It was one week later, and not much had changed. Josh had kindly offered for her to move in with him for now, saying she could pay whatever she could afford toward the rent. She had taken him up on the offer, not having anywhere else to go.

Without her parents' support, design school was out of the question until she could save up money for registration and maybe get a loan.

Katie had been sneaking her things from the house during her visits, so her small bedroom at Josh's was now very cluttered. She'd asked her sister to hold off on bringing more stuff.

She'd decided that she was definitely going to pursue a career in fashion. Her pride simply wouldn't allow her to back down after everything that had happened. The only way she could do that right now though, was by getting a job in retail. So she'd spent the past week applying for every position she could find and moping around the apartment.

She didn't have much, but she did have some savings, her personal expenses having been mostly a non-issue when she lived at home. So she'd insisted on paying Josh some money toward the rent, and had stocked up on groceries. She'd been conscientious enough to replace the two bottles of wine she'd had during her two mini-breakdowns.

She figured she would be okay for a while, as long as she stopped shopping, unlikely though that was, and spent her money wisely. Still, she didn't have enough saved up for design school, and that goal would be impossible if she didn't get a job.

Mary had arrived home from her trip yesterday, furious that Serena hadn't called her immediately and had made cheering her up her mission in life. For this week, anyway.

Last night she had come over and they had watched chick flicks, followed by bad action movies while eating popcorn, ice cream, and way too many other snacks until they'd fallen asleep on the couch.

Mary had phoned her a little while ago to tell her to get dressed up. “We're going dancing!” she had proclaimed triumphantly for some reason, and had flatout refused to take no for an answer.

“You're done sitting in that apartment, just waiting for life to happen to you. We're going to make it happen tonight. For tonight, your life is going to be drinking too many cocktails, shaking your gorgeous ass to some rockin' tunes, and hopefully making some bad decisions that we can regret tomorrow morning!” Mary's enthusiasm had been irrepressible, so she had agreed.

She wasn't that into clubbing, and it was definitely something she didn't do often, but Mary was right. She needed this, needed to get out of this funk.

Besides, she was out of snacks after her pity party with Mary last night, and she'd consumed enough sugar to last several lifetimes, so a repeat performance didn't sound too appealing. Also, if she didn't show up to the club to meet Mary and friends, she knew Mary would just come and literally drag her out of the apartment. So with a last look in the mirror, she grabbed her purse and hailed a cab for the club.

She spotted Mary and two of her girlfriends waiting in line to get in. She had met Mary's college friends once or twice before, and they had seemed nice enough. The noise coming from the inside of the club was deafening though. She wondered if they sold earplugs inside...

“I love this song! Don’t you love this song?” Mary exclaimed, and started doing a little dance right there on the sidewalk.

“Uhm, who sings it again?” She chose the safe option; she was pretty sure she hadn't heard it before, and from what she could hear right now, she didn't love it.

All three girls around her looked at her like she had suddenly sprouted a pair of horns. She considered subtly rubbing her forehead to check before they yelled, “Misery, dude!” almost in unison.

“Right, of course.” She still had no idea who they were talking about. She thought maybe she'd heard the name mentioned on the radio before, but this kind of music was definitely not what was listened to in her parents' house.

Classical, yes. On rare occasions, pop. But rock? If that's even what this was, absolutely not.

They chatted a bit before the blonde one – Ashley, she thought – squealed “there he is” and dragged them to the front of the line. A new bouncer had taken up position at the door and seemed to recognize her, unclipping the rope for them as they moved closer, ushering them through.

“Her brother's a bartender here!” Mary yelled over her shoulder to Serena as they entered the din of the club, her voice already almost completely drowned out by the deafening music.

“She must've asked him to ask the bouncer to let us in!” she yelled as she threw her hands over her head and started dancing her way toward the bar.

They'd only been here a few minutes, but Serena really hoped she could buy earplugs somewhere in the club. Although she was pretty sure she'd be deaf in no time, and then it wouldn't matter anymore.

Ashley was already at the bar, and grabbed them each a beer before pulling them out on to the crowded dance floor. At first, Serena felt a little awkward, but she soon lost herself in the music and electric atmosphere and actually started to enjoy herself. She closed her eyes and just let her body move the way it wanted to, her long dark hair swinging across her back.

Time slowed for her, measured in beers. She drank slower than the other girls, but it felt like only seconds had passed as her eyes snapped open when Ashley pulled her third beer from her hand, a wild look in her eyes.

“Guys!” She could barely hear Ashley over the music, but managed to sort of make out what she was saying as she held out a piece of paper with an address written on it in her hand. “We've been flagged for a fucking mystery party!” The other girls looked like they might faint.

She had no idea what a “mystery party” was, but she followed them out of the club anyway. No way was she staying behind by herself in there.

Her ears were ringing as they spilled out of the club onto the curb, although she was quite sure she'd sustained mild hearing damage. She figured she should probably resign herself to the fact that they might never stop ringing, judging by the feel of things.

“What's a mystery party?” she asked Mary in what she hoped was a quiet voice.

Mary knew her parents and how overprotective they were, so she hoped Mary wouldn't judge her for her ignorance. She was worried about what the other girls might think, since they didn't know her nearly as well, but they were so busy celebrating that she doubted they'd heard her question, even though her voice hadn't been as quiet as she'd intended.

“Not a mystery party, a Misery party! Like the band, Misery? The one we were talking about earlier, the one whose songs we were dancing to inside? Biggest rock band on the planet right now? Any of this ringing a bell?”

It didn't, but she wasn't about to let Mary know that.

She thought Mary would understand that she wouldn't know what a mystery party was, but she doubted that Mary would understand not being familiar with Misery or why they were going to their party. “Oh, wow! Awesome!” she exclaimed, hoping that was the appropriate response. She piled into the cab Ashley had hailed.

Now, staring up at the huge mansion that was before them, she wasn't so sure she really wanted to be here. However, Mary and the other girls were already practically running for the house, and there was no way she was staying out here alone, so she reluctantly followed them inside.