The Fairytale Curse (Magic's Return Book 1) (4 page)

It couldn’t have been Dad.

Ashleigh’s dad dropped five of us at the party. A lot of the Year 12s could drive, but most of us in Year 11 were still on our Ls, so we had to suffer the shame of being dropped off by mummy or daddy like five-year-olds, while the cool kids turned up with their own wheels.

I’d been kind of hoping we wouldn’t be able to get there, but of course CJ organised a lift. We were barely speaking. She’d insisted I needed to get out of my shell and meet some new people, but the thing had
disaster waiting to happen
written all over it. I was only there to keep an eye on her, because guess who would have to explain it all to Mum and Dad later if she did something stupid? My sister had many fine qualities, but common sense wasn’t one of them.

We could hear the music before the car even turned into the street, the bass beat throbbing over the dark neighbourhood. The house was lit up like a Christmas tree, and it was
huge
.

“Nice little place,” CJ said as we walked up the drive. Even the driveway was over the top, swirling round a central fountain in a giant circle, as if any minute they were expecting a fleet of stretch limos to turn up and disgorge a pack of movie stars.

We followed the excited PARTY THIS WAY!! signs around the side of the house and through a tall gate into the backyard, where a scene from a Hollywood movie met our eyes. A tennis court strung with fairy lights doubled as a massive dance floor, and a live DJ was set up there, pumping out something that had about half of Year 12 dancing. Across an immaculate lawn was an enormous pool, complete with palm trees and a waterfall. At the moment it had a net strung across its middle, and a boisterous game of volleyball was going on. The other half of Year 12 was watching, alternating jeers with encouragement.

The deck at the back of the house was covered in sun lounges. Taking pride of place in the centre was a large jacuzzi full of girls holding champagne glasses. My heart sank a little, and then I noticed the garbage bins full of ice lined up along the edge of the deck and it hit rock bottom. I could tell from here that there wasn’t much soft drink in those suckers.

“This is a bad idea,” I said, but I might as well have saved my breath.

“This is
great
,” CJ breathed, her eyes shining as she took it all in.

“Hey, girls!” a voice called from the pool.

Josh heaved himself out of the pool and strode across the lawn dripping. Behind him his friends groaned and called out, “aw, come on man, we were winning!”, but he ignored them.

Damn, but he was hot. Drops of water gleamed on pecs so hard you could have bounced a ping-pong ball off them. He wore boardies slung low on his hips, and the six-pack had to be seen to be believed. He could have made his fortune as an underwear model.

The collective IQ of our little group plummeted as he approached. They all looked at him with one thing on their minds—and didn’t he know it, strutting like he was already on the catwalk.

“Stop drooling,” I hissed at CJ. “It’s undignified.”

“Shut. Up.”

“Glad you could make it,” he said to CJ. His gaze slid past me, standing next to her, and dismissed me as unimportant. He turned a megawatt smile on my twin.

“Nice party,” she said, keeping her cool. True, he was gorgeous, but CJ had had her pick of gorgeous plenty of times before. Indeed, she assumed it was her right. He might find it harder than he thought to win her over.

“Thanks. Help yourselves to drinks, ladies. Whatever your little hearts desire.” He waved an expansive hand towards the ranks of alcohol-laden bins. He stepped closer to CJ and dropped his voice. “Join me in the spa later?”

“I didn’t bring my bikini.”

His smile broadened. “Even better.”

That set the other girls twittering like starlings. With a little wave he strode back to the pool and dove into the middle of the volleyball game.

I glared at his smarmy blonde head bobbing in the water. “Let’s dance.”

“In a minute,” CJ said. “I want to get something to drink first.”

“Soft drink.”

“Oh, lighten up, Vi. Live a little.”

She swept the whole flock of them off with her. I watched them helping themselves from one of the bins and turned away, almost getting knocked down in the process by a big guy who was weaving unsteadily across the grass.

“You all right?” I asked.

He stared at me, still swaying. He seemed to be having trouble focusing on my face. “Don’t feel so good.”

And then he doubled over and heaved his guts all over my sandals.

“Oh,
great
!” I jumped away, but it was too late. I could feel it, hot and disgusting, oozing between my toes. I kicked off my sandals and wiped my feet frantically on the grass, ignoring the guy, who was now on his knees. The smell was horrendous. My own stomach heaved in protest. There was nothing quite like the stink of fresh vomit.

I hurried over to the pool, leaving my sandals where they dropped. I was
not
touching them again. I’d rather buy new ones. Standing on the top step with water up to my ankles I watched a little chunk of carrot float away. Guess I wouldn’t be going swimming either.

Barefoot, I padded across the grass toward the tennis court dance floor. This was going to be a long night. No Sona to keep me company. Her parents didn’t let her go to parties unless they knew the family well. She hadn’t even bothered asking.

I scanned the crowd jumping and heaving to the music. As usual, it was mainly girls dancing while the guys stood around the edges looking self-conscious, though this time with added booze, which helped with the self-consciousness, I guess. Looked like it had worked its magic already on a few guys who were in the thick of it, bobbing around with beers in hand. One girl sagged against the wire fencing of the tennis court, looking like a rag doll that had been dropped there. Her friend had a sympathetic hand on her back. Another chunder in the making, by the looks of it. Geez, it was only nine o’clock. How drunk could you get in an hour? More than a few of these people were obviously working hard at it.

I caught sight of a familiar figure lounging against the fence on the other side of the dancers. Zac smiled as I made my way across to him. He had a can in his hand, but it proved to be only Coke.

“You not drinking?” I asked. “Everyone else seems determined to get smashed.”

“Nah. I’m driving. Got my Ps last month. Dad would kill me if I damaged the car.”

I stared meaningfully at him.

“Apart from the fact it’s illegal to drink on your Ps, of course,” he added hastily.

“Of course. Glad to see someone’s being responsible.”

“Can I get you something to drink? Something soft and responsible, I mean?” The dimple peeked out. He was so cute when he smiled. Shame he was so tall, though—without shoes I felt like a midget standing next to him. I’d need to stand on a box to kiss him.

“No, thanks.”
Stop thinking about kissing him! You hardly know the guy.
“I’m going to dance for a while. Want to join me?”

He glanced down at my bare feet. “I think your feet will be safer if I just stay here and hold up the fence a bit longer. Dancing’s not really my thing.”

Probably safer for my libido too. “Suit yourself.”

I pushed my way through the press of hot bodies until I found CJ and her group. They were all swigging from bottles of cooler as they danced.

“Having fun?” CJ asked. She had to shout to be heard over the thumping music.

“Yeah, it’s great. Some arsehole threw up on me.”

Her pretty nose wrinkled. “Hope he has the world’s biggest hangover tomorrow.”

I grinned. He probably would. Him and half the people here.

The DJ was good. He kept the rhythm going, one good dance track after another. I shook my head when he put on YMCA, but what the hell. Sometimes it’s fun to be daggy. I yelled the chorus and did the stupid arm movements along with everyone else. I even caught a glimpse of Zac throwing his arms around on the edge of the crowd, which made me laugh. He was right; he couldn’t dance, but even guys who can’t dance can manage to make like an air traffic controller. That song was just irresistible.

I danced my way through the crowd to his side.

“Having fun?” I shouted.

“Sure!” The other guys from the robotics club were staring at him as if he’d grown an extra head, but he didn’t seem to care. Now that he’d decided to dance, he threw himself into it, and we were both laughing by the time the song finished.

Something slow came on to replace it, and all around us couples formed out of the crowd. Zac opened his arms and I moved into them, mouth suddenly dry. The world narrowed to the smell of his skin and the feel of his body warm against mine. My head came up to his shoulder. Maybe I wouldn’t need a box after all. I hid my hot face against his chest so he wouldn’t see me blushing, and listened to the steady beat of his heart. His arms tightened around me.

Someone behind me dropped their can, and beer splashed everyone’s legs. We sprang apart.

“You okay?”

I missed the feel of him already, but the song was ending and the moment had gone.

“Yeah. I’ll just go and … ah … find something to wipe this off with.”

I left him there and headed for the deck, past a girl on a sun lounge who seemed to have passed out. The party was getting louder and more frantic. Drunken shouts and laughter rose over the pounding music. I checked my watch. Eleven thirty. How much longer till the neighbours started calling the police?

CJ and Ashleigh staggered up the stairs to the deck, both unsteady on their feet.

“We’re going to find the ladies’,” CJ said. “Wanna come?”

“No thanks.”

They wobbled their way into the house, arms around each other, probably for support, given the way they were walking. Note to self: if getting drunk is on the agenda, don’t wear heels. I grabbed somebody’s towel and dried the backs of my legs, then took a soft drink. All that dancing had given me a thirst. I looked around for Zac, and found him chatting to a couple of the other guys from the robotics club. He glanced up toward the deck but didn’t see me. Maybe when CJ got back I’d ask him to give us a ride home. I didn’t like the way she was swaying.

Time passed as I sipped my drink and watched the party swirl around me. Should I go back to Zac? It was just a dance. It probably hadn’t meant anything, and I didn’t want to look like I was chasing him. Because I wasn’t, however hard my heart pounded when he smiled. Definitely not.

Josh was in the spa now with a group of Year 12 girls who were squealing like five-year-olds in a jumping castle. No one was swimming in the pool any more, though a couple of guys were floating around on lilos drinking beer while their friends shot them with water cannons from the edge. The robotics club seemed to have called a meeting in the shadows behind the palm trees—half a dozen of them had their heads together over there, including Zac, all talking intently. Probably about something involving circuitry.

I finished my drink and began to get restless. It was ages since CJ and Ashleigh had disappeared inside. Surely it couldn’t take that long to go to the toilet. Time to send out the search party.

I stepped into an open-plan kitchen/living area that was nearly as big as our whole house. Acres of white tiles stretched away in front of me. Not as clean now as they probably usually were, though. There were a few spills and I felt sticky patches beneath my bare feet. Empty cans lay everywhere. One guy dropped a cigarette butt on the floor as I watched and left it there, grinding it out with a lazy foot. Pig. Another time I might have had a go at him, but right then I was focused on finding my sister.

There were plenty of people in the house too, and the noise level was almost as high as outside. Someone had turned on the stereo, and now Katy Perry at full volume competed with whatever the DJ was playing on the tennis court. The lights were dimmed or not on at all in many of the rooms. I pushed through the crowds, stepping over trash and people and a few trashed people, searching for CJ’s dark head in the gloom.

I ran into one of Ashleigh’s friends.

“Have you seen CJ?” I had to shout it three times before she could hear me, but then she shook her head.

I covered the whole ground floor. There was white carpet in the formal lounge room. Well, it had started out white. I shuddered at the state it was in. Josh Johnson’s parents were
not
going to be happy with their little boy when they got back from Europe.

At the bottom of the stairs I hesitated. Maybe I should go back outside and check? We could have missed each other in the crowds. It didn’t feel right to go poking around people’s bedrooms.

But the bathrooms would be up there. I shrugged and started up the grand curving stairs, feeling like an extra from
Gone with the Wind
. These people had serious money.

There were party-goers sitting on the stairs too. I had to step over them on the way. At the top the sound of girlish laughter led me down the hallway to the master suite, where a group of girls from my English class were primping in front of an outsize mirror in what was probably known as the “powder room” or something posh like that. Or maybe “the room for people who really like staring at themselves”. There were mirrors on every wall.

“Have you guys seen CJ?” I asked.

“Sorry.”

I went the other way, and found the queue for the main bathroom.

“Anyone seen CJ?” I asked. “Or Ashleigh Redmond?”

“Ashleigh just went downstairs,” said one girl. “She was looking for CJ too.”

Damn. Time to try the bedrooms.

The first door I came to was locked. I pounded on the door, yelling to be heard above the noise from downstairs.

“CJ! Are you in there?”

“Get lost!” yelled a girl’s voice. Not CJ’s. I moved on.

The second door I tried was
not
locked, but definitely should have been. I caught a glimpse of naked bodies before I slammed the door shut.

“Sorry!”

I could feel heat rising in my face.
Please let me find CJ soon.

I opened the next door more cautiously, but the people inside were fully clothed—and one of them was CJ. Unfortunately the other was Josh Johnson, and this was evidently his bedroom. Though why any boy his age needed a king-sized bed, I didn’t know. And now he was lounging on it with my drunk sister. Colour me unimpressed.