Free Destiny by Mitchel Grace Page A

knew me, and I had a certain
level of respect. Had I just landed right back at the nerd table?
    I
quickly scolded myself for that thought. Who was I to judge them? They were
probably like I used to be - a little too reserved and without much confidence.
I just had to bring out the best in this group. It might take some time, but
these guys would learn to have a new kind of fun before it was all over. I was
sure of it.
    “So
what are we going to do tonight?” I asked Mike.
    “This
is it, unless you’ve got a better idea.”
    “I
might. I assume people throw parties around here and that you guys have plenty
of movie theaters in town.”
    “Yeah,
but we’re not usually invited to the parties.”
    “Well,
I think we need to do something outside of the house to get seen a little. I’m
new, and I would love to see what the place has to offer. How about we crash
one of these parties?”
    “I
don’t think that’s a good idea,” Stan said quickly.
    “Trust
me. It is. We’re all in our teens here, and we’re not going to sit in this room
all night with no girls and no possibility of anything unpredictable happening,
are we?”
    “We’ve
been to parties before, Eric. We just don’t enjoy them,” Mike said.
    “Why
not? If it’s about the alcohol that’s going to be there, we don’t have to
drink. I just want to meet some new people and see how things are done here.”
    “It’s
not about alcohol at all. We find that we’re basically invisible when we get
there, so we all end up hanging out together. Eventually, we just decided to
hang out here. Why go somewhere and be unnoticed when you can do it in the
comfort of your own home?”
    “All
right, I get it. You just need a way to get noticed. I’m going to help all of
you out. Back in Miami, I used to go to a lot of stuff like this. If there’s one
thing I know how to do, it’s get noticed. What do you say?
Will you guys give it another shot?”
    They
agreed to go, but I could tell that none of them actually wanted to. With no
enthusiasm, we piled into my car, and Mike directed me to a party that was
supposed to be a lot of fun. The guy who was throwing it was a senior, and his
name was Jason Watt. His parents had plenty of money, and they were the types
that a lot of kids thought of as cool parents. All that really meant was that
they provided alcohol for minors, though. Jason was one of the most popular
kids at that school, but it was only because of what he could provide for
people. Still, I welcomed the idea of free alcohol and meeting some new people.
Who knew? I might even run into Olivia. That would complete the night, as long
as I could stay away from Richard. That was probably going to be a challenge,
though. He seemed like the type of guy who would always be attached at the hip
with his girlfriend.
    As
we pulled up to the house, I saw a sea of cars outside and heard music. I just
knew it was going to be fun. Looking back, I don’t know if I would describe it
as fun. It was certainly interesting, though. After that night, a lot changed
for all of us. Four invisible sixteen year olds walked into that house, and
four very noticeable men were going to walk out of it.

 
    Chapter 8
    Fight!

 
    When
we went inside, I quickly got the guys involved in a few drinking games. I
figured it would loosen them up a little, and people can’t help but talk to you
when you’re involved in an active thing. It seemed to be working. They were
actually talking to people. Stan might have been enjoying his drink a little
too much, but I wasn’t judging. I was just glad to be there instead of sitting
in Mike’s bedroom.
    Time
passed slowly as I sipped my drink and got to know a few new people. Finally,
what I had been hoping for happened. Olivia walked in. There was one minor
problem. Richard was with her. I wanted to approach them, but I didn’t need to
start any trouble. Eventually, I decided to say hello. After all, there
wouldn’t be any harm in that, would