The Trouble-Makers

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I muttered mostly to myself. It was Friday night, the day of my test. This was ridiculous, that I had to party for a test. I knew I would pass it, I was always the life of the party, but I couldn't believe I had to prove it to the Trouble-Makers.

"You're fault for saying you wanted to be one of is," Alex responded who must have overheard me.

I leaned back from the mirror, finally finished with my make up, and shot a glare at Alex whom was laying on my bed next to me.

"What?" he asked, a smile spreading across his face. He know too well why I said that and I wasn't going to bother spelling it out for him.

I let out a sigh, walking over to the bed and sitting down on it, my back pressed against his leg. Despite me being pretty much forced into this, I /was/ extremely excited to go to a party tonight. I hadn't been to one yet this school year, other than that one Jack got into a fight with Kellin at but I didn't consider that really a party.

"Butterflies?" Alex asked, reading my mind. He sat up, his voice suddenly extremely close to mine.

"Yeah," I admitted, "but not the kind you're thinking of. Not from being nervous, but I'm excited."

A smile spread across his face. "Oh, yeah? Well, once you're a part of the Trouble-Makers we'll take you to parties on the reg."

"To stop you from fights?" I teased, and Alex let out a chuckle.

"I'm surprised you were able to stop me, but I don't think you'd be able to stop Jaime or Jack," he said, looking down once before glancing back up at me.

"And why is that?" I asked, leaning my back against him.

Alex didn't respond, he just continued to watch me. I found myself at a loss of words as I got lost in him, as corny as it sounded. It was hard to break away but it was a while until I noticed him leaning closer. My breath hitched in my throat and our noses brushed each other, and Alex whispered to me, "because..." But his voice trailed off and I closed my eyes, feeling him push even closer.

As I was sure I was sure our lips were about to meet, the attic door bursted open and my eyes shot open. Alex nearly jumped so far upwards the bed bounced and I turned quickly to see Jack standing at the top of the stairs.

My face blushed and Alex cursed at Jack for scaring us, but a smile just spread across Jack's face. "I was going to say sorry we were late, but I see you guys didn't mind the extra time at all," Jack said, leaning against the wall.

That day I don't think I've ever seen Alex blush so much, but I let a hand fall over my mouth as I stifled a giggle from coming out. Tonight was going to be interesting.

***

I leaned on the front of Alex's car, one of my legs kicked up against it while the other one was standing on the ground. We had just gotten to the party house and were sitting outside it, apparently to go through the plans for tonight. Alex was sitting close beside me and I was very aware at how close our bodies were from touching. Despite tonight being my test for the Trouble-Makers, the only thing I could think about was Alex and how we almost kissed. Did I really see myself with him? Of course he was always there for me and we fit well together, I wasn't sure if I was okay with his time-bomb-personality.

"Here's the deal," Jack said, clearing his throat. All the Trouble-Makers were in a circle, as if this were something sacred...but I guess it might as well be in their eyes. "Stella, to become a Trouble-Maker you have to do one of two things." He paused, waiting for my response and I nodded my head for him to go on. "You either have to get this party so upbeat that we all forget this is even a test and we start partying, or you can cause a huge scene and disrupt the whole party." A ghost of a smile hinted on Jack's face. "Deal?"

I bit back a smile. This was going to be a piece of cake. "Deal," I agreed.

"All right," Jaime stepped in enthusiastically. "Let's do it!"

***

The bass of the music pounded against my chest as I swerved in and out of the crowd. I had already left the rest of the Trouble-Makers so I could work my magic, but I knew they still had eyes on me.

After a few moments, I navigated myself towards the kitchen of the house where the alcohol was apparently supplied; there was no way I was going to get this party going without a few drinks in me.

In the kitchen I scanned the room and was pleased to see whiskey was actually provided. I motioned a hand towards me at the nearest group, which just so happened to be a group of guys.

A taller one with long blond hair was the first to make his way towards me. "What's up, pretty lady?" he asked, his voice deep and raspy.

"Hey," I said, raising an eyebrow at him as two of his friends made their way towards me as well. "You guys down for shots?" I asked, offering them the small glasses.

The tall one smirked at me, as if not expecting me as one to take shots. "You're on," he said, pouring them. "Cheers," he said, and we all tipped our heads back. I shook my head, feeling a warm chill dose through my body and I instantly felt more welcome to the party.

"Kenny," the blond said, sticking out his hand towards me.

"Stella," I replied, grabbing his hand in mine. Letting go of his hand, I noticed a couple of girls staring over at us and giggling and a new idea suddenly popped into my head. I looked towards Kenny's friends. "You guys should go ask those girls to dance," I said motioning to the giggling girls.

They looked at me weird before one of them spoke up. "What makes you think they want to dance with us?"

"Just trust me on this one," I said and they obliged. Sure enough, they agreed and they made their way towards the booming speakers.

"That's great for them," Kenny said, turning towards me, "but what about me?" He offered his hand towards me, and I felt a smile form on my lips.

Just as I opened my mouth to say something I felt someone pull me into them and my back pressing against someone warm. Their arm wrapped protectively around my stomach and I knew instantly who it was. "Sorry, pal, but she already has a dance partner."

Kenny's eyes hardened. "And you would be?"

"My names Alex and I don't think you want to mess with me," he responded, his voice coming off more cocky than threatening.

I gently pulled Alex's arm off of me and turned around to face him. "I still have a test to pass, remember?" I spoke, giving his hand a squeeze.

Alex furrowed his eyebrows, but before he could respond I grabbed a hold of Kenny and ran off towards the dance floor. I knew Alex would be beyond pissed off at me later, but right now all I wanted to do was have fun.

We joined Kenny's friends on the dance floor, and soon more and more people decided to start dancing. My hands were locked with Kenny's as we danced our bodies to the beat. I admit, my dancing skills weren't the best so we mostly just laughed at each other. But it wasn't until later did he decide to get closer to me. He pulled me against him and at first I just laughed it off, going to pull away but Kenny continued on dancing. I just went with it until his hands found my bottom, and that's when I really tried to push away from him. By now we were so far surrounded by dancing bodies that I was sure no one would notice my attempts to make Kenny get his hands off of me.

"Get off," I grunted, putting my hands against his chest and attempting to shove him off.

"What's wrong, why are you being such a tease?" He asked in his laid back attitude. "Just relax and-" A fist connected with Kenny's jaw and he was thrown away from me and he stumbled further into the dancing people. As soon as people realized what happened, they backed out of the way quickly.

"Are you okay?" Alex murmured to me, stepping close and looking down at me.

I nodded my head numbly, still shocked at what just happened.

"Good," Alex said, his voice growing cold as he turned to face Kenny who was picking himself up off the ground.

"What the hell, bro?" he yelled, glaring at Alex.

Alex advanced towards Kenny, throwing another punch in his face and shoving him back onto the ground. "You think that's cool?" Alex yelled down at him. "You think that's freaking okay to lay your hands on a girl like that?" Alex kicked his foot against Kenny's stomach, and Kenny grunted in reply, coughing hard from the kick. "You piece of crap, get up and fight like a real man," Alex growled, kicking him again.

I was frozen stiff and I had no idea what to do in this situation. I never saw Alex actually act on his rage whenever he wanted to fight and as this was my first time I wasn't sure what to do. The only thing I could think of doing was staying out of his way.

"Back off, dude," one of Kenny's friends said as the two of them stepped into the circle.

Alex stopped kicking Kenny to look at the two new guys and he didn't look the least worried because now Jaime and Jack stepped in.

"I would advise you not to get involved," Jack said just as Jaime began cracking his knuckles. The two boys looked shocked and looked over at me, but now Mike and Rian were at my side, almost daring them to make a move.

Since Kenny was still on the ground, Alex suddenly walked up to one of the guys and punched him in the gut and just as he did that Jack jumped at the second guy. After that I knew I couldn't take anymore of this so I turned and ran towards the crowd, but just as I was about to push through them I felt a hand catch a hold of my arm.

"Stella," Rian said, turning me around. "You can't leave, you're the only one who can stop Alex."

Notes

Oh shoooot~ Thoughts? This drama kind of had a lot smooshed together, so yay(?) for drama ;o;