Starlet

16. Silvia Odlin

I do nothing until lunch. It's so nice to sit and do nothing. I think about going shopping, but the village dresses are long sleeved fabric. It goes to the ground too. I hate them. So boring and plain. Thora gave me the short sleeve dresses that go to my knees. They have some color and designs on them. But she said they're human dresses. I don't even know of any human villages. After I learn to make doors, I'll sort that out. I would like a few more colors.

I'll stop by Ann's tonight and ask where she shops. She wears tight tops and little skirts. I could do that too. And she told me she was having a party. It would be nice to see other teenagers.

I decide to fish. I'll probably need more money to upgrade my clothes. I should start saving now.

I fish and sell them until dinner. Then I clean up and eat. I don't know if there will be food at Ann's party. I'm nervous but I make myself go.

There are a lot of people in the house. It's a big party. I go in with some others. I can tell the party has been going on for a while. A lot of people are drunk. I see Ann. I smile and wave. She comes over. "Is your brother coming?"

"No. He's working now."

"To bad. That's actually who I invited." She grabs another guy off the couch and drags him out the room.

I stare at the floor. I thought she liked Jack. I guess not. I wasn't even invited here. I don't know anyone. Nobody here would ever talk to me. It was stupid to come here.

Someone pushes me so hard I fall down. Then a man walks away laughing.

A girl about my age helps me up. "Well, he was an asshole."

"Yea, that wasn't very nice."

"You girls look like you could use a drink." An older man tries to hand us 2 cups. I see black dots on the cups.

The girl pulls me so hard I about fall over again. "No, thanks. We're good." She pulls me out the back door. We get to the other side of the pool before she looks at me. "Did something not seem right with him, or was that just me?"

"Something wasn't right. Why is he even at a teenage party?"

"I don't know. Old and creepy."

We put our feet in the pool. "Are you an outcast too?"

I scratch my head. "What's that?"

"Someone who's not included anywhere or with a group."

"Yes definitely. The first thing Ann said to me when I walked in was that she didn't mean to invite me."

"Then you got knocked over. But, at least she acknowledged you. They won't even look at me."

"Why?"

"I'm not their type. I don't wear tight clothes and have my hair done all the time. My dad wouldn't let me out into the village if I dressed or acted like them."

"I wear this."

"Me too." She splashes some water.

"Why did you come here?"

"To be included, I guess. I have been to the woods house a couple of times. Everyone was nice. I even drank there. I get creepy vibes here."

"Same. They have a way of making people feel not welcome."

She nods. "A lot of the villagers won't even come here."

"That's probably a good thing. I don't know if the house could handle any more people."

"Yea, they are going to get caught with this party. I bet a lot gets broken. But it's not like the girls who live here would even notice. They sleep with all the boys, then pass out. They're probably already asleep."

"Yea, I saw Ann grab a random guy off the couch."

"They are nasty. Honestly. But the boys come here cause that's what they want. It's gross. I hope when I find my mate, he never acted like them."

"I guess you won't know until you find him. How much longer do you have?"

"8 years. You?"

"9."

"So do you go to school?"

"Magic school and I have a castle tutor."

"Must be nice."

"Not really. It's hard to meet people. I joined the theater in the village to find a group or something. But nobody there is young."

"So, they're just old."

"Exactly."

There is a big ass crash and we hear some glass break. Dipak steps out the back door and looks right at me. She goes to jump up. I put my hand on hers. "No. We'll get in more trouble if we run. He has already seen us. Have you drank any alcohol or anything?"

"No, nothing. I've been sitting here."

"We'll be alright. We were invited and didn't want to be rude and not show up. So we stopped by to say hi. But we were leaving soon."

She smirks. "And we surely didn't drink or anything. We're not old enough."

"I think we're going to be friends." We start laughing.

Then a man comes running out the back door. He tries to run around the corner of the house and Marcus comes around and slams him right to the ground. "OVER HERE." Then he wraps something around his arms. He picks him up and drags him off.

Another man comes over. I've seen him at the table but don't know his name. "Name and address."

"Silvia Odlin. I live in the blue house on the first path."

"Alright."

"Why didn't they ask you?"

"They all know me."

Dipak pokes his head out the door. "Get out to the path."

I jump up. "Wow, he's not happy."

"Yea, let's not make him anymore mad." We put our shoes on and run out onto the path.

There's a bunch of table people here.

We sit and do not move.

"Why are there so many here?"

"I have no idea. This is scary."

She nods and we scoot closer together. "I'm really glad we didn't try to run."

"Me too."

Marcus walks up with some man I don't know.

She tenses as soon as she sees him. "That's my daddy."

"We didn't drink. We weren't staying long. It was wrong place, wrong time. We'll be ok."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?"

"I'm sorry daddy. It's a party. My friends from school are here. I just wanted to say hi. I promise I wasn't staying. I didn't want to be rude and not even say hi."

"SO IF ALL YOUR FRIENDS FROM SCHOOL JUMPED OFF THE CASTLE, YOU WOULD DO IT TOO, I GUESS?"

We shake our heads.

"YOU SEEN THE ALCOHOL AND DIDN'T TURN AROUND AND LEAVE?"

"WE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS IN THE CUPS." She starts to cry.

"WERE YOU DRINKING AT ALL?"

I shake my head for her. "Not even water. We haven't been here that long. We were only saying hi."

"Did anyone offer either of you alcohol?"

I nod and stare at the ground.

"Who?"

"An old creepy guy."

She nods. "He had dark hair and a big knot on his forehead."

"The cups were different. I remember they had like a dot on them. It was black."

"His hair was like shaggy black."

Kane takes off into the house.

"And what did you do?"

"We said no and went out the back door. We were going to sit by the pool for a little bit then leave. So we could say we were here. But we heard a big crash and then saw him." She points at Dipak. "In the doorway. We figured we shouldn't run. So we sat there. He came back and told us to come sit here."

Dipak nods. "You girls made a good decision not running. This would be entirely different right now if you did."

Her dad nods. "I'm still not happy about you being at a party like this. I'm glad you had the sense not to drink. I wish you would have left immediately. Honestly, girls, it does not matter what your friends do. You have to make good decisions for yourselves. You should have turned around and left. A young lady was drugged here tonight. That could have been either of you, just because you wanted to be seen at a party. You were worried about saying Hi. Meanwhile, there's a girl in the hospital who was drugged and hurt. She probably came to be seen and say hi too." I can't help it. I cry too. I wipe my eyes off. "You have got to use common sense and make better decisions. You're going to be adults soon. You need to be able to take care of yourselves. Do you think adults go to parties to be seen and say hi?" We shake our heads. "Do you think adults would have gone into that party and not turned around and walked out?" We shake our heads again. "That's because adults will realize. Something's not right here, I'm leaving. They're not going to put themselves in danger to say hi. That's ridiculous."

I wipe my eyes off.

"I'm sorry."

"Home now." She goes to stand up. "And another thing." She sits back down and Dipak's eyebrows shoot up. "If a grown man ever tries to give you anything. You scream like your life depends on it. You fight to get away from him and you scream. You don't stop until you get a guard's attention. At least 2. Now go home." She runs off and he follows her.

Kane comes out of the house and Dipak goes over to talk to him.

I get up and go home. I pour myself a glass of wine and sit on the porch. There's a million bottles of alcohol in the cupboard. I guess the housekeeper put them away after that party got broken up.

I sit on the porch and here comes Marcus, Andy, and Dipak.

"So you go home and drink?"

"I am going to have a drink if I have to sit here alone and do it. Plus, nobody is here to drug me."

Andy looks at me. "Why don't you go to bed?"

"I've had a hell of a last week. I don't do anything but run every day. I am hurting no one."

Marcus nods. "Why did you go there to begin with?"

"A party? People my own age. Maybe I can meet some people. Have a couple of drinks. Talk."

"Why didn't you drink?"

"An old man offered me alcohol 3 minutes after I got there. I wasn't going to do that. I knew that was off. I was going to leave, but Silvia pulled me out the back door instead. We sat and talked about how old and creepy he was. And wondered why he was even at a teenage party."

"Anything else?"

"The old people at the theater."

Dipak laughs. "Why?"

"We were talking about school. I said I don't go. I use tutors instead and the magic school. I joined the theater hoping to meet people. But they are old. I need to find something else to do, but I don't have any more time in the day... I guess I could fit something in at 8 at night. Is anything going on that late?"

"No. That's too late."

I shrug my shoulders. "Would you let me go to 1 class at school?"

"You could always go to my theater class at 11."

"My aerial class is over at 11. But it runs over every day."

"How early do you start classes?"

"8:30 I'm usually done by lunch. Tutor for lunch. Afternoon is magic classes 1 to 3. Aerial 3:30 to 4:30. Then practice at 5 or 7. Dinner at 6."

Andy puts an eyebrow up. "Yea, that's too much for your age. Hell, that's too much for anyone."

"I'm ok with it. I wanted to go out tonight. Instead, I get a creepy old man trying to get me drunk. I should have gone to the woods house."

Dipak shakes his head. "That creepy old man could have gone to the woods house too. And he could have done more damage there."

"Maybe I guess."

Marcus nods. "Mary said the man who attacked her was at the woods house."

Andy falls off the chair. "Did that get reported?"

"She talked to me and Dipak. Omar was there too."

"Good night." These guys are boring. I go up and lay down.