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  "It’s your first day. I’ll walk you to your door—so you don’t get lost or anything."

  "Thanks." I managed to make my facial muscles work well enough to smile sincerely. "I do get lost easily."

  "Your boyfriend should keep a better eye on you then."

  Raising my eyes to meet his, I couldn’t miss the sparkle behind them or the crooked smirk he gave me, and I was certainly completely incapable of calming down my frantically beating heart in response.

  "Who’s your PE teacher?" He asked evenly.

  "Oh, I—hold on." I fumbled with my bag and pulled out my schedule, handing it to him.

  He unfolded it and studied it for a moment. "Hey, we have fourth period together."

  I smiled at that. I didn’t know anyone in fourth period yet.

  He kept his eyes on my schedule. "Mr. Johnson’s cool. He shows all kinds of recent movies like comedies and action movies that he calls ‘educational.’ Oh, you’ve got Coach Hayman, me too." He handed me back my schedule as we reached the door to the girls’ locker room. "So I’ll see you in a few minutes then."

  I nodded, and he winked back at me. I had to bite my bottom lip to prevent any embarrassing little girl giggles. Turning quickly so he couldn’t see my face turn red—again—I walked into the locker room careful not to trip over the air that was lying around everywhere.

  Twenty minutes later, after standing in line to get my locker and PE clothes then changing, I walked into the main gym. It was really tough not to notice the banners displaying athletic records. It was even tougher not to notice how many of them had "Devlin Vaughn" listed on them.

  The smell of sweat and the bright fluorescent lights reminded me of my gym at my old school. I couldn’t help but remember the games I had gone to with friends, the life I had back there. Now, I stood alone in a gigantic building as everyone around me chatted and joked around. For the first time all day, I found myself feeling homesick.

  "Hey, Piper!" Devlin jogged over to me, smiling warmly.

  He looked pretty amazing in his blue shorts and yellow T-shirt, and scolded myself for noticing.

  "Hi," I said shyly. I had to get a handle on myself. I was so not the shy, meek girl.

  "So you made it, huh? Didn’t get lost?" His smile was brilliant, and it lit up the whole room. But Jay—Jay had a nice smile, too. Jay…yes, I loved my boyfriend.

  I stood up straighter and looked away from his captivating blue eyes. "I had to stop to ask for directions a few times, but you’re a guy, you wouldn’t know anything about that."

  He laughed deeply and melodically. "Nope, I just keep going in circles and eventually everything seems familiar. Come on, those are my peeps."

  I followed him over to a group of people who were all staring at me with clear confusion. I wondered what they were thinking. Were they wondering why he was with me? Did they have any idea who I was?

  "Piper’s new," he explained. "Well, you lived here before right?" At my nod, he continued. "She’s in Leadership with me. This is Kim, Litsey, Sarah, Donald the freaking ball hog, Juan the cheating bi—uh, sorry, the cheater, Marcus, and Antonio."

  Everyone turned out to be really nice, despite my first impressions. I had a few of them in my other classes, so it was easy to talk about the first day of class and whether our teachers had good reputations or bad ones. Kim and Sarah were actually really friendly, so I spent the rest of class—which was more of social hour than real class—chatting with them.

  All in all, my first day of senior year had gone well. It was, at least, better than I had expected. Eating cookies after school with Jay and Samantha made a nice ending to the day—a comfortable ending. I would have called it an excellent day if I hadn’t found myself wide awake and thinking obsessively about a certain pair of brilliant blue eyes that I was trying desperately not to remember.

  Parties and Psychos and Peer Pressure, Oh My!

  That first weekend of the school year it's no surprise that a party was happening. It's even less of a surprise that people were being stupid at that party, but I had no idea just how stupid and what kind of completely unbelievable craziness would come from it.

  Surprisingly I know, but so far in my incredibly long life, I had yet to experience any truly horrible high school party experiences. You know, the kind they show in movies where you wind up being brought home by the cops, or ending in some kind of fistfight, or kissing the porcelain throne. I had really only been to a couple parties. Up north, we spent more time at concerts, beach bonfires and shows at various clubs all the way up to San Francisco. There was pretty much a million other things to do in Northern California than go to parties.

  So the first Friday night of the school year marked my introduction to the world of the bored teenager. I had no idea that what I saw in movies was actually true. Having read about Raymond Acacia, it just didn't sink in that teens in the area were actually doing mushrooms or various other drugs out of pure boredom. I couldn't wrap my mind around it, but let me tell you, it didn't take long for me to see it with my very own eyes.

  Jay had friends going to the party that was happening at some popular girl's house whose parents were out of town. I didn't have any prior experiences that would warn me off of such an event, so I was immediately up for the idea. While Gary didn't seem too happy with me going, Sonya was downright against. It took some convincing, but I managed to talk her into going with us.

  When we arrived at "popular girl's" house, it was only around 8:30. This would have been seriously early at any of the parties I had been to, but here, we seemed to be making a very fashionably late entrance. I could hear the music loud and clear as we walked up to the porch. I thought Jay might knock or something, but he walked right in like he owned the place, tugging me along by the hand.

  The first thought that entered my mind as I took in the sight of so many completely buzzed classmates certainly wasn't "Where's the beer?" Girls were draped all over guys, guys were shoving plastic cups in the girls' hands or putting their hands all over them in what might have been the living room. It was tough to tell which room was which since most of the furniture had been moved out of the room. It seemed to be a very nice house. Not a rich house, but a clean, well-kept one. I couldn't help but wonder what made this girl want to destroy it with a party, but my attention was immediately pulled to the chanting of, "dare, dare, dare" from another room.

  Jay pulled me toward the kitchen where a crowd had gathered. When Jay asked what was going on, one of the girls from my Government class gave a slurred explanation. Apparently, Andersen—a football player I didn't know—dared Vaughn to eat an entire lemon, skin and all. Vaughn—being a guy—couldn't turn it down. As part of the crowd parted a bit, I could see Devlin, who seemed to be completely drunk with bright red cheeks, laughing uncontrollably. He was holding a lemon in one hand with his other arm thrown haphazardly around a blonde cheerleader whose boobs were totally going to fall out of her tube top at any minute. For a very brief moment, Devlin's eyes met mine, and I felt a very weird jolt of something I couldn't explain. Jay pulled my attention away as he nudged me and passed me a beer.

  Looking around at the mess that my classmates were making of themselves, I fumbled with the can of beer. I hadn't done drugs or had much alcohol before—hadn't ever really needed it to have a good time—but I was not having a good time here. It was like watching a movie like "Meet the Parents" where you see the idiotic things the characters are doing and just have to hide your eyes over their stupidity… only there was no humor to this. It was just uncomfortable to watch. When the dares moved on to jumping buck naked into the lake up the street, I walked into the other room and opened my beer.

  After two sips of beer, and two faces matching the skunky flavor of said beer, I decided I wasn't into the drinking scene. Is that such a bad thing?

  "I don't know how can you drink this?" I complained to Jay.

  "What?" Jay had already downed an entire beer and was getting up to get another when I handed him mine. "
You don't want it? Don't you drink?"

  "No, I guess I don't." He simply nodded at me, but there was an underlying comment to his nod as if he were judging me.

  Sonya was sipping her way through her beer and laughing at Gary who had clearly already had a few. He had been in the group of obnoxiously loud darers when we came in, but switched to hanging all over Sonya in his less inhibited state. I couldn't help but wonder if Sonya drank because she enjoyed it or because it gave her an excuse to be openly flirtatious with Gary. Either way, I couldn't find too much fault in their behavior. I was happy to see them happy.

  Watching everyone get plastered was entertaining to say the least. At one point, a bunch of girls were grinding up against each other while the guys stood around with torn expressions trapped between appreciation of the view and strategic planning about how to get in on it.

  When Jay finished off my beer, he was suddenly into the idea of dancing. As he pulled me toward the music, stumbling along the way, I started having second thoughts about whether I liked this version of Jay. It was so odd to not know this side of him. He had talked about parties and Sonya had mentioned his name when she described parties she had gone to, but I guess I imagined them to be more like the ones I had been to. We had drinking at our parties, don't get me wrong, and plenty of smoking, but it wasn't like absolutely everyone was in a gigantic rush to get drunk and behave like a total idiot as soon as possible. The way these kids were drinking, everyone would be passed out in an hour.

  Jay and I didn't usually dance together, aside from slow songs, so it was a little awkward. I smiled and thought it was funny, but when he kept trying to shove a beer in my hand, I started getting annoyed. At the end of his third beer, I had had enough. Not only was he grinding up against me, but he was high-fiving other guys nearby that I didn't know. It was as if he was showing me off and showing off how far I would let him get. I knew he was a little beyond buzzed, but he was really pushing it.

  When we took a break from "dancing," he put his beer up to my lips. I shook my head and smiled at him, but he grabbed the back of my head and tried to hold me still while he forced me to drink. That was it for me. I shoved him away, which wasn't tough since he was pretty wasted, and walked outside.

  Several of the popular girls were in the pool in their underwear with some guys fully clothed—shoes and everything. Some guy was peeing into a bush while his buddies were laughing hysterically at him. A group of people were on the lawn smoking pot and pulling the grass out of the ground. Several possible stoners were carving things into a wooden picnic table nearby, smoking cigarettes, and flicking their ashes at each other. It all just seemed so stupid. Didn't they have any bands or clubs to go see bands at? Didn't they have midnight street car races to chase after? All they could do was sit around and act like bored, drunk morons.

  I headed for the swing set when I realized that several guys were trying to bring the swing set closer to the pool. Judging by their comments, they were going to see who could jump from the swing set and fly into the pool—good times. So, instead, I walked out toward the guest house and sat on the lawn, watching the chaos.

  I must have been out there for at least ten minutes before I finally saw Jay walking toward me. His dark figure waved at people as it came across the lawn. I was impressed to see how steady his steps were since I knew how much he had been drinking. When he got closer, I realized the reason behind this—it wasn't Jay.

  Gazing up into the smiling face of the captain of the football team, I was confused by so many things. The most obvious question was how on earth was he not stumbling? I'd seen him with different bottles and cans of beer in his hand all night. He was a big football player so the alcohol might not affect him as strongly, but this was ridiculous.

  He plopped down next to me with a tired expression on his face. "Mind if I join you?"

  "Uh, yeah—I mean no—I mean, I don't mind." Geez, you'd think I had been the one drinking. "Why aren't you partying with the rest of 'em?"

  He lifted his solid shoulders in a shrug, drawing my attention to the white polo shirt he was wearing. In the dim light, it stood out against his tan skin. "It gets old after a while."

  "Wow, could have fooled me. You looked like you were having a blast in there eating that lemon."

  He shrugged again. "Gotta keep up appearances for my public."

  Was he serious? I couldn't wrap my mind around the idea that he was putting on a show. "Why?" I asked skeptically.

  He looked me dead in the eye, making my heart skip a few beats. The crazy melting sensation he sent throughout my body just wasn't natural. I couldn't understand it or stop from staring back at him.

  "Hmm, not sure." He leaned closer to me. "Guess it's easier."

  "Than what?"

  "Saying no." He looked back at the party and pulled away from me a bit. "Why aren't you in with your boyfriend?" The way he said "boyfriend" made it sound like a cuss word. Did he have something against Jay?

  I tried not to sound bitter about Jay, but I felt bitter. "Inside with his beer." But then I looked back at Devlin. My confusion over how he was carrying on this very sober conversation finally took over my mouth. "Shouldn't you be drunk by now?"

  He grinned, his straight white teeth brightening his face. "I have an unimaginably high tolerance."

  I slowly raised my eyebrow at him in pure disbelief.

  He stared me down for a minute before laughing. "Okay, I don't drink." Before I could ask, he continued, "Empties—that's what I carry around and pretend to drink from. It's not hard to act drunk and stupid. It's actually more fun to act that way than it is to wind up puking my freaking guts out at the end of the night."

  His answer actually impressed me. I had him pegged for being a jock who did anything for popularity. "Sounds like you speak from experience."

  He bounced his head around. "Yeah, you could say I was young and stupid once."

  "How young?" So I was being nosey. He was being open, I figured I might as well take the opportunity to make a new friend.

  "Uh…" He ran his fingers through his short hair uncomfortably then shook his head. "Hmm, I don't want to tell you."

  That was an odd statement, prompting my obvious question, "Why not?"

  "Cause I care what you think of me."

  I tilted my head. That really surprised me, but the intense look in his eyes told me he meant it. I wanted to ask why he cared, but I didn't. If I were being honest with myself, I'd admit that I was afraid it was because he was interested in being more than friends. And if I were being really honest with myself, I'd admit that I was afraid it was because he only wanted to be friends. Either way, I was screwed, so I kept my mouth shut on that topic.

  I looked away and chose something safer to discuss. "Is this really all you guys have to do in this town? Get drunk and act stupid?"

  He chuckled low, nearly making me jump with nervous excitement. "You should have been here earlier. They were land-tubing." At my confused expression, he explained. "You take a four-wheeler and attach a rope to it with an inner tube on the end. Then you—"

  Holding up my hand, I closed my eyes. "I don’t think I want to know."

  "Yeah." He stared at the morons jumping into the pool off the swings. "Coach is gonna be pissed on Monday. Brandon sort of rolled into a fence."

  "Don't you have any clubs or anything here?"

  He turned his eyes back to mine, and made my skin come alive with tingles. "We had one, but they got closed down when they had a crowd-diving competition. A guy dove off without a crowd—almost smashed his head in."

  "Sounds awesome." My tone oozed sarcasm.

  "I guess you're right, we don't have much to do around here."

  Thinking of the "empties" he carried around, I nudged him with my elbow. "Sounds like you manage to stay out of trouble."

  "Well… My parents have been through enough, I'm not gonna go and do something stupid."

  I smiled at him. "Been in trouble before then, have you?"


  But the lack of smile he turned toward me made me think I had gotten the wrong idea. Either way, he didn't comment, but was absorbed in something happening back toward the house. When I turned my head in that direction, I noticed several guys that looked older. I didn't recognize their faces, which wasn't really saying much since I hadn't been back in town all that long.

  "Who are they?" I asked.

  He was already getting up, his forehead creased. He certainly wasn't happy to see them. "They're from Independence High. I recognize the quarterback."

  "Is something wrong?"

  "They're not here to party." He glanced back at me, and his face was more serious than I'd ever seen it. "Stay here, Piper."

  I got up to follow him anyway, but he was gone before I had dragged myself to my feet. He chased over to the Independence guys who were now being circled by faces I recognized as our own football team, including Gary. The tension seemed to pick up instantly. The attempts to swing into the pool stopped, and it felt like everyone quieted down. I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something weird in the way the Independence guys just stood there staring. I walked closer.

  "Gentlemen, can I get you a drink or a smoke perhaps?" Devlin was smiling, but his eyebrows were too high, and his voice had no cheerfulness to it.

  I couldn't hear what they said in response, but it made Devlin clench his jaw tightly as he took a step closer to them. He was invading the personal space of the tallest Independence guy who was still a few inches shorter than Devlin.

  When the Independence guy shoved against Devlin's chest, sending him nearly flying back into the crowd, I could see the fear on everyone's faces increase. Either Devlin was much thinner and much weaker than everyone on the face of the planet thought or… well, there just wasn't another logical explanation.

  Devlin got up quickly and came back at the Independence guy as some of the other football players tightened the circle. "You can walk out of here, or you can be carried out, but you're leaving one way or another."