No Life Kid 2-5

The Weatherell House had been built for many things; dignity, prestige, and legacy being the top three.

Even during the period it had been left without a single resident, the mansion had done a great job at all three of those things. Thing is, though, it had spent the vast majority of a century doing that job and Zander planned to give it the night off.“Party, party, party…”The lyrics were muttered under his breath as he stood in front of the full-length mirror, every inch of visible skin distorting the longer he looked at himself in the glass. None of that mattered to him, his clothes more of an issue than anything else as he adjusted a black tee —  big blue smiley face with a fanged grin — over a pair of black jeans with a blue belt cinched tight. Walter had made a face when he’d seen the custom order for dozens of them, but the man hadn’t said anything the day he’d placed them and knew enough not to say anything when they arrived either. 

Zander’s hands rose from his shirt to his hair, locs pulled back in a ponytail and tied up with a simple blue band; not too tight, but also nothing that would get in the way of what was going down tonight. He grabbed his silver crucifix off the dresser, slipping the heavy chain over his head until it hung cold against his sternum.Speaking of what was going down, he could already feel the beat pulsing through the bones of the house — strong bass thumping up through four floors of hundred-year-old cedar. Outside, a quarter-dozen catering trucks had been rolling up the drive for the last couple hours in formation like a fully-loaded supply convo, moving around the sound techs wiring the ballroom.All the while, Walter moved through it all with a clipboard and the flat calm of a man who’d dealt with several battlefields.

Eighteen tonight. Zander clicked a tongue. Nineteen for real. Technically, thirty-six if anybody was counting the first run, but he definitely wasn’t. No matter how you split it, tonight would be the first time he’d ever have an eighteenth birthday party and he was going to do a big one, so that included inviting all the upperclassmen.

He'd even given Bella an invite three days back, handing it right to her so she wouldn’t have an excuse. Even still, he doubted she’d show and he didn’t doubt his doubts.

"Catering's finished, sir." The intercom rang with Walter’s voice, the man crisp as a folded shirt through the speaker. " I recommend you descend before the sound technicians finish wiring the east wing. They seem eager for your approval on the speakers. Specifically, their placement."

"On my way, Walter."

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

The first headlights came up the driveway no sooner than the sun finally finished its shift and sank behind the tree line, cones cutting through the darkening gray of Forks in a full caravan of cars ready to party. His friends were the first wave, Mike Newton’s beat-up Honda claiming a spot next to Tyler’s attempted-murder-van like the two cars were also friends as Lauren stepped down from her mom’s borrowed SUV in a miniskirt no parent on the peninsula had possibly approved. 

It took no time for the other waves to pull in too, as almost all of the senior class and pretty much the rest of the upperclassmen — those that had the balls to lie to their parents — poured up the winding drive toward a gothic mansion blazing with light and pounding with music you could hear from the main road. More and more arrived, Zander’s eyes widening as he stared at some faces that he couldn’t recall seeing from Forks. …huh.Either way, he watched from the foyer as dozens of bodies poured out onto the wet grass, their own eyes wide as they stared through the open double doors of his place; each one mouthing some version of no way.

Unfortunately for the rest, he only had eyes for one.

“Jaybird!” 

A figure in black crossed the foyer as Jessica made it through the doorway in a dress halfway between party and classy, the girl swept up in a deep dip. “Za-!”The laugh that ripped out of her was loud enough to beat the speakers, her dark curls almost brushing the floor. “Zander! You’re gonna drop me!”“Girl…” He stared down at her giggling face, the girl in his arms as the guests parted around them like the Red Sea, led in by Alexis and Walter. “I’ve never dropped anything in my life.”“You almost dropped your phone in the parking lot!”“Anything that mattered.” Zander hauled the girl back up into the noise and lights, her dark hair reflecting the disco lights spinning under the chandelier. Her heart did double-time against his and it had nothing to do with fear, excitement and anticipation almost making her blood fizzy as he drank her scent in. This was the whole party right here, as far as he was concerned.Everything after was decoration—.“Who’s ready to fucking party?”

— and the most expensive piece on display was a rock star.Three days ago, a bare twenty hours after Zander had actually announced his plans for a birthday bash, Walter had come into the study with a phone against his shoulder and an important message. "Mr. Wilkes-Krier requested one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, exclusive of travel and accommodations."

"Done.” Zander had looked up immediately as soon as he heard that price tag. “Say done before he thinks about it."

"Sir, perhaps some negotiatio—"

"Walter. Done."

The contract had been snatched up and signed, Zander wiring the money before the ink could dry and the crazy white guy actually realized he agreed to fly out to the ass-end of the Pacific Northwest.

Either way, his money was good and so was the man’s word because Andrew W-fucking-K stood in the ballroom atop a recently-put-together stage, the grown man in all white from his shoes to his tee with long black hair and a five-o-clock shadow as dark as midnight. With the grin of a man who looked like he was born with a mic in his hand, the rocker held it tight and surveyed a great room packed with the majority adolescent population of western Clallam County.Eyes wide and manic, Andrew Wilkes-Krier threw his head back and screamed the same question one more time.“Who’s ready to fucking party?!”

Oh, they were ready.O Party Party Party!I wanna have a Party!I need to have a Party!You better have a Party!”Annalise Weatherell hadn’t imported the timber for the ballroom to have it turn into a trampoline for over three hundred teenagers screaming simple lyrics back at a stranger in white like it was a Baptist church service.

“O Party Party Party! You gotta party hearty! I'm gonna have a Party! Or else you won't be sorry!”Luckily, she was dead and her wants didn’t really matter, not with three hundred teenagers slamming into each other hard enough the place vibrated into a mosh pit. Eric Yorkie danced dead center in a high-impact meat grinder as the live drum kit detonated, navy flannel tied around his waist whipping around as he attempted a move Zander had never seen in any lifetime.

“O Party Party Party!The Party's gettin' started! I know a guy named Marty!Marty likes to Party!”A spin that slid its way into a kick and almost failed into a flip, all of it exciting and attention-grabbing enough that the man in white pointed at him from the stage.“D’you see?!” Fogged glasses and a crow’s nest of black hair popped up right next to Zander’s shoulder, gasping out the words. “He-he… He pointed at me!”“Yeah, man.” Zander clapped him on the back. “You blessed now, Yorkie!”“I’m blessed now!”

“Sweet sweet Party!Party Party Party! You gotta Party! And I wanna Party! Who's gonna make this Party started? Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! Me! ”"This is insane!” Jessica pressed back against his chest, still catching the rhythm as she tilted her head back to push her voice to the limit. “Seriously, oh my God, how did you even get this guy?!"

"He’s a big fan of old houses, jaybird!" Zander’s hands rested heavy on her hips as he pulled her closer. “All he wanted was a tour!”“...you’re not funny!”Even Angela Weber — quiet-voiced salad-eating Angela — was rocking out next to an air-guitaring Ben, both of them with their glasses off. Beer had already appeared from sources no one was going to question, red cups all over—

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

—the game room, being used as hoops as Tyler Crowley challenged a whole table to a game of a weird mix of beer pong and pool, banking shots into them for style points. "I'm tellin' you, man, scouts already sniffin'! Three schools, minimum, three—"

"Three schools for pool, Tyler?"

"Basketball, Zander, damn, keep up!""You got a two-point-eight, Crowley.” Somebody was quick to point out."I got a two-point-nine and hands like these…" A bark of a laugh went off, Tyler already racking for the next game as—

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

—some late arrivals made their way through the front door a little after ten PM, Zander clocking them off the smell before he properly spotted anyone new. Motor oil, sea salt, and woodsmoke were new enough but, under all that, there was also a faint animal note none of the kids from Forks or Port Angeles or even Aberdeen had on them.Three boys, russet-skinned and tall enough to stand even with him, hovered at the edge of the archway to the ballroom with a noticeable set of nerves. "Okay so before you kick us out…” The one in front, long-haired and gangly, walked up to Zander with a very familiar black invitation embossed in blue held high. “I know we weren’t technically invited, well… I mean, we are, but Bells gave me her invitation ‘cus she wasn’t gonna use it and it says plus guests, so we’re kinda her guests… y’get me?”“Uh-huh.” An eyebrow went up."Like…” Jacob nodded with a laugh. “Sick house, by the way. Your house is a freakin’ castle, man. You’re the rich guy who moved in, right? That's a dumb question, there's a rock guy in your living room."The eyebrow went down as Zander nodded at all that. “...I’m guessin you’re Jacob Black, right?” “You know me?” The kid blinked his way, hand already half-out. 

“Know what we want and we get it from you! Do what we like and we like what we do!So let's get a party going (let's get a party going)! Now it's time to party and we'll party hard (party hard)!”“I have approximate knowledge of many things.” Zander looked over the awkward fifteen-year-old and both of his friends; heartbeat quick but not superhuman and his body still human warm, not yet a furnace and no wet-fur musk rolling off him yet. 

Not a wolf.

Not yet, anyway.And no Sam Uley looming out on the property line, shirtless and freshly-jorted up either. Small fuckin’ mercy. Jacob was still half-stunned. “Wait, Bella told you…?”“I know a bunch of Bella’s friends, yeah.” He took the kid’s offered hand and shook slow. “I’m guessing these two are Quil and Embry, right?” Both of them blinked in surprise, Jacob doing a double take between the other two before looking back at Zander — mouth half-open. "And don’t worry. Bella's invite is Bella's to give. Y'all good. Food's back there, and if a Scottish woman with a chest bigger than your head yells at you, that’s not a drill.”

"She already yelled at Quil."

“That tracks. Go grab a drink over that way.” Zander’s hand jerked to the left. “And nothing alcoholic!”“Man, I don’t even drink—!”

– o – o – o – o – o – o – o –

“Whoooohooooo!” A red Solo cup held high in the air, Mike Newton was emboldened by whatever toxic sludge was in it, his voice pure volume as he danced almost as bad as Eric Yorkie.Right in front of him, Lauren Mallory was in motion, the pixie cut sticking to her forehead with sweat as her tube top did its best to stay on. It was an effort worth commending, considering the girl was moving like someone who’d been locked in a box for six months as she danced up against a drunk Mike. The two were orbiting each other under the strobes, apparently having decided that tonight was the night the greater Forks area learned what happened when they both cut loose.“She is beautiful She is beautiful She is beautiful She is beautiful The girl is beautiful You're giving me moves that hit from all sides and when you are hitting like that you melt my eyes!”

Jessica pressed up against his chest on the ballroom floor, the girl never having strayed too far from his side the whole party. If her hand wasn’t anchored to his wrist or in the belt loop of his jeans, it was around his arm and making sure to keep pace with him. Onstage, the man in white drove the whole room into a song about a beautiful girl as the entire gathered crowd howled with him. 

Zander, of course, joined in as he sang down at her, off-key on purpose."Stop!" Her hands were flat on his chest, pushing and not pushing at the same time. "You are so corny!"

Zander couldn’t help his grin. "He's singing about you though."

"There’s like a hundred other girls in here!"

"Nah." He dipped his head, mouth by her ear. "Just you."

Her pulse jumped, Jessica burying her grin in his shirt as the disco ball threw a hundred rainbows down on them and over two hundred flushed faces.

He pulled her closer against his side, body heat bleeding into his while the music pounded through the floorboards, Andrew W.K. hammering piano keys with his fists.“And though I never know youI look at your face.To tell you that I love youDon't know what to sayYou're everything I got, you beautiful girlThe only thing I live for in the whole wide world”“...happy birthday, Zander.”