Chapter 1: Chambers, Murders and Second Chances

Chapter One

The sky above me was a mix of pale tan, orange, pink, red and some specks of gruesome purple, indicating an upcoming presence of a storm. The sun was already out for the day, but left tracks of its fire above as the moon taunted to take over for the night. To be honest, it’s a pretty nice 27th of May, it’s not too warm as it usually is. 

“Hey, Aiden.” a small voice said. Of course, I knew that voice, I didn’t need to open my eyes to peek and make sure it was her. Lillian Farro, the cute drama queen of Prep. I nodded, not knowing if she saw it or not.
 
“It’s a nice day, isn’t?” she murmured. The grass beneath us is different from a bed, but I felt her plopped next to me. Not really wanting a conversation, I just nodded.

“I can’t believe how fast time flew by,” she laughed quietly. “it seems like yesterday, we’re all freshmen, wondering what our first smoke would be like, our first fuck, or next fuck up. Then all of a sudden BAM!...it hits you hard on the face.” finally, I opened my eyes and looked at her.

“We’re almost adults, almost there.” the sound of her voice faded, lost to the humming of the summer air.

Here she goes again. Being the drama queen of Prep, it’s normal for her to be all weepy and cute (haaa, bad Aiden). But I know what she’s moping about isn’t something unimportant such as why Blah cheated on Blah in One Tree Hill. It’s about us, her friends, her peer, her extended family, as she calls us, and our forthcoming high school finale. Now that’s something to be sad about.

“I’d give anything to walk a day in my old shoes.” I noted. It’s true, now that we got what we always wanted since we were seven is near, I feel like turning around.

Lillian’s quiet but soprano laugh hummed and almost made me dizzy. It was a myth that all Prep students must be a soprano or tenor. Sadly, I’m not in any.

“I know. Sometimes, I do wish the same, Aiden.” we smiled at our inside joke for a moment then silence blanketed us.

Both of us were lost in deep space of thinking about The Future. What’s it like? I imagined some of Prep girls ending up in New York like Sex In The City. And the crew, I suppose could be the casts of Friends. Haha, after all we are friends. Would anyone marry anyone? Probably not. Whose going to succeed and whose going to fail? I slightly winced, thinking it could be one of us. Will anyone die? Become a famous rockstar? How about pornstar? A model? A drug dealer? Hmm, seeing a pattern here?

I was starting to visualize people getting married, settling with their own families, having babies, but hell, I’m not in any of them, when my phone started vibrating. I pulled my new phone from my pocket and held it against my ear.

“Yo, dawg.” the voice from the other line said.

“Yeah, whattcha want?” if I’m at Prep, I’d get in trouble for using slangs such as said.

“Where you at?”

“Warehouse. Why?” I looked at Lillian who was still in her thinking world.

“Whose all with you?” Okay, this is sorta annoying me now.

“Um. Lillian, Matt, Cleo, Daniel, and Chelsea. One more question and I’m gonna go there, chop your head, fry your eyes—”

“Ahhh, I get the point! Meanie. There’s a party down at Caroline’s house tonight at 8ish. Tell everyone to come.”  I checked the time on my watch. 7:37pm.

“Ryaaaaaan, WE ARE Prep students, WE ARE the party. Yeah, sure thing. What type of party? A hook-up marathon party like the last one at Main Street?”  I said casually, remembering the party two days ago at the house of some drug dealer, which basically ended up in a massive orgy.

“No. We’ll stay away from that for a few days. It’s just an illegal parents-out-of-town party.” he laughed.

“Okies. We’ll see you guys then.” Ryan added a bunch more information about drinks, stuffs, stuffs and a bunch more illegal stuffs, then I slipped my phone back to my pocket. I turned to Lillian who was grinning madly, upon hearing the word “party”.

“I guess we have convention to attend tonight at eight.”