The Mortician's Daughter

A/N: If you don't know who Kelly Anne Chaos is, she's Sandra's ex. In real life she's like 25, but for the purpose of this story I changed her age.

"Where are you off to Miss Raven?" my dad asked as I tried to sneak past him out the front door. It was play sneaking since I knew he was right there, but still.

"One of my friends is having a party," I replied. "In L.A."

"L.A.?" he frowned. "I don't know..."

"Oh, dad," I said. "There will be adults there and everything." Which was true, seeing as most everyone there would be legally adults, just not the kind of parental adults he was thinking of. "I'm taking the bus, okay? And I'm not going alone. I'm meeting up with another friend from school at the station." Which was again halfway true. I was meeting up with a girl named Kelly from my school who apparently lived a few blocks over and was also acquainted with BVB (and was probably Andy's "secret source" that gave him a copy of my article). Sabrina didn't know about this party, and I felt bad for not telling her, since she was the BVB obsessor. Peter also did not know, and even if he did it wouldn't have mattered, I still would have come. He might have had a tiny problem with the fact that the majority of the guys there would be 19, 20, 21-ish, but then, most of my few friends/acquaintances were guys, so he learned not to be jealous (much), and I never really saw age as a barrier.

"As long as you'll be back before curfew," Dad said. Since when did he care so much?

"Actually, I was going to go home with Sabrina and spend the night at her house." Not really, but I needed some excuse to stay longer, because God knew how long it would last, and I didn't want to be the little 17 year old girl who had to leave at 10 just to be home on time. I mean, these people were rockstars. I was nobody but a dreamer who by fate was being invited along for the ride. I was hoping Kelly might let me stay at her place, since I could just walk home in the morning.

I knew he wouldn't call Sab to check. He never did.

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I walked into the station, looking around. It wouldn't be too hard to find Kelly Anne; look for someone like me.

I spotted her, already standing by the bus. I walked quickly over there. "Hey. Kelly?" Even though we went to the same school, and she was one of Sabrina's best friends, and we should be in the same "clique", we'd never even spoken; I was more known for hanging out with Peter, who hung out with his popular crowd (that didn't accept me nonetheless).

"Hey, Raven." She looped her arm through mine. We were going to get along great.

"I'm curious...how do you know BVB?" I asked as we boarded.

"I lived in L.A. for the longest time... I was roomies with Amor Hilton," the way she said her name made me think there was bad blood, "who was dated Chris Hollywood, the former guitarist. And anyway, I went to every one of their local shows, even after Chris left..." I remembered Sabrina saying something about her not ever associating with her parents. "What can I say? I was in love."

"Let me guess... Andy Six?"

Was that a blush? "Not quite..."

Maybe I should have dropped it, but I was really really curious, and I was also curious as to whether this was a fangirl crush or something more... "Well, who is it then? Ashley? Jake?"

She looked straight at me. "Sandra," she said.

"Really?" I asked, not in a mean way. "Sandra's really pretty," I said, trying to help. "From what I saw at the concert anyway."

"Yeah," Kelly Anne said with a smile. "She's amazing."

"So are you like..." I didn't know how to word it. "Together?"

"No," she said sadly.

"Not yet, huh?" I said with a smile.

"Yeah," she smiled back. "Not yet."

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For an "exclusive for friends" party, the place looked pretty crowded. "Oh jeez," I said as Kelly Anne and I walked up. Loud rock was blaring from inside. Alkaline Trio.

"Yeah," Kelly said as she opened the door. "They know how to throw it."

We walked in. It was pretty dark except for some random blacklights and strobe lights. The song changed to "Vampire Heart" by HIM.

It wasn't as crowded as it had seemed from outside; it didn't even look like there were enough people to fit all the cars.

Kelly was looking for someone. "Do you see Sandra?"

"No...," I said, looking around.

Suddenly someone walked up to us. "Hello ladies," Ashley said. "Drinks are over there, food is in the kitchen, and... yeah. I think Andy is taking requests, but I'm not sure. He probably just put a mix cd on."

"Oh, God," Kelly said. "Does he really have to dj at every party now?"

"Gee, thanks, love you too, Kell," someone said from right behind me. Andy.

"Hey, Raven," he said. I hadn't even turned around. But I could tell he was looming. He was so freaking tall.

"Hey," I replied.

Kelly Anne rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Where are the cute martini glasses?" She looked like she was about to head off for the drinks.

"You really think I'd have cute martini glasses?" Andy said, mock-appalled. "I mean, maybe for an actual party, but for a little get together like this? And hey, you know the rules--"

"Dude, I'm legally an adult now," she interrupted.

"Party over here." And then she headed off for the drinks, leaving me between Andy and Ashley. I didn't even have time to point out that she still wasn't legal for drinking.

"Someone had better keep an eye on her," Ashley said, and followed after Kelly.

Andy laughed, then came up beside me. "Walk with me."

"Oookay..." I fell into step beside him. We walked through the dark, strobe lights and Christmas lights lighting our way.

"There's someone I want you to meet," he said. "So that next time you can't say I don't know anything about tough relationships." I couldn't decipher his voice at that moment. Was he bitter? Sad? Wishful? He stopped walking when we made it to a sofa, so I stopped too.

"Hey, Scout," he said to a girl sitting on the couch. Presumably his ex-girlfriend. Or girlfriend. Sab told me of them breaking up and getting back together so many times, I didn't know which it was. "This is Raven, the journalist-slash-songwriter you wanted to meat. Raven, this is Scout."

"Hey," Scout said. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," I said. She looked prettier in pictures than in real life (okay, so I looked her up after I met Andy, so shoot me), so I wasn't lying when I said, "You're really pretty." I meant it genuinely, not in a kiss up way.

Scout smiled at me. "Thanks." All the while she was sizing me up. If we were going off looks alone, I could see why--according to Sabrina, anyway--Andy was so madly in love with her.

Andy walked over, sat beside her, and put his arm around her shoulder. Wait--Sabrina had just recently told me they were broken up? But she was only a hopeless fan, what did she know? I shockingly felt a twinge when he did that--I don't know what it was or why. He had every right to. Besides, I had a boyfriend, Peter, remember...?

"Oh, hey," Andy said, to me or Scout I wasn't sure. Maybe to both of us. "The guys are doing free ink tonight. You ready, baby?" That, I was pretty positive, was directed toward Scout.

She kind of winced. "Nah, no more for me for the moment."

He turned to me then. "Raven, how about you?" He would be the death of me, I was beginning to realize, if he continued to ask me to do things with those icy blue eyes that I could get lost in if I looked in them for even a second.

"Um, don't I need a parental consent form or something?"

He looked at me like I was on something. I kicked myself for seeming so young and naive in front of these older people. "We borrowed the stuff from a friend. This isn't a parlor. We won't tell."

"Maybe next time," I said dismissively. Little did I know he'd remember that...

"Oh, what, Peter wouldn't approve?"

"Exactly," I said, even though I really didn't want to get in to that.

"If he won't let you be yourself," Andy said, going on about some more 'philosophical' relationship advice, "and is trying to change you, he's seriously screwed up if he can't love you for you."