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"We finally made it through our first week!" Emmie exclaimed from the driver's seat of her red ute. It was now Friday, a few days after the bitch out in Philosophy, which had apparently knocked Shayla down a few pegs. Shayla had left Will alone since then and for this, Will was thankful. The cuss out sort of went against his whole "New Year, New Slate, New Hair, New You" zen-mantra thing but dealing with Shayla was a pain in the ass, and after the summer break, Will still had to readjust to being around her on a daily basis.

"So what are we doing today?" Emmie asked the other three girls in the backseat. It had become a little tradition for the group to spend every Friday together.

"I don't know. I don't really mind whatever we do," Kimi replied with a shrug.

"Actually, there's a party tonight I want to go to," Cash interjected. "I heard Jemima's parents are away this weekend so she and all her sisters are throwing this huge party that everyone's going to. I thought we should go!"

Everyone in the car agreed, no-one thinking of anything better to do that night.

"Plus, Oliver will probably be there," Cash teased, punching Will lightly on the shoulder. Will turned around in the passenger's seat to glare at her. Cash threw up her hands. "What, it's just that you two have apparently been getting chummy, is all, Carrot Top."

Will directed his glare to Liv, knowing it was most likely her who was telling them all this. Liv copied Cash, hand up and an innocent expression on her face. "What, it's true! It's obvious you have a crush on him..."

Will's glare only intensified. "I do not have a crush on him. I have two classes with him so I have to be nice. Plus, he needs help in French since he is absolutely horrendous," Will explained, though no-one else in the car believed him.

The silence in the car was broken by Liv. "I bet 10 bucks we'll be hearing all about Will's crush on the new kid in like, a fortnight."

"I say in a month," Kimi said, Emmie agreeing with her from the front seat.

"I say more like 2 months," Cash piped in. "Will's stubborn. He wouldn't admit it to us for a while."

"Well, I say never because it's never gonna happen," Will stated stubbornly, before muttering "you're all horrible, horrible friends" under his breath.

"Whatever you say, Will," Emmie said. "So are we still crashing at yours tonight, Liv?"

"No, sorry. Family from Italy are visiting at the moment and having 15 people crammed in our house is enough. Seriously, jumbo jets would be jealous of how much noise mum and her cousins make," Liv complained from the back seat.

"Well, I guess we can go to mine then," Emmie offered, a quick glance in the rear-view mirror to see the girls in the back nod in agreement. It wasn't long after that they arrived at Emmie's house, racing inside to get ready.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few hours later, and the group were standing in Jemima's backyard, the party already in full swing. "Wow, this party is packed!" Kimi shouted, yelling so that they could hear her over the Jason Derulo being blared from the speakers. "It's crazy; I swear everyone from school is here!"

"Let's go find some drinks!" Cash yelled, pulling Kimi and Liv towards the bar, stumbling a little as she tried to walk on the grass with her high heels.

"A few drinks in her and I think she'll find her own guy to make out with," Emmie said to Will as they watched some of the drunk people jumping on the bouncy castle.

I don't know if that's a good idea with so many drunk people... Will thought with a worried glance.

The three girls returned, handing both Emmie and Will a cup. "Rum and coke," Liv told Will when he gave them a questioning look. "And just a normal coke for you, Em, since you're driving us home and all."

Will and Emmie both took a swig of their drink, Will surprised that he couldn't taste any of the alcohol. "Oi, doofus," Emmie said to Liv as she took Will's drink and gave him hers. "You gave me the one with rum." Liv just shrugged in response, taking a massive mouthful of her own drink.

They stood there for a little while, drinking and chatting before they heard someone yell "LIV!" behind them. They turned to see Tyler launch himself at Liv into a hug. "How's my girlfriend?!" he yelled, his speech a little slurred.

"Tyler, how much have you had to drink?" Liv asked, wrinkling her nose a little.

"Like 3 or 4... or 12," Tyler said, swaying a little as Liv held onto him, probably trying to keep him standing. "You're sooooo pretty," he added drunkenly while the rest of the group tried not to laugh at him.

"Ok, I think I need to go and help this idiot out. Sober him up a little," Liv said, slapping him lightly on the cheek.

"Need help?" Emmie offered. Liv nodded with a pleading look. So the two girls walked off somewhere, hauling the drunken idiot in hopes to sober him up.

Cash and Kimi began to crack up when they were quite a bit away. "My god, he's so drunk!" Kimi said, followed by a little hiccup.

"Dude, I think you are too," Will added, taking another mouthful of whatever this weird mix was. Cash had gone to get everyone a refill and had given Will the cup, telling him it was a 'Mystery Mix'. Kimi poked her tongue out at Will while he and Cash laughed at her.

"Oh my god!" Cash screamed a few seconds later. Will and Kimi looked at her questioningly. "Fireflies is playing! It's my favourite song, let's dance!" she shouted, jumping up and down on the spot and dancing a little before pulling Kimi with her toward the dance floor. Will laughed a little, watching them dance and cracked up when Cash pulled out some really tacky dance moves, but she was so drunk she probably didn't give a shit what others were thinking about her. She was having fun and Will guessed that that was all that mattered.

Will was taken by surprise when someone yelled out "WILL!" loudly next to him as the random person threw their arm over Will's shoulder. "Oh my god!" Will yelled, looking over to see a drunk Oliver standing next to him. "Oh hey, Oliver. Having fun?"

"Yup!" Oliver shouted, popping the 'p'. "Wha-what about you?" he slurred, swaying just a little as he stood. Will wrinkled his nose at the foul stench of beer coming from Oliver. Will had never been a fan of beer.

So this is what Liv was smelling when Tyler was here, Will thought.

"My god, how many drinks have you had, Oliver," Will asked, deciding to breathe through his mouth so that the beer stink would stop attacking his poor nose.

"Not thaaat much, I've been drunker!" Oliver said, clinking his beer bottle against the cup Will was holding. "What're you drinking?"

"I really don't know... Cash just gave it to me and called it 'mystery mix,'" Will replied, examining the contents of his cup again. That was until he saw Oliver sway then fall to the brick onto his butt. "Shit, man, you alright?" Will asked, squatting down to examine Oliver who had spilt the remains of his beer all over himself.

Oliver just nodded, placing the empty bottle to the side while pulling his now wet black v-neck away from his body, a frown on his face. "Damn, what a waste of beer... And I'm all sticky and gross now too," Oliver whined, bottom lip sticking out in a pout. Will rolled his eyes, sitting down properly next to Oliver, who'd apparently turned into a 5 year old. "Might be a bit drunker than I thought I was..." Oliver admitted with a sigh.

"No shit, you don't say," Will replied sarcastically. Oliver just glared at Will, slapping the bottom of his cup and causing the 'mystery mix' to tip all over Will's red and black plaid shirt. "Oh my god, you fucking ass!" Will exclaimed, slapping Oliver hard on the upper arm before taking off the shirt, leaving himself in the plain white tee he had thankfully put on underneath.

"Well, I wasn't going to be the only one who was gonna be sticky and gross," Oliver muttered, now looking around at the rest of the party.

The silence between the two boys grew and Will was feeling uncomfortable. "So, you're seriously not dating Stacey?" Will blurted out, asking the first thing to come to mind. He grimaced, wondering if spending too much time with Liv had caused him to lose his brain-mouth filter as well.

"No, I'm seriously not dating her. Why do you care?" Oliver retorted almost defensively, still looking out at the party.

"Sorry, I was just wondering. You two already seem like a couple and all that..." Will said, now feeling awkward about it all. Will looked down at his wet shirt, playing around with it nervously.

"Well, we're just really good friends. I don't like her and she doesn't like me. All platonic," Oliver explained, though Will felt that that wasn't all true. Oliver sighed, finally looking back at Will and giving him a small smile. "So, this may be the alcohol talking, but you really are a good guy, Will. Glad we're getting to know each other," Oliver admitted.

Will nodded, unsure how he should respond.

Not that he had a chance to, however.

"HUGHSEY! Where have you been?!" Stacey Harcroft shouted, appearing out of nowhere and dropping onto his lap in a giggling drunken mess. He looked at her with admiration and a big grin on his face while she sat in his lap, arms clinging around his neck as she leant backwards. Will watched, still wondering what the missing puzzle piece was. These two looked like the perfect couple and from the way they looked at each other, Will was sure that their feelings for each other went further than just platonic. An inexplicable part of Will felt a little disappointed at this development. Will frowned to himself, completely baffled as to why he was feeling like that.

Will shook his head, not wanting to think any more about it. "Oh, just talking to Will here," Oliver had just said to Stacey, cocking his head in Will's direction. Stacey gave Will a quick look; her expression slipping a little before going back to her effervescent smile.

"Oh hi, Will!" she said in a falsely cheery tone before once again ignoring him. "OK, c'mon Oliver. Let's go dance!" Stacey said excitedly, slapping his chest and bouncing up and down a little in his lap.

"I don't feel like dancing, Stace. I'm fine here with Will," Oliver said. Stacey pouted at him, asking him to dance again. Oliver looked between the other two, obviously unsure about what to do. Poor guy, probably doesn't want to dance, Will thought, the only explanation he could think of as to why Oliver would choose to stay there with him instead of going to dance with his apparently really good friend.

Will cleared his throat, deciding to make the decision easier for them all and just leave. "Hey, go dance. I think it's about time I go home. It's getting pretty late," Will said with a fake yawn, looking around to see if he could find any of the girls. "I'll see you Monday," he added as he stood up, gave the lovebirds a wave goodbye and stalked off to find anyone.

Will decided to go in the direction he'd seen Liv and Emmie go, around a garden path. Somehow, though, he ended up poolside, dodging waves of water that the swimmers were splashing around. As he walked around the pool, someone suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking his way. Will sighed in annoyance when he saw who it was: Ryan fucking* Romero, (* - for emphasis, not his actual middle name, though Will wouldn't be surprised if it was).

Ryan was just a few inches shorter than Will was, with short, shaggy brown hair and strong Italian features. After he left last year, Ryan had decided that it would be fun to try and flirt with Will. Hitting on him. Constantly. He never did it to be mean or anything, more as a joke than anything, but it still annoyed Will to no end. Will knew there was an ulterior motive, but he could never work out what it was. Liv suggested that he wanted to get laid but seeing as he already had a girlfriend, Will doubted it was that.

"Hey there, Lil' Willy," Ryan greeted flirtily, getting real close to Will as he reached around to pinch Will's butt, smirking at him.

"What do you want, Ryan?" Will asked, unamused, as he slapped Ryan's hand away.

"Aww, what's got you all in a twist, eh?" Ryan pouted, his brown eyes sparkling with mischief. "I can help you loosen up."

Will rolled his eyes. "I need to get home," Will said impatiently, trying to walk around the small guy but Ryan just moved to keep blocking him.

"Why don't you just come home with me?" Ryan asked, getting impossibly closer to Will. "We can go and have some fun," Ryan suggested seductively, having to look up so that he could look Will in the eye.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?" Will asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"She doesn't need to know, Lil' Willy. Besides, I wanted to try something new," Ryan replied, almost in a purr to try and get Will interested.

"No thanks," Will said, rejecting him yet again. Will went to spin Ryan around so that he could get past but Ryan decided to keep being stubborn.

"C'mon, Will, don't be so stubborn. It'll be fun, I promise," Ryan proposed but Will still wasn't interested. As Will stood there, assessing what he should do next and slapping away Ryan's advancing hands, he remembered his new mantra.

New You played around in his head. Will decided that part of his New You was to not take shit from anyone, and Ryan was really starting to play on his last nerve. Will went to take a deep breath to calm down but Ryan also decided to pinch his ass again. Nah, that's enough, Will thought as he grabbed Ryan by the shoulders and pushed him. Hard.

The look of shock on Ryan's face was priceless as he fell back into the pool. Will stood, wondering if that was a good idea. But when Ryan's head resurfaced, mouth agape like a fish, Will didn't give it another thought.

Didn't accidentally kill him so it's fine, he thought to himself as he continued around the party.

It was about 10 minutes later when Will found Liv sitting on a bench, Tyler's head in her lap. "Is he asleep?" he asked her, sitting down on the bench.

"Yeah, he passed out about 20 minutes ago. How 'bout you? What've you been doing?" she asked.

"Not much, Oliver and I were just chatting," Will replied casually, resting his head on her shoulder and watching people drunkenly dancing.

"Oooh, Oliver, eh?" she teased.

"Yeah, whatever, missy. I think we should head off though, what do you think?"

"Sounds good. But what about this guy here?"

"Naww, can't leave your boyfriend here all alone, can you?" Will teased back.

Liv glared at him and was about to retort before he interrupted her, "I think that's his phone ringing. You should answer it."

Liv reached into his pocket and answered his phone, "Hello? Oh hi, Mrs. Wilson... Yeah, I'm just looking after his phone. He'll be out in a minute... Sure, I'll come to dinner sometime soon... OK, bye Mrs. Wilson." Liv hung up and shook Tyler awake. "Oi, Dumbo, wake up!"

"What?" Tyler whined sleepily, moving around a little.

"Your mum's here to pick you up, so get moving," Liv answered. Tyler groaned but sat up, rubbing his eyes. "I'll see you Monday," Liv said as she pushed Tyler towards the exit. "Let's go find the other three!" Liv said once Tyler was out of sight, jumping up and walking off.

They ended up finding the other three sitting on the trampoline, chatting. "Hey!" Cash yelled, jumping off. However, her heel got caught on the side of the trampoline so she ended up faceplanting the grass below. Liv and Will rushed to her and helped the poor girl stand up, unable to contain their laughter. Cash scowled at them before wrapping the two into an awkward bear hug.

"Hi there, have you had fun?" Will asked her, pulling out of her death grip of a hug. "And how drunk are you?"

"Very," Kimi giggled from trampoline. "And from all the guys she's made out with, I'd say she's had a great night," Kimi added further.

"Oooh, has someone been a little slutty?" Liv teased.

"Slutty would be me sleeping with them. I'm just making out with them, geez," Cash pouted.

"Sure, sure," Will teased.

"Should we head off?" Everyone agreed, all piled into the ute and headed back to the Emmie's house, a nice, warm, comfortable bed and peaceful sleep calling out to all of them.

Tonight wasn't bad, Will thought as Emmie opened the door and they all crashed onto the mattresses they'd laid out before leaving, all drifting off to sleep pretty quickly.

Not bad at all.

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