Noah turned the car and passed the corner, sighing. He wondered what normal people even did at parties.
Fara was in the passenger seat, texting a friend on her phone, while trying to make sure Noah didn't crash the car.
"Can you relax?" He grumbled. He could drive a lot faster than this, but he was taking it slow for her.
"Well can you blame me?" Fara muttered, checking her reflection in the mirror. "I've never seen you drive before."
"I have a license, just never felt like using it."
The original Noah was too careful; he never took one of Paul's cars out in case Leeroy forced him to bring it out again.
It wasn't Noah's car but that never stopped Leeroy from finding a way to pressure him.
The current Noah couldn't see how that was possible, but he understood the principle to an extent. Weak-willed people were easy to coerce as long as you had even a shred of blackmail.
Leeroy used the fact that Noah had been a junkie as leverage to make him do anything. But the current Noah knew that there was no way Leeroy would ever reveal that.
It was his only leverage on Noah, and revealing it would allow Noah to also reveal that Leeroy had been selling in school. Mutual destruction, but the original Noah hadn't thought about that.
I don't know if I should be surprised. The original Noah was smart but I guess not all-knowing.
It was his experience with extortion and intimidation that made Leeroy's little game obvious. He had done a lot worse than this, but at least back then he would have a motive.
Leeroy just tormented people for the fun of it. Maybe he liked how it made him feel or stoked his ego.
Noah was sure that now that he had rebelled, Leeroy would press harder on the people he was bullying.
That was part of his plan to bury the idiot, though. First he needed to take back every cent Leeroy had extorted from him.
And this party would be a good place to start.
"Hey, stop here," Fara said, interrupting his thoughts. "Those are the friends I told you about on the curb."
Noah brought the car to a slow stop and reclined against the seat. Fara's three friends slid into the back seat with loud voices.
"Hi Fara, Hi Fara's older brother," one said.
"It's Noah," another said with an apologetic look.
Noah turned back, because it would be weird to watch them through the car mirror. He nodded and gave a little smile.
"Nice to meet you guys."
Fara pointed out and named them in rapid fire. "The nice one's Jasmine, Mary's the one that doesn't think before she speaks, and that's Cherry pretending to be cool and quiet because you're a sophomore."
"Hey I think before I speak," Mary complained. Her eyes fell on Fara's red dress. "That's going to have the seniors ha—"
Jasmine clamped a hand over her mouth, staring right at Noah as she tried to smile. Her hair was dyed a dark purple that made her gray eyes striking.
Fara rolled her eyes, turning to her brother. "Let's go."
Noah put the car in drive, quietly smiling. McCain's house wasn't far from here, so he wouldn't have much driving to do.
"Don't drink when we get there," Fara warned, her green eyes boring into Noah's skull.
Mary leaned into the front; her long black hair fell like a curtain between Noah and Fara.
Her blue eyes jumped between them excitedly as she spoke. "How's he meant to have any fun then?"
Fara gave her a frank look. "Well I'd like not to be involved in a car accident, so he stays sober."
"I can handle a little alcohol," Noah reassured.
Mary turned to him and he couldn't help but appreciate how pretty she was. That dress wasn't making it easy to focus on the road too.
"Yes! You're the one who got invited anyway," Mary added, still rapidly turning between them. "Fara said Mccain himself invited you. Maybe you can introduce her to her—"
Fara slapped her over the back softly, while Jasmine slapped her harder in a riskier place. Mary yelped and returned to the back to fight with Jasmine, while Cherry just watched nonchalantly.
Noah could see her turn and check him out repeatedly through the mirror, but he pretended not to see. Fara was smiling, she was happy, so he was happy.
Tonight he would just go with the flow. Not worry about what normal people did at these things.
Behind him, Cherry finally chose to speak. "Is it okay to bring so many people?" she asked, brushing her short black hair back. "We don't want to get you in trouble with the team."
All of them glanced at him, Mary was glaring at Cherry though. Meanwhile he just chuckled.
"Well I have a plus two and I can bring an extra person if I bring a pretty girl. And I have three pretty girls coming with me so I can probably invite like five boys still and McCain will be cool with it."
"Three?" Fara asked, eyes narrowed.
Noah ignored her tactically. Mary made a squealing noise while she poked Cherry, who looked like she wanted to bite someone.
That was smooth I think.
I should save it for when I get to the party.
He was laughing when he felt a familiar shocking sensation in his belly.
His blood turned cold, eyes searching the dark road and empty streets.
There was nothing there.
It's still far away. I'll just ignore it and hope a Keeper deals with it.
The Phantasm was too close to his neighborhood. The thought of a calamitous fight breaking out between two phantasms in front of his house made him shiver.
The car lurched forward; Noah pressed down on the accelerator a bit, making Fara turn to him with a warning look.
"Relax, we're already more than fashionably late," Noah reassured, eyes fixed on the road. "I wanna get there before McCain gets angry at me."