Cri de cour (kreeduh kœr)- an anguished cry of distress or indignation; outcry

"I don't understand the big deal here," I stuffed a few tater tots into my mouth and glanced toward those that were called the "pretty girls." AJ and a couple of the goons he was associated with were attempting to explain the me the significance of this party. I was not getting it, and frankly I really didn't care to get it.

"Those girls have the dopest parties man, and we've never been invited to one. All of a sudden you show up and are granted the freedom of bringing whoever you want. You're a freaking legend." I did not feel like a "freaking legend" at all. I gave the dope-head a questioning look, "Wait if you've never been to one of these parties, how do you know that they're so great?" He thought for a moment, but AJ answered for him.

"Dude, you just know. It's one of those things." I somehow didn't seem to just know. "Okay, fine. Jesus Christ, I might as well find out for myself right?" As they all began to praise me for getting them into the party, I decided to get away fast. I stood to throw my plate away, and as I did I happened to catch the eyes of a certain purple-headed someone. I grinned to myself as she quickly returned her dark eyes to the pages of her book. After tossing my plate, I decided to change up my route a little bit. I sat down in front of Emy, crossing my arms in front of me. She refused to look up at me, but she knew I was there.

"Listen, I won't tell anyone or anything," I whispered in a sarcastic manner, "but I totally saw you staring at me. I get it, I'm just irresistible. It's not an issue, I just wanted-" Her eyes flickered up to gaze intimidatingly into mine, "I was not staring at you." Her voice was smooth and final. I laughed lightly, "You know Emy, you don't have to take everything so seriously." She narrowed her eyes and shut her book tightly. "Oh well, Owen. You'll just have to get used to it."

At this final comment, the bell rang to go back to class and Emy Sutton stood and disappeared before my eyes into a crowd of high schoolers. "It's... Oliver." I don't know why I chose to correct her even though I absolutely knew she couldn't hear me.

Looking back, I rolled my eyes as I caught AJ laughing at me. Well, this is embarrassing. I always seemed to be the one judging AJ and laughing at him... I guess that was coming back to bite me in the butt. I grunted and stood, taking the defeat with a grain of salt. Emy Sutton was going to be my friend. I was desperate for a non-toxic person in my life. She just so happened to be the only person around that seemed to be the least bit decent. That was it. That was the only reason I was really so interested in her.

"Hey, Oliver right?" I blinked a few times, feeling rude for not knowing who the girl was in front of me. She was very pretty, but there was something about her that was just off-putting. I smiled at her, "Yeah that's me. I'm sorry I don't think I remember your name." I tried to sound as polite as possible. "Oh that's alright, I never properly introduced myself to you. I'm Zoe, the girl that invited you to that party. I just wanted to know if you'd be able to make it."

We began walking side-by-side and we were coming up on the high school building. Zoe and I, that is. "Oh yeah, I'll be there. No doubt." I looked at her and she looked back at me with what seemed to be the smile of a siren. "Awes-" She was interrupted by someone bumping into us. Her smile turned into a very evil grimace.

I caught the person by the shoulders and laughed a little. Then it hit me, it was Emy. Before I could get another word out, Zoe the siren hissed at her, "Oh my God, watch where you're going freak." I was looking Emy in her eyes for what seemed like minutes, and I saw something there that I never even thought she could feel. Fear. Her eyes were wide as she detached herself from my hands and pushed away quickly, mumbling an apology to Zoe. I stood there, wishing I could rewind everything just so that I would understand what had just happened. I looked at Zoe questioningly.

"Woah, you didn't have to be like that. She didn't mean to do that..." The mirage of a smile was back. "Oh gosh I'm sorry, she just scared me. I get spooked so easily... So the party? You're coming?" Without really thinking about what just happened, I nodded slowly. "Oh great! See you then." She stood on her tiptoes, kissed me on my cheek, and slithered away down the hall.

I wanted to go looking for Emy and see if she was alright, but I knew I had no more classes with her and I would be late if I meandered around anymore. So I walked to my next class, confused and slightly worried. Why did she seem so terrified to run into that girl and me? She knew I wasn't going to hurt her. She knows I'm not like that. Was it Zoe? I couldn't seem to keep my brain on one thought for too long because it seemed to be bouncing all around in my skull. I didn't see Emy for the rest of the day.

As the day went on, the worse the idea of the party sounded. I was going to catch a ride with AJ and then drive him home when he drank too much. I sat in my room throwing an old baseball up and catching it. Occasionally I would drop it and slowly roll off of my bed to retrieve it. I hadn't changed out of my Coca-Cola t-shirt and plain jeans with no cool rips or anything in them. I was seriously debating on whether or not I would call AJ and tell him I had somehow gotten an extremely fast-acting sickness and I couldn't go.

That was how I ended up in the back of AJ's Volkswagen with two other sophomore boys. All of them, including AJ, were wearing what seemed to be about s gallon of Axe body spray. I began to question why I was allowing a newly licensed teenage boy drive me to a party where there was going to be alcohol. Then I began to question why I had only just now started questioning things. What happened to being smart and thinking things through? I supposed that all went down hill when I began dropping IQ points because of the people I had chosen to surround myself with.

Arriving at the party, I immediately regretted my decision to go. I wanted to get right back in the car and drive back to the apartment. I would rather be back with my mother and my lousy excuse of a father than with a giant group of drunk teens. I had drank a few times before but only because of Aria. She loved stuff like this, but it wasn't really my scene. Maybe that's why I decided to go. It reminded me of her.

"Oh my God, Oliver! Come on, let's get you a drink!" Zoe appeared and hugged me around the neck. Before I could get an answer out, she began to drag me through a crowd of people, leaving AJ and his friends to fend for themselves.

"You look adorable by the way. I love your shirt." Had she already been drinking? I was wearing the same shirt I was when we were at school. "Thanks." I mumbled as she poured me a glass of some alcoholic beverage that I didn't care enough to learn the name of. I took it, being the idiot that I was. I, of course, was thinking of Aria and how she refused to acknowledge my existence any more. The more I drank, the nicer the music started to sound and the prettier Zoe got. That seemed to be okay with me. Being there was easier and easier by the second.

"So, Oli... can I call you Oli? Do you wanna go somewhere we can talk?" No, no, no, no. "Yeah sure." It's almost like the words coming out of my mouth just fell out instead of actually having my brain filter through them. Zoe's sweaty hand latched onto my arm and I was being pulled through the crowd to an unknown corner of the house. Get out now Oli, stop. My consciousness' advice was not getting across.

Before I could even think about it again, I was in a dark room being kissed. The kisses weren't pleasant or necessarily something I enjoyed, but I still kissed back. Being the dude that I am, I kissed back hard. Kissing Zoe wasn't like kissing Aria. It felt different, it didn't feel right. I started thinking about something else, or I guess someone else... and it started to get uncomfortable. When I slipped my hands under her shirt, I thought about pale, almost milky skin and when I pushed my fingers into her hair I thought about... I thought about lilacs.