Episode 159

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Episode 159

Scene 1:

Chris showed up at Jason's house at eight on the dot waiting while Jason pulled on a jacket. The evening air was beginning to take on a chill now that September had finally arrived after what Chris thought was a never ending summer. Jamie had barely questioned him about the party which was just as well. Chris didn't exactly feel like sharing. They hooked up with another friend, Kyle Dresden, who actually had a car and a license.

"I can't believe you're going to this thing," Kyle commented on the drive out to Dylan's place. Chris glanced up at Kyle's eyes in the rearview mirror. "After the shit he's been saying about you, I mean."

"Knock it off Kyle," Jason warned from the passenger seat. "Tonight we're just going to have fun. Not to worry about what Dylan Guthrie is telling people."

"Is it true?" Kyle persisted.

Chris frowned and shook his head. "No. Dylan's just jealous." Kyle dropped the subject after that falling into conversation with Jason about who would be there at the party. Chris didn't care who was there and who wasn't. He was only going because Jason was going. End of story.

At Dylan's they piled out and walked across an open field to Dylan's house. He lived in the Outskirts but not near enough to anyone else in case the party got loud. Which was why this was the party of the year. Kyle rang the doorbell and the three of them waited only a moment before the door opened to one of Dylan's buddies, Mark Voorhies.

"Hey guys. Welcome to the bash of the century," he announced opening his arms wide.

"Great. Looks like quite a turnout," Jason said looking over his shoulder. "God, don't look now but here comes Dylan," Jason muttered staring over Mark's shoulder. Chris felt himself tense up but he tried to act as casual as he could. "Don't let him get to you, Chris. He's just a jealous pissant. Remember that."

"Yeah sure. I've got a couple of better words to call him," Chris returned under his breath. He hated Dylan. He really did. The guy was a liar, pure and simple. At least, that was what Chris had to think in order to keep his sanity. He knew just as well as Dylan that his place on the team wasn't won by talent. Something or someone had influenced Coach Foster's decision. Still, he hated the guy for telling the world that.

I certainly know how to throw a party, Dylan thought confidently to himself. When the parents go away, my house is the place to be. All of my friends are here. All of the popular kids, and the hottest girls in the grade. I can't lose. Dylan went to the door to greet some more guests, but the look on his face turned sour. "Mason? What are you doing here? I thought you'd be too chicken to show up."

"Chicken? Why? Because you told a bunch of lies? I don't think so," Chris replied smiling politely. "I'm here because apparently this is the party of the year," he added sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want to miss that?"

"He's with me," Jason cut in, pushing Chris inside. "He wasn't going to come but I forced him. That all right with you?"

Dylan just rolled his eyes. "Whatever, you're already here." Dylan then smirked at Jason's comment. "So you had to be forced to come, did you? Sad, Mason. Really sad that you can't seem to do *anything* without any outside help."

"Go tell your pathetic lies to someone who might believe them," Chris managed before Jason pushed him further into the din of loud music and mass of kids.

"Save it," Jason yelled in his ear. "He's not worth it." Chris nodded heeding the advice of his best friend. Jason was right. As much as he wanted to beat the crap out of Dylan, he couldn't justify hitting him because of the truth. Someone handed him a beer and he twisted the cap off tossing it on the floor. What did he care what happened to Dylan's house?

"Your grandmother won't like that!" Someone at his elbow said. He turned his eyes to the tall brunette holding a diet coke in her hand. Hannah Bruce smiled sweetly at him batting her eyes flirtatiously. He really had no use for her. She was a snob who thought she was better than everyone else.

"I don't give a shit what my grandmother will like. Do you see her anywhere nearby? No, I didn't think so." Jason reappeared at his elbow grinning at Hannah.

"Hello, Hannah. How are you tonight?"

"All right, Jason Rose. You?" She aimed her flirting at Jason instead.

"Doing fine, just fine. So who's here?"

Hannah offered him a bored look. "Same old crowd. Emily McCormick, Patrice Donohue, Jack Zubruski...oh and you know who else is here? God you won't believe it! But Darcy McCormick and Catherine Fairchild showed up for no reason. I suppose little miss perfect told her sister all about this being the party of the year. Those two are just a couple of show offs. They should really get a grip."

"Maybe you should get a grip," Chris snapped. "They're actually really nice not that you would know what nice is!"

He'd had enough. Looking for an exit, he stormed away shrugging an apology to Jason. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all.

Scene 2:

No, it couldn't be. No way in hell. Catherine Fairchild pushed her way through the crowd and glared at the dark haired male who was the center of all the attention.

"Catherine Fairchild, looking stunning as always," Damien cooed. He draped an arm over her shoulders and led her out of the crowd. "Talk to you guys later. Sorry, was I stealing your spotlight?"

"Cut the crap, Damien," Catherine snapped as she shrugged out from under his arm. "What the hell are you doing at my school?"

"Your school, huh? Well, I like go here," he answered.

"What do you mean 'go here'?" Catherine demanded, dreading his response.

"Catherine, darling, you know you seem to be less sharp as you age-"

"Damien, why in God's name have you transferred to a public high school?!" Catherine demanded.

"In God's name? I thought you were an atheist-"

"Damien, can you not answer a simple question?"

"Well, it seems slumming can be rather favorable to one's persona. You attend this school and your parents have more money than mine. Chris Mason goes here too and his family has more money than us combined. Corley Pennington transferred from Vanguard, as did Karl Heaton. It seems the popular thing to do, what can I say, I guess I'm a conformist." Catherine glared at Damien with suspicion. He laughed loudly, "you think I transferred from Vanguard because of you, don't you?"

Catherine drew back in shock, "I most certainly do not! You are so egotistical!"

Damien laughed louder before sobering quickly. "Well, don't you worry Catherine Fairchild. I'm not here to make your life a living hell, I have better things to do." He gave Catherine a condescending pat on the nose, before sauntering off, his arrogance apparent in every stride of his long legs.

Scene 3

She saw him again surrounded by her classmates. "Slumming Damien?" Cat asked, yelling over the music. "Where's your normal entourage of yuppies?"

"Would you be referring to my female yuppies or my male yuppies?"

"Gawd, you are such a creep," Catherine groaned.

"You know, I recall, your best friend saying those same exact words to me the other night...." Damien said, rubbing his chin.

Catherine gave him a confused look, "what are you talking about?"

"Darcy McCormick, right?" Damien said, having done some digging around to find out exactly who the compelling raven-haired female was.

"What about her?"

Damien gave Catherine an exasperated look. And suddenly a grin broke out across his face at a sight over Catherine's head. She followed his gaze and it landed on a leather clad Darcy dancing in the crowd of teenagers. The word sexy did no justice to Darcy McCormick in black leather in Damien's opinion.

"We got acquainted at your mom's little shin dig the other night," Damien remarked. "She's really quite charming..."

"Yep, Darcy has the charm of a snake," Catherine remarked dryly.

"To each his own," Damien commented.

"What's that supposed to mean? And don't even look at her like that, she's so out of your league and I don't mean by finances. Darcy would never touch a creep like you," Catherine snapped, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"You know, I'm only a creep to those who it's so easy to get away with," Damien snapped back, surprising Cat with his vigor. Damien always seemed to have that air of suavity, his voice rarely rose or fell to match his attitude. "Now if you will excuse me, I have better things to do." Damien brushed past Catherine, leaving her mouth agape behind him. She snatched a shot glass from a wondering person and downed it. With a smirk, she handed it back to the person who she had taken it from.

"Thanks."

Jareth snuck up behind Catherine and wrapped his arms around her small waist. She looked absolutely.... Catherine... in her tight, strapless red dress. It provoked many stares from other males, but you had to get used to that sort of thing dating Catherine; one of those girls who was beautiful and knew it. Her body yielded in no way to him, her arms remained firmly across her chest, and a stare that could pierce a hole in someone radiated from her eyes. Jareth followed her hard stare across the room to a tall, dark haired guy who was lurking his way towards...Darcy. He watched the guy began to dance with her, but not before long he was hunched over, grasping his gut. Jareth chuckled. He had never had to defend his little sister, she did it just fine on her own, possibly better. Sometimes she even scared Jareth. Jareth looked back to Cat, puzzled by the expression on her face. He shook her affectionately in his embrace.

"Hey, kid, what's wrong?"

Catherine immediately shrugged his arms off her.

"Nothing and don't call me kid." She grabbed a shot glass off a platter and disappeared into the crowd.
Women, Jareth would never understand them. He grabbed a shot glass himself. Jareth cringed, ick, cheap tequila.

Scene 4

Athena, virgin goddess of war. That's what Darcy McCormick made Damien Kensington think of. He watched her dance; moving naturally to the beat, unaware to the surrounding world and people, the seductive sway of her hips, the gentle movement of her thick, brown hair, the expression on her face. The voice of Trent Reznor and the heavy beat filled the room:

And I want you, And I want you
You are the perfect drug, the perfect drug...

Damien wanted her so bad. He slid his hand across the slightly revealed expanse of her stomach. The other arm, he locked across her shoulders, settling into the movement of her body.

Darcy's eyes fluttered open and she gasped at the sudden closeness of an unfamiliar body. Without seeing his face, she knew who it was. It had to be Damien. Darcy felt his face in her hair, his hot breath brushing across her neck.

Intoxicating. The scent of her was intoxicating. And then he was knocked out of his reverie. Darcy glared with annoyance at the hunched over figure.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" she snapped.

"Trying to learn how to breath again," Damien gasped, sucking in air. Damn, that hurt. He rubbed his aching ribcage and finally regained his composure. "That hurt," he remarked casually.

"You shouldn't go feeling up on random girls!" Darcy snapped.

"It's a common practice at parties like this, you know," he returned, "and besides you aren't random." He gave her a charming smile. Darcy rolled her eyes and turned, quickly mingled into the crowd.

Scene 5

Macy had remained perched next to Sadie on the stairwell for quite some time now. Corey had gone off to hit on any of the prep school boys from Vanguard. Sadie was absolutely fascinated with how her pictures looked through the wooden bars of the stairwell. Gumshoe had played for sometime, but were now taking a break, Macy had wanted to talk to them, but had felt overwhelmingly shy. So now Nine Inch Nails was filtering its heavy, industrial beat through the speakers. At least the music was enjoyable.

But, then the party wasn't too bad. It was a strange mix of the miscellaneous cliques and groups from school; all blending harmoniously in their alcohol induced states. Macy shifted, the bunny ears on her head nearly falling off. It was Sadie's idea to done animal ears. Sadie was a cat. Macy a bunny. It had stirred up a few stares, but Sadie loved to draw attention to herself in that way and Macy agreeably followed along.

"Rabbit ears?" Chris said coming upon Macy McCormick on the stairs, looking ridiculous but enjoying herself in a floppy set of ears. So far, the party for him had consisted of fighting off the persistent rumors that seemed to still circulate thanks to Dylan's efforts. "Looks good on you. Mind if I sit?" He nodded to the space next to her.

Macy felt her face flush a little and was relieved that the room wasn't well lit. "Sure," Macy said slowly, "just don't disturb Sadie, she's had a muse, and she's a real pain whenever you interrupt her artistic epiphanies."

Chris cast a glance over at Sadie, shrugging at her before taking a seat next to Macy. "Enjoying yourself?"

Macy shrugged, "its not too bad, though I must admit its hard to ignore the rumors circulating about you." When Chris' eyes widened, Macy immediately said, "I mean I know its not true, that's why its a rumor, I was just stating a fact..."

"No it isn't true," he snapped angrily towards where Dylan was leaning against the wall with a group of friends. "Some people are just jealous."

Macy drew back a little at Chris' snap as though he might bite her. A camera flashed and Sadie smiled at him. "Sorry, great moment." She didn't sound the least bit apologetic though. Macy gave Chris a sympathetic smile. "Why don't we leave the camera kid to her own devices?" Macy suggested.

"Sure. Where to?" Chris asked losing his momentary anger at Dylan. "Outside maybe?"

"Sure," Macy replied. "Whatever works." She got up and followed Chris. She was quite short, but her bunny ears made her identifiable in the crowd. She caught a wink from Corey who was dancing and she rolled her eyes at him. Once outside, Macy breathed in the fresh night air. The Guthrie house was located a little farther out of town and the lack of city light made the stars in the sky glow brilliantly. She beamed up at the full moon, suddenly lost in the vastness of the universe. Her eyes easily sought out her favorite constellations that Jareth had taught her when they were very young. So lost was she that she forgot that Chris was watching.

Chris followed her line of vision but didn't see what she saw. Shrugging, he turned his attention back to Macy. "You don't care what others think of you, do you Macy? I mean, that's something I wish I could do."

Macy looked at Chris, then shook her head to shake herself from her reverie. "For the most part no," she agreed. "And you could do that Chris, quite easily. You're just like Emily, its no wonder you two have been...well you two...for so long." She struggled with those last words and then bit her tongue. She was rarely so glib, especially with someone she hardly knew, but she did not want to apologize for speaking her feelings.

"Us two? I wasn't aware that Emily and I were an us," Chris shrugged. "I mean, I like your sister a lot. We're friends mostly you know." He was aware that most people thought there was some grand romance going on between he and Emily McCormick. Even Emily was probably a little convinced. He, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. She was sweet and nice enough but there was something that was missing as far as he was concerned. Something important.

"Does Emily know that?" Macy demanded quite abruptly.

"I don't know. I hope so," he added sounding a little sorry. "It's just that...don't get me wrong, she's great and I like her, but she's more like a friend than anything else."

"Well, you better tell her that before she gets the wrong idea, because knowing Em she probably thinks something inane like you are her soul mate," Macy remarked.

"Nah. She doesn't think that," he replied shrugging off the uncomfortable thought. "Besides, Jason has a crush on her. Did you know that? I think he probably likes her way more than I do."

Macy laughed, "oh, I'm sure that will make everything all right."

Chris frowned. "Well, I never said it would make things all right. Quit laughing at me."

Macy's smile broadened. "Oh Chris lighten up, you're so terribly brooding." She laughed harder. "That must be while all the girls like you, girls always like the brooding one." She laughed even harder at this.

"I don't want everyone to like me. I just want people to quit talking about me like I wasn't in the room."

"I didn't mean it like that," she laughed, sobering a little at his expression. "I mean how all the girls fawn over you because you're always serious, always brooding, always mysterious to all of them."

"Me? I didn't realize I was like that," Chris muttered taken aback at Macy's statement. "Do you think I'm like that?"

Macy smiled warmly, "to an extent yes, but people might say the same about me. You always look like you have something extremely heavy weighing on your mind," Macy explained, falling gracefully into the lush grass. She liked to sit on grass and feel it in her bare hands, on her bare arms, and her bare back. She looked up at Chris, looking down at her. He must think she was quite odd. She smiled at that thought.

"Most of the time I do have something on my mind," Chris replied dropping to his knees next to her. He could feel the evening dew wetting his knees and wondered briefly if the damp grass bothered Macy at all. "What about you? You think about serious crap all the time too?"

"If it weren't for Corey and Sadie, I would constantly be brooding, my mind bogged down with thought," Macy admitted, plucking at the grass and letting the wind blow it out of her hands. "Sometimes I get so consumed with thinking it drives me nuts." Macy covered her mouth as if it could prevent the already spoken words from leaving her mouth. If she was fast enough could she catch them in mid-air before they reached Chris? She barely knew him, yet she was being so glib. "I'm being far too glib."

"Glib? Well, if you mean you're saying too much, I don't think so. I like this side of you." He grinned over at her, glad the darkness of night hid the blush on his cheek. "I don't see it very often."

Macy laughed self-consciously and lowered her head to where her long locks shielded her face from his view. "Chris, you rarely see any side of me, mainly that side that comes out when you and Emily are around your fluff-brained, narrow-minded friends."

"You know not all of my friends are fluff-brained. You don't even know Jason!" Chris rushed to the defense of his best friend. Some of the kids he hung out with were idiots, she was right about that. But Jason Rose was a good guy without a mean bone in his body. "You wouldn't give him a chance since you're so into being offbeat and out of the loop."

Macy drew back at Chris' outburst, surprised by his reaction. "Jason's never given me a chance either, Chris, I've never interacted with him, just like I've never really interacted with you. Jason seems alright, but jeez, Chris, how can you stand to be around such people who have no opinions of their own, who will be the type of people to never evolve. We will come back to our high school reunion and they will be the same, single-minded, one-dimensional people."

"Because I don't give them anything, Macy. It's as simple as that. The Chris they know? That's not me. That's who they think I should be," he told her truthfully. "Jason knows me. He's about the only one. Emily sort of. But if I were honest, I'd tell you that even your sister doesn't know me as well as she thinks she does."

"Then why hang out with them, why even be around them?" Macy demanded.

"Why not? They're good for a laugh sometimes."

"Would that be laughing with them or at them?" Macy asked, lazily rolling her head to look at him, sitting up, she lying down in the grass. "How can you hang out with someone like Jesse who's so vindictive towards the unfamiliar and something she knows nothing about. You talk about me not giving people chances..."

He was taken aback by the reference to Jesse. For a brief minute, he thought she might mean his brother. "Jesse? Well, I don't know... Look, Macy, they're my friends. That's all. I don't excuse their behavior. And I don't criticize them. I don't care what they do as long as they don't involve me unless I want to be involved. Besides, your friends are so cool they never judge others?"

Macy rolled her eyes, but he was right. Sadie would just as quickly pass judgment on anyone who wore a polo shirt and khakis. Corey on the other hand gave everyone a chance, though he was one of those people who rarely got a chance, himself. Macy loved that about him. She didn't bother to tell Chris this because it seemed rather futile. Instead, she chose silence, merely gazing at the stars and listening. She listened to the heavy beat that beat against the brick walls of the Guthrie house, demanding to be released. She listened to the laughter of all those different people harmonizing in their lack of sobriety. She listened to the sound of Chris' breathing, visualizing the rise and fall of his chest though she wasn't looking at him. She loved sound. It was why she was so often quiet at school. She liked to listen to all the sounds of the school and the people in it. She lazily rolled her head to the side to glance at Chris, catching him gazing at her. It embarrassed her and she quickly returned her visual focus to the stars.

No answer? Well, then that just proved he was right, Chris thought. He looked back at the house and saw a flicker of movement on the porch. Stupid party anyway, he thought thinking about Dylan and his rumors. Why he was even here was still a mystery he couldn't quite figure out. Jason had wanted to come and show Dylan that his rumors were dumb. Well, so much for that he thought catching sight of Dylan on the porch.

"Hey Mason!" Dylan called out to them. "You getting some ass out there? Did your dad pay for that too?" Chris turned a deep red at the thought and jumped to his feet.

Macy rolled her eyes. If Chris was that type of person he could get it easily and willingly from most of the female population of Conlan's Glen. Macy remained in the grass. She wasn't witty enough to think of some clever comeback and she saw no point in it.

"Dylan should get his dad to buy him half a mind. I guess we better go back inside before terrible rumors swarm," she remarked sarcastically. As if Macy cared about rumors, rumors were rumors for a reason. They meant nothing.

"Yeah I guess so," Chris muttered offering his hand to her absently. "Still, I'd love to teach that guy a lesson."

Macy didn't take Chris' hand, she merely pulled herself to her feet on her long legs. She was slightly taller than Emily these days, both girls were willowy and tall.

"Why do you even care so much about what Dylan says anyway Chris? A rumor is a rumor, its called a rumor because its not true. Besides you have the whole season to rub it in Dylan's face how much better you are then him. Besides revenge is for when you have already lost," Macy said, she brushed the stray strands of grass off her body.

"Who said it was a rumor?" Chris muttered to himself quite unsure of anything anymore before heading off back towards the house.