Chapter 5
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No drinking. No kissing. No making out.

That was the three rules my dad imposed on me when I asked their permission a while ago, which I then reassure them for the nth time that I'll never do that since I'm not that kind of person. I go to parties for fun and games, not for those three reasons.

"We're here," Lev announces as he stops the car. I unbuckle my seat belt and step outside of it. I pull the skirt I borrowed from Amy down when I stand up straight, feeling uncomfortable. This is not how I usually dress daily or when I go to a party–a long sleeve sheer top with a black bralette matched with a white leather skirt. I'm more on the soft girl type of fashion. I only wear this outfit and makeup since Amy told me to dress and try to look older than I am now. I didn't get it at first, but arriving at the said place makes the answer clear for me.

It isn't a party at a house but at a club. Mind you, we're still minors. How are we supposed to get in?

As we're at the front of the entrance, waiting for Ace and Amy to come, I smack Lev's abdomen, earning a grunt from him. I say, "Why didn't you say we're going to a club?"

"I didn't know either. I don't know what those two are up to."

Seconds later, a cheery voice comes. "Would you look at that! You look hot, Val!" I look beside me and see Amy in her draped neck velvet dress and her signature soft wavy hair.

"No, look at you! You look like you're gonna get some boys tonight, huh?"

She flips her hair. "I'm not looking for boys, Val. I'm looking for men," she says as she wiggles her brows, which we then giggle after. "And you will help me look for one. You never know, you'll find yourself some, too," she adds, smirking.

"Oh yeah? Not on my watch, Amy. You're not going to get laid tonight. These people are way older than us," Lev chimes in. He points at me, "And most certainly, you're not going to flirt with any guys. You're going to stick with me," he warns, latching my hands to his. Ugh. Here goes Lev being the protective friend he is. "Not that you'll do since you don't really talk to boys," he adds.

Amy rolls her eyes, "Fine, just flirt-"

"Talk. Just talk."

Amy looks at him in the eyes before speaking, "Whatever. I'm going to have fun tonight. I've never partied in ages!"

I peer behind Amy as Ace walks over to us, his blazer dangling on his arms, leaving him with his turtleneck shirt and jeans. "Come on, Lev. Let's get loose! It's party time! No buts, no cuts, no coconuts," he says, putting his blazer on top of Amy's head. "Bring this with you."

Amy takes it off and mumbles, "Way to ruin my hair, Ace." She spends a couple of seconds fixing her ruffled hair before inviting us inside. "Let's go, shall we? Jayden and the others are already inside."

"We're not even eighteen, Amy. How will we get in?"

She faces Ace and extends her hand as she beckons him to hand something over. Ace pulls out a bunch of IDs from his pocket and gives it to her.

"We've come prepared, my dear Val," Amy states. She grins, flashing our fake IDs I never knew existed.

How did she–Never mind. Let's just enjoy this night and hope that we don't get caught.

The more we get near to the entrance, the stronger the wave of nervousness I feel inside me. Although, it goes smoothly than I expected as the guard couldn't care less about his job and on who goes inside.

As we enter, we are met by a loud bang of music and chatters of the people. The club is dim and emblazed with the rotating disco lights from above. The dance floor is crowded. It's amusing how you can clearly distinguish the diversity of people when dancing. To my left, there's the normal type–just pure dancing and fun–while on the other side is the wild type with a mixture of grinding and twerking.

Still holding my hand, Lev asks the group, "Where are they seated at?"

As if hearing what he said, someone calls our attention. "Aye! You guys came!"

Ace walks forward, greeting each of the boys in the team with a hug, one of which is Jayden–the one who called us. Lev does the same but still not letting go, making my insides twist.

Jayden eyes our clasped hands. "Are you guys dating?" he reckons.

I play it cool and answer, "Huh? What are you talking about? This is normal," squinting my eyes in my play pretend confusion.

Lev joins in. He lets out a fake laugh, "Ha ha ha. Nice joke. V's already taken, remember? With her studies." He giggles, but this time, it's true. His giggle was contagious as others copy him after.

"Well," Jayden says in between his laughter, "You're right. That's not possible, isn't it?"

Feeling a little throb in my chest, I slowly depart my hand from his so and hold Amy's instead. I know. I know he would deny it, but it still hurts for some reason. I try not to let the pain show on my face, so I put on my mask.

We go up on the second floor, to where Jayden and the boys were sitting at so that we could finally rest for a while after the half-hour drive we've been to. Along the way, Amy activates her eagle eyes as she searches for men that will take her interest. She also asks me to find one for myself, but no matter how hard I try to find, no one could ever top Lev.

Ace binds both Amy's arms, preventing her to escape from our group and wander off in the middle of the dance floor. She's been overly excited ever since we stepped foot inside.

"Let go of my fucking arms! I want to dance!" she exclaims.

"Not now, couz. Let's settle down first," Ace explains.

To Amy's relief, as well as ours, we arrive at a semi-circular couch near the counter where drinks are served. I notice they already started drinking as there are empty and half-empty glasses with whatever alcoholic drink that is. Since I don't drink, I have no clue what those are.

"Ugh, finally! We're here now, so can you stop touching me with those filthy hands of yours?" Amy jokingly suggests as she struggles in Ace's arms which he then releases her. "Hey! You guys already drank! That's not fair, give me one." she orders Oliver, the one she's closest with among the boys aside from us.

"Yes, mademoiselle," Oliver complies, shooting her a frivolous look. It's clear that he likes her, but Amy couldn't see that even though they flirt back and forth most times they're together. Just like Lev, she can be oblivious to other people's feelings as she tends to focus on hers more. But with Oliver's case, I'm not quite sure whether she's being dense or aware but acting like she isn't.

We settle ourselves on the couch. I distance myself far from Lev and sit between Ace and Amy. Who knows? He might do something that would definitely keep me up all night again. My thoughts stop when I hear Lev excuses himself to go to the bathroom.

"You good?" Ace whispers while he hands me a glass of drink. My face shifts into doubt when I can't decipher what drink he gave me because the glass was colored. "It's water, don't worry," he says, easing the trouble he sensed from my face.

I take a sip from it. Ahh. I feel refreshed. My mouth is so dry; I haven't eaten anything since the time we left the penthouse.

We haven't sat too long and one look away, Amy is already close to being wasted. As I turn my head, I see her trying to snatch a shot glass from Oliver's hand. His other hand is on Amy's head, keeping her away from him. This is the drawback of tagging Amy along with us at every party. We're always the one who takes care of her whenever it ends. What can we do? She's such a party animal.

"That's enough, mademoiselle. You've already had too much. We don't want you getting drunk that soon."

Amy whines. "Can't I have one last drink?" she speaks, changing the tone of her voice to appear seductive. I can imagine her eyes batting as she blinks.

Oliver subtly gulped, the temptation visible in his eyes. After seconds of contemplation, he says, "N-no. Uh-" he clears his throat and retrieves his composure. "If you really want to, then you have to do anything I say," he leans forward as he flirts back.

"And what is that?"

A pause.

"Kiss me."

Suddenly, our area is filled with squeals and shouts from each of us. "Way to go, Oliver!" To our surprise, she moves her face closer to his, creating the squeals to be louder than before. Although it is suddenly cut when Amy stops halfway. "Nice try," she says, putting her index finger on his lips before she stands up and grabs my hand. "I change my mind. I'll just dance the night away if you won't give me my drink."

She faces me, "Here's the part you've been waiting for, Val. Let's go dance!"

As she drags me away, Lev's voice resonates the room when he comes back and calls us. "Both of you, don't get too far!"

Amy brushes him off and replies "Yeah yeah. whatever you say, Dad!" earning a chuckle from me. He really did sound like one. "In every freaking party, he gets protective. Jeez," I catch her mumble.

"Ugh. Tell me about it. Wait till you've been in my shoes."

Amy snorts, "Yeah, no thanks."

I glance back to our area to check up on Oliver who was indirectly rejected by his long time crush and see if he's okay. But I suppose he's over it fast as he seems normal after that.

Even from here, I can still catch their constant cackles. The four us can be loud when together, what more if it's the eleven of them? A disaster, that is.

We successfully arrive at the dance floor after fitting ourselves through the crowd. The music suddenly changes into a more disco type of song, the type of song Amy and I like to dance with.

We vibe together, taking in every beat and sound to form moves as we dance. I close my eyes and feel the music.

I enjoy each second of that moment, but sadly, someone interrupts me from enjoying further as I sense a guy grinding his body on me, making me feel something I shouldn't suppose to feel.

I open my eyes and notice I lose sight of Amy. Oh no. Where did she go? I turn my head to see the man who has been violating my space. To my disgust, he continues doing it with a smug on his face. "Come on, baby girl. Dance with me," his deep tone voice travels my ears when he moves forward to me. I push him away, my face filled with disgust. Seeing the surprised expression existent on his face when my palm touches his cheeks, I shout, "Ever heard of personal space?"

I walk away, my mood completely ruined. "Baby girl, baby girl. Baby girl niya mukha niya. Who does he think he is?" I utter to myself. I understand that we're at a club but even when drunk, you should still show some decency. Gosh.

I go back to our area before searching for Amy, only to see there was no one there. Good thing it wasn't taken by other people yet. Where the heck did they disappear to?

I get myself a glass of water, but again, nothing. What's up with these disappearances?

I step towards the counter and ask for one. The bartender scans me up and down and plants a small smirk on his lips, causing my eyes to roll sidewards. "Why's a beauty like you asking only for water? Let me make something for you," he offers.

"No, thank you. I'm good. I'm not in the mood drink."

"You aren't? Why not? Are you allergic or something? It can't be that you're underage or else, you wouldn't be here."

Am I busted? Why is this guy prying too much?

"I just don't, and I don't see any problem with that," I respond, irritated. "What problem I see is you're not doing your job. I ask for water, not meaningless questions."

He throws his hands up in the air, "Okay okay. I'll get you one."

I place my forehead on my left palm as I cool myself down. These people make me remember why I don't socialize back then.

I sigh at the same time he gives me a small glass with the drink I've been requesting for. "Ugh, finally," I thought. I reach for the glass and take a sip. Although the moment the liquid touches my tongue, I know that it isn't what I wanted.

I feel a bitter taste at the end of my tongue which then burns my throat when I swallow it. "Is this–does this have alcoholic content?"

"I thought that might alleviate your mood. It's one of the best drinks one orders here. So, how was it?"

"Well, for me it isn't," is what I want to say. But what a surprise, it's not what I do.

"I'll take that as a yes," he says, proud of himself, as I take another sip of the drink because weirdly enough, I actually liked it–the pain and the bitterness that somehow turn into pleasure.

Never in a million years have I imagined myself liking these types of drinks.

I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I guess I just ate my own words.

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A/N:

Hey guys! For those old readers, I'm just made a few changes from here. I'll change the name of this chapter from 4.5 to chapter 5. Having the .5 in the title doesn't look pleasing in my eyes so XD

Also, I hope it didn't get too boring because it's lengthy.

As you've noticed above, there was a dialogue where Val spoke some Filipino phrase: "Baby girl niya mukha niya". I think it doesn't have a direct translation in English. The literal translation would be "Baby girl his face," which doesn't make any sense hahaha. For short, it's a slang commonly said as a comeback by locals here when one is irritated by someone. And for Val's case, her Filipino blood is coming out whenever she's pissed off XD.

And by the way, I have never been to a club so correct me if you spot something wrong in this chapter and the next (since it will still take place in the club). Like for example, I don't even know if clubs have bartenders cause I only know that bars have that. XD

Anyways, hope you liked this chapter and stay tuned for the next! It will be a little exciting since I'll be changing POVs hihi. Guess in the comments on whose POV will be in the next chapter!

Happy Reading~