by Rebel Hart
I wanted to go home.
Finally, we got to the front of The Undersound and Ceradi found a spot to stand that wasn’t interfering with the line, but gave us a clear shot of the front of the building. There was a massive security guard checking IDs and waving people inside, and my heart leapt when I saw the gun on his hip.
“Ceradi, let’s just go,” I said. “I’m not even sure if Aria will come to the front, or she might just try and call Arden out.”
“We’re already here, Hannah,” Ceradi quipped back. “Come on, just relax. Everything is going to be fine. As soon as we see her, my plan will go into action.”
“I’m just gonna go back and wait at the car,” I said, trying to turn around and leave, but Ceradi grabbed my arm and held me in place. “Please let me go.”
She had an evil glare on her face and Milton had a matching, intimidating look on his face. In short, they were telling me that I didn’t have a choice.
“Don’t be such a baby, Hannah,” Milton grumbled.
Ceradi pulled me back to her side. “Yeah, come on, this was your idea.”
Objectively she wasn’t wrong, but I already felt like whatever was about to happen was a far cry from what I’d tipsily proposed. Even that plan was one I now realize was a little too far for how frustrated I was. I just wanted Aria to feel a fragment of the pain I felt losing Tristan and Arden, but Ceradi clearly intended to go far beyond that.
With no choice but to stand there and wait for the inevitable, I hoped that maybe Aria would at least come up the street the same way we did and I could interfere. If she saw me there with Ceradi, she’d know something was amiss and leave. Saving face with Ceradi later on, or just letting her go altogether all sounded like better plans than following through blindly with Ceradi’s maniacal personality.
About thirty minutes passed of people flooding in and out of the front door, and we didn’t see Aria. Ceradi started to get impatient, tapping her foot against pavement and drumming her fingers against her arm. “You did tell her to come, didn’t you?”
“You heard me tell her to come,” I spat back.
Milton lifted his head and looked down at me like a bug on the ground. “Did you text her and tell her not to come?”
“No. Irritatingly enough that hadn’t occurred to me before this moment,” I replied.
“Maybe she doesn’t actually care about this girl. I assumed they were dyking it out, but maybe they broke up?” Ceradi said.
I balled my hands into fists at the slur and bit the inside of my cheek so hard that I was certain to bite through it any moment. Of all the things I’d learned about Aria in my short, reluctant time with her, I’d learned that she cared deeply for Arden. She wouldn’t tell me she was coming if she actually wasn’t. “She’ll be here.”
“You’d better hope so. I left my own after party to come have some fun, and one way or another, I’m gonna have it.”
She was looking at me like she was starving and I was a cartoon steak. All of my “friendship” with Ceradi crashed into a brick wall and burned. She didn’t actually care about me, she was only interested in me as long as she could use me to torment others. She had her own vendetta against Aria or Tristan, or maybe both? I was an excuse for her to do what she wanted, and if she wasn’t able to do what she wanted, I was going to pay for it.
“I’m leaving,” I said.
“No you’re not,” Ceradi said, grabbing me again, that time more forcefully.
I flipped around and sized her up, lifting my head to the sky to make up for the slight difference in our heights with her in heels. “Yes, I—”
“There she is!” Milton called, pointing towards the front of the building. I looked over, and sure enough, Aria was walking up the sidewalk, coming from the opposite direction. She was skirting around the line and walked right up to the security guard and started talking to him, much to the disdain of several of the people in the line.
“What is she doing?” I murmured, mostly to myself. Did she think she was just going to be let in because she had a good reason or was she ratting Arden out? Either way, she was gonna get Arden arrested, and probably herself in the process. I left Ceradi’s side and started over. “Aria!”
Aria looked over, her eyes landing on mine for just a moment, full of confusion, before Ceradi stepped in front of me. She tossed a glass bottle forward and it went flying out and crashed into the head of someone in the line. Security looked over, but Ceradi had thrown it from just such a place that she was able to slide us both sideways to hide behind a tree. Milton was nowhere to be seen, though, and when I looked back around, the already bristling line of people in the wake of the bottle smash were starting to get more and more rowdy, and I just barely spied Milton, with his phone out, pushing people in the line and immediately blaming it on someone else.
In just a matter of seconds, a full-scale brawl started to break out.
“What are you doing?” I screeched as Ceradi fell out laughing. “Aria’s not prepared! She’s gonna get hurt!”
“Good,” Ceradi said. “Let that teach her not to mess with me.”
“Fuck!”
I bolted out from where we were hidden and rushed towards the brawl. People were throwing punches, bumping one another, swearing and shoving. The entire battle was focused right at the entrance to The Underground, and there were even a few people trying to use the chaos to slip inside undetected, but were duking it out with security.
I quickly lost Aria in the fray, but screamed out her name, praying she would respond. “Aria! Aria!”
Then there was an echo. “Aria? Aria!”
My eyes scanned the crowd and landed on Tristan trying his best to shove his way through the sea. For every step forward he took, he was pushed three steps back and he wasn’t making any headway at all. I didn’t want him to see me there, knowing he’d immediately know that I had something to do with it, but I also felt like getting to Aria was more important.
“Aria!” I screeched out, but then someone hooked my stomach. I looked up and Milton was backing his way out of the crowd, keeping his phone filming, but had stuck out his other arm and was backing me up with him. “Let me go!” I screamed, trying to fight my way around him.
“You’re already mixed up in it. If you go in there, people will think it’s you,” he said.
I felt so helpless. The crowd was violent and getting worse. There were police sirens growing from far away, and I was afraid of what the outcome was going to be.
The brawl looked like a swarm of beetles on food until, all at once, the entire group stopped.
“Blood!” someone screamed and my heart sank.
“She hit her head!” someone else yelled.
“RUN!”
Everyone that had stuck around to participate in the fight scattered. It was difficult to see anything at first, and if I hadn’t been standing partially behind Milton, I would have gotten trampled. Eventually, though, the crowd cleared and I brought my hand to my mouth.
Aria was laying on the sidewalk with a pool of blood emanating from her head.
“Aria,” I whimpered. I tried to run towards her, but Milton held me back.
“Aria!” Tristan’s voice screaming through the night would give me nightmares for years to come. He dropped to the ground and lifted her up into his lap. “No, no, no, no, no. Aria. Aria? Hey.” He started to cry. “Aria… Hey. Say something.”
“Don’t move her,” security said, then he grabbed the walkie talkie on his lapel and said, “I need an ambulance.”
“We gotta go,” Ceradi said, grabbing my arm and pulling, but it was difficult to tear my eyes from the scene. Ceradi refused to let me go though, and eventually I relented to her pull. The very last thing I saw before I turned away from the chaos…
…was Tristan’s gaze briefly meeting mine.
19
Arden
Suli lifted her cranberry juice into the air. “I’d like to make a toast!” Darton, Polly, Codie, and I lifted our
glasses of equally non-alcoholic beverages. “This goes out to our incredible Arden who, not only graduated high school today, with honor roll, but also got accepted to the Young Innovators Internship Program in New York City with a full-ride scholarship!”
“May she go on to be the best of us!” Codie said.
“To the best of us!” Polly announced and everyone repeated it as we all clinked our glasses together.
“Thank you guys so much for this,” I said. “I don’t deserve you guys.”
“Uh, it’s us who don’t deserve you,” Darton said. “Promise you won’t forget about us in the Big Apple!”
I looked around the VIP room, which had been decorated with streamers, all sorts of ‘CLASS OF 2021’ decorations, and the old couches had been covered with some sheets that Suli brought in to make them look nicer. Polly brought some homemade food for us to eat, and they also had a three tiered cupcake-cake. They were all wearing dorky hats and glasses and had brought me a variety of gifts, including a thousand dollars that they had all pitched in for to get me started in NYC.
It was wonderful.
“I will never forget you guys! I really hope you come visit me. My apartment starting out isn’t massive, it’s a studio, but if we can squeeze in here, we can squeeze in there,” I said.
“How are you affording an apartment in New York City anyway?” Darton asked. “I’ve heard it’s so expensive to live there.”
“Yeah, you’re not living in a really shitty neighborhood or above some deli that doubles as a mafia den are you?” Suli asked.
I laughed. “No. They don’t have facilities for participants to actually live on site, so they give you a rent stipend and it’s up to you to find a place with that stipend. It was difficult, but I technically qualify as a student, which made it a little easier. I’m gonna get a part-time job when I get there, and if all goes well, by my third year, I’ll be interning with the company and they’ll increase my stipend to something higher.”
“That’s good,” Polly said.
“Man, are you going to be like a big, New York City inventor lady?” Darton said. “You’re gonna be all,” he flicked his hand in the air and started wiggling his shoulder. “‘And this is my new thing that makes stuff and now your life is easier,’ and we’ll be like, ‘Hey! Arden! It’s us, your old friends!’ and you’ll be like, ‘Oh that’s right! Hi, Denton!’”
I laughed. “I’m never going to forget you. I might start calling you Denton.”
“Oh, please do that,” Polly said. “I’ll call him Denton too.”
Darton snorted. “In bed.”
Codie looked over with a lifted eyebrow. “Do… do you want her to call you Denton in bed?”
Darton laughed for a minute and then frowned. “No.”
Suli set down her glass and then grabbed my hand. “Okay! Let’s go dance off this delicious food.”
“Yes please!” I said, snagging Codie’s hand. “Come on!”
Codie, true to what Suli had said, was totally mellow and having a good time. He set down his glass and allowed me to pull him along with us towards the dance floor. We slid from our side of the curtain to the other and out into the crowd. The music was thumping and bass was blasting through my veins. I was glad that I let Suli talk me into coming inside. It was such a good time and all my friends put in so much effort. They’d stayed away from anything illegal for me and themselves as promised, and it was just a good, sober time.
We got to the middle of the dance floor and I made myself a sandwich between Suli and Codie, my favorite way to dance, but as soon as we were about to get into it, the music stopped. There was a murmur as everyone looked around, wondering what was going on, and then the lights came on.
“Aria!”
My head shot in the direction of the door. I could have sworn I heard someone scream Aria’s name. “Did you hear that?” I asked.
“What’s going on?” Codie asked.
“Uh,” the DJ said into the mic, “I’m being asked to tell everyone to stay put. I don’t know why?”
“Aria!” I heard again.
“God, I swear to god, I’m hearing someone scream ‘Aria,’” I said.
Suli rubbed my head. “I think you’re just hearing things because you’re worried she’s gonna find out you’re here. Don’t worry about it, I’m sure whatever is going on will be cleared up soon and we can get back to your party.”
“Maybe, but I’m just feeling a little paranoid. Can you go and make sure Aria’s not outside? My phone is still in your car where you stole and locked it,” I said.
She smiled. “You said it was a good thing I did because you wouldn’t have been able to pay attention.”
“I’ll go see what’s going on,” Codie said. “Stay here.”
He started to slip and slide his way through the group when suddenly the half the crowd started to rush towards the door. We were all shoved forward as people behind us picked up on the hype and started to run towards the door just based on curiosity.
“What the hell is going on?” Suli barked.
“There was a huge brawl outside,” someone that overheard responded to her. “Apparently some high-schooler fell and cracked her skull open.”
Suli, Codie, and I all froze. People were pushing around us, but the exact same thought had hit us all at the exact same time and we were briefly stuck in place.
Then Codie and Suli sprung into action.
“Undersound employee!” Suli started to yell. “Let me through please! Move to the side please! If you don’t want to be fined, you need to let me through!”
With Suli blazing the way forward, Codie saddled up behind me and started pushing me forward, keeping me pinned to Suli’s back. People were still pushing and shoving, trying to get to the door, but Suli and Codie kept me moving forward. My heart was pumping and the sound was gone from my ears.
Please let it not be what I was fearing it was.
Finally, a burst of cold air hit me as Suli got us through the front door. She took a single step past the security guard and then turned around and looked at me with horror in her eyes.
“Oh no,” Codie said.
“Arden—”
I shoved around Suli and rushed outside. There was an ambulance pulling up and to my extreme upset, Tristan was teary-eyed and overseeing Aria on a stretcher being loaded in.
“Tristan,” I said. He whipped around and burned me with a harsh glare. “What happened?”
“What happened is Aria came here looking for you and got hurt,” he snapped. “She got caught in the middle of a huge mob and cracked her head on the ground.”
“Is she okay?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” His chest was rising and lowering in mixed fear and frustration.
“Tristan, I’m so sorr—”
“I don’t really wanna hear it right now, Arden,” he responded. “Can you call Aria’s mom for me please? I’m gonna see her off, then I’m headed to the hospital.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Can I ride with you?”
“Sure,” He responded, and I was glad to see that, at least for how much he was probably holding me at fault for Aria getting hurt, he didn’t hate me.
“This is all my fault,” I mumbled quietly.
“You and Hannah,” he said, and I tilted my head. He turned and looked at me and a few fresh tears fell from his eyes. “She called Aria and told her you were here.”
“She was just worried about me,” I said, surprised that I was defending her.
But he shook his head. “No. I saw her here with Ceradi,” he said. “I’m pretty sure Hannah set Aria up to get hurt on purpose.”
An actual gasp came out of my mouth as I stumbled backwards from where Tristan was standing. Hannah set Aria up to get hurt on purpose? I knew that she was struggling with her lately, but I couldn’t imagine that she would actually cause this amount of damage on purpose, that simply wasn’t like her.
Stepping back from Tristan, I turned around and saw Su
li and Codie standing there talking to the security guard. As soon as they saw me coming over, they left him and came over to meet me.
“Is she okay?” Suli asked.
I shook my head. “Um, we don’t know yet, but she hit her head on the concrete, so even if she doesn’t… you know. She’s gonna be hurt pretty badly.”
Codie held out a hand and put it on my shoulder. “Do you want a ride to the hospital?”
“No, I’m gonna ride with Tristan, but I need my phone. Suli, can you go grab it for me?”
She looked like she was on the edge of tears. “Yeah. I’ll be right back.”
Codie and I watched her go, and when she was far enough away Codie groaned. “She’s gonna blame herself for this hard.”
“She can join the club,” I responded.
He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. “Hey, listen. Everyone made their own decisions. I promised Aria I’d keep you away from here, and here I am partying with you. Aria maybe could have trusted you a little more to take care of yourself? This isn’t all on anyone?”
“None of it would have been an issue if I’d kept my promise,” I said. “Everything she’s done for me and this is how I repay her.”
“I think this means that every single one of us has to take a hard look at what we’re doing,” Codie said. “Even if we all had the best of intentions, it doesn’t change the outcome that it led to.”
“It sounds like someone may not have had the best of intentions,” I said. “Tristan, Aria’s boyfriend, says that he thinks Hannah set this up on purpose.”
“No way,” Codie said. “Is he sure?”
“Tristan is Hannah’s best friend. He wouldn’t say something like that if he wasn’t sure,” I replied.
“What does that mean for you?” Codie asked.
I shook my head. “If Hannah damn near killed my best friend on purpose?” I asked. “I have no idea.”
Suli came back and her eyes were red as if she’d been crying. She handed my phone over to me and said, “I can bring your gifts home tomorrow.”
