The horrible party music was blasting through the atmosphere so loudly.

I groaned and tried to block out the blaring of the loudspeakers as I continued to read my copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, I’ve already finished it once but doing anything is better than going into the jungle out there.

Well, I guess I had better tell you what is going on before you start scratching your head and wondering if I am a bit funny in the head. As you would have guessed there is a high school party ‘out there’ and I am being punished because:

Number 1- Me and people my age don’t really mix, I am extremely antisocial/nerdy/hermitic (is that even a word?) and I guess I am kind of scared that some drunk guy will hit on me, or something equally as disgusting

Number 2- I can’t really get away either, the party is at my best friend’s house. And no, this was definitely not my idea of a fun weekend. Plus, my parents are away and I can’t drive home or anywhere for that matter, all because I crashed it into the speed-o-meter at shopping centre, which definitely was not my fault. So I have locked myself in his room for the night. Joy.

Number 3- I promised Tyler that I would at least stay for his 17th.

I don’t do many favors for people, but with Tyler its different, we’ve been friends ever since we were both 4, our parents knew each other and our nannies used to let us play together all the time, maybe that’s the reason why we’re so close. And besides, it was his 17th, which he thinks is the second most important birthday. 21st he told me, was the most important as he could than buy liquor anytime, anywhere and have as much as he liked (which was a lot, since he didn’t get drunk easily). Right, back to the point.

You know how friendships always have rough spots, in which it borders on a thin line between best friends and enemies? That has never been the case between me and Tyler’s friendship. Sure, he is now the most worshipped boy at Delton High with every girl at our school in love with him and all the guys wanting to be his friend.

All through that phrase, from when he turned from the extremely cute boy status when he was 13 into major hot sex god the following year, yep, all through all those fawning girls, people practically laying silk at his feet (no, I am not exaggerating), I, Caliber Rose has remained his best friend, sometimes side-kick and forever trustworthy and always genuine friend.

When he lies, I know it. When he’s depressed or in a bad mood, I know it. And even though, I really do not want to know, every time he sleeps with a girl (too many to count) I know it, because either he’s got on this smile which is practically mouthing out ‘score’, or he’s really pissed off because he slept with a girl who was bad in bed.

Anyway, the noise had amazingly gotten louder, will the torture ever end? I grabbed Tyler’s pillow and pressed it over my ears, while muttering obscenities under my breath. Hey, you cannot really keep a clean mouth if you hang out with a bunch of guys as I do.

Although the pillow did block out some of the noise, my arms got tired and I threw it against the door. I stood up and stretched, rolling my head and shrugging my shoulders to release the tension building on my back.

This was all Tyler’s fault that I was stuck here like some dog cooped up in the backyard. I had suggested that he have a nice normal party with a big chocolate mud cake and movies and popcorn and things like that, but he just gave me an incredulous look and said stubbornly “Caliber, this is my 17th, not your 5-year old tea party”.

“But, 5-year olds wouldn’t get seventeen nice candles on the cake would they?” I had replied knowingly. “And they would need parent supervision because they just can’t do anything by themselves AND they wouldn’t be able to watch horror movies!”

And you know what he did? He laughed at me, then if that wasn’t bad enough he had to go and ruffle my dark brown hair and ask in a mock-baby voice “does the whittle girl want a wollipop?”

So really it was all Tyler’s fault that he was making his best friend in the entire world miserable at his own party with who knows, how many people he didn’t even know? I looked out the window, and saw about 50 cars lined up the street, with more cars pulling up to just parking on other people’s lawns. Teenagers…so inconsiderate.

Speaking of which, the door was pushed open and a very excited Tyler walked in and grabbed me by the arm. “Come on Caliber, you’re missing out!”

He wasn’t drunk yet, but by the look of his dark blue eyes, I could tell he had already had a lot of alcohol. His dark-brown hair was tousled, and his expression was of genuine happiness, his eyes eager and a little impatient.

I pulled back my arm a little and bit my lip “Tyler, you know I hate these types of parties. Just go and have fun with your friends.”

Tyler kneeled on the floor and tilted his head to the side, giving me his most pathetic expression; he opened those dark blue eyes wide and stuck his lower lip out in a pout. “Buuuuuut, Cali-bear its more fun when you’re out there with me. We’re like Bonnie and Clyde! Rocky and Bullwinkle, Batman and Robin!”

I had to laugh at this, well if he was sinking this low just to make me join in on his stupid party, its got to count for something right? “Well…” I started, pretending to think it over.

Option 1, stay here and be bored for the whole night. Option 2, go join in and actually socialize with people (oh, the horror!). Well, at least Tyler didn’t pull the seducing best friend act again.

He did that once, complete with invading my personal space, a suggestive glint in his eyes, a you-know-you-want-me smile; he even went as far as whispering things in my ear, before I screamed ‘Gross!’ and hit him hard over the head. He must be the most manipulative boy I know.

I raised one eyebrow and gave him an uneasy smile, not sure if I should have stuck with option 1. Tyler grinned and for a moment he looked really boyish, but then he turned into the handsome sex god all the girls love.

Except me of course. I mean really, me and Tyler? Don’t make me sick. (No, I am NOT immature!) He smiled again at me as we crept down the stairs, and I felt really foolish because Tyler was handing my hand like I was some little kid, and I quickly yanked it away thinking of that ‘wollipop’ remark he made earlier.

Tyler gave me a confused look, his blue eyes narrowing. Which in Tyler-expression speak translates into: what the fuck is wrong?

I just shrug and push him along as we come down the long staircase, stepping over couples making out on the steps who were to put it frankly to busy to move. How inconsiderate! I nearly tripped over this girl’s head as she was sprawled out on top of her boyfriend, but I felt strong arms catch me before I landed on the loving couple, and looked up to see Tyler smiling his ‘what would you do without me’ smile.

When we finally came downstairs, I felt my eyes widen at the mass amount of people practically swarming the house. There were so many, I’m sure I could have taken a dive from the top of the stairs and gone crowd surfing, or maybe just knock over a bunch of people.

I recognized some people from school, not any I liked, mostly the people from the popular group who looked too drunk to even stand, one girl was leaning against the wall holding a liquor bottle, her heavily-make-up-covered eyes closed and her mouth hanging open like a goldfish.

"Hey Tyler, do you look like that when you're drunk?" I asked, a bit perturbed by the sight. He shrugged and kept pulling me along "if I did, I wouldn't remember would I?"

However, we had barely moved a step, when a group of slutty looking girls came over and started flirting with Tyler. The sugarly words and seductive tone seemed to roll over their tongues and they made it look so simple as if flirting was as natural as breathing. Wait, now I think of it, it probably was.

"Where have you been all night Tyler? You invited us and you should spend more time with us" a blonde with about ten different streaks in her hair said and smiled coyly. Her friends nodded and some winked at him, but I could see they all wanted him to themselves. I could tell they were the type of girls that would get intoa massive catfight for one boy, how insanely stupid is that?

"Sorry ladies, but I showing Caliber what a Tyler party is all about" he replied and smiled at them. It must have seemed like a charming smile to them as they started giggling and one girl even blew him a kiss as their eyes trailed after him.

Tyler kept walking to the centre of everything, the noises got louder and I could now distinctly hear the crowd chanting ‘fight, fight, fight’. I held my hand to my head warily as my headache was growing more painful by the minute and I wished I could spell them all to shut up.

We reached the middle in which a circle was formed around something I couldn’t even see from where I was standing, there were just too many people in the way. But not surprising, the crowd parted like theRed Seadid for Moses and soon we were at the front. I could even hear some squealing and also a guy shouting out "now, it's going to get exciting coz Ty is here".

Well, the party was already "exciting" enough I thought as I saw what was happening in the middle of the circle. It wasn't much of a fight really. Not a fair one that's for certain.

There in the middle, a few guys were bashing someone underneath them; from here I could just imagine how much pain, kind of like a pack of wolves getting at a little rabbit. And suddenly I felt this pang of sympathy rush over me. Before I even thought about the situation, I had rushed over and pushed most of the boys off the person getting the shit beat out of them.

The moment my eyes met those dazed and startled green eyes, I gasped and didn’t notice that one of the boys I pushed over had gotten up again and had taken a wild swing at the boy but instead his fist connected with the side of my head before I could even blink.

Immediately light spots danced mockingly in my vision, and the world grew darker and darker until all I could hear was someone faintly calling out my name.

And ooh if anyone would like to b my betr reader that would be appreciated too! Thanks!