Chapter 7: Party Time

Piper approached the front door with nervous trepidation. She hovered in the doorway and adjusted the only strap on her asymmetrical bodycon dress. She felt weird carrying a backpack, a tiny purse, and just a showy dress. But no matter how exposed she felt, she had her orders. Go to the party, make some friends, and keep her phone nearby for orders. She pressed the doorbell.

“Hello, who are you?” A college-aged guy with a patchy goatee opened the door with red plastic cup in hand and checked her out with a smile. She could see a smattering of people behind chatting in mostly casual attire.

She threw on a charming smile, “Hey, guy, I’m here for the party.”

She started to walk in, but he put his hand up in the way. “Hold up a sec, kid, what are you, like twelve?”

“No,” she scoffed, “Do I look twelve?”

He chuckled, “Kinda, yeah.”

She started panicking. She needed to get in there, she couldn’t get another night of punishment. She glanced back in desperately searching through the faces she could see and latched onto one out of sheer luck, “Demora!”

Demora, the captain of the varsity cheer squad was chatting with two older boys. She had on a belly shirt, shorts and uggs looking very preppy and very comfortable. But Demora was the kind of girl who could make even the casual look womanly. She had flared generous hips and breasts that carried gravitas. Gravitatas? Piper saw a wince in her eyes when she saw Piper, but quickly, she broke away and came to her rescue. “Piper, omg, it’s been forever!”

The guy at door stepped back enough to let her step in and get a big hug from Demora.

Piper felt such relief at seeing the friendly face, but mid hug, she whispered harshly, “Don’t screw this up for me.”

The guy who answer the door asked, “You know this short stack?”

Demora nodded, “Yeah, we used to cheer together back in high school. Dennis, Piper, Piper, Dennis.” Piper gave him a smile, but Demora lead her by the hand back to the other guys before she could say anything else. Dennis followed. She whispered asking who invited her to the party, but Piper only had time to shrug.

“Hey, sorry about that,” she apologized.

The first of the other guys was a really cute tall guy with thick straight hair that Demora was very obviously crushing on. She nestled into the crook of his arm and he took a swig of beer and checked out Piper. “No problemo, hey, who’s your friend?”

Piper offered a meek wave.

Demora’s guy was named Scott and he was really friendly. He was a freshman at Duke. Scraggly Dennis from the door seemed mollified but looked leery on her making her more nervous. He’d gone to Swarthmore. Then there was Han, a big Asian dude. She didn’t catch where we has going to school. Finally there was Jamal, a mixed African American guy from USC.

It wasn’t really a party, just a few old friends hanging out. They all seemed to be more interested in talking about their first year at college and comparing notes. Only Han went greek, and the others were giving him crap about it. Jamal was getting kind of close and friendly, which was making her even more nervous than the others. She turned down a beer and got a coke instead. Her phone buzzed as Jamal asked her about her major. She squirmed her way out of the conversation and went to check the message.

“You’re a party girl. It is time to act the part. Look in your purse and you’ll find a hidden pocket. The pink is for you. The blues are for your male friends.”

She checked with rising fear and found the pocket. One pink pill and five blue ones lay peacefully in the black velvet lined pocket. She pressed herself against the wall, heart hammering. Drugs? She didn’t even want to drink here with these guys, and now she was going to take drugs?

Back in the room she heard Han say, “What’s with your friend? I thought you said she was cool.”

Dennis laughed, “Yeah, she looks like she needs to get on her bicycle and go home.”

Jamal defended her, “Naw, man, she’s just a little shy.”

“Guys, guys, come on, be cool,” Scott came to her defense. “She’s a Berkley girl, maybe she’s burnt out and needs a break.”

Dennis shook his head, “She’s a cheerleader at Berkley? Yeah, I’ll believe it when I see pics.” He took out his phone.

Piper cursed under her breath, then walked in the room with her head held high. It was time to act the part. “Damn Dennis, don’t you know how to have a fun time without looking for pics on the internet?” Her sass got some Ohs from Jamal and Scott. “And I don’t want to talk about Berkley. Fuck Berkley. Seriously, guys I’m about to fall asleep here, this is so boring. I came here to party.” She held out her palm full of pills. That elicited surprised looks. “You guys in or what?”

Piper fished out the one pink pill for herself and dropped the rest of them on the table.

“Damn, you’re a hardcore bitch,” Jamal chuckled.

“Fuck yeah,” she said, getting into character. “You in or what?” To make her point, she took her pill and washed it down with a coke.

Scott looked at Demora who shrugged. Jamal was the first to follow, “Oh hells yeah.”

Han complained, “Dude, you’ve never done any drugs, man what are you doing.”

“First time for everything, dude,” Jamal grinned and took the pill.

Scott whispered to Demora and after some assurances he said, “Okay, if my baby says you’re cool, I’m down. Hook us up.”

“No way,” Dennis complained. “We’re probably going to wake up with our kidney’s sliced out.”

Demora and Scott took a blue pill each and washed them down with beer.

“Damn, you sound like a bitch, dude,” Han took one just to spite Dennis.

“Fine,” Dennis caved, but complained, “If we wake up without kidneys I’m going to fuck some shit up.”

“Okay, so what happens now,” Scott asked her. Demora’s eyes were wide worried about the answer as well.

Piper shrugged, “Just chill out and have fun.”

For the next few minutes, they went back to random chit-chat that would have bored her, but for the air of excitement of what was to come. Han bemoaned the lack of a foosball table. Scott suggested ping pong. Dennis and Han were playing when Piper started feeling something. It began with a giggle. She couldn’t help I, Jamal who was chatting her up so hard telling her about his first year down at USC. “I’m talking epic parties. I don’t even know how I made it to class the next day. So tell me, for real though, are you a Berkley Cheerleader?”

His fingers had made there way down to her hips as he leaned in.

She looked up and him, letting him get a bit too close for a girl who had a boyfriend. She couldn’t help but smile, “No, I’m not, but I used to cheer.”

“Oh yeah? Bet that was a lot of work.” His fingers trailed up and down her sides.

She nodded, feeling a warm happiness glowing about her, “Oh yeah, it’s serious athletics.”

Dennis scoffed, “Serious athletics? Jumping around and saying rah rah?”

Demora complained, “Hey!”

Piper slid out from Jamal’s hands, “Yeah, its serious stuff, you don’t even know.”

“Please, all it takes to be a cheerleader is looking hot in a skirt,” Dennis the douche grinned.

Piper sneered at him, “Okay, so you think you could do cheers?”

“Easy.”

“Well could you do this?” Piper smiled knowingly, grabbed her foot and kicked it up into a vertical split. She wrapped her hand around her ankle to hold it up, while the other hand struck out up high in a fist as she balanced on one foot. The boys all gasped and muttered their approval at her impressive display, not the least of which was because her asymmetrical dress that was slit on one side rode all the way up to her hip clearly putting her white panties on display.

Dennis was speechless and she smiled in triumph as she put her leg down.

“Damn,” Scott started the slow clap and was joined by the others.

Piper grinned and took a few bows.

Scott turned to Demora, “Can you do that?”

She shook her head, “Not as good as Piper can.”

“Oh please,” Piper gushed, “She’s being totally modest, she’d literally amazing, she’d the queen. You’re the queen. God, I feel so good! Do you guys feel good? I feel great, woo!” Piper spun as the world felt lovely all around her.

Han marvelled, “Damn, you are high as fuck, yo.”

Jamal chuckled, “You know, I kinda am feeling a little warm.”

Scott nodded, “A little light headed too, maybe, hey babe, you feeling anything.”

Demora shrugged, “Just a little warm, but maybe that’s you and your huggles.” She squeezed in close again.

Piper bounced, “Hey, hey, let’s play a game. Like never have I ever - no wait, I don’t wanna drink. Let’s play...”

“Truth or Dare?” Jamal offered.

“Yeah yeah,” she smiled with wide glazed eyes, “That sounds cool.”

“I’m down,” he grinned at her.

“Aww dude, get a room or try to hide that shit,” Han burst out at Scott.

“What? Oh, damn,” Scott blushed and turned to try to hide it, but everyone saw. He was sporting monster wood.

Demora bit her lip and giggled, “I’m happy to see you too, honey.”

“Uh, guys, I’m going to pass on the truth or dare, but, uhh, you all can go ahead, we’re uhh, going to get some air,” Scott took Demora by the waist and lead her upstairs.

Dennis chuckled, while Han blurted out, “Gonna be some fuckin’ tonight.”

Jamal ignored them, “For real, though, I’m down if you still want to play.”

“Okay, truth or dare?” She smiled at him.

“Truth.”

“Have you ever kissed a white girl before?”

“You looking to be my first?”

“You gotta answer the question,” she complained.

“Okay, then yeah, I’ve kissed white girls before,” he shook his head at her. “I mean I hang out with these whitebread dicks, so, all we meet is white girls.”

“Hey,” Han griped.

Jamal said, “Man, you’re the whitest yellow man I ever met, you’re the twinkiest twinkie.”

“Man, fuck you,” Han shot back, but Jamal ignored him.

“Okay, little miss white privilege, truth or dare,” Jamal grinned.

“Dare!” she spun away from him and turned back around, “Whatcha got?”

“Aw damn, I’ve got a lot of bad thoughts.”

“Make that bitch do a handstand,” Han grinned.

The boys chuckled and Jamal agreed, “Alright, yeah, I dare you to do a handstand.”

“Easy,” Piper raised up her slim arms as the dress clung to her skin. She’d barely pushed the dress back down to cover herself after her first bit of acrobatics, but she didn’t care about that. Piper felt on top of the world as she turned upside down. The skirt tried to hold itself up, but gravity was insistent, and her legs wiggled a bit more than normal as she kept her balance while giggles threatened to sputter out.