Life of the Party (Wayward #1)

CHAPTER 1

My father was peering at me over his newspaper, watching in disgust as I sprinkled yet another spoonful of sugar on my grapefruit.

“I think that defeats the purpose, Mac.” My father grinned.

The look I gave him was as sour as the fruit. “It’s gross,” I replied.

“Mac.” My mom frowned as she bustled about the kitchen. “You’ll give yourself a cavity. What’s the matter? You always liked grapefruit.”

I had no answer for this, stabbing at the poor fruit with my spoon instead. Mom shook her head and yawned. She had just walked in the door from another night shift at the hospital and was probably in no mood to deal with me. She poured herself a coffee instead.

I pushed the fruit aside as my father shook his head and returned to his paper. My black nail polish was chipping. I sat back and picked at it.

“You know, Mac, it’s supposed to be a really hot day.” Mom eyed my hoodie then. “Maybe you want to wear something lighter. What about the skirt I got you?”

I sighed. “I don’t do skirts, Mom. You knew that when you bought it for me.” Of course she did, but it bothered her when I didn’t dress up all pretty for school. She felt inclined to leave these subtle hints on my bed from time to time, skirts and trendy shoes and button-up blouses that I threw into a pile in the back of my closet.

It’s not that I don’t care about my appearance, I’m not a grunge or anything, but I’m not into the valedictorian-wear my mom feels is necessary. My typical outfit involved blue jeans, some sweet t-shirt, a hoodie, and any kind of dark skater shoes that made my size nine feet look at least two sizes smaller .

I knew she hated it.

“So Mac.” My father intervened, setting his paper down. “How goes the job search?”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “This again?”

“Yes, this again. You’re seventeen years old with no plans for higher education. You can live here, that’s fine, but not for free. You’re plenty old enough to get a job. When Marcy was your age—”

“I’m well aware of Marcy’s fantasticness, thank you.” I interrupted, turning my focus to the ends of my long, curly dark hair, pretending to look for split ends.

I hoped he’d get my hint. He didn’t.

“Well, fine. I’ll be back Saturday. I’d like to have some answers by then. Maybe you could get a job at the hospital. Are they still hiring, Deb?”

“Oh, there’s always work.” Mom perked up. “You may have to volunteer at first, but that always looks good on a resume. Do you want me to speak to Doug for you, Mackenzie?”

I looked at their hopeful faces incredulously. No way in hell.

“Uh…we’ll see,” I answered. I was saved then by the loud, off-key baap of the car horn out front. “Oh, Riley’s here,” I said with relief. “I gotta go.”

Mom made her face then, almost on cue, the face that makes its appearance whenever Riley’s name is mentioned. It’s not that she hates him exactly, but she feels I could do with better friends, a bunch of girlfriends preferably.

Girlfriends…on the right side of the tracks.

I rolled my eyes at her and waved absently to my father.

“All right, bye.” Nothing annoyed me more than ‘the face.’ I grabbed the books I’d brought home Friday (and hadn’t touched since) on my way out the door.

Riley’s car was a sight. It was giant, purple and rusty, with red velour upholstery and a beaten-up dashboard—but it was my chariot to freedom. I gave him my first sincere smile of the day and hastened happily towards his car.

“Hey,” I greeted my best friend breathlessly, sinking into the plush, threadbare fabric of his front seat.

“Hey.” Riley smiled back, gazing warmly at me, waiting until I was settled before he pulled the car back onto the street. I dug through my purse for my pack of cigarettes, lighting two and passing one over to him, taking that first precious drag and blowing the smoke satisfyingly out the window.

I could feel the tension of the morning melting away .

“So.” Riley cleared his throat. “That was some party, hey?”

“Oh, yeah.” I groaned. “I felt so sick yesterday.”

“Is that why you didn’t call?”

“Oh, did I say I would?” I couldn’t remember. “I’m sorry.”

“No problem.”

We drove in silence for a moment. I gazed at Riley from the corner of my eye.

I’d known him since kindergarten. He was without a doubt my best friend in the whole world, better than any girlfriend I’d ever had, someone who really understood me and didn’t judge me and someone I had tons of fun with without the petty, trivial shit that accompanies most high school relationships. We were totally accepting of each other, no matter what.

Something was up with him that morning, I could tell. He looked different. His hair was dark, short, messy curls, but he’d styled it special. He was wearing his good shirt, too, the one he usually saved for going out on the weekends.

I leaned closer and took a whiff, inhaling the deep scent of men’s cologne.

“You smell good today, Ry. Who’s the girl?” He was too easy to figure out.

“What do you mean?”

“The girl you’re so dolled up for? Who is it?”

“You don’t remember.” He realized, blinking in surprise. “…I guess that makes sense. You were a fucking mess the other night.”

“Oh. I know…” I groaned again. “I can remember up until the quaalude, and then everything goes black.” I laughed. “Why, did you hook up with someone? I’m so pissed I can’t remember. Who was it?”

“It was…nobody.” He mumbled. “No one you know.”

“Was she hot?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?” I laughed and groaned. “Who brings ‘ludes to a party anyway? This isn’t nineteen seventy-four, and we’re not in California.” “No. Who takes ‘ludes at a party?” Riley admonished, shaking his head at me. “That guy was a total creep, Mac. And mixing that shit with alcohol can really mess you up.”

“Like you can talk.” I chuckled, rolling my eyes. “So, do I get to meet her?”

“No.” Riley shook his head. “And you know why, Mac.”

I did. I knew exactly what he was talking about.

Something came over me every time Riley was with a girl, not exactly jealousy but…possession, almost. I’ve always tried to be a good supportive friend and accept his new re lationships, but as soon as he starts getting close to someone else, I panic at the thought of losing my best friend to the claws of a she-devil who will occupy all his time and energy. Afraid he’ll fall so hard for one of these girls that I’ll be out of the picture indefinitely. It wasn’t like I wanted him for myself…Riley was like my brother.

I just didn’t want him with anyone else, either.

Super selfish. Yep, that’s me. I glanced over at him, smiling at the sight. Riley was good-looking; I couldn’t blame the girls for wanting him. He was special too, loyal and caring, one of the good ones. I guess I knew it was only a matter of time before some girl took my place in his life, but I wanted to avoid that for as long as possible.

I sighed and changed the subject. “Man, Mitch won’t get over this whole job kick he’s on,” I complained. “They want me to take a job at the hospital, just like Marcy. Mom was ecstatic at the idea. Can you imagine?

“You could get a job at the restaurant.” Riley offered. “They’re always hiring there.”

I laughed outright. “Yeah, okay. The only place worse than the hospital would be a restaurant. I don’t know how you do it. Customer service? No thanks.”

“What do you want to do then?”

“I don’t know.” I flicked my cigarette out the window. “Be a bum? Laze around?”

Riley laughed. “How would you support all your habits?”

“Well, my dear, that’s what I have you for.” I batted my eyes at him charmingly.

Riley smirked and pulled into the student parking lot. I groaned automatically, eyeing the ominous red brick school building with much disdain.

“Two more months, right?”

“Two more months, yep.” He nodded. “Then we’re done forever.”

“I can’t wait.”

“I know.” He turned off the ignition. “Two months until sweet, sweet freedom.”

Sweet, sweet freedom. I thought of this mid-English class, smiling in anticipation. Mr. Lemmon was droning on and on about similes or something, and I half-listened with my head curled into my arms, doodling randomly on the looseleaf in my binder.

I could always sense the disappointment emanating from my teachers whenever they looked at me. I think for a moment they remembered the freshman I’d been, chubby and fresh-faced, dressed in the pretty clothes her mother bought, eager and willing, hand raised needle-straight in the air whenever a question was posed.

Just another Marcy in the making .

Now, their heads shake sadly at what might have been and their eyes roam past me, on towards someone who might live up to their potential.

Not that I’m bothered by it. It took years to convince them I wasn’t anything special, years before we’d reached an understanding. They leave me alone, and I try not to fail their exams. No more honour roll hopes here, only the bare minimum of effort.

I’m not sure what happened to me. There’s no defining moment in my life that separates the good girl I used to be from what I’ve become. It was like a gradual transformation, and one day I realized I just didn’t care anymore. I started living to please myself instead of everyone else, and found there was more to life than school and studying and going to college to get a good job and make the most money possible. There was fun, friends…life outside of how we were told to live.

Basically, I just started rebelling. And I’ve loved every minute of it.

“Quit hogging that, jerk.” I slapped Riley playfully on the arm and stole the joint from his outstretched fingers. “Puff, puff, pass…ring a bell?”

Riley laughed and coughed as the smoke poured from his mouth.

“I’ll ring your bell.” He promised. I giggled at his empty threat, feeling a heaviness settle into my eyes, a giddiness creep into my belly. I leaned back against the windshield of his car, inhaling deeply and staring into the cerulean blue summer sky.

School was out for the weekend, and to celebrate as we always did, Riley and I drove to the outskirts of town, parking in an old abandoned farmyard littered with crumbling barn-wood buildings, tucked well out of the way down a lone dirt road.

We lay on the hood of his car, basking in the warm sun, listening to Dr. Dre through his new car stereo and getting as high as we could.

“So,” I exhaled the thick smoke, wincing to keep from coughing. “What’s up for tonight? What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” Riley took the joint from my fingers as I got to work rolling another. “Ben’s parents are gone for the weekend. We could head over there, get high and watch Half Baked again?”

“Please, I could recite that movie by heart.” I giggled. “What else could we do?”

“Not much to do, here.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. Our town was the largest in the district but still painfully rural. There were no theatres, no malls. Nothing for us minors to do but cruise .

“I wish we were eighteen,” I complained. There was an abundance of clubs, pubs and bars in our little city, but none of them could be enjoyed by either of us for months, a time we were eagerly anticipating.

“I know. It’s not long for me, but you’ve got all summer.” Riley puffed thoughtfully. “You know…there’s this guy I work with; he’s playing tonight at the Aurora. He’s friends with the bouncers there; I bet if I called him, we could get in.”

“What do you mean playing? Like the jazz flute or what?”

Riley laughed. “No. His band is playing. Rock music. It’d be something different.”

“Really? I’ve never been to a club before.” I giggled excitedly. “Can we go? Want to?”

Riley smiled and whipped open his phone. He slid off the hood and dialled, first calling to secure our entry to the club and then phoning our friends to invite them along, pacing through the tall grass along the length of the car as he talked, saying “dude” every other word. I rolled my eyes at him and laughed.

“Do you want something for tonight?” Riley paused to ask, covering his phone with his hand. This was where Riley’s wrong-side-of-the-trackiness came in handy. He had connections. He could get us any drug at any time, whatever we wanted.

I bit my lip, debating. “I don’t know. What are you getting?”

“Toby and I are going to try this new mush that came in, I think. Want some?”

“No thanks.” I shook my head. “Maybe I’ll try some X.”

“Ecstasy? Are you sure? You’ve never had it before.”

“It looks like fun. And you take it like, with every meal. It can’t be that bad.”

“It definitely doesn’t feel bad.” He grinned. “Okay. Your wish is my command.”

A few minutes later, Riley clambered up to join me back on the hood.

“Hey there…dude…” I laughed, thoroughly, impossibly stoned by then. He laughed at me, which only made me laugh harder, and so on, until we were both giggling soundlessly and ridiculously.

Everything was right in the world. The grasshoppers sang lazily around us, hidden in the unkempt prairie grass that shimmered blue and green in the gentle breeze. We were young, high, and happy, beneath a perfect blue sky with the sun hot above. The air nearly hummed with anticipation, the realization that endless possibilities lay ahead of us, each of them offering nothing but freedom, excitement and abundant happiness.

I grinned, lit a cigarette, and shut my eyes.

I would take all they had to offer.