Chapter Text
It's the average day, sun's out, birds are chirping, school is out! And what's a better way to celebrate than a party for all the graduates? Who doesn't like some underage drinking at a party for graduating high schoolers?
--8:02 PM-- Friday Night, June 12th, someplace in the U.S.
Music blasts through the house, playing 'Party Rock Anthem' as the entire house shakes, with people laughing, shouting, crying, or doing whatever... in one corner sits our Main Character, Nora Calder. She's been the odd one out in her grade, shy, an artist, a bookworm, and too smart on animals and biology than anyone; needless to say, she's getting that Z+ on her biology report card. And next to her are her friends, Jason, Achilles, and Lillith.
Jason is the athlete of the group, and a video-game lover, raised in an abusive household, he holds a deep protection over his friends.
Achilles is the strategist, a swordsman, and a craftsman, having learned from his father. Before he passed, of course, because who doesn't need more trauma :D
And to end it all off, we have Lillith, the peacemaker and unreal, ethereal patience or something about her... in their eyes at least.
"Nora, are you sure you're okay here? You uh... seem pretty anxious."
Jason says with an albeit pitying tone.
"Yes, I'm fine, why wouldn't I be fine, Jason?"
Nora says, whilst quite literally bouncing her leg and biting her nails, and eyes all over.
"Well, well, well, who do we have here?"
Says a manly voice as a familiar figure comes into frame with all his goons.
"Back off, Johnathan."
Achilles snaps back, standing up, matching Jonathan's height at an equal 5'11, however, Jason towers over both at an impressive 6'5.
Jonathan is the bully of the school, a revered Basketball player, and known for scoring 78 points within the first half of a game and making the other team forfeit with how many fouls (uncalled) were played. And being the principal's son, whatever 'dirt' is scrubbed clean without a trace.
"What are you going to do about it, twerp? Threaten me with a fancy knife? No weapon could beat these muscles."
He says, flexing his awfully, yet Greek god-like, physique as his followers hype him up in the background.
"I ain't here to cause no trouble, maybe snatch the number of ya hottie over there."
He says, his eyes boring into Lillith, and whistling as his boy's hoot and holler behind him.
"Maybe give your nerd-girl some real alcohol, have her 'woman-up' unlike you guys, you both can't beat me in a fight, you're still boys."
Jason's pupils dilate, and he nearly charges at Johnnathan, but Achilles holds him back and shakes his head. Muttering 'Not worth it, bro...' as he approaches Jonathan closer, and gets in his face.
"Bet that, I bet I can drink more glasses of vodka than you, jerk."
The crowd goes deadly silent as Jonathan's face is one of shock, yet Achilles remains indifferent, and Nora stands up, ready to intervene, but Jason holds her back.
"He's got that, I have faith in Achilles."
Jason says, but there's a hint of an underlying tone, conflict? As Jonathan regains his emotions and laughs before sighing and finally replying to the still indifferent Achilles.
"Alright then, if you pass out first, I get to feed your nerd-girl alcohol for dinner and get your girlfriend's number. And if I lose, we never bother you and your dimwit group of lousy failures."
"Deal."
First bottle: The first 700ml bottle is downed, both males are slurring, Achilles even vomited, Jonathan calls it cheating, so he challenges Achilles to drink more than himself on the second bottle. But Nora tries intervening, stating that this is already dangerous. Jonathan gags but tries hiding it on his 13th glass. Achilles is sweating profusely, and his breathing is labored.
"Guys, 5 glasses in 2 hours are already dangerous, blacking out level, this needs to stop!"
She shouts, marching over to Achilles, but is shoved away by the slurring and nearly falling over Jonathan.
"Stayyy out of this... bitch, wouldn't want to make your boyfriend weak, would we?"
Jonathan slurs, and he picks up his last glass, his hand trembling, some of the vodka missing his mouth as he downs the glass.
Second bottle: They can't even finish it. Jonathan falls off the table, and Achilles flat out passes out, his head hitting the table.
Achilles falls seconds after Jonathan.
So, who wins?
Achilles, because he drank clearly more glasses compared to Jonathan's mid-teens.
People stop for a moment, and for those few seconds, silence and awe happen, then people shout and roar, and cheer. Jason grabs water and sets Achilles on the bed upstairs with painkillers and water by his bedside for when he wakes up. Nora stays by Achilles' side, checking his breathing and bpm.
“You’re such an idiot…”
Her hand lingers a second too long.
“…and you’re not even mine.”
Suddenly, someone knocks, and Nora is forced to move away from her fantasies as Lilith walks in.
"How is he, Nora? You're the semi-professional here."
Lillith says with an oddly calm and calming tone.
"He should survive, though we might want to check him for alcohol poisoning tomorrow."
Nora states firmly, looking back at the handsome man lying on the bed, sweat-drenched and half-naked, her gaze raking over his form for too long, and too hard... someone takes note.
"I'd like to be with my boyfriend for a moment, do you mind, Nora?"
Lillith asks politely, and Nora nods, walking out of the room despite every instinct telling her to fight for the man of her dreams. She hesitates at the door before closing it behind her.
She goes back down to the party, where some trend is going around because some dimwits, specifically Liam and Carrie, saw something on TikTok with the captioning of 'Squid games IRL, but with cats, who wants in?' With images of Tigers, Lions, a red light - green light, and more importantly, an app, the duo begins convincing everyone to download it. 'What's the worst that could happen?' They use that as their main statement, and as publicity soars and more people download it, even Jason downloads it! Nora gets pressured into it before she gets called out in front of everyone, but she takes note, skimming over the fine print, and accepts terms and conditions before anyone catches her reading it like a 'nerd'. One work caught her eye, however... 'tracking.' She had seen it at the bottom, but clicked before she could read it all.
The night goes on, Nora sketches blindly, ending up drawing a doodle of an anthropomorphic feline, a spotted tabby with a lightning-struck tail, a ripped ear, and pure black eyes; it just... came to her. She closes her book, deciding to take a moment off sketching, and rejoin the party. She gets handed a drink of Wine, and before she knows it, it's another, then blurred vision, and then... black.
--9:34 AM-- Saturday, June 13th
Nora wakes up drowsily, feeling the aftereffects of her wild night, her hair ruffled and messy, her makeup smeared, and she wakes up next to Achilles!? She gets up from her sleeping beauty and realizes she's only in shorts and a tank top. Achilles moves as she gets up, and she prays he doesn't wake up, and by a miracle, he doesn't. She walks downstairs, sees everyone sleeping, and decides to look over the app she downloaded last night and sits on the stairs, reading the terms and conditions, and as she reads, she gets a feeling of unease... the wording is too methodical, like someone trying to avoid a lawsuit, terms even she doesn't understand, but she feels a presence behind her and she sees Achilles, in nothing but boxers, still half-naked from his drinking contest last night.
"Fuck... this hangover is killing me, Nora... do you know where my clothes are?"
Achilles asks before downing water and the painkillers, he stretches languidly, his messy, yet somehow attractive hair, elegant in the filtering sunlight.
"Uh, yeah... Jason put them by your bedside, but maybe Lillith took them last night."
Nora states, a faint but almost imperceptible blush on her face, from Alcohol or feelings, neither she nor he knows.
"You shouldn't have done that, Achilles, you could've seriously hurt yourself! What will your sisters think!?"
Nora shouts, yet quietly so as not to wake anyone.
"Well, you see-"
Achilles is cut short by blaring alarms from phones and sudden intrusion of masked people, and they release a gas into the house and go back outside, closing the door behind them as Nora screams, and everyone moves, waking up before shortly succumbing to the gas, which seems to odorless, yet a dark green, filtering through the house as Nora pushes Achilles upstairs, she can't see as the gas has blurred and covered her vision.
"A-Achilles..."
She mumbled before falling to the floor unconscious.
"Nora!"
Achilles shouts, but leaves her behind seeing the gas rising and runs into the room he awoke in, slamming the door shut but the gas seeps under the door, and he gets a blanket, stuffing it under the door and over a vent, but suddenly the door is kicked open as 5 masked men rush in, pinning Achilles before he can react and he succumbs to the gas.