“Daddy, I really can’t go?”
“No, Illy. As I said a million times ago, you are absolutely forbidden from going to that stupid late night party that starts at 8 p.m.!”
“But dad, see! This is the party that I’m the main character for! I am going to be the queen of the party! It’ll ruin everything if I can’t go there! This is so important for my friendships and everything!” protested Illy.
“No, now I suggest that you should do your schoolwork! I heard that you have your Geography exam next Monday and I do not think it is a good idea for a young teenaged girl to go to the party late at night and come back the next morning!” barked Ronald.
“Oh, fine then. I’m not going to that stupid party, ok? Satisfied?” shouted Illy, and she disappeared through behind her bedroom door, slamming it.
“Gosh, why does she want to go to that party so bad? People there shouldn’t be good…” he muttered, grabbing a newspaper with the first page heading, ‘An Exclusive Interview with our hero, ‘the man who survived’ for ten days alone in the desert of Iraq, in the middle of the war!’ going to his bedroom.

Inside of Illy’s bedroom, still angry on her bed, she took her smartphone out, dialed a number, and began a conversation.
“Oh, hey, Rev. Sorry, my father is still against our night party. I don’t think I can go there. I’m sorry.”
The man called Rev replied in an it’s-not-a-problem-at-all tone.
“Ah, no worries, Illy. I’ll then go and pick you up in half an hour. What you all have to do is to just stay in your room, as quietly as you can, and wait for our rescue.”
“But how are you coming to my house and take me? My dad will definitely notice it!” argued Illy.
“Oh, Illy. Of course, I’m not the only one coming to rescue you! Our friends will come with me and distract him for a few minutes, ‘Good evening, Mr. Topret, can we take Illy to our party? It will be really pleasant if you allow us to.’ And I will sneak up to your bedroom window-which is at the back of your house-, open it, you come out and close it, and we are all good. Can’t you still come?” Rev said, in an excited tone, apparently delighted by the plan of tricking Illy’s dad.
“Oh… well then… I’d love to! I’ll be ready by the time you come here,” she replied, her face gladdened but still worried.
“Great, see you then!” and the call ended.

“Ring-dong!”
“Who is that?”
“Ah, Mr. Topret. It’s Illy’s friends, Justin, Gordon, and Thomas.” A teenaged boy’s voice rang through the intercom.
“Oh, well… what’s the matter?”
“Can we please pick Illy up for our party tonight? It’ll be great of you if you allow us to…” asked the voice.
“No, she won’t be coming to the party tonight. I forbade her from going to it,” Ronald replied, cutting his words.
“But Mr. Topret, it’s for having fun! Illy deserves a party…”
“NO. She is not coming tonight. Understand?” it seemed he was getting angry.
“See, Mr. Topret. This is developing our friendship. As a member of our group, Illy has to come tonight’s party…” the voice seemed trying to persuade him.
“I SAID NO! SHE IS NOT COMING! NOW GO AWAY, IF YOU PLEASE!” and Ronald turned off the intercom, stumping to the kitchen as if he was annoyed by this conversation. By this time, there was a sound of closing a window from upstairs, but it seemed he didn’t hear it.

“Whew, thanks everyone.”
“It’s not a problem, Illy. Everyone needs you to come tonight. It’ll be great!” Thomas rang his black, brand new Lamborghini’s horn loudly. They could hear people shouting “Shut up!” or something, but they ignored it, instead choosing to ring it louder.
“How many people are coming tonight?”
“A lot! At least a dozen people said they were never going to miss this! You know, Rev is probably the richest guy in our town, and he is holding a party tonight!”, laughed Justin, patting Rev’s back.
“But are you sure you are ok, Rev? You know, you’ve hit a stranger on the street yesterday, and were released from jail only because your parents fed cops some money…” said Illy, in a worried tone.
“Oh, Illy, come on. Do you think I’m going to get in trouble only because I had a fight with that stranger? Our family knows how to deal with those kinds of situations. We’ve gone through it hundreds of time,” laughed Rev.
“We’re almost there! I can’t wait!” said Gordon, looking enthused.

In the middle of the hall, there was a big amp and its sound was covering the whole house, believably causing noise to the neighbors. People were moving around, and often there were big roars of cheers. It seemed everyone was looking for something very interesting, but no one mentioned of it. When it was 10 p.m., when everyone was in the middle of laughing from teasing a hamster, Rev cleared his throat and asked everybody to calm down. It took a minute.
“Thanks, everybody. So, as you probably know already, I will turn 18 in two hours. But before that, let us have a special moment of declaring my engagement. Illy, please come up front.”
She walked up to the front, excited. The moment she had been waiting for for a week had finally come. In no time, she was going to gain everything: money, reputation, everything.
“Great. Everyone, please chill. Let us have our moment.” And he picked up a small box beside him, presenting it to her with his nice suit and white gloves. “Now, Illy, may I ask you to go on a…”
At that precise moment, before Illy could even open the box, everyone had to turn around and look at the front door, as there was a big bam. Seconds later, a voice from a loudspeaker said:
“This is the police. We are here to arrest Revesus Aspen, who is accused of attacking a relative of the mayor. If he doesn’t turn up in one minute, we will trespass into your house and arrest everybody in this house. We also received a number of complaints, saying that there are loud noises coming from here and that they can’t sleep. Please turn off your music, and you have one minute to give us Revesus Aspen.”
Everyone froze. Somehow the music froze too. It took another 20 seconds for them to realize what was happening, and they began panicking. Everyone ran in different directions, causing chaos, and Revesus grabbed Illy’s hand, trying to get away. Unfortunately, they accidentally tripped on a wire and fell over. Behind their heads, several guards were doing their duty to the master as hard as it could to block the police from entering. However, they easily overpowered them and they had to surrender and give way into the house. Policemen stormed in and people were starting to get arrested. Three of them came to the couple who was just about to get engaged, and they took out the handcuffs. They were one second before arresting Rev and Illy, and a voice familiar to her shouted at that very moment:

“STOOOOOOP!”

Once again, everyone looked around. They found a man who was standing at the entrance, assumingly the one who had just shouted.
“Sir, we are sorry, but this is an ‘unlawful interference with police in the execution of their duty’. Would you please…”
“No, I’m sorry, but this is crucial.” And he took out an ID card, presented it to the policeman next to him. He took the card, examined it, and the man continued speaking.
“I’m here to take my daughter from this house, and I believe no one is going to stop me from doing it,” said the man, firmly. Illy couldn’t believe her ears. She was horror-struck; her eyes fixed on the man, while the policeman next to her was looking rather disturbed.
“Sir, we are sorry to contradict you, but you have no rights to stop us doing our duty. Would you please stand aside?”, said the policeman irritably.
At that moment, there was a sound of exclamation from the policeman who just finished reading the ID card. He gave the man a salute.
“John, what do you think you are doing? Why are you giving him the salute?”
Without listening, the policeman called John handed over the card to the others with his trembling hand. As soon as the other policemen read it, there was a small shout, and every man gave Illy’s dad the salute. At that moment, there was the sound of the door opening and another policeman walked in.
“What is going on?” the chief-looking policeman looked around his men, and found Ronald.
“Ronald? What are you doing here?” He asked, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Well, I’m here to take my daughter back. Would you mind if I…?”
“Not at all, not at all! Feel free to take her! You already have permission before I say!”
“Thank you, Eburus.”
“But sir, he…!” protested the first policeman who was about to arrest Illy and Revesus.
“Would you stand aside please? You’ve heard your boss and you are not stopping me now,” he said as though he was commanding. The policeman looked furious, but the others were already persuaded and making way for him. He seemed to have had no choice but to give up. A policeman shouted from the front: “Cadro, don’t bother him! He’s that ‘the man who survived! The special force in Iraq!”
No sooner he gaped wide at him than he heard that phrase, and there was no more demonstration. He grabbed her hand, stood her up and walked out together, setting the background chorus: ‘that soldier from Iraq?’ from the cops. Until they went out, she could see resentful looks from the party members, asking ‘What about us?’ Her face went red.

Illy and her father were driving back to their house, both in silence. Finally, Illy opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry, dad.”
As if he was waiting for her to speak, his words poured out from his mouth.
“Oh, Illy. I knew you were going to the party anyway. I believe you now see the reason why I wanted you not to go there. Do you understand? Your friends aren’t good! They are troublemakers, and you could’ve been in trouble if I weren’t there!”
“But what about my friends? They are now in trouble!”
“Then would you like to be together with them?” Ronald shouted in can’t-you-see-the-point tone. He opened his mouth, but he shut it instead. Five minutes later, he talked again in a calm voice.
“As soon as we get back home, Illy. You will be sleeping in twenty minutes. Tomorrow, I want you to study for a full day. No parties, or hangouts with your friends. Understand?”
“Fine, ok…” she wanted to ask her Dad a number of questions: how he persuaded all the policemen, how he knew the party place… but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t think it was a good time, and after all, she was with her friends who had done something illegal. She was worried and sorry for being rescued alone, and wondered if they were not going to keep their relationship with her. However, it would be dangerous to her too if she tried to contact to them. But who would still be friends with her, despite of escaping alone and leaving everyone else in trouble? Although her father had just miraculously saved her, she couldn’t hide her face from being worried. As if he understood her mind, he bounced out with a sentence.
“Well, Illy. Now it’s time for you to consider who can be your true friend, not a gang of thugs.”
Her face went redder, if it could. The car radio was broadcasting, “We have a special guest tonight, ’the man who survived’ in Iraq! As a member of the special force, he had been through millions of extreme missions yet didn’t let the enemies to even touch him! He is still treated as a legend among soldiers and police, and please welcome him with a round of applause!”
“Well, that’s yesterday’s,” said Ronald.