Chapter 13.

"Guys please tell me where we are going?" I asked, wiggling a little to adjust my petite frame in the limited space allotted to me between Ken and Ryan. "You will know when we get there, tiger," Ryan retorted as he got back to his phone. I huffed in annoyance and then leaned back on the seat. The continuous motion of the van made my eyes drop and before I knew it I felt myself dozing off.

"Wake up tiger, we're here," Ryan said while shaking me.

"I'm up, you don't need to shake me up anymore," I snapped at him.

He held up his hands in the air, surrendering himself, and got out of the car and I followed his suit. Once I stepped out of the car I was nearly blinded by the bright sunlight but my eyes quickly adjusted to the lighting once I put on my sunglasses.

"Surprise Mel," they all cheered as they pointed towards the signboard, we are in an amusement park.

'Let's get this party started," I shouted excitedly as we all ran towards the entrance.

"That ride was so amazing. Did you saw the face Niel when the car was about to go down? He looked so pale as if he had seen a ghost," Ken said as took a bite from his burger and we all laughed at this, making Niel's cheeks pink in embarrassment.

"Oh really, the who was shouting for his mother in the haunted house, certainly not me," Niel taunted and Ken scoffed at this.

"But the frisbee was the best part of the whole day," Hadley said as she sipped from her cup.

"But the Ferris wheel was also good, everything looked so small and beautiful from there," Mia said with a dreamy look as she snuggled with Vince.

"But the wave swing was quite scary, it felt like that I will fall off any moment," Vince said.

"The turbulency roller coaster was the best among all the rides," I said and they all agreed with me.

"Look it's already 6 in the evening, we need to head out now if we want to go home and have enough time to get ready," Hadley said as she pulled Ryan with her.

"So, what are we getting ready for?" I asked them as I unlocked the house and walked in.

"We're going clubbing tonight honey," Mia said while settling herself on the couch and massaging her feet.

"What?" I asked loudly. I'm not the type of girl who likes partying and getting drunk. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against those who like to party and getting drunk, but parties are not exactly, that's the reason I never attended a single party throughout my high school years even though I was invited to many.

"I'm not going to a club, I'm underage, I won't be allowed anyway," I said as I switched on the flat screen.

"Just look at this," Ryan hovered 3 cards in front of me. I snatched it away from him and examined it. They were id's, wait they were fake IDs. The cards show that we are twenty-one years old.

"Where did you get these from?" I asked him.

"I have connections," was his reply.

"What if we get caught?" I asked, troubled at the thought of doing something illegal.

"Don't worry, we will not get caught and the club is owned by your handsome benefactor," Ryan responded casually.

"And all we need is a little bit of makeup to make you look like twenty-two," said Mia and started singing twenty-two by Taylor Swift.

"What are you waiting for?" Ryan asked and pushed me inside my room. I just laughed at their over-dramatic behavior and made my way towards the bathroom.

I hummed lightly as I put on my bathrobe and tied the knot tightly. I dried my hair and then walked out of the bathroom.

"What are you doing Mia?" I shouted out as soon as my eyes fell on her and the mess that she has created.

Every single piece of clothing that I ever owned, was scattered all across the room, somewhere sprawled on the floor, some were lying on the desk and the majority of them were on the bed. And Mia was standing in her pink bathrobe- clutching her hair. Thank God she hasn't touched my undergarments drawer.

"Shit! You don't have anything to wear!" She exclaimed and sat down on my bed.

"You're wrong, I have something to wear," I said to her as I pulled out my dark blue pencil jeans and a grey sweatshirt. She looked at me as if I had grown two heads and shook her head and then walked out of the room and then returned with a few minutes with a white spaghetti-strapped dress.

"You're going to wear this," she said to me or more like ordered me. She gently placed the dress on my bed and pulled me towards my vanity and made me sit in front of the mirror and then she started doing her magic.

"Wow," I said as I looked at the girl standing in front of me. Her blue eyes are enhanced by the light eye shadow and perfectly done winged eyeliner. Her brown locks were curled elegantly at the top and cascaded down her back. Her petite figure was hugged with a simple plain white spaghetti strapped dress whose hem ended just two inches above the knees. I totally cannot believe that the girl standing in the mirror was me. I no longer looked like a teenager but an adult.

"Now, don't behave like mime, say something," said Mia as she walked into my room. She was adorned in a tight black strapless dress that stopped on her mid-thigh.

"I look....."

"Beautiful, I know, all thanks to yours truly," Mia completed me and curtsied.

"And old," I added.

"We had to look above 20 if we want to enter the club," Mia said as she gave me two inches of brown wedges. I quickly put them on and followed Mia to the living room.

"Where's Ryan?" I asked Mia, suddenly realizing the absence of a certain messy-haired 18-year-old boy.

"He's already down in the lobby," Mia replied as she handed me a golden clutch. I took it from her and put my phone, some cash, and house keys inside it.

We rode the elevator to the lobby and were instantly greeted by our friends and Miss Wilson, who looked like a seductress in her bright red dress and her straight raven hair.

"You and...you are riding with me," Miss Wilson said while pointing at me and Ken and we followed her to her car. I don't exactly know the model of her car but I can tell that it was quite expensive. It looked like some type of sports car of some foreign brand. I settled myself on the passenger seat and Miss Wilson was behind the wheels and Ken was in the back seat.

Her car zoomed past all the tall buildings of New York City, whose upper parts seemed to disappear in the night sky. The city looked so vibrant and aesthetic at the night.

After some 30 minutes later we finally came to a stop in front of the club owned by Mr. Blackford named Memorias de medianoche. I think it's in Spanish or something. We got out of her car and Miss Wilson handed her keys to the valet.

"Miss-" I started.

"Call me Kate, Mel," Miss Wilson aka Kate interjected.

"Okay, where are the others?" I asked Kate.

"They should be here by now," Kate answered and right on cue, three cars stopped right in front of us. From the first two cars, Ryan, Mia, Hadley, Vince, Niel, piled out of the cars. And finally from the last car stepped out Mr. Daniel Thomas.

"Good evening kids," he greeted us upon reaching us and slipped his arm around Miss Wilson and pulled for a short kiss.

"How are you doing Miss Davis?" Daniel asked while extending his hand towards me. I reluctantly took his hand and shook it lightly and then quickly pulled back. "You two know each other?" Ryan asked from behind me.

"We met in Mr. Blackford's office," I replied.

"I'm his personal assistant, Daniel added quickly.

"We never knew you were seeing someone Kate?" Mia asked.

"We're not actually dating," Kate replied sheepishly.

"We're engaged," Daniel blurted out.

"What?" We all looked at Kate with a look of disbelief. They both nodded their head in unison.

"Since when?"

"Since today morning<" Kate replied.

"M'kay."

"Now, what are we waiting for?"Vince yelled out, pumping his fist up in the air, and dragged Mia and me towards the entrance but the bouncer, who was really really buff with his I-can-crush-you-into-bones-with-my -bare-hands types of hands stopped us from entering.

"Id's?" He asked us.

"They are actually with me Jeff," Daniel announced as he walked forward with Kate by his side.

"But.....Don't they look too young Mr. Thomas?" Jeff the bouncer asked.

"Don't worry about that Jeff, they are all college students and they are my responsibility," Daniel said sternly, his voice full of authority.

"Yeah...yeah, of...Of course, Mr. Thomas," Jeff the bouncer stuttered, with fear quite evident in his eyes Abdul speech.

Jeff the bouncer hastily opened the way for us and we walked inside without any further interruption.

The scene inside the atmosphere of the nightclub was a type of that of clubs I've read in the books. Loud music blasted through the speakers, drunk and sober people making out on almost every corner, sweaty bodies grinding against each other on the dance floor.

"Let's have some shots before we hit the dance floor," Hadley shouted over the loud music. All of us nodded and made our way to the bar, through the crowd of drunk people.

"Wait, we can directly head to the VIP lounge upstairs, it has its own personal bar and it is also less crowded there," Daniel interjected.

"Are you sure that it's okay to go there, Mr. Thomas?" Ryan asked.

"Of course, now c'mon let's go there," Daniel shouted over the blaring music.

We all followed Daniel and Kate to the VIP lounge.

"LET'S CALL OUT THE SHOTS!!!" Kate yelled out as soon as we reached the lounge.

"Here," Kate pushed a glass towards me, filled with a transparent liquid.

" I don't drink Kate," I pushed the glass away as I spoke.

"C'mon it's your birthday, live a little and we're also celebrating my engagement," Kate tried to convince me and after much pondering, I finally gave in.

I took the glass and drank it all in a single gulp, I felt a burning sensation in my throat as the liquid went down in my system.

"I liked it," I announced as I took another one and gulped it down in a single go.

After two more drinks, I can already feel myself getting light-headed and tipsy.

"C'mon let's go down and dance," Mia announced and dragged us down there, to the dance floor.

I complied with her wishes without even knowing what I was doing. I felt like I was having the time of my life as I swayed my body to the rhythm of the music.

Everything felt great until a loud sound stopped the music.

BOOM!!!!!!

Suddenly the sound of gunshots filled the club that was once filled with music and cheers.....