Survival Of The Fittest

((Continued from Fragments of Memories.))

Nothing about the house in which Michael Hardy resided could be called quaint. His father had spared no expense in turning their bachelor pad into something quite impressive, that much was for certain. Several years ago, Nick Hardy had come into a small fortune when he'd swindled some old cougar out of all of her money, and even now, father and son were reaping the benefits of Nick's endeavors.

The two story home, a yellow brick and off-white in color, sat on beachfront property and was the envy of many homes along the coast. Although it might not have been the most impressive on the beach -- and certainly not the most impressive on the island -- it was quite the sight to behold. One thing was for certain, it was Nick Hardy's pride and joy, and his only son didn't seem to think it was too shabby either.

Right now, Michael was definitely reaping the benefits of the island, the largest benefit being that living on the island, since it was just off the coast of Highland Beach, meant that on a technicality, it wasn't within city limits, and on a technicality, every piece of property on the island was private. In a roundabout way, it meant that Michael could, for the most part, get away scott-free with throwing some killer parties, and the best part was, his father didn't care.

In fact, more often than not, Nick was the one supplying the alcohol. He'd been out of town this weekend, but he'd graciously left Michael all the supplies he'd need for the houseparty he'd planned on throwing. Nick didn't care. After all, he wasn't blowing his money, he was blowing some old broad's. Either way, Nick's overextravagant spending of money had helped Michael -- already a handsome boy and natural-born athlete -- rocket his way up the food chain in terms of social status in school.

He hadn't really planned this party too much in advance, it was just kind of an impromptu thing. He'd passed word on to the baseball boys, some of the football players, and a handful of cheerleaders, and rumors of Michael's party had spread like wildfire throughout Southridge. He figured that everybody who was anybody at Southridge would show up, and, unlike the lame bonfire party they'd held at the beginning of the year, it wouldn't be a "school sponsored" event.

Michael was currently relaxing on the sofa of the sunroom, watching the sun disappear over the skyline. The guests would be arriving soon, and he was planning on the night being an eventful one. Not only did he have basically an open bar with all the liquor his dad had set him up with, but they had the entire house, his pool, and the whole beach all to themsselves. He figured that if nothing else, it might make for an entertaining evening.

Now, all that was left was to wait on the cars to start piling in.

((Continued from Good-for-Nothing!))

Nobody could've expected it.

The top five percentile of the school was usually not one to participate in the random debauchery associated with the lesser tier, Evelyn Richinson probably even more so, but as her car swerved into the parking lot of Michael Hardy's abode it became clear exactly what had occurred since she had gotten accepted into college. Her grades had been finalized and the football season had ended; In response Evelyn had taken up drinking and her new rule of thumb wasn't that of the finesse involved in football but instead the finesse involved in beer pong.

As she staggered into the doorway it became clear that she no longer was the uptight Evelyn of the past, but of course as she tripped over herself and surveyed the room with her blurry gaze, she smiled as she stared at Michael and once again giggled at the mischievousness of her very nature now. Oh how everyone would be surprised, Evelyn Richinson, the professional Evelyn Richinson a drunken fool.

"Hold the phone, hold the phone!", she paused as she stared at Michael again, "Are you holding it? Alright cause you needs too calls more people Hardee, sisreally thisell bes a lame part ifshoo do not..."

"C'mon mini man, don't be so damn square!" Sean O'Cann, denied the opportunity to drag his best friend Tyson Neills out to Hardy's party, had decided to do his utmost to pull, push, or otherwise cajole another of his associates to come along. Sean's task was made either easier or harder (depending on how you looked at things) by the fact that the guy he was attempting to bring with him already knew that the party was going on. Don Joesi was an oddity on Sean's scale. Obviously he was extremely clever (well duh, he had skipped a grade) but he was also surprisingly good at baseball, and been on the point of breaking into the team throughout the season, even starting a few times for them. He didn't pitch, so Sean had no reason to resent him for somehow trying to muscle onto his turf, and considering Don was best at bat and on base... they couldn't have been further apart in their specialities. But it didn't stop there, Don was some four inches taller than Sean, and for a guy with as much talent at such a young age, he was remarkably mature. Most of the guys on the baseball team called Don 'LJ' or 'Little Joe' and it was only Sean personally who called him 'mini man' referring to his age rather than size. Right now, Sean was attempting to convince Don, but not meeting with much success. (Unsurprisingly, considering the methods he was using).

Don responded to Sean's comment with a small, half smile at the smaller guy, which just irritated him more.
"Look Sean, if you're so desperate to have somebody with you, take ... I dunno, Nick Jones or something, you should have problem convincing him," the casual insult caused Sean to bristle.
"Don, I do not appreciate knocks like that, okay? I know Nick Jones is gay, insulting me like that is not clever," Don, who, in sharp contrast, thought that it was rather clever, smiled again and held up a placating hand, wondering if Sean knew how much like a girl he sounded when he spoke in that way.
"Alright, I'll go, but only if it'll make you shut up!" Sean favoured him with a grin, then walked into the road and hopped into his beat up old car. Sean's family were fairly rich, but all 'Lucky' tended to get was faithful old hand-me-downs. Don squeezed into the passenger seat, and Sean immediately took off - far too fast as it happened.

Not too long afterwards, they were pulling up at their team-mate's place. Sean got out, almost jumping with excitement. Don followed more slowly, shaking his head and smiling to himself. He is so gay, even if he doesn't admit it... Still, his problem, not mine Don's two-toned eyes twinkled as he chuckled, but Sean was far too caught up in the moment. He veritibley skipped into the doorway, and burst into the site of the (hopefully) awesome party.
"Nail down the beers and hide the ladies!" Sean hollered. "Lucky and LJ have arrived!" Don snickered as he followed Sean in. No need of hiding the ladies with you around Sean... 'Lucky' shot Don an annoyed look.
"Will you stop laughing every time I say something?" Sean asked him.
"Only if you stop saying something oxymoronic as regards to your sexuality every time you open your mouth," Don stepped past him before he figured that one out (Don figured he had been speaking too fast for it to be deciphered, even if it was a great retort). Don quirked an eyebrow when he spotted Evelyn.
"I thought the party hadn't started yet? You been warming up Evelyn?"

Luis Chezinski was not the kind of person one would expect to go to a party like the one Micheal Hardy was throwing. In fact, from his appearance alone, one would expect him to NEVER go to any party whatsoever.

In all honesty, Luis wasn't an unsociable crab. Quite the opposite, actually. He was very talkative, and very approachable. The fact of the matter was that he NEVER took the first step. The boy, who had turned seventeen just several months ago, was very insecure. Whenever he ever tried to take the first step in talking to someone, doubts start to circulate in his head and in the end he would just sit there quietly. It didn't exactly mean that he wasn't a socialite. Although if SOMEONE DID come up to him, he would shudder as if he had been outside in the cold for two hours. This usually made people turn the other cheek, thinking that he was some kind of freak. What they didn't know was that around people that he knew (despite the number being fewer than most normal kids), none of this ever happened. He would act like a normal boy, not like a studdering moron.

Which is why, in a sudden change of personality, Luis decided that today was the day that he was going to change. That he was going to jump in head first and actually talk to people...

Although he still had doubts.

First of all, Luis (a kid who had always lived in a small house around Village Harbor) never actually been to the fancy Stonegate Island. The size of the houses, the scale of all of them, were very overwhelming. Large lawns, even larger houses. The smallest house of all made his home look like a hut. It made Luis nervous, his index fingers prodding against each other as he turned his glances from house to house. The house that Luis had been sent to was even more luxurious than all of the other houses combined, which made the boy even more afraid. It was very obvious that anyone living here were both rich and snobby, and wouldn't want anything to do with someone like him. Second of all, everyone among everyone was going to this party. That meant all the cheerleaders, all the football players, all the preps... none of the nerds, because they'd probably want nothing to do with this sort of shindig. Some kids already knew others, and if there was one thing Luis knew above all the rest, it was that NO ONE he knew was going to this party. The third and last thing was that.... well, he was always had doubts about himself. This is like he was walking inside a tiger's den with raw meat stapled to his ribs.

...

But he had come all this way. There was no turning back. No matter how Luis looked at it, he couldn't look back, No MATTER WHAT HE DID, HE COULDN'T TURN BACK WHATSOEVER.

Luis turned back anyway. Then around again.

"*sigh* Well... here goes nothing... I've got nothing else to lose... except my dignity, courage, all my friends and quite possibly my life. When haven't we risked our life for something before?"

A tumbleweed rolled past him.

Luis sighed.

Of all the risks the boy had taken, nothing was quite as scary as the one he was taking now. Slowly, carefully, Luis walked all the way up to the two-story house. He gulped. The sight of a skipping boy into the party confirmed Luis's fears that, yes, he was at the right house. Why would he doubt himself? Well, that was painfully obvious. After all, if he wasn't sure of where the actual party was, then what would be the point in going? Things never work out the way one would wish it to, and Luis knew exactly where to go. He walked through the doorway, slipping past the two brothers (or two lovers. Luis couldn't really tell) who had just wandered into the party as well, trying his best not to be detected. He also noticed a very drunken Evelyn (the last name of whom was unknown to the boy), feeling even more reserved. Gee... maybe coming here wasn't such a great idea. Everyone but me is going to drink and stuff. Luis sighed, walking into another part of the house without another sound. Well, am I surprised? After all, this is a secluded party that everyone amongst everyone is going to attend. One would think alcohol would be a part of the equation.

No sooner than the sun had begun to go down, guests started arriving for the party. He hadn't really been worried that no one would show up. He knew better, and besides, even on the off-chance that nobody came, Michael would have all the liquor to himself, and that wasn't such a bad backup plan. The first party guest to come bounding through the doors was none other than the Captain of the football team herself, Evelyn Richinson.

Michael smirked to himself as the obviously intoxicated girl stammered through his door, and for a moment, he couldn't help but wish that she had been the only party guest he had invited. Evelyn was a cute girl, "cute" being the key word. You could never go wrong with the blonde hair, blue eyes combination, even if Evelyn was a bit too stick-figurey for his tastes. Still, she was a good looking girl, even moreso when she wasn't dressed up like a guy boasting football pads and helmets.

"I'm all the party anybody needs," he mused with a mischevious grin as the rather drunken Evelyn informed him that there needed to be people for him to have a party.

On the bright side, if nothing else went right tonight, he could always claim the Captain of the football team as his next conquest. Most people would think it chauvenistic and just messed up to take advantage of someone who was so clearly intoxicated, but Michael didn't think much of it.

The fact was, he had been with a lot of girls in the past, and so to him, even someone like Evelyn was just another name on his list of conquests. He didn't have much time to fraternize with the intoxicated girl before the doors of his home swung open again to reveal another duo. Don Joesi and Sean O'Cann slid into the party together, and Michael grinned as he approached his fellow baseball players.

"Hey guys," he mused, tossing two beers at the two new party guests, "How's it goin'? It's a little bit slow at the moment, we haven't quite kicked things off yet, but have a seat, kick back, and enjoy yourselves. The alcohol's on me."

Michael made his way toward the door of the sun room that lead out into his driveway to scout around outside and see who else was making their way into his driveway. He saw a couple car-fulls of people pull up -- from the looks of it, they were the more socially accepted juniors of the school and whatnot.

He nodded to them in acknowledgement as they flocked into his house, almost immediately heading toward the liquor cabinet once they were inside. In the corner of his eye, he spotted a blonde-headed boy who he hadn't noticed before standing over in a corner by himself. Michael grabbed another beer and whistled at the boy before tossing it to him. He couldn't remember the kid's name, but that was fine.

"What's up man?" he mused with a grin, "Enjoy yourself."

The door to the party flew open a moment later, and the ruckus being caused made Michael wheel around quickly.

"Hey hey hey hey hey!" a quite pregnant Heather Tilmitt exclaimed loudly as she burst through the door.

He wasn't really surprised that Heather had shown up, even if it probably wasn't a good idea for her to be drinking considering her current state. The brown-headed girl was quite visibly showing her pregnancy, the fact that she was wearing a skin-tight lime green t-shirt that read "I'm not fat, I'm knocked up", helped to further enunciate the entire thing, and Michael couldn't help but smirk lightly as he looked her over.

In terms of conquests, Heather wasn't on his list. Michael had wanted to do a lot of things in his life, but a pregnant chick wasn't one of them. Especially one like Heather, whose private parts were probably so gaping that you could fall in them and drown. He cringed at the thought. More importantly, he immediately starting looking for the quiet figure that was usually following in tow behind Heather, but much to his disappointment, he saw no sign of Lance Barrett.

"So..." he mused, pushing his way back over to Evelyn, "What brings the great football captain to my humble little abode? Not that I'm complaining, but I definitely didn't expect you to show up."

"Shoo know, that is that and this is this...", Evelyn smiled at Michael lightly, "Jus gettin' into the highshchool esperiense four years to late," she giggled a bit more, "I guess shbeing the only virgin at gra...gra...graduation can do that to you.", she said stumbling over her words slightly as she put her hand onto Michael's taller shoulder to regain balance. She once again laughed loudly now as she leaned onto Michael some more, once again her eyes blushing and her smile flashing as she used the taller boy as some sort of cane.

"Sheriously Hardee, I never taught you where nice guy...you shknow the girls would say all sorts of mean sthings about you," she smiled, "Premature ejaculator, big for nothing, all shorts of things, but y'know I never listened...to me you where just another shitty baseball player, but I'm talkin' shit, really you're a nice guy. I promise.", she smiled, "Ah who woulda shthough that lil' old me could put away a 1/5th of Jack and make it out fine? Not dose fancy colleges, shnot my parents, and setainly not joo, right?"

Evelyn slid down a bit, the only thing keeping her standing was her arms around Michael's waist, she playfully blew her hair out of her eyes as she wanted to at least be able to see the party going around, but to avail. Luckily nobody in her social circle was at this party, four years of hardwork and a straight life style...all going down in a single night.

It was tragic, really.

Sean caught the beer that Michael tossed him easily, and raised it in wordless thanks to him. Since he appeared otherwise... uh, 'occupied' with the Captain of the football team, Sean decided not to bug his teammate for now and find somebody else to talk to. Sean smiled when he saw a couple of newcomers arrive. Already the party was heating up, considering he had been one of the first there, Sean made a resolution to be one of the last gone, probably heavily drunk in the early hours of the morning. That was typical Sean really, incredibly competitive, even with petty or somewhat trivial matters. At this point he was backing himself to outlast every other person to get to the party in terms of drinking.

Well, better get started! Sean thought jovially, cracking open the beer that he held and taking a long drink from it. He moved aside and continued to sip thoughtfully, waiting for somebody to either talk to him or to spot somebody he would like to speak with.

Don regarded the beer he had been thrown with a frown. He was momentarily tempted to throw away his restraints and just drink, but he reminded himself that not only was he underaged (not that it would matter much in this kind of enviroment) but he wasn't supposed to drink whilst taking his pills. He had been told that as a kind of afterthought, but he had remembered it nontheless. Evelyn hadn't noticed him speaking to her, so he shrugged and walked further inside, slouching down onto a chair and staring vacantly at the far wall.

Luis was shocked slightly when he heard a loud whistle come from the direction he was facing away from. He turned suddenly just in time to catch sight of some kind of vase being flung over to him. On complete impulse he threw out both of his hands in an attempt to catch it, having no idea that what the bottle really was. It landed in his hands, and he sighed in relief. Luis had really thought that he hadn't moved quickly enough and the bottle would have been sent crashing into the ground. At least now he knew he had better reflexes than he originally thought. It took him a minute to notice what the bottle was filled with. He looked up at Micheal, faking a smile that not even his own mother(if he had one) would have believed. Luis stared at the glass bottle for a while, contemplating if he should actually take a drink of it.

"No.. I can't drink. Alcohol is really bad for your systems... Besides, I don't want to... do anything that I'd regret later..."

"..."

"Well," he coincided with himself. "I guess... I'll just take a little bit of it... I mean, one can't do much harm to you, right?"

Luis right hand gripped the top of the bottle, sighing softly. He tried desperately to open it to absolutely no avail. His hands burned violently in pain, but he still tried to twist the top off. "Oww... that... hurts... This isn't working." After a minute her replaced his hand with his own teeth, hoping that they'll do much better. He gripped the cap with his back molars, chopping down on the top. This attempt was so much more successful than his first and the cap came off easily with nothing spilling out of it. He sighed again, giving the beer another long glance.

It... certainly didn't smell as bad as Luis imagined it would.

He lifted the opening of the bottle up to his lips, hesitating for a moment. "Well... here goes nothing..." he noted as he toke a guzzle of the liquid that was filled inside. It tasted... funny. Kind of better, but not in a bad way. The whole thing made his nose tickle a little bit. Luis couldn't help but to giggle slightly, the beer slowly creeping down his throat to his stomach. "This... isn't so bad. Yeah... it tastes... good." With a new found confidence, Luis took another swing of the beer, not noticing that he was beginning to stagger over to the other room, where Micheal had been standing (with a drunken Evelyn around his waist). He smirked, motioning to the drink that was in his hands.

"Where are there more of these?" he asked, surprisingly without a studder or a pause whatsoever.

((I'll get you guys a post tomorrow. I've gotta be up at 2 AM for work, so no such luck tonight. =(.))

((So it's not exactly "tomorrow". Forgot about this topic, sorry!))

The party was filling up quite quickly, although Michael himself didn't recognize some of the faces that were waltzing through his doorway. He didn't mind. In terms of a party, any face was a good face. He didn't have much time to pay attention to anyone anyway. Not with the captain of the football team -- however intoxicated she may have been -- virtually throwing herself at him.

Part of him almost wanted to tell her to go sit down and chill out a bit, she was obviously in a heavy state of inebriation to be acting the way she was. He barely knew her, and even he knew that the way she was acting just wasn't like her. In the same breath though, he definitely didn't mind the company of a pretty lady, and Evelyn seemed a lot more attractive now than she did out on the football field all dressed up like all the other guys.

"Nah, you're not the only virgin at graduation," Michael grinned, knowing all too well that that was the cold truth.

He simply let the comments the "other girls" made slide right over his shoulders. He'd broken a heart or two in his day, and he knew it. Of course those girls would have nasty things to say about him, but at the end of the day, it was because they all wanted him back. He was the best thing to have ever happened to a lot of those girls, and they were just mad because they'd lost him, so why wouldn't they talk smack when he dumped them for another girl? As plastered as Evelyn seemed, he decided to spare her feelings by telling her what those same girls said behind her back. They were a bunch of vicious sharks anyway, determined to tear people down in any way humanly possible.

"Ya see that guy over there?" Michael mused with a wide grin, unwittingly pointing toward one of the more "unpopular" students who had bothered to show up to the party, "That's another guy who'll still be a virgin at graduation, and way past that, I don't doubt. No need to worry about stuff like THAT. You're a cute girl, you'll manage."

He barely paid attention as Luis Chezinski approached him, at least, until the other student asked him where he could get more beer. His attention turned away from Evelyn and onto the other student, and he grinned widely.

"Right over there, my man," he said, pointing inside the house in the direction of the living room, "Open bar man, help yourself to whatever ya want. Just remember the golden rule. Liquor before beer, you're in the clear. Beer before liquor gets ya sick quicker. I don't want puke all over my house, ya know."

Evelyn finally let got of Michael and stood on her own, her stand was a bit wobbly, but she managed to adjust herself after a few seconds and a small grin remained plastered -much like herself- on her face. Bringing her hand to rub her temples, she breathed in and out in an attempt to gain control of herself as she was overcome by the euphoric effects of the alcohol. She was moving to freely. Feeling too...well the only way she could describe it was lovey-dovey, she wasn't horny or anything, but even she noted how she was a lot more susceptible to kindness and while she had immediately attached herself to Michael mostly out of familiarity, she knew all to well (from her various friends) the type of boy Hardy was.

Underneath the tanned skin, blonde hair, and Hollister T-Shirts was an arrogant son of a bitch. She came here to have fun, to let loose and while her parents where trusting enough to let her run off without any reigns -not like she took advantage of this-, Evelyn's own mind was freaking out as her self control slipped through her fingers like a fist full of sand. She sighed a bit as she noted that perhaps she had overestimated herself too much and noted that she probably could've died on the way here if she wasn't lucky. Evelyn Richinson was responsible and honestly the responsible thing to do would to stay at the party and sleep off the liquor at Hardy's house.

Not sleep with Hardy.

She almost grunted herself in firmness as she stepped forward and then back in a walk that almost resembled the cha-cha, but as she reached Hardy again she groaned as if a strange sickness was overcoming her. Obviously worrying and drinking didn't mix well.

"Shlook, I'm really plasturd and I need to lay down...dyou have a guest room or shomething?"

Don wasn't really paying much attention to the conversation, but since Luis was relatively close by when he started asking for more beer, he did catch the general gist of what he was saying - especially when he spied the near to empty bottle of beer in his hands. Don looked at the similar bottle that he was holding, the chief difference being that it was full. Don desperately wanted to remove the temptation from his path, so he rose to his feet, pressing the beer into Luis' hands. Did it really matter whether or not he should be making the guy drink? He had obviously made that decision for himself, and a random guy in his own grade was hardly somebody to go out on a limb for. Hell, put into consideration, Don didn't even like his own brother. They were closer now, that was for sure, but a lifetime of conflict wasn't put behind you in such a small amount of time.

Don moved off before Luis could process anything, if he was going to drop the bottle in surprise he really wanted to be out of the area. However, he didn't immediately hear a smash, so he guessed that he had done the ordinary thing which was to simply take hold of the bottle. Thinking about Luis' condition, he doubted that he would mind being simply handed another beer. Despite his expectations, the party didn't seem particularly busy, so Don was free to simply slide back into his corner.

His attention had momentarily turned toward the other guests of the party, namely Luis Chezinski, who had inquired about more alcohol some moments before. Michael cast a sidelong glance at another party-goer, Don Joesi, as he handed his still un-opened container off to Luis. Apparently, Don wasn't the drinking type. Then again, he didn't seem like the "fun" type period, which made Michael quite curious as to why he'd come to the party in the first place.

Then again, it didn't really matter why he was here. He was just another space filler. Michael looked around his abode, seeing one too many underclassmen for his tastes, and couldn't help but feel a little bit disappointed at the lack of people at the party. Hopefully, more would show up soon. He knew he had invited a lot more people than this, and usually his parties weren't complete flops.

His eyes trailed back to Evelyn, who was stumbling over toward him again. She was still hard to understand and her speech was quite slurred, further showcasing the effect that all the alcohol she'd drank had had on her. Still, he could understand what she was saying, and a faint grin formulated across his features as she informed him that she needed to lie down and inquired as to whether or not he had a guest bedroom.

Part of him wanted to simply lie to her and tell her that the only available bedroom in the house was his own, and he was almost tempted to do it, but the almost queasy and nauseated expression that kept creeping over her features told him it might be better to just be a gentleman and play it by ear. He didn't want vomit splattered across his own room, after all. He might be using it later. Instead, Michael simply smiled arrogantly and nodded.

"But of course," he mused with a wide grin, "Follow me."

He headed further into the interior of the house, walking slowly so that the inebriated girl would have less trouble trying to keep up with him. He might have helped her had he been thinking about it, but Michael simply wasn't all that much of a gentleman. Instead, he moved through the kitchen of the house and out into the main house itself. It was particularly well decorated for a bachelor pad, namely because his father had hired an interior designer to do all the dirty work for them.

"There's a guest room downstairs," he stated coolly.

There were a few upstairs too, but as funny as the thought of the drunk girl walking up the stairs might have been, Michael knew something like that was probably a hazard just waiting to happen.

BREET.

It was just about the last thing Sean expected to hear his mobile phone ring - for one thing hardly anybody actually had his number, and for another, he had just been getting into the party mood. He sighed, masking irritation, then pulled it from his pocket and answered it, not even glancing at the screen.

"Lucky,"
"Hey. it's Tyson," Sean frowned slightly, why would Tyson be calling him when he had refused to tag along earlier - complaining that he was sick?
"Hi, what's up man? Thought you were sick?"
"Uh yeah... listen, Sean, I need to talk to you about something," Sean grinned slightly, that sounded a little funny, and he quickly expressed his sentiments.
"I hope you're not going to propose or anything, I told you before I don't swing that way," Which, regretfully, was a lie, one that Sean was going to do his best not even to let his closest friend know - it wouldn't help their friendship, he knew that for certain. Sean heard a weak chuckle from the other end.
"Nah... something else. Sean, it's important, please?" that surprised Sean again - it wasn't like Tyson to act like this, something was most definitely up. He wasn't sure what it was - hell, what could it be? Tyson was just a normal guy, bit annoying to some, weird sense of humour, how could a ordinary football player (albeit a rather small one) have some great terrible secret?
"Alright, I'll meet you at your place in ten, gotta say my goodbyes,"
"Thanks," Tyson hung up, leaving Sean mystified.

Sean looked around and spotted Michael's receding back as he headed off, still steering the rather drunk Ms. Richinson.
"Hey Michael!" he yelled. "Something's up with Neillsy! Catch you later man, sorry 'bout screwing up the party!' he didn't know whether or not he was heard, but it didn't really matter. Sean stepped outside, mood sour, he had been looking forward to this party, he hoped Tyson had a good reason for hauling him back home.

((Sean continued in )The Grand Lie))