sunday

after the poker, we jumped upstairs to the rooms, as we were crashing overnight. i watched one episode of futurama, after which my eyes were too tired to stay open. i went to bed.
i woke up the next morning, watched some downloaded basketball highlites, music videos, etc. and went to the city to meet up with my parents.
it was my grandfather's birthday. we went to a restaurant in chinatown to celebrate with some distant relatives. his birthday, and all future birthday's, must be celebrated with relatives around him, as every one may be his last. touchwood.
after the lunch, we left for home, as i parted from my family to go to academic and general and get the heinemann physics book.
i finished all of the elec+photo questions in the physics checkpoints. (ed: and today i finished the motion basics Qs) it was 5:00 now. Mum and Dad had left for Sydney on a business trip, and my sister was staying over at a friend's place, because they had thought that i was going to accompany steph to the party. i actually wasn't quite sure.
My mum and i talked (ed: yes, we did). i asked her whether she was really fine with me going to parties three weeks before my exams. she replied saying that she had qualms, but brushed them away, because she didn't know what i was going through. she went on to say that this year is my most important year, and that i would be the only one to know whether i was leading a balanced lifestyle. she ended saying that if she had serious doubts that she would crack down. hard.
in the end, i decided that i would go. i needed a break. from work. from the troubles of life.
i met up with steph at windsor station. eek. the trouble had already begun.
"omg! you look so cool!"
eek.
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"HI STEPH! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN SO LONG!"
steph's "friend" had just opened the door. the reason why they hadn't seen each other for a while was because steph didn't like her. she was too crazy. i walked into the house. it was huge. both the house and the crowd. this certainly wasn't a conclave. everybody, just like steph did, brought their own friends along. even steph was shocked by the number of people at the party. we walked around the crowds, and we very quickly found out that this wasn't the party that we had been accustomed to. there was much more alcohol, much more people, and much more...eccentricity. and most of the bottles weren't even open yet. i didn't want to drink. i just wanted to talk.
i needed to go to the toilet. remembering back from my rebellious days of partying, i looked under the door between the bathroom door and the floor. i saw through the narrow aperture a set of legs. no, two. nup, i guess i'd have to hold it in until i got upstairs. luckily, there was a separate toilet closet upstairs. unoccupied.
i talked to some people who seemed "normal" for a while. then i went back to talking with steph and her friends. the real ones. i gradually found that i was slurring, i didn't remember much from here on in. i was intoxicated.
snippets of the party after my fall into a drunken stupor have come back to me. playing "pass the parcel" with the alcohol. and no, it wasn't with shot glasses or any material liquid carrying flask. or the hands. but getting warmer. being pulled out of the party by steph. eek. the ride home with steph and her sister.
i woke up this morning, with steph pulling my eyelids. i guess that's why i woke up. it was only 6:00.i was at her house. she told me that i was very drunk, and that i my drinks much earlier that night had been spiked. i hate women. i asked her to describe in extreme detail what i did that night. she told me i had gotten drunk, played "pass the parcel", and that she saved me from the game, and took me back to her place, just to make sure i was ok. i thanked her for it. i sat up, and was about to give her a hug, but it was as though a huge chemical reaction had just ignited in my stomach. i threw up, into the bucket that steph had placed at the beside table in case i really did vomit. however, she was not so prepared. she is one of the those people who if they see people barfing, they will do the same. she pissbolted to the bathroom, and i could hear her throwing up in the bathroom. i wanted to yell out sorry, but i was choking in the vomit that was expelling involuntarily out of my mouth.
after i had rinsed my mouth, i went down to eat breakfast with steph's family. after breakfast, i decided to help steph's sister clean up the table. she told me that steph saved me from getting more intoxicated than i already was. yeah, all fine. she was surprised.
"she didn't tell you the whole story did she?"
she told me that steph had saved me from the game by pulling me out of the group and kissing me. my heart skipped both the atrial and ventricular beats. i was stunned. steph told me at the start of year 11 that she didn't want to ever get into a relationship. not get physically close with a guy. i felt guilty. i hate myself. not only because i let my drink get spiked, but also because i had to be saved by steph in such a manner, and that i fell for the trick. not the trick itself, but that my subconscious gave in because of it.
i walked up to her bedroom to tell her that i knew, but i heard her vomiting in the bathroom. i opened the door and asked her what was wrong. she said that she was about to brush her teeth, but quickly realised that she had brushed her teeth with it before after she vomited the first time. after she had composed herself, i told her how i now knew. she told me it was because i was in trouble, and that friends should help each other when the other is in need of help, however possible. i cried. i had never realised how much of a friend she was until today. in comparison to how much of a friend i was to her, she was relatively a total stranger. but i still felt that she was a good friend. i felt guilty. once again. she comforted me for a while, which intitally made it all the more worse, but i composed myself quickly. she then told me that i didn't give in because of the kiss, and that she got me out of the game just by pulling me away, but felt that considering my recent problems with alex and iris, that this would be the ultimate solution. i guess it worked.