I sat in a prison cell, handcuffs searing my wrists.

 The cell was cold and lifeless, and I nearly felt part of it, even though I was alive and burning with burning vexation.

Lexi sat beside me, staring at her hands, which were cuffed as well. Noah sat on my right, hopelessly attempting to break free of his cuffs. Despite the arms and his unreasonable strength, he wasn't Superman, and the rest of us weren't leaving anytime soon.

"You can say it." Lexi muttered, resting her head against the dirty walls.

 I shook my head, clasping my hands together.

"Don't taunt us, Dan." She grunted. Forever her accomplice, Noah nodded, shrugging feebly towards me.

"We know it's all our fault," he muttered. I shook my head once again.

"Just say it." Lexi barked. I sighed.

 "I told you so."

Before I can even begin to continue, let me just rewind a tad so you clearly confused people may have a chance to be enlightened.

*

I didn't want to go.

 Believe me, I didn't.

I valiantly attempted every single thing that would prevent me from attending that god-forsaken party...but thanks to my persistent friends, I was dragged towards that house along with them.

Soon enough, Noah, Lexi and I stood outside Noah's bright yellow jeep, staring at the already raging party in front of us.

 Red plastic cups were all over the lawn, shadows of fast moving figures danced inside the house, and excited screams could probably be heard from miles away.

"I have a bad feeling about this," I muttered. As much as I despised being the spoil-sport, my instincts were running wild, and had warned me in advance that this party would be the start of something none of us would particularly like.

     And, as I've already said, my instincts are always right.

 "Shut up, Dan." Lexi grunted, rolling her eyes. "It's just a party."

All our feet remained glued to the sidewalk. The three musketeers, standing at the walls of their enemy's home. 

"What's the worst that could happen?" Noah said, quietly. From the grunt that left Lexi, his feeble attempt at lightening the mood didn't work out. Nor did it go unnoticed.

"Let me make a list," I told him, grabbing the pen I always kept in every pair of pants I own. I stretched my hand, gently placing the ball of the pen on my palm. "We could get alcohol poisoning, somehow consume a spiked drink, have a creepy and wasted teenager unknowingly hump us to sickness, or –"

 "It was a rhetorical question, Dan." He snapped. I continued to list things on my hand, planning to tick each one off if we managed to avoid that certain situation.

"You know very well that nothing is rhetorical to me, Noah." I cooed, still writing my lengthy list in my smallest and tidiest handwriting, which wasn't very neat to begin with. "You ask questions because you want to know the answer. That's my philosophy."

 I could literally feel the Kensington twins roll their eyes.

They genuinely hated my love for philosophy, and the fact that I could counter anything they said.

"Shut up." Noah muttered, still not moving an inch.

 He wore a pale blue shirt and jeans, with my personal favourite worn-out sneakers. Of course, he didn't know I liked it when he wore those shoes, but to be fairly honest, I liked it when he wore anything that I had something to do with.

 Lexi had been dressed in jeans, a white frilly-ended shirt and sneakers as well, topping it off with her untied blond locks that ended at her shoulders. Her bangs really brought out her magnificent eyes.

I decided to downscale it a bit, dressed in my favourite brown shirt, jeans and the sneakers Noah had bought me for my birthday. I wore them so much; they were officially classified as 'the everyday pair' by none other than Lexi.

 "We can't stand out here forever, you know." I mentioned, realizing that none of us had moved.

"Why are you suddenly so excited?" Lexi asked, furrowing her brows knowingly.

What could she possibly know that I didn't know she knew?

  "There's no point in waiting here, now is there?" I responded matter-of-factly. Lexi shrugged, and Noah stared at the house questioningly.

"Let's do it." He said, practically forcing his feet to obey his mind's commands. Like a flock of adorable sheep, we followed him towards the loud music and already wasted teens.

 Ew.

"You know what?" I chimed as we passed the mailbox. "Why don't we just turn around and head home?"

 "Stop being menopausal, Forest." Lexi mumbled. Noah remained quiet, his eyes fixed on the open door.

The smell of alcohol hit my nose instantly, and we weren't even in the house yet.

 Scrunching my face up in disgust, I trotted up the porch steps in the most boring way I could, just to give my only friends the hint.

Neither of them bothered paying attention to it; they just remained planted at my side.

 We'd finally reached the door, and before any of us could make the conscious decision to step inside, big meaty hands grabbed hold of my shirt and pushed me inside, nearly forcing me onto the floor.

Luckily, I have outstanding balance, and managed to stabilize myself long before I had the chance to topple to the ground.

 "What are you doing here, Forest?" A husky, excruciatingly familiar voice moaned. I turned around to find one of Noah's football jock friends standing in front of me.

He wore his football jersey – what a wonderful sense of style he has – and glared at me from his staggering height. The guy closely resembled a skyscraper, but one of those dark ones occasionally used for the cruel torturing of slaves.

 Okay, not that...but you get my point.

"I'm here to party." I muttered feebly. The jock laughed – more ridiculing rather than amusing – and before he could do or say anything else, Lexi stepped on his foot.

 "Go away, cocktail dick." She snapped, not missing a beat. In no time, the burly footballer departed, seeming especially frightened by my best friend.

"Good one," I remarked, nudging her arm. She shrugged.

"It comes naturally." She said. I nodded, watching as Noah finally decided to stroll into the house.

 The party had already kicked into full gear, with everyone in sight dancing as if tomorrow would never come. Cups flew around the room, hair slapped people in the face and bodies grinded together, proving that nothing was too low for these people.

 "I want to leave." I whispered to the Kensington twins, hoping they would at least consider my feelings.

"We haven't even been here for five minutes, Dan." Lexi sneered. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Which is why I want to leave." I retorted. She glared at me, defensively crossing her arms over her shoulders.

"It's just a party," Noah motioned, shrugging. I glanced at him through the corner of my eyes, watching as he bit his lip uncertainly.

 His eyes sparkled with doubt, but something in the way he looked at me made me want to stay...well, only for two seconds.

"This isn't a party!" I moaned. "By definition, this is a strip club, because soon enough, all of these poorly dressed girls will end up bare naked in front of those wasted and sexually frustrated guys and we all know what happens after that."

 Thankfully, no one except my best friends had heard me, and even they were shocked.

"We're not leaving." Lexi declared firmly, taking a threatening step towards me. "You agreed to this, and so did I, and we're not giving in before we even try, do you understand me?"

 I gulped, hopefully not as loud as I thought.

Lexi can be extremely frightening when she has to be.

"Yes." I managed to say without sounding like I had been drowning. Lexi nodded, smiling and grabbing my arm.

"Let's party!"

"I don't think so." A mighty voice called out.

 It had been the same jock who had harassed me a few minutes earlier.

He stood in front of us, looking excruciatingly pissed off. I watched as his friends surrounded us, making sure to shut the door and guard it.

 Crap.

"You stepped on my toe." The jock grunted in Lexi's face, managing to drop his face to hers in the most threatening way possible.

 She didn't even flinch.

"We're all aware of that, King Kong." She retorted. "Now, if you would kindly disperse so I don't have to smell your dung breath."

 The entire party seemed to cease. Everyone around us began to lean forward, practically begging for more.

Crap.

"What did you just say?" The jock said. Before Lexi could open her mouth, I opened mine.

"What she meant was that your mint toothpaste is working really well." I interjected with a small smile, hoping my potential adorableness would woo him.

 Yeah right.

"I don't use mint." He replied, glaring at me. "I use herbal."

For the love of all things good and right, why the hell did he not have to use mint?

"I think you need a thrashing." The jock grinned, happily showing his slowly decaying teeth.

 To be fairly honest, I was surprised he used toothpaste at all. I mean, look at those teeth; they're green.

I turned around to gawk at Noah, literally begging him to do something, since neither his sister nor I had any sort of physical strength, especially when it comes to jocks in need of fillings.

  He nodded, his mouth snapping open.

"No, we won't need any of that!" Another familiar voice declared. My eyes widened as I spun around, fixing my gaze upon the stairs.

Oh no no no no no no. I thought. Can this day get any worse?

The tall, dark-haired, green-eyed and rather sexy stranger I'd met earlier today strolled down the steps and straight towards us, seeming extremely confident.

 He wore a long sleeve dark blue shirt, jeans and Converse sneakers. His eyes gleamed with recognition once they landed on me, and the slightest hint of a smile tugged at his thin lips.

Jock-Boy turned around, about to collide with the stranger, but thanks to both of their reflexes, they managed to avoid the near collision.

 But that didn't make anything less awkward.

"Who are you?" Jock-Boy asked, furrowing his brows in confusion. The strange boy smiled; his glistening teeth could be bright enough to blind even the most excellent pair of eyes.

 "I would introduce myself," the boy mentioned charmingly, "but I highly doubt you'd even remember my name."

 "Are you calling me dumb?" Jock-Boy inquired loudly, sounding more and more confused with every passing second. The mysterious lad simply smiled, which only seemed to worsen Jock-Boy's state-of-mind. "I'm gonna wipe that smile off your face!"

 If you're assuming that the situation became a little out of hand, I'd like to inform you that 'a little' is a complete understatement.

Jock-Boy swung his right fist, probably aiming for the strange boy's cheek. Fortunately for me, he swiftly dodged the attack, which caused Jock-Boy to spin around like an extremely chubby ballet dancer.

Sadly, he stopped right in front of me, his face clearly expressing his undying anger.

"FOREST!" He shouted so loudly, I could literally feel my toes quiver. My eyes widened as I realized he'd begun his slow transition from his dizzy state to his 'I'M GOING TO FREAKING KILL YOU' state.

 Noah pushed me out of the way, managing to spear Jock-Boy into the stairs, all while the guy from the locker room dodged this one as well.

For someone who looked like a bodybuilder, he had an amazing reaction timer.

 Noah stood up, dusting himself off then turning to me with a huge grin on his face. Unfortunately, before I could return the adorable gesture, Jock-Boy happened to come to his senses faster than I'd expected and he stood right behind Noah, looking extremely aggressive.

"Crap." I whimpered. The burly jock soared off the ground and had been diligently close to Noah's head – his perfect, unbelievably adorable head – but thanks to Locker Room Dude's sudden push, Jock-Boy landed on the ground, whereas the mysterious guy and Noah were next to each other, standing above the jock.

 Whispers of intense concern erupted throughout the house, and I heard a few people threaten to call the police department and an ambulance. Being the good-hearted citizen I've always been, I let out no signs of complaints...although, I can't say the same for Jock-Boy's friends.

They surrounded the four of us again – mystery boy and Noah were on either end, while Lexi and I were in the middle, all fuzzy and warm – with extremely vexed expressions plastered onto their uncannily unattractive faces.

 "Let me talk to them." I whispered to Lex, hoping she'd at least allow me to use my natural Forest charm on these meat bags.

"You talking to them got us into this mess in the first place." She grunted grimly.

 "Gentlemen," the mysterious lad called out, a sly grin on his face, "why don't we settle this like real men?" The jocks smiled, and before you knew it, fists were flying, legs were swaying and heads were bumping into each other like nobody's business.

 All of this utter nonsense took place while Lexi and I just stood there, watching in half horror and half entertainment, until I heard the distinct sound of police sirens, loud Fords, and hard bangs on the doors.

"OPEN UP!"

 Crap.

So that's the excruciatingly painful story of how Noah, Lexi and I wound up in that dusty prison cell, filled with peeled skin and a horrifying stench that was stronger than anything I'd ever smelt.

 Unfortunately for us, the cops had arrived just as the strange lad had vanished, leaving Lexi caught biting a jock's ear, Noah strangling another meat bag and me, shouting the foulest obscenities to another football player.

Not the most innocent time for me, if I may say.

 To be fairly honest, I'd never ever thought I'd be stuck in a cell with my best friends. In case you haven't noticed, I am physically incapable of acting like a total bad boy, mainly because I was raised by civilized parents, and also because my best friends weren't the type to be jail-hoppers.

But now, my perfect reputation was ruined.

 If only that arrogant bastard of a jock had left us alone, then I'd still be able to get into Harvard and the twins' Dad wouldn't have to pick us up from prison.

"Kensingtons and Forest?" A police officer called out, suddenly appearing in front of our cell. I dropped my feet to the ground, standing up.

 "That would be us." I boomed, the zealousness of finally leaving the dirty place – which we'd only been in for an hour – bubbling up inside me.

The officer sized each of us up before opening the rusty metal door, shaking his head disapprovingly.

 Noah, Lexi and I strolled out of our cells, and as we ventured through the land of delinquents and tattoos, a feeling of discomfort settled in my stomach.

My best friend's Dad – whom I just happened to have a crush on – would be picking us up from the police department's holding cells, handcuffs and all...from the looks of the mental conversation in my mind, there was absolutely no way our impending encounter would go well.

 We'd finally reached the front of the station, and I instantly spotted Mr Kensington, leaning against the front door frame with three coats slung over his arm, and a warm smile on his face.

Wait...he's smiling?

The officer unbuckled our cuffs at an unbelievably slow pace, as if to prove to Mr Kensington just how mischievous we'd been. As soon as my cuffs were off, I rubbed my wrists, suddenly feeling redeemed.

 That's what prison does to you, kids, so don't do anything worth imprisonment...ever.

The three of us disappointedly strolled over to Mr Kensington.

"I'm really sorry, Sir," I mumbled as he handed me my coat. "I was the one who agreed to this massive charade, and everything that happened initially falls under the responsibility of none other than me, so I apologize."

 Mr Kensington nodded, smiling.

"Aren't you supposed to support me?" I grunted to his children. They shrugged.

"You're right," Lexi agreed, putting her coat on, "it's totally your fault."

 "Uh-huh." Noah added. I narrowed my eyes at them as we strolled out of the police department and into the cool post-summer pre-spring air.

 "So, how many acts of rage shall you bring upon us?" I inquired, stuffing my hands into my coat's pockets.

"None." Mr Kensington replied. His steps were quick but immaculately well-paced, even with the added stress of his children and their best friend winding up in a holding cell.

 "None?" We repeated, each of us sounding and looking equally shocked.

"None." Mr Kensington confirmed, smiling. God, he could really get me with that smile of his. "It was your first party in a while; I'll let it go. I won't be calling your parents, Dan, since they're on that business trip thing. And you two," – he gestured towards his teens – "will be let off the hook as well."

 My blinked in surprise.

"I need a drink." I muttered. The Kensingtons chuckled in agreement.

"I think we all need one, Dan." Mr Kensington suggested, grinning.

 And just like that, it seemed as if we had never been held in that cell for so long...as if all our mistakes were swept away and all we were left with was a clean slate and a reason to never attend parties again.

Although, I think the best part of that entire night was when the Kensingtons and I all had a round of beers, chatting and giggling away. During that night, I'd never felt so close to them before, and I instantly knew that this year was going to be good.

 Great, even.

XXX

Author's Note: Okay, so, yeah! :D I hope you liked it, 'cause I kinda-sorta did XD Please vote and comment, yeah? =)

- Jay :3*