Chapter t3: I'm hearing what you say but I just can't make a sound

Here's the background information of the story.

I was in eleventh grade, having turned seventeen on February 20th. I had a best friend Rachel, whose birthday was on June 1st. We lived in Beverly Hills, California.

I guess you could say we were part of the popular crowd. We all hated the stereotypes that went along with it, but when we took a closer look at our lives, we realized that we fitted the stereotypes perfectly. We had nicknamed ourselves Hot Salsa, the hottest group in the school. Rachel and I were the most popular girls, and our boyfriends were the most popular guys. Yes, we were on the cheerleading squad. Junior captains, we would be captains next year. We were best friends with the seniors, role models for the underclassmen. We had taken our SATs and SAT II's, and were sailing through. Our grades were in perfect condition, our extra curriculars making us loved by teachers and organizations alike. We were all rich, lived in beautiful houses, and had parents who were amazing, understanding, and loved us. The perfect group of people. There were roughly ten of us who were on top, me, Rachel, and our boyfriends of course held the head positions. Me, Rachel, Amanda, Hillary, and Claudia. Then it was Luke, Paul, Max, Kyle, and Andrew.

Rachel was going out with this guy Paul ... who was amazing. He was the type of guy that everyone loved no matter what. Guys and girls alike loved Paul, and he and Rachel were in love. I mean really in love. Like they had reached that point where they could be without each other, and be able to handle it, because they knew that they would soon be together again.

And I was going out with Luke Jackson. My favorite guy in the entire bunch of our friends. We had been going out for seven months already, and we were not breaking up any time soon. We were perfectly happy together, just loving each other. It was all going well.

The rest of the couples: Amanda and Kyle, Hillary and Max, and Claudia and Andrew.

Life was beautiful, as life usually is. We were all happy working hard and partying harder.

Then came May 26th, Friday. I'll never forget the day.

School had just ended for the summer, and we wouldn't be back until September 2nd. The perfect three month summer was on its way!

I decided to have the party at my house. Of course every grade had a party, hosted by the popular kids, and most people went to whatever one was the best. The past two years it had ended up at my house, because we had had the most amazing parties ever. My brother, Henry, had been two years older than me, a junior when I was a freshmen, and a senior when I was a sophomore. That had given me lots of access to older friends, and older guys ... and I used it. So anyway the best parties had been at my house, many thanks to Henry, and I was not going to let us lose the title now. I was going on four years. No one had held the four year running in exactly a decade. So here we go!

Of course, my best friends and I all planned the thing. They showed up to help set it up, and get everything ready. They were more than willing to help us keep the title going, because not only was it our family, but it was technically now our grade who had the title. My parents were the type who trusted me, because I didn't do anything. Neither did Rachel, or our boyfriends. Sure, the rest of our friends did, so the four of us always kept an eye on things. That's why my parents trusted me to have an end-of-the-year bash while they were out to dinner and a show. We of course all had our fake IDs, because we needed them if we ever wanted to go places. There were some hang outs, like Local, where you needed an ID just to sit outside. So, not that we used them to buy ourselves drinks, but we still used them. Like tonight. We all took our cars, and headed off to get ourselves some drinks. We bought Smirnoff, Corona, and everything we could think of. From 40s of beer to bottles of vodka, we were prepared. And we knew that it would all be gone by the end of the night.

I know what we sound like ... that same group out in NYC. The partiers who throw house parties every night of their lives. Where they live in the penthouse, and have the doorman keep the secrets of all their parties. Where the doorman helps them carry a keg down the back stairs at three in the morning (true story!). Don't worry, we're not as bad as they are ... wait, maybe we are. Well at least the four of us are not. We don't drink, smoke, or have sex. We're the good kids of our crowd.

Yeah we are...

The first thing we all did was grind our butts off on the dance floor. I had a huge backyard, pool and open terrace perfect for partying. My family even had a stereo system set up in the back. Just like Rachel's house ... It was amazing! Yes, I know, the penthouse type, again. Shut up.