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Clair let out a short, shrill scream as she looked away from the window to find the front of Blake's car about to collide with a jeep parked in front of them. She gasped as the seat belt jammed across her shoulder as Blake finally hit the breaks. With wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth, Clair turned her head to look at him with a shocked expression. How was he so calm when they almost crashed?! "Obviously," she said, pratically out of breath. With a deep breath, Clair finally grabbed her bag from the floor and climbed out of the car without waiting for Blake to open for her as she usually did. After that scare, she just wanted to be out of that vehicle.

Taking the smoky air in her legs and feeling the crisp chill of evening, Clair quickly calmed down. From the grassy parking lot, Clair could just make out a mass of bodies gathered around the source of the thick gray smoke. With the sun set just behind her, she saw a glint of light bounce off the crazy brunette and blond curls of her best friend. "Cassie!" Clair shouted at the same time Cassie yelled, "Clair!" Cassie ran over to Clair, her bare feet beating against the ground, and the two girls quickly hugged. "Thank God you're finally here," Cassie said in a stern voice. "The night's almost here and the party is just getting started!" She howled into the air excitedly and Clair had the suspicion she had already had a few drinks.

Clair giggled at her friend before turning around to Blake. "Come on," she said, holding out her hand to him. "The party doesn't start till we arrive," she teased. Cassie already had her other arm, tugging at Clair to get moving and mutterin 'hello' and 'hurry up' to Blake. Although Blake and Cassie had a much beter relationship then Clair and Rob, they still didn't have the best connection. The were hardly seen together without Clair between them, but Cassie liked Blake will enough to give Clair her approval.

Blake laughed as he held Clair's hand. She forgot fast about their little almost-car accident which was very relieving. he gave a small smile to Cassie before walking with them. It's not that he disliked Cassie, he just didn't knew her that much and never really took the time to. She just didn't seem like his kind of friend, but he kept cool with her for Clair. It didn't take long to hear the screams of a voice that just wouldn't miss a single party in the world.

"Yeaaaaaah baby!" Rob was dancing and screaming barefoot and shirtless around the fire like an indian with a bottle of beer in his right hand, somehow he seemed to be unaware of the students laughing around him, or he simply didn't care, he enjoyed doing crazy stuff. It was more than obvious that he'd failed to stay sober for long. He then turned and spotted Blake with Clair and Cassie. He stopped his tribal dancing and immediately ran to his friend, trying hard not to fall. When he was there he greeted Blake with a hug."Brother! You arrived just in time....I was just calling for the favors of...someone...the ancient god of all the good things to take us to the rugby finals next season..." In the middle of his crazyness he saw Clair and almost fell on Clair. He turned to Cassie and greeted her."Why hello madame..." He stared at Clair for a moment before mumbling unexcitedly."Blake's chick..."

Clair had to hold in an annoyed groan as Rob almost tumbled on her, and she pushed him away easily in his less than sober state. She smiled unpleasantly at Rob when he greeted her in the same fashion he usually did. "Drunken mess," Clair replied with a curt nod.

Cassie, who hadn't stopped giggling since her first drink, smiled brightly at Rob and lightly slapped Clair's arm. "Now, Clair, be nice," she said in what would have been a stern voice if she had not interrupted every other word with a high-pitched laugh. She stumbled slightly to place a hand on Rob's shoulder as she said to him, "You have got to teach me that dance to the god of all goodies. I want to see our boys winning the finals." She tried to put a hand on Blake's shoulder as well as she said this, but she missed the first few times. By the time she finally succeed in her simple task, she had already erupted into hysterical laughter again at her own clumsiness.

Rob almost fell down from Clair's push but Blake was able to grab Rob's arm with his left hand and helped him up. After that and as if nothing had happened, Rob started laughing out loud watching Cassie miss Blake's shoulder time after time."See bro? This is the part where you screw up. Take a look at that..." He pointed at Clair."And then take a look at her..." He pointed at Cassie."Now....this..." He hugged Cassie and almost spilled his beer."..This is a quality woman, she likes to drink, she likes to party..and man she is hot!" He leaned and kissed Cassie's forehead, almost tripping down in the process.

Blake, who had been laughing at Rob, stopped and grabbed his friend from the shoulder to try and calm him down or else he would trigger Clair's anger and then things could get ugly."Come on man, you're too drunk to have this conversation, just enjoy the party, alright?"

Rob shoved Blake's hand off his shoulder."Nah...what would you know about enjoying the party?" He turned to Cassie with a big smile."Come on baby, let's dance. I am going to teach you how to invoke the spirits of....that place where spirits live..." He turned to Bake and Clair again."Well brother, I'll see you when I see you...see you later bro.." He then smiled at Clair and shook her hand."Goodnight mister."

Cassie continued to giggle at Rob's compliments, her face erupting in a bright red blush from a combination of beer and flattery. She did, however, notice the corner's of Clair's mouth turn down quickly as Rob blantently insulted her. Her eyes narrowed angrily at him, and she was obviously ready to slap him across the face before Blake spoke up.

Happy to see her friend's expression soften, Cassie gladly went with Rob, wrapping an arm around his waist as they walked away, hoping the light spirits hadn't just been spoiled. "The spirits will be flying faster than light to come see you dance, hunny," she said with a bright smile as they returned to the large bonfire.

Still silently fuming over Rob's comments, Clair tightly crossed her arms over her chest. "Night, loser!" Clair called after Rob. "Hope you have fun getting drunk off your a** and having no future!" Cassie flinched as Clair's words reached them and she tightened her grip on Rob, hoping he wouldn't retort and cause an even bigger fight.

Clair spun on her heels and stormed off towards the lines of parked cars, unwilling to join the fun now. "I wonder why I even try to have a good time when he's here," she snapped angrily as she finally stopped beside Blake's car. She leaned against the hood, still warm from their drive there. It felt good against the chilled evening. Now that the sun had set, this party didn't seem like such a good idea. Suddenly, Clair's stomach was turning in all kinds of circles, and she hadn't even had one drink yet! She wondered if maybe she was coming down with something. She really hoped not. Spring break was coming soon and she wanted to have fun!

Blake sighed as he was left alone when Rob went away with Cassie and Clair walked away to the car. She seemed very upset, and he could understand her, as much as he was Rob's friend, sometimes he would cross the line. He rushed to Clair to help her relax."Baby come on, don't let him get to you... I know he can go too far at times but if you let him spoil the night for you then you let him win. Let's enjoy the party, ok? There's no reason to let this ruin the party. Come on." He gave Clair a slight massage in the back of the neck, to see if he could sooth her at least a little bit."What do you say baby?"

Clair relaxed a bit as Blake rubbed the back of her neck, but it didn't really help her stomach. Even though she didn't feel exactly sick, she didn't feel right. A strange tingling feeling stretched all across her skin and gave her the chills. She rubbed her arms together trying to chase off the cold.

"Actually..." Clair began, attempting to tell Blake she really just wanted to go home, but then her gaze fell to the other cars parked around them. There would be no way they could pull the car out of this crowded lot without backing up right into somebody else's car. With a sigh, she finally said, "I think I just need a nice walk away from everyone."

She didn't want to tell Blake she didn't feel well, since there was no hope of going home early, anyways. She did hope that a short walk away from the crowd and the partying would calm the strange feeling washing over her and she could get back to socailizing.

Blake smiled at Clair."Well your wish is my command..." He offered her his hand hoping that a walk would help her relax and get happy again. They didn't really need to be at the party with the rest of the crazy students, the night was meant for them to celebrate the start of a much needed rest from their daily routines at school and they could celebrate it any way they want to, the point was to relax and enjoy and Clair could surely use some relaxation and if she thought a walk was just what she needed, that's exactly what they'd do.
"Come on baby, we don't need neither those losers nor their dumb party."