Beyond Our Lies

t w e l v e

I yawned and looked at my phone, seeing I had multiple messages from my best friends making sure I was still down for tonight. I sent them a confirmation and did my morning routine.

I went downstairs to the kitchen and made a bowl of fruity pebbles. I sat at the counter and ate as I watched netflix. Once finished, I went back upstairs to my safe haven.

I decided to blare music all day as the hours went by to go to the party. During that time, I cleaned, did all my homework, started revising for tests, and did a bunch of other random little things. I was obviously in a great mood and took this once in a blue moon feeling to be productive today.

Adoring my makeup and choosing my outfit must have took long because as soon as I finished I heard a honk outside. I quickly grabbed my phone and ran to Cassie's car. "Hey, bitches."

"Oh shit girl you look hot," Roxi said and I smirked. Wow Xander's smirk is really rubbing off on me. We made small talk and got to the party in a matter of seconds. It was one of the guys on the football team's party, celebrating a big win or something.

Roxi, Cas, Layla, and I all got out of the car and rushed inside. As soon as I stepped in, sweat and alcohol overpowered my senses. The only difference from this party than the last was the nonexistent scent of weed. People in this town extremely despised it, rather taking pills instead to fuel their addictions.

We all somehow managed to make our way to the kitchen and get drinks before going back to where everyone was dancing. With my cup of water and their already half chugged cups of alcohol, we held them up as we danced freely. Well, they did. I wasn't never confident enough to dance. Like ever. So I just gently swayed my hips and hyped my bestfriends up.

I looked around at the girls I came with and genuinely felt left out. They were so happy and had a sense of closeness with each other. Meanwhile, I didn't feel like I belong. I wasn't really like them, at least not in the ways I wanted to be. However, I wanted to be there for Roxi and Cas so I continued swaying my hips with them.

I wasn't sure how long we were dancing until we took a break and I glanced at my phone. Ten text messages and one missed call from my mom. When I was about to respond to her texts, I got another incoming call from her. Oh shit. I repeatedly tapped Cassie's arm to get her attention. When I did, I showed her my screen and her eyes widened. She got Roxi and Layla's attention and we all went out to the front of the house. You could still hear the bass of the music but it was as good as I could get.

I answered it right before the last ring, putting it on speaker so we could all hear. "Uh hey mom." I stammered out, failing to act as nonchalant as possible.

"Hey Mrs. Matthews." Cas and Roxi said as happily and non-slurred as they could from their drinking.

"Hey mom, are you serious? Where are you? You didn't tell anyone where you are and now when I finally get ahold of you I can hear music blaring?" We could all tell how pissed she was at me and everyone looked schocked.

Then realization finally hit me. Why the fuck was she even calling me? It was a Saturday.

"I'm at Roxi's house. I didn't think to tell you since you guys weren't at home. We had a study group session and now we were just having a dumb little dance part-" I frantically try to get out some bullshit lies to tell her. My hands were trembling and my face had gone pale, I was terrified of her telling my dad. But then she cut me off.

"Do you think I'm stupid Juniper? Listen, I can believe you this one time because I know your friends would never do something like that. However, if I ever ever catch you going to a party, I will not even second guess myself while I'm kicking you out. Your father and I have worked too hard for you to just throw your life away with drugs and partying. Do I make myself clear?." Her ramble was harsh and right to the point. I saw my bestfriends and Layla all glance at each other, most likely surprised at my mom's reaction. However, I was dumbfounded. Would she really kick me out over a stupid party?