WARNING: This chapter deals with topics such as spiking.
For those of you that find this topic distressing, please message me and I will send a summary of the chapter via message, so you don't miss anything else.
Also, drinking is involved in this chapter, but the legal age is 18, so they are all allowed to drink.

After getting their drinks, some of the group split up.

Anvi, Luka and KJ were with Ealan. Jace had to leave early due to an incident at the dance school.
Tabitha was with Caoimhe's friends.
Sutton and Caoimhe moved to the dance floor.

Sutton whispered something in Caoimhe's ear, making her giggle.
She intertwined their fingers together, and leaned in to whisper once more.
A couple of minutes later, Sutton and Caoimhe pushed past people to get the one of the side rooms in the club.

"So you're a construction worker?", asked Luka.

Ealan nodded.
"Yeah.
Uni ain't really for me.
Most of my family are construction workers anyway."

"Do you live 'round here?", asked KJ.

"Yeah.
I was born and raised here.
Not far from here either.
It's only like a ten minute walk.
Near the park", he said.

"Ah, so you can come here often then", said Luka.

"Yeah but man's not tryna spend money like that though", he joked.
"Once in a while is good though."

Ealan spotted some people in the distance, and nodded his head at them. "I best be off then.
It was nice meetin' ya."

"You too", said Luka.

"Thanks for the drinks", said Anvi.

Ealan headed towards a group of boys, some younger and some much older. They were patting each other on the backs and exchanging handshakes.

Tabitha approached the group.
"Hey have you guys seen Caoimhe?
Her friends need to get back home."

"She went off with Sutton somewhere", said KJ.

"Oh.
We'll just walk her home then.
They have my number", said Tabitha.

She quickly messaged Caoimhe's friends.

"She's cute, isn't she?", asked Tabitha. "Caoimhe would be a nice match for you, KJ."

KJ shook his head.
"Not really.
Her and Sutton are getting on well though."

"Yeah but not in that way", said Tabitha.

KJ rolled his eyes.
"It's blatantly obvious but ok then."

"Hey, Tabitha!
Anvi, I need help!", called out Sutton.

She pushed through the crowd, with Caoimhe pulled close to her.
Anvi reached out and grabbed Caoimhe, who looked spaced out.

"What happened?", asked Anvi.

"I-I don't know!
We were just hanging out and everything was normal!
She started feeling dizzy and sick a minute ago", replied Sutton.

"Maybe it was something she ate?", asked Tabitha.

"She said she hadn't eaten anything.
All she had was the shots", said Sutton.

Cogs turned in KJ's head, and he quickly grabbed the drink from Anvi's hand.

"Pass me your drinks, now!", he called out.

Confused but worried, the group did as they were told.
KJ placed them on the table next to him, making sure that they were close to him.

"Did any of you drink anything?", asked KJ.

"Just the shots.
I didn't have time to drink the glass Ealan got me", said Sutton.

"Me too", said Luka.
"I know Jace didn't either."

"I had all the drinks Ealan got me", said Tabitha.

"I had some of the lemonade he got me", said Anvi.

"Guys, what do we do?", asked Sutton.

"Right, I'm not sure, but I think Caoimhe's drink is spiked", said KJ.

"Spiked?", questioned a shocked Sutton.

"Uh, al-alright... we need to get her to the hospital", said Anvi.
"Tabitha, call Caoimhe's friends."

"I'll call a taxi to the hospital", said Luka.

"What about us?
Should we go to the hospital too?", asked Tabitha.

KJ scrolled through something on his phone.
"It says that different dr*gs take different times to... work, I guess?"

"So...we just assume that sick b*stard used the same dr*gs in all our drinks?", asked Tabitha.

"Well, we all feel fine, don't we?", asked Luka.
"Let's stay up tonight, and if we feel weird, we'll go to the walk-in centre."

"How are you so f*cking calm?", questioned Tabitha.

She turned to look at Anvi, whose eyes grew bigger due to the fear she felt.

"Guys, it's ok", said Luka.
"It's highly likely that he used the same dr*g, and neither of you are unwell."

"What, so he only spiked Caoimhe's drink?
Why would he do that?", asked Tabitha.

"Don't let her go alone", said Anvi, making everyone turn to her.

"What?", asked Sutton.

"They're still here.
He's with all those boys from earlier.
I think they chose Caoimhe for a reason."

The realisation dawned on them, and the air grew tense.
It was as if the music had ceased to play, and everyone had disappeared.

"Oh my gosh... they're sick f*cks", frowned Sutton.

¤¤¤

After making sure Caoimhe safely got into the taxi, with one of her friends coming back to get in with her, the group returned home.

Sutton decided that she needed some fresh air, so KJ decided to go with her. Luka had fallen asleep, but before he did, he made Anvi and Tabitha promise to wake him up if they felt any different.

Anvi sat in the living room, with KJ's hoodie wrapped around her.
She was gazing into the distance at the clock on the wall, although she wasn't really paying attention to her surroundings.

She was too focused on re-living the events of today, that she didn't notice Jace open the door.

"Oh my G–Anvi!", he exclaimed.

He ran over to her, before crouching a little so that his eyes met hers.
He lifted his hand to touch her arm, but stopped before they could make contact.

"Are you ok?"

His voice was only a little higher than a whisper, most of the volume coming because of the intense worry that seemed to lace his words.

Anvi finally looked at him, and her eyes widened when she saw his face.

His right temple had slightly red bruising along it, and slightly darker bruising was under right eye.
Fresh blood seeped from his mouth, where his bottom lip had split a little.

"What the h*ll happened to your face?"

"Huh?
Oh, uh, I'm fine.
It doesn't even hurt, just... are you ok?"

"Wh-what?
Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm... I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!
Yes, I promise.
I feel fine."

Jace exhaled sharply, a wave of relief washing over him.

"What happened to your face?"

"Nothing."

Anvi raised an eyebrow at this.
"Don't lie."

Jace sighed.
"After Luka told me what happened... I went to look for Ealan.
Just to talk to him.
Yeah, he didn't like that, I guess.
He punched me before I could get any answers."

Anvi's face softened.
She quickly stood up and walked over to the fridge, getting a bag of frozen vegetables out, before closing the door and walking back to her seat.

"You don't have to–"

"Shut up."

She gently placed the bag on his temple, frowning when he winced.
She pulled herself closer to him, so that she could get a better grip on the bag.

Jace watched Anvi's face as she looked at his bruising, a small smile appearing on his face when he stuck her tongue out a little—one of the many things she did when she was in deep concentration.

"I don't think guys like that listen to reason, Jace", she said.

"I thought maybe they were the exception", he said, before shrugging.
"I don't know.
This has never happened to me before."

Anvi frowned.
"I hope it never happens again.
To any of us.
I just wish I had been more alert."

"Hey, this isn't on you.
I looked it up on my way here. Apparently, you can't tell a drink is spiked just by looking at it or smelling it.
Or even tasting it."

"Still... a big part of being a paramedic is vigilance.
I let Caoimhe get spiked."

"Oi...you didn't let her get spiked.
Ealan spiked her drink.
Ealan let her drink that drink knowing it was spiked."

Anvi frowned, before looking down at her lap.

Jace bit his lip, unsure of how to word his question.
When he winced due to the pain, Anvi looked up.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah.
I uh... can I ask you something?"

Anvi nodded.
"Sure."

"Why don't you drink?"

Anvi's eyes widened a little.
"It's, I mean, I don't really want to talk about it."

"No, yeah, yeah you're right, that was stupid question–"

"No, no it's not stupid–uh, I... I made a few bad decisions and got seriously ill. But I'm alright now, so..."

Jace gave her a small smile.

"I'm glad you're alright now."

Anvi gave him a half-smile, before letting her eyes wander back to her lap.

Jace placed his hand on Anvi's arm, making her tense up a little, as she wasn't expecting it.
He moved his hand up to the bag and placed it over hers.

"You know, it was really sweet of you to confront Ealan for Tabitha."

Jace furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.
"Sorry?
What do you mean for Tabitha?"

"She drank the drink as well."

Jace's eyes widened.
He quickly got up and threw the bag on the sofa.
Anvi could barely gesture what was going on.

Jace didn't know about Tabitha.

He confronted Ealan for her?

She insulted him, ignored him and treated him terribly.

But he still looked out for her?

Maybe Anvi had gotten him all wrong?

"Anvi?
Can you hear me?"

"Huh?"

"I asked what happened to Tabitha?"

"Oh!
She's ok.
She fell asleep, but I've been checking on her every five minutes."

Jace seemed more calm after hearing what Anvi was doing for Tabitha.

"Ok... thank you.
I'll check on her in the morning.
You should get some rest.
I'll take over from watch duty."

"No, I... I don't really want to go to sleep. Not tonight.
Not like this."

Jace gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'll stay with you then."

"Oh!
You don't have to."

"I know, but I want to.
We'll check on Tabitha together."

--------

Hi.

These two chapters were really important to me. Where I'm from, there's a real issue with spiking, and it's being spoken about a lot in the media. It's honestly so disgusting, and there are even injections coming out now. Some girls have even been known to inject other girls in clubs, which is so awful because we should be joining together against this.

It's not just men though.
Anyone can spike someone.

This topic is quite heavy, so I'm publishing the third part tomorrow or the day after, to give everyone a little break from the loaded topic.

What is spiking?:

When you put something, usually dr*gs into someone's drink, food etc. More often than not, people will take advantage of the person they have dr*gged.

Spiking cannot always be detected by seeing, smelling or even tasting your drink.

If you suspect that you've been spiked, contact someone you trust and go to the hospital to get a test done. They will stay in your system for a few hours, so make sure you stay in a safe environment.

What can you do to avoid being spiked?:

First and foremost, people shouldn't HAVE to protect themselves. More should be done to stomp out these horrid people. But, it is important to stay safe.

—Drink responsibly, and make sure you're over the legal age.

—Always make sure you can see your drink. Pour it yourself if you can, but if you can't, watch it being poured.

—Cover your drink with your hand, or a special cover you can buy. This way, no one can put something in it.

—Never accept a drink from someone you don't know.

Other ways to stay safe:

—Do not go home with a stranger.
If you don't believe that you've been spiked, and that you are well, still make sure that you send your location to atleast two people that you trust.

—Walk in crowded places, but not overly crowded. Stay in well-lit places and walking in groups can be safer.

IMPORTANT: These don't guarantee your safety, but they do help improve the chances of you being safe.

And please, remember this:
You are NEVER at fault for someone else's actions. Never blame yourself for someone taking advantage of you.

It's on THEM, not you.

ruesbennett

LeMystical-Puffle

1-800-ISAACLAHEY-

mlkbttl