D A R K O 'S P.O.V

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Lyra exclaimed, shouting over the music which was blaring on enormous speakers. She cupped her hands behind her ears, absentmindedly bobbing her tiny body to the booming music as she talked to me. I sighed.

Bella, Taylor and I had gotten to the party a few hours ago - somehow between then and now, I ended up separated from them. I went to look for them, but Lyra intercepted and dragged me onto the dance floor instead, where a swarm of tipsy teenagers were dancing. Strobe lights obscured my vision while the heavy trap music deafened me. Several sticky elbows kept bumping into me as the beat quickened. It didn't help that I was already buzzed.

"I SAID, HAVE YOU SEEN TAYLOR AND BELLA?" I yelled. Lyra, finally understanding what I had said, shook her head. She pointed to the living room, where the other jocks and cheerleaders were congregating.

"TRY ASKING THE JOCKS! THEY HAVE EYES AND EARS EVERYWHERE!" Lyra shouted, smiling.

"ALL RIGHT, THANKS! GREAT PARTY BY THE WAY!" I responded. Lyra shouted 'THANKS!' before turning around to grind on another partygoer.

If there's one thing Lyra can do, it's dance like a stripper. It's like she was born to do it.

I shoved my way through the crowd, being careful to not get the sticky sweat from others on me. The combination of a crowded dance floor and very humid weather meant for a horrifically steamy, sweaty atmosphere. No wonder the jocks were inside - they'd be roasting under their varsity jackets.

I wiggled through the glass door that lead inside Lyra's house and was immediately greeted by the football team. Two of them, Michael and David, were chatting while taking long sips from their beers. Another one, Owen, was on his phone, and another two, Trent and Duncan, were smoking. I cautiously approached them.

I swear these guys haven't got a brain in their heads. Take Michael and David for example; they are as dumb as a box of rocks, not to mention they are incredibly irritating. For example, David breathes really, really loudly and Michael is the most conceited person I know. They're insane.

All right, breathing too loud might not sound that bad, but trust me. He sounds like a broken bagpipe sometimes. It gets unbearable.

Owen is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. Nobody knows who he really is; apart from his name, all people know is that he's constantly on his phone, calling or texting somebody. I've heard rumours that he's a spy.

Trent, Duncan and I have a history together. We've gotten into fights, mostly because Trent's an insensitive idiot, and Duncan blindly follows him. Trent is a known homophobe in the school; he's always making remarks about gay guys being the scum and filth of the Earth. Needless to say, his bigotry has earned him a few punches to the face. He doesn't like me and I really don't like him.

Duncan has a criminal record; he's been known to set things on fire, beat people to a pulp, and be proficient with a switchblade. It's unclear how Duncan even made the school's football team - people say he threatened to stab the coach or burn his house down.

"Guys," I said flatly. Michael, Trent, Duncan and David all turned to me. Owen glanced up at me, but I didn't hold his attention for long.

"What do you want, faggot protector?" Trent spat, smirking. He roughly ruffled my hair before he nudged Duncan on the arm, bursting out into a fit of laughter. David and Michael looked at each other, perplexed.

"Huh? I thought his name was Darko," Michael said, scratching his head. Duncan and Trent laughed even harder as David rolled his eyes.

"They're just making fun of him again, you retard," David said, wheezing. Trent had wiped a tear from his face while Duncan continued to howl. Michael gasped in realisation while David nodded in approval.

Good God, I don't have time for this. I should totally punch Trent in the face.

"Oh my fucking god you knobs, it wasn't that funny. Calm down." Owen said suddenly, earning a glare from Duncan and Trent. He cocked an eyebrow before glancing back at his phone.

Owen is my favourite person right now. I couldn't have said it any better myself.

"Have any of you seen Bella and Taylor?" I asked, barely containing my laughter. Duncan and Trent tore their eyes away from Owen, before setting them on me. Duncan nudged Trent this time, a creepy smirk washing over his lips.

"Ooh, yeah, I've seen Bella. Seen that fat ass of her's jiggling as she walked around with that nerd."

Trent sniggered. "Bella's so fiiiiine, dude. Imagine her as a lesbian - that would be so frickin' hot!"

Ugh, typical horny straight teenagers.

Yeah. Trent has no problem with lesbians but has a vendetta against gay guys. If he knew that I'm gay, he'd probably have a stroke. He acts all macho but he really is terrified of gay guys. Like, scared of them.

"You're both useless, as per usual," I said dismissively. I turned towards Michael and David, who had randomly started playing thumb wrestle. "Have you two seen them?"

David let out a long breath of air before saying, "I haven't seen them, sorry."

I gritted my teeth. "Michael? What about you?"

Michael furrowed his brows, concentrating. "Wait, yeah, I have seen them! They went and got a drink before heading off into one of Lyra's rooms. I definitely think that they're gonna do something nauuugghhttaaaaayyyyyy!" Michael said, wiggling his eyebrows at David. David started laughing, and Trent looked on in disgust.

"Guys, that's so gay. Don't do that again. Fuck."

I should punch the shit out of him. If Taylor weren't missing right now, I would have.

I yelled thanks to Michael before leaving the living room.

~~~~~

I've been looking in each of Lyra's bedrooms for about ten minutes now, and I still haven't found either of them. Why does she have so many bloody rooms? Which one are they in!?

I stood in Lyra's hallway, slumping against her peach coloured wall. I whipped out my phone and checked my messages; neither of them has replied to my texts. I sent, like, fifteen of them. He's never one to not reply to me, and Bella knew that I was meant to help take care of him, so why hasn't she texted me back either?

What if Bella was purposefully ignoring me so she could have Taylor all to herself?

That bitch. She's probably making out with him somewhere. Disgusting.

I forced myself up and I walked out of her hallway into Lyra's kitchen. Grabbing and downing a few more beer cups to calm myself, I spotted Stefan standing in a corner, swishing his cup absentmindedly as he stared out into the backyard, his eyes focusing on the makeshift dance floor. I walked up to him.

"Hey bud," I said, making him look up, "I'm gonna assume you haven't talked to Lyra yet?"

Stefan shook his head. "Nah, she's too busy dancing. I don't think she'd want to talk to me anyway; I've seen her talk to like, four different guys tonight. What chance would I even have?"

I furrowed my brows, exhaling softly. "Dude, go find her. Don't be ridiculous; knowing her state of mind right now, she wouldn't turn down a conversation."

Stefan shrugged. "I don't know man..."

I grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Big bro, take advice from me. Take a chance, and go talk to her. Besides, I made a promise to help you get in with her anyway. Don't make me waste my precious time."

He nodded. I clapped his shoulder and looked out into the dance floor with him.

"Oh, by the way," I asked, turning to Stefan, "you haven't seen Taylor or Bella at all by any chance?"

Stefan shook his head. "Nah, sorry man. I've been too preoccupied with Lyra all night."

I smiled. "Don't worry about it."

Stefan smiled at me before narrowing his eyes slightly. "Have you been drinking?"

I shrugged. "Yeah. I don't feel drunk yet though, but I've had quite a few."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Lemme guess, you're planning on getting really drunk, aren't you?"

I nodded. Stefan let out a short sigh, before saying. "Text me when you wanna leave. I'll drop you off at home."

I smiled. That's actually the nicest thing Stefan's ever done.

"Thanks, bro."

We stood in a brief silence. As much as I'd like to talk to Stefan, I still needed to find Taylor and Bella.

"I'll catch up with you later, all right?" I said. He nodded before returning back to his cup.

I stepped away from Stefan and walked back out into the back yard, the dance floor seeming more swamped than it was before. I eventually spotted Lyra again, who was still dancing. She noticed me looking at her and immediately beelined through the crowd towards me. She wrapped me in a tight hug when she got to me, squeezing the air from my lungs.

"I haven't seen you in forever!" Lyra said, laughing. I furrowed my brows, confused, as I pried her arms from me. I glanced down at my shirt, and a portion of her makeup had smudged onto it.

Horray.

She's acting awfully nice; she hasn't insulted me once or called me anything terrible yet.

"Uh, you saw me like an hour ago? We were dancing together?" I said, perplexed.

Lyra's eyes widened in realisation as she let out a prolonged chuckle. "Oh my god, you're so right Darkie."

Ah, there we go. There's the terrible nickname.

Gritting my teeth at the horrid nickname, I looked back to where Stefan was, who was still sadly swishing his drink. He quickly shot up and started making himself look presentable when he noticed I was talking to Lyra.

"Lyra," I said, making her look up at me, "You know that guy over there?"

Lyra followed to where I was pointing and noticed Stefan. "Oh, that cute guy? What about him?"

"Well, his name's Stefan and I'm sure he's feeling a bit lonely. You mind cheering him up?"

Lyra smiled immediately before nodding. "Uhm, you never need to ask me twice to talk to a cute guy! This is so gonna piss Steven off!"

She quickly wiped her face and straightened out her shirt. She flicked her curly highlighted hair behind her shoulders before looking at me, her chocolate eyes expectant. Some strange brown substance lined the corners of her mouth. A few beads of sweat, either forming due to the humidity of the room or her dance moves, tricked down her forehead.

"How do I look?"

I smirked. "You look sweaty."

Lyra narrowed her eyes.

"Uh, I mean, you look sexy! Except, you have sweat on your forehead and some brown stuff at the corner of your mouth; you better wipe that off."

Lyra quickly wiped away at her forehead and lips, before smiling. I only just noticed it, but her eyes had a slight crimson colour to them. Her pupils had dilated.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you! Someone brought over cupcakes and brownies, and they're making everyone really happy! In fact, I saw Taylor grab one of them!"

Shit. Taylor must have eaten weed brownies. Knowing him, he probably thought they were just ordinary brownies. Now he's lost and high as fuck.

Wait.

LYRA HAS SEEN TAYLOR! YES!

"Wait, you've seen Taylor? Where did he go?!" I asked Lyra, her words hitting me like bricks. She giggled before she pointed towards an obscure bedroom, one that I hadn't checked.

"He went in that room, like, ten minutes ago. Bella went in afterwards too, but she was acting really weird. She like, checked like a billion times before she went into the room and she put a 'do-not-disturb' sign on the door. Like, we're at a party, who's gonna bother reading that?" She said. She turned away from me and began walking to Stefan. I shouted 'thanks', earning a dismissive wave from her as she approached Stefan. His face lit up when she reached him.

Stefan now owes me a favour, and now he can't snitch on me.

I turned around and briskly walked back to the bedrooms - specifically the one Lyra pointed out.

~~~

I leant on the door, my ear pressed to the thin slab. Apart from the generic trap music that the DJ was playing, I couldn't hear a thing. I fully expected to hear moaning or to hear the bed rocking, or some kind of gross thing that Bella would be doing to him. The subject of torture - to hear your crush having sex with one of the people you despise the most.

Instead, all I heard was silence. They must have gone to a different room.

I sill wonder what Bella was referring to when we were at Taylor's house earlier. 'Do you remember what we talked about in Biology?' For all I know, they could be referring to how they were gonna lose it to each other. You know? Lose their virginity. They're so obviously together, judging by the amount they of time they spend together, and all the secrets they keep from me. Taylor probably doesn't even need me here at this party, since he's got his girlfriend to do all of the protecting.

God, I'm so salty. They're probably, like, talking to each other. As friends. Nothing more. Probably.

I got off of the door and slumped down, resting my back on it. The 'DO-NOT-DISTURB' sign was still hanging loosely on the doorknob by a lacey, red ribbon. The font was cringy and the parchment was covered in tacky kisses and hearts.

"Disgusting," I muttered under my breath.

I clutched my head. The alcohol was finally starting to set in; my body felt so warm and cozy, and the music began to sound amazing. My vision blurred slightly as I looked around in the hallway around me. The music started to fade as my eyes went in and out of focus. I took a deep breath, letting the air of the party circle my lungs for a few moments. My angry thoughts faded away to the back of my head.

Suddenly, soft shouting erupted from behind the door, snapping me back to reality. It was Taylor's voice. I stumbled up and hovered my ear on the door again, listening. The thoughts shot back to the front of my mind.

There was silence again.

What if Taylor was in trouble? What if Bella was doing something horrible to him? Taylor was probably high and most likely drunk, so Bella could literally do anything she pleased and Taylor wouldn't remember a thing the next day.

That's it, I'm barging in. If another couple is in there, this is gonna be so awkward.

I grabbed the doorknob and thrust the door open.

The lights were off.

"Taylor?" I asked, clumsily feeling the wall for a light switch. After a tense moment, I found a switch and flicked it.

I froze. Every single muscle in my body seized up at the sight of them. I felt like throwing up.

Bella was on top of Taylor. The air was sticky and warm, the stench of lust almost grabbable. Bella shrieked, while Taylor's cheeks burned a very bright crimson red. His face was painted with her lipstick, and her hands were in places they shouldn't have been.

"Fuck. Fuck! D-Darko, I... I can explain!"