighed and ventured upstairs to see whether Christian had got in without her noticing and had gone upstairs looking for her.
She was upstairs when she heard an 'oi!' followed by some angered shouting downstairs.
She trotted as fast as she could in her high-heels until she got to the stairs and then all that she saw was Christian.
His russet hair looked darker in the dim lighting but his eyes were no less bright. He was wearing a soft blue jumper that complimented his eyes perfectly, and a pair of reddish leather trousers. She eyed him appreciatively. She noticed that he was being held back by Ross, and quickly went to the door.
"Hi Chris." She said, smiling brightly. "Ross, it's okay. This is the older guy I told you about, you know? The one who I met outside."
Ross growled under his breath and stood aside to let Chris through.
"Thanks babe." He said to her, before stalking in like a cat.
Brittany almost swooned. *He called me babe. * She thought, before stalking after Chris herself. Chris had already been surrounded by a host of girls from her year, all of them clucking and giggling around him. She shouldered her way to the front and promptly laced her arm through his. He seemed a bit surprised, but accepted it. It was her party after all.
"So," She began, the attention of almost everyone on her and her new man "Did you bring any friends with you?"
An almighty crash sounded from the front garden and drunken whooping closely followed it.
"Oh my God!" Brittany screamed. "What the hell was that? It sounded like my mother's glass garden ornament!"
Chris grinned.
"That… would be my mates."
"Wh-what!?"
"Well, you did say I could invite some people, right?" He asked.
Brittany remembered. *Sure, the more the merrier. * She had definitely said that.
She turned to look at the door, just in time to see a guy in blue jeans and a white wife-beater shove Ross into the cabinet. The cabinet, of course, promptly collapsed.
"Wooooo! Chris! Great party!" Someone yelled. And then a girl screamed and all hell broke loose.
One of the 'weridos' had reached the stereo and had first ejected and snapped the CD that had been in there, replacing it with something heavy and fast paced. The group of about eight similarly dressed newcomers started… dancing? Fighting? … whatever, in the middle of her living room, pulling in some of her friends and spitting them out, bruised and sometimes even bloodied, all the while laughing and yelling the lyrics out as loud as they could. A drunken couple were making out heavily on her stairs, going ignored by the hordes of her friends who watched with horrified interest as the swirling crowd on the dance floor got larger and larger. She cringed as she heard something else break, then shrugged. These were Chris's friends, and she had to at least pretend to like them, even if she didn't.
"Hey guys! Food's still out!" She yelled over the racket, and the party moved back into a slightly more tense swing.
She looked around quickly to see if she could find Chris anywhere.
*Not by the snacks, not on the stairs, not on the shudder dance floor, not in the kitchen… upstairs! *
She weaved her way through the bodies practically screwing on the stairs, and checked in all the rooms, hurriedly backing out of those occupied, making a mental note to check the mess left behind later. She was just glad that she had locked both her and her parent's rooms.
She went back downstairs and saw something that made her blood run first cold with shock, then hot with murderous jealousy.
Chris was leaning back against the wall, apparently supporting a smaller body, which was wrapped around him, legs crossed at Chris's waist and arms around his neck. They were playing sucky face.
"Wh-wh-WHAT?" Brittany breathed. She couldn't believe this, She had invited Chris over here, to her party, and now he was spit-swapping with some girl! How dare he!
Brittany continued to glare, and the more she looked at them, the more she saw red.
"THAT'S IT!" She screamed from the top of the stairs. "PARTY'S OVER! EVERYBODY OUT!"
Practically everyone ignored her. She looked round to see that Chris's little girl had left, and that Chris had made his way to the stereo to take the CD out.
"Come on guys. Party's done. Let's go to Terry's place and carry this on there."
One by one, Chris's friends traipsed out of the house.
Chris stopped by in front of Brittany, jumper and jeans still in place, but his hair slightly ruffled. His eyes were practically glowing.
"Great party Britt. See ya round maybe? Laters."
And he was gone.
Brittany gripped the banisters to hold herself, unheeding of the confusion around her. Later, she would go up to her room to find that her locks weren't exactly pickproof and that her room wasn't exactly as she had left it either.