Think of me

eleven: orange juice with a dash of vodka

Billie

The noise hit me as soon as I stepped into the house. I could hear music blaring from the garden, and the sound of lots of people chatting suddenly made me anxious. 

I come to a lot of parties, Madison always brings me along to them. We usually don't split up for the first couple of hours. But once I get enough alcohol down me, I become a completely different person. I start chatting to people that I wouldn't even glance at normally. One time, I drank so much vodka mixed into my drinks that I just started kissing a random boy. Luckily it was a party quite far away so I never have to see him again. That night definitely taught me a lesson!

Madison tends to find a new boy at every party, I doubt tonight will be any different. Especially since she now has a crush on Ben, the guy whose party this is.

As we walked through the entrance of the house, it opened up into a kitchen, where a few people were pouring themselves drinks. As we walked in, they must have heard Maddie's heels tapping down the hallway. One boy's head whipped up and he smiled wide.

'Maddie!' He walked over to us and gave Madison a huge hug. 'I'm glad you could come.'

'Of course I came!' They broke away from the hug and she began fiddling with her hair, trying to look sexy. 

'This must be your friend. Billie, was it?' He turned to me. I nodded and he gave me a hug as well. I felt a little uncomfortable, but that was just me being awkward. I appreciated that he was trying to make me feel welcome.

'Hi.' I forced out. I'm sure my voice sounded pathetic.

'Hey, I kind of recognise you.' He pulled back, looking at me with confused eyes. 'Have we met before?'

'I don't think so.' I shook my head. He shrugged and proceeded to chat to Maddie and I for a few minutes. Eventually he offered us a drink, I asked for something strong, and Maddie asked for the same. I needed to get some alcohol down me early, so that I can be chatty enough to talk to more people.

There was soon a shot glass of clear liquid on the table in front of me. I grabbed and and poured the fluid down my throat without even thinking about it. The drink burned my throat, but it was nothing I hadn't felt before. The taste was horrible, I tried to avoid making a face until it was gone.

After two more shots, Madison looped her arm in mine and dragged me out to the garden. As we stepped out, the music got even louder, and so did the sound of people. The garden was fairly large, and was full of people. It was only about 7.30pm, but there was already people making out, and girls falling over. I rolled my eyes, this is why I've never really got on with that many girls my age. They are all the same. 

Maddie was still dragging me across the garden and eventually found some people she went to school with. I said hello and just observed the conversation, the alcohol was starting to hit me already, but not enough to make me very chatty. 

After a while, my head was feeling dizzy and I couldn't help but keep giggling. I was definitely tipsy. I could tell that Madison was too. She was swaying slightly, and we were clinging on to each other to make sure we were steady. 

'Shall we get another drink?' Madison turned to me. I beamed at her, that was exactly what I wanted. We cautiously walked back to the kitchen and poured ourselves a mix of orange juice and vodka. It tasted so good that I finished it pretty quickly, but Maddie took a while to drink her's.

My chatty self had soon arrived and I decided the party was really starting now. The night became a bit of a blur. Maddie introduced me to loads of kids from her school, I didn't remember most of their names. 

There weren't that many people from my school at the party, but I introduced Madison to the ones I was friends with, which was not many at all. 

'You know what, Billie?' Madison slurred. She leaned into my face, and I tried hard not to giggle.

'What?' I slurred back.

'You're my best friend in the whole, wide, world!' She threw her arms up in the air. I burst out laughing and her flailing arms wrapped around me.

'And you,' I pointed right into her face. 'Are my best friend in the whole wide world too!' We both burst into fits of laughter, not that anything was really funny. 'Let's go and dance!' I grabbed her hand and headed over to one of the speakers, where a group of people were already dancing. I started swaying about, trying to pull off my best moves. My sober self was going to regret this in the morning. But right now, I didn't care.

'Wow!' Madison shouted. 'Look at you go!' She matched my energy and we danced for a while longer. I was spinning around, laughing and having a great time.

Then I saw a pair of emerald, green eyes.