"So, are you coming along to the party tonight Sabs?" Asked my best friend Dash.
Awh Dash. We've been friends since the third day I moved here when I was just 13. Here being this ugly "private" estate in Plumsted, they say its private but most of the boys around here these days climb the gates to get in and cause trouble anyway. My mum, Francesca, my older brother Antonio and I moved here to get away from my dad. He was so horrible and controlling, mum could never see her friends and was always accused of cheating. My brother was never allowed out with his friends but was forced to meet girls and be a "man" at the age of 14. I don't know what was wrong with my dad but he was absolutely crazy. My brother started to rebel against him; running away for days on end and stealing money. But my dad had ways of showing my brother how to behave - punching, kicking. He even broke Antonio's arm and even took him to the hospital after, lying that Antonio had fallen from a tree. I shudder at each memory, every time I think about the past I want to be sick. I remember everything like it was yesterday even though I was just 6 at the time. That's when the continuous moving started, I remember the night my mum woke me up, her face was screwed up with tears as she told me to me to pack up my things because we was leaving. That night we went to stay at a hotel and surprise surprise my dad found us, from there we went from flat to flat, house to house, until my nan decided it was time to stop. When her husband died she decided it was time to move back to Italy - my mum is Italian and my dad is from Martinique by the way - and left us with her apartment in London. A fair distance from Birmingham, my dad wouldn't find us here. London would be too big and confusing for him.
About two days after I finally dragged myself out of the house to go to the local corner shop. I strolled out of my block out onto the filthy car park of the Elbony estate, it was so grey and boring! What was the appeal of living here? It was horrible. As I turned the corner around a dirty dark blue BMW I noticed a big group of boys by the black gates that run around the estate. I took three steps back and turned to check myself in the car window. I smoothed my long black curls down abit and quickly put on some lip gloss. I wasn't about to walk past these dishy boys looking a mess! Once I'd finished I walked to the gate and pressed my pass key onto the shiny pad that was on the side of the gate and pushed it open. As I walked out I could feel all the boys looking at me, I can't lie it felt good. I sneaked a glance at them and that's when I saw him. That's when I saw Dash, he stood out from all them. Creamy brown skin, curly black hair tied back into bushy pony tail and those eyes. Those lovely light brown piercing eyes. He walked over to me and shyly said "hi", I said hi back. I was so lost in his eyes that it came out as a funny whisper. He grinned at me and started to walk with me to the shop, leaving his friends behind wolf whistling. He showed me around the estate, showed where he lived and introduced me to his friends. That night I went home feeling so happy, I'd only went to the shop and had came home with about 20 new numbers on my phone of the new friends I had made. Since then me and Dash have been so close, he knows everything about me and I know everything about him. I got put into the same school as him and all our other friends, so we all spent almost everyday together. Of course I had feelings for him but I hid them, I wasn't ready to ruin our friendship and tell him when he probably didn't feel the same. But here we are now, 18 years old, chilling in the same park we all used to mess around in when we all had nothing to do, were we all experienced our first drops of alcohol together and where we used to hide from the park keeper late at night so we could stay in the park long after it got locked up. Ahh those wonderful memories, I never thought I'd be accepted into such a loving fun group of friends...
"Sabine? Hello? Are you even listening to me?" Dash's voice broke through my trail of thought.
"Huh? Ohh yeah" I mumbled, shaking the memories out of my head so I could focus properly. "Yeah of course I'm coming.. Um, it's not going to be really wild like the last party you guys took me to is it?"
"Aha, I don't think so. It's Michelle's cousins party, you must have met her. Remember that pretty black girl Alayna?" I tried to remember as Dash stared at me with impatient eyes. Gosh why did his eyes have to be deep and distracting? I nodded regardless of the fact that I really didn't remember her, I just wanted him to stop looking at me like that.
"Good, good." he smiled. "Can't wait to see what you're wearing, everyone knows that my Sabs always looks banging! Anyways love, I've got to run and meet couple man. Need to sort out some business quick. I'll bell you at around 9 yeah?"
"yeah" I grinned.
Dash stood up off the little slide that we had crammed ourselves onto and put his hand out for me. I took it and he dragged me off the slide, I fell into him and we both started laughing. We were still giggling as we walked out of the park.
"I'll see you tonight Sabby" Said Dash as he hugged me.
I hugged him back and went back to my apartment. I walked into my block and went to the lift. Broken. Again. I sighed and started to take the stairs. Ergh, chewing gum on nearly every step and cigarette butts in nearly every corner. Considering everyone on this estate is meant to be "posh" they are actually really dirty. I walked onto my balcony and fiddled in my pocket to find my keys. I pulled them out and shoved them into my front door quickly.
"MUM?! ANTONIO?!" I shouted as I walked into the hallway.
No answer. Hmm, I wonder where everyone could have gone. I walked into the kitchen and noticed a note on the table.
My amore, I've gone to see your aunt, will be back tomorrow morn. If you need anything phone me. There's pizza in the oven and salad in the fridge. Mum xx
Aww bless her, Its about time she went out. Ever since we came here she's been too scared to go and see anyone. She was so nervous about bumping into my dad that even a trip to the shopping centre would have her shaking with fear. I opened the oven and cut myself some pizza, I put it on a plate and took some salad out of the fridge. I garnished my salad with loads of mayonnaise and went upstairs. I was actually nervous about tonight, I took a bite of my pizza and thought about the last party my friends had taken me to.
It was soo wild! It started out fun, everyone dancing and drinking, but after about 2 hours into the party there were fights breaking out outside and drugs being passed around. People were having sex upstairs in the bedrooms and vomiting all over the floor. I so badly wanted to leave but Dash had disappeared with Mike. Michelle was kissing a boy she'd just met and Zara, Dwight, Josh and Gideon were totally spaced out on some new drug called Molly. So I was left on my own in a drunken haze, wondering how the hell I was going to get home. If this party was anything like the last one then I am defiantly taking a cab home. I quickly checked my purse to make sure I had enough money. Yep, more than enough. I opened my wardrobe and pulled out all my dresses, I picked out a tight black dress from the pile. I'm dressing to impress tonight, Dash is going to notice me. I'm going to make sure of it. It's about time he knew how I felt about him.
I took a quick swing of the big bottle of Smirnoff vodka that I kept hidden under my bed. I took another swing for luck. After all, I'm going to need all the dutch courage I can get.
