Chapter 25: Party Guessed
After the rave, Scarlett drove Matt home in an awkward silence. Once the car slowed to a stop in front of his house, the brunette boy reached for the door handle but paused, "About that really, incredibly bad idea I had-"
"You mean the kiss?" Scarlett asks, raising an eyebrow.
"That's the one."
"Don't worry about it."
"For real?"
Scar nods, "Definitely."
"So, I know Nate and you are over. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's true. But is there anyone else?"
"Nate and I are definitely over. Like so over I don't even want to breathe the same air as him." Scar pauses, sucking in a breath.
"And anyone else?" He asks once more.
"Not... really."
"I hate not reallys. You never know what to do with a not really."
Scarlett awkwardly smiles at him, "Sorry. Would you understand if I said it was complicated?"
"Not really. But I'll try." He softly smiles at Scarlett, placing his hand over hers. Then opens the passenger door and steps out. Scarlett locks the door behind him, sighing. She takes a breath before she starts to drive away.
When she reaches over to change the gear shift to drive, she notices Matt's forgotten bag left on the floor of the passenger side. She reaches over to pick it up and bring it to him but his camera falls out. Reaching for the camera to put it back, her thumb accidently hits a button, lighting up the screen.
Scarlett sees Matt's pictures from the lacrosse game and starts smiling. They're good. Scarlett clicks to the next picture and then the next. When she makes it to the fourth picture her back straightens in alarm. The picture is of Scott, his eyes glowing. The next picture shows the same thing.
Clicking onto the next picture, already thinking she was prepared for what she was about to see, Scarlett was shocked when it was something completely different. Rather than it being a picture of her twin with glowing eyes, it was a picture of her on the bleachers during the lacrosse game.
The next picture, another picture of her, this one in the hallway during school. The next, a picture of her during lunch. Scarlett's heart begins racing as she continues to hit the next picture, seeing more and more pictures of herself.
Finally, knuckles pounding on the passenger window makes Scarlett jump, nearly dropping the camera. She shakily looks up, seeing Matt with a weird smile, that she can't quite place. He mouths, 'open the window' still smiling.
Scarlett hesitates for just a brief moment before doing what he said. "Forgot my bag."
"Yeah," Scar breathes out. Reaching over and handing him his bag and camera.
"Some good pics in there, you think?"
She nods, trying to smile. "Yeah. You're really talented. I saw the lacrosse ones."
"There's a good candid of you in there too."
"Oh. Really?"
"You want to see some others? I mean this tiny screen doesn't really do them justice. I could show you some on my computer."
"That sounds great. But maybe another night."
"Come up. Just for a few minutes." He insists.
"I told my mom I would be home soon."
"It's the weekend. I'm sure she'll understand."
"I know, but-"
"And it's spring break. You don't have anything to do tomorrow, do you?"
"Yeah, actually I do. Things with Lydia. I should really get going."
"You sure?"
Scarlett nods once more, "I'm sure." She insists, thankful that he can't hear how fast her heart is beating. Finally, Matt backs away from the car, pulling his bag over his shoulder. Scar quickly rolls up the window and leaves.
*_*_*_*_*_*
The next day Lydia and Scarlett go shopping for Lydia's birthday party later that night. After their trip to Macy's, she insists that they go to Allison's and include her in their usual party ritual, which of course Scarlett happily agrees too.
Once Mr. Argent lets the girls in they make their way up the stairs and without knocking, Lydia swings Allison's bedroom door open. "Clear your schedule. This could take a while."
She brushes past the hunter with Scarlett following after closing the door. Lydia dumps the handfuls of bags onto the girls bed as Allison begins to talk, "How many outfits do you plan on wearing tonight?"
"It's my birthday party. I'm thinking, a host dress, evening wear, then after hours casual."
Scarlett shakes her head and smiles as Lydia starts laying out the outfits, "I noticed you didn't send out any invites." Allison hesitantly says.
"She never does. It's the biggest party of the year." Scarlett replies.
"Everyone knows." Lydia adds.
"I'm just wondering if maybe this year things might be... different." Allison says.
Lydia turns to her bewildered, "Why would anything be different?" She then turns to Scarlett for an explanation.
Scar sighs, "Things have been a little off lately."
"Like Jackson." Allison pipes up.
"What do you care about Jackson?" Lydia asks.
Avoiding the question, Allison asks one of her own, "Do you know if he's coming?"
"Everyone's coming." Lydia confidently replies. She then models a dress in front of the mirror, "This one's Material Girl. I love it. On me. Not you. This is for you." She then pulls out another item from one of the bags.
Though Allison doesn't pay much attention to it as she continues, "No one's seen him since last night and I heard his parents are getting really worried. So if you know where he is-"
Lydia interrupts, "This is definitely your color. Although, honestly, Allison, you have to start spray-tanning. You're starting to look goth and I don't even know if it's called goth anymore. It's just pale and pasty and not good."
Before Allison or Scarlett could say anything a knock sounds at the door. Mrs. Argent steps in looking towards her daughter. Lydia turns to ask, "Mrs. Argent, what do you think of this one?"
Mrs. Argent briefly looks at the dress, "It's lovely. Allison, can I grab you for a moment to talk? Just the two of us."
"Can we do it later?" She asks as she gestures to all of the clothes spread out on her bed.
"To be honest, sooner is better." She replies as she reaches a hand to her shoulder.
"Party starts at 10." Lydia informs.
"You'll be around before then?" Mrs. Argent questions.
"I think so." Allison casually replies.
"You think so?"
"I don't know." Mrs. Argent gives a nod as Allison's attention moves back to Lydia. She turns and leaves the room as the trio continues looking at the clothes for tonight.
*_*_*_*_*_*
After a couple of hours, Lydia and Scarlett left to get ready for the party at Lydia's house. Scarlett was wearing an all black outfit that consisted of a black see through short-sleeved top, a black tank top underneath, a faux leather black skirt with a zipper up the front, and strappy black heels.
Once they were both ready, they made their way downstairs and waited for the guests to arrive. Once the first couple of guests arrived, music starts blaring as Lydia stays inside to greet her guests. Though it's officially past 10, there are only a few guests at the party. Scarlett walks towards her twin and Stiles when she sees them by the pool. But before she has the chance to say anything, Allison walks up to them, "Jackson's not here."
"No one's here." Stiles deadpans.
"Maybe it's just early?" Scott questions, sounding unsure.
Scarlett shakes her head as Stiles answers, "Or maybe no one's coming because Lydia's turned into the town whack job."
Allison turns to Scott, "Should you even be here?"
Scott nods, "I'll be okay." The group of four turn their attention to Lydia who hands a drink to the last of her party guests. She glances around to see who else needs one but there is no one else.
"We have to do something to help. I'm going to message some people from school." Scarlett says.
Pulling out her phone, she hesitates when Scott speaks, "She's completely ignored Stiles for the last ten years."
"I prefer to see it as me not having been on her radar, you know?" Stiles pipes up.
"We don't owe her a party." Scott continues.
Scar rolls her eyes, "That's my best friend you're talking about. But fine, if you don't want to do it, I have practically everyone in the school's number anyway."
Scarlett turns to walk away annoyed with her brother, "Scarlett wait!" She ignores him and continues walking back inside the house as she sends out a mass text: Come to Lydia's birthday party - Great music and great food - Invite everyone!
A few minutes later more and more people start to trickle in. Scarlett sighs in relief, making her way back outside with a cup in her hands. "Scarlett!" She looks to her right and sees Scott coming up to her, "I'm sorry about earlier. I ended up texting the lacrosse team."
Scar nods and smiles, "I know that Lydia isn't or at least wasn't the nicest person. But she means a lot to me and I want her to have a great birthday."
He nods, "She will. How was your date with Matt? I never got the chance to ask."
Not wanting to get Scott worked up Scarlett hesitates, "It wasn't a date. But it was fine." She shrugs.
Scott raises his eyebrows, "You're lying."
Scarlett opens her mouth to respond but no words come out. She closes her mouth trying to think of something to say but stops when Stiles walks up the siblings, "So you going to apologize to Allison?" She doesn't hear the rest of the conversation because she slips away, making a mental note to avoid Scott for a while and to thank Stiles for the interruption.
*_*_*_*_*_*
Scarlett stands leaning against the house and taking sips of the punch Lydia made. Looking across the yard at all the party guests, she makes eye contact with Matt. She quickly breaks the eye contact and turns to try and blend in with the crowd.
Unfortunately she was not fast enough in her attempt to escape. Matt gently grabs her hand just before she makes it inside, halting her movements. "What do you need?" Scarlett questions as she pulls her hand out of his.
"Could we talk? We left things kind of awkward and I want the chance to explain." Matt says.
Scarlett bites her lip, eyeing him. Sighing, she finally answers, "Fine. Follow me." She brings him upstairs to a guest bedroom before turning to give him her attention, "You get two minutes."
He moves to close the door but stops when he see her glare at him. "Right, okay. I know I took some pictures of you that I should've told you about. But try to look at it another way. Is it really that bad? That I think you're beautiful? That I think you should be the subject of a perfect photograph?"
"It would be flattering if it wasn't so creepy. I mean, some of those pictures - I don't even know how you took them."
"With a telephoto lens. Come on. Photographers call them candids."
"And police officers call it stalking." Scarlett says matter-of-factly.
Matt raises his eyebrow, "So I'm a stalker now? Is that it? You think my bedroom is wall-papered with photos of you? You think I'm the kind of guy who's going to say something like If I can't have her, no one can? Well, get over yourself. There's another pretty girl walking in the room every five minutes."
Scar immediately crosses her arms and narrows her eyes, "Great. Then all you need to do is wait another three. Good luck. And don't talk to me again."
"Scarlett, hold on-" Matt tries to grab her arm as she passes him but she rips it out of his grip and glares at him, quickly making her way out of the room. Rather then move downstairs to the party, Scarlett moves down the hall to Lydia's room.
She shuts the door and moves to sit on her bed, holding her head in her hands. She sits in the quiet, blocking out the sounds of the people and the music from downstairs. After a few minutes the sounds fizzle away, but then she hears something else.
She looks up suddenly, her head spinning to the closed door. She hears a voice yelling. A voice that, though she hasn't heard it for years, is something she cannot erase from her mind. Scarlett shakily stands up, slowly taking step after step to the closed bedroom door. She listens as another voice starts yelling at the first. A man and a woman having a argument.
Scarlett blinks back the tears threatening to spill as she listens intently at the door. Finally, she reaches towards the handle and rips the door open. "I can't believe you're drinking again! Don't you want to do better? We can't be a family if you keep doing this!" The woman yells.
"Who cares about this family! The kids are worthless and I should have left you when I had the chance!" The man yells back, just as angry, possibly even angrier.
The man makes eye contact with Scarlett, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. "You hear that Scarlett! You're worthless. Worthless and pathetic. You should have never been born." He spits out. He then raises the bottle to his lips, taking a swig of the alcohol inside and starts to stumble his way over to the young girl.
Through gritted teeth, the man speaks once more, "Maybe I should just end you're worthless life now." He raises a hand. Scarlett flinches, stumbling backwards and falling to the floor. Tears now freely flow down her face as she pushes herself against the wall, trying to find the man, but he's nowhere in sight.
Not too long after that Stiles rushes up the stairs, "Scarlett! Are you okay?"
"I... I don't know." Scarlett pauses, sucking in a breath and finally raising her hands to wipe her eyes, though the tears have already dried. "I think I was hallucinating."
"Yeah, we all did. Have you seen Lydia?"
Scar shakes her head as Stiles helps her up. They make their way back downstairs to find Scott, "I can't find her. But I found Scar. And dude, everyone - anyone who drank that crap. They're freaking out."
"I can see that." Scott replies.
People are jumping and pushing others into the pool. Shrieks can be heard from the party goers. "What the hell do we do?" Stiles asks.
"I don't know but-" Scott is cut off by someone's panicked voice.
"Stop! Don't - Don't -" They all turn to see Matt. He gets thrown into the pool and starts desperately thrashing around calling, "I can't - I can't swim!" Jackson calmly reaches down, dragging Matt out of the pool as the music fades. Someone's voice breaks the quiet, "Cops are here!" Suddenly everyone starts running as they try to leave the house.
As the trio get shoved to the side, they step around the house trying to keep an eye out for Matt and Jackson. Scott gets separated from Stiles and Scarlett but when they finally meet back up Scott looks shocked, "Matt is the master."
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