Tilly spent 15 minutes sitting with me on my bed, the makeup splayed all around us and she was putting some light coverage makeup on, it felt so unusual having it on my face but once Tilly was done she lifted up the mirror and for once, I thought I looked nice.

"There, you're all done, you look so pretty" she gives me a big hug. "Now time to pick an outfit" she stands up from the bed, I follow her lead. We walk back over to her wardrobe and open the doors, she picks out this black mini dress and hands it to me, my eyes widen thinking how am I going to wear this.

She pushes me to the bathroom to get changed, I get undressed quickly and put on the mini dress, it hugged my body tight, I didn't even want to look at myself in the mirror. I knew I wasn't going.

I open the door, Tilly looks at me and the other girls were rushing around getting changed.

"You have to wear that, you look soooo hot"

I shrug my shoulders, not sure if I can believe that.

"Well we're ready and so are you..." she pauses "so we're going to head down now, it's up to you what you want to do okay? There's a drink by your bedside table if you change your mind" Tilly said trying to brave a smile, while the girls pulled up towards the door to leave, both a little a bummed I'm not going. They all give me a little wave and head out the door.

I sit down on the end of my bed, I take a deep breath in through my nose and back out. My thoughts spinning around in my head. I was tempted to go, but my thought would go back to Landon, and how he's treated me the last couple of days, what he's said. I just don't know if I could do it.

As my eyes wondered with my mind, my eyes catch the glimpse of my red up filled with liquid courage.

I'd lie if I didn't say I wasn't intrigued on what it tastes like, especially considering I'm not starving anymore and chained up in the basement, I stand up and walk over and grabbed a hold of the cup.

I don't think I even want to smell it, in one swell I take a gulp of my drink, I could feel it going down my throat and entering my body. I was waiting for the insanely sharp pain of the alcohol to hit my taste buds but it sort of didn't?

I mean I could taste the alcohol but it was mixed with some sort of soda, tasted lemony. I actually enjoyed the taste, it took me by surprise.

I keep a hold of my drink, taking another gulp as I walk over to the mirror, and since putting on my dress I have a look at what I look like.

I took another gulp, and the first thought I had in my head while I look at my body in this mini dress was; I don't like half as bad

I let out my messy ponytail and allow my hair to flow over my shoulders, it was messy but I couldn't be bothered brushing it. It sort of worked I thought at least. I take another gulp of my drink before I sit back down on my bed.

I could hear the slight base of the music rumbling through the walls of the bedroom, the light grumble of the song being sung by the students but wasn't loud enough for me to make out the words.

I'm not sure if it was the alcohol I just consumed but I was thinking about hopping into bed and just falling asleep but it's like my brain switched, all I could think and hear was the music downstairs.

But once again, flashed back to what Landon had told me. I could feel my blood boil and I was getting angry. Why am I letting him control my night, my mood.

I am sick of people controlling everything in my life. First my parents and now he thinks he can. Well I'm over that shit. If I'm going to be at this school, I'm going to do the things I want to do.

And not let some stupid, only shade colour wearing, moody man tell me I can't go to this house party.

I stand up, take one last big gulp of the drink to finish it completely. I take a deep breath in and back out to nestle my nerves, but I think the drink gave me a bit of a push out the door.

I definitely want to do this, I mean I'm nervous but I'm so tired of people controlling me, telling me what to do, trying to shove me down to anything that's small and tiny. And quite frankly I'm over it.

I open the door from our bedroom and already the muffled music got a little bit louder, still couldn't make out the words. I walk down the corridor towards the steps, with every step the music gets louder, the voices of the students singing and talking.

I reach the stairs and place my right hand on the rail, it was cold and gave me a shiver of goosebumps. I slowly step down each step, trying to analyse what I was about to walk into.

The kitchen was crowded with people, they were all talking and chattering away to each other. The bottles upon bottles of vodka, different sizes and colours and I'm sure different tastes.

There were snacks in between all the drinks, spread out in different bowls, lollies, chips, all sorts of different snacks. It was very messy and the food was getting spilled across the table every time a hand went in the bowl.

I had a couple steps to go, my eyes scanning the room. It was dark which didn't help me trying to look for the girls, the speakers were blasting music all through out the crowded area. The lights blaring through the room, changing colour with the beat of the music.

The room was hot and muggy, filled with people dancing around each other, making out and having drunk conversations with their mates.

I make it down to the last step, and slightly pause as I didn't know where to go, I couldn't see the girls. I noticed some boys looking at me, before they whispered to each other, it's like they looked at me up and down, before they turned back around to their group and started talking again.

I need another drink for me to get through this party.

I scan the room once more, looking for the girls but still no sight. I try and push through the crowded kitchen to grab myself a drink.

I get over to the kitchen counter, my hips hug the counter as it was so busy I had barely any room to move once I got there. I reach over to grab a bottle of clear vodka, at least I was learning the different types of alcohol there is. I grab the bottle and unscrew the lid, I grab an empty, clean red cup and place it next to me.

I pour a decent amount of vodka in and then went to reach for some Pepsi max to mix with it, but before I could grab it, another hand did.

"Hey new girl" I hear next to me and his body was squished next to me, I look up and see a boy standing there that I haven't seen before.

He had light brown brown hair, could even blonde but the room was so dark it's hard to tell, it was scruffy, and looked like he hasn't washed his hair in 2 weeks, I suppose a bit like mine when I got rescued from my parents.

"Do I know you?" I ask, even though I have clearly never seen this boy in my life, he was a couple centimetres taller then me and with the crowded kitchen, was very close to me, our bodies pretty much touching each other,

"No, but that's what makes it fun" he smirks slyly while pouring some of the Pepsi max into my cup until it reaches the top.

"Makes what fun?" I question, confused by his answer and I look up to him waiting for his response, as he hands me my drink and he picks up his own.

He laughs as he takes a sip of his own drink, "You know, what we get up to later in my bedroo-" he says rather quickly followed by a wink,

But before he could even finish his disgusting comment, a shoulder bumped into him purposely, making the boy spill his drink all over the front of his clean shirt.

"Shut up Mason" I spot Flynn come up beside me after he shouldered him, his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched, he looked disgusted.

"What the hell man, I was just talking to her" Mason replied back looking down at the red liquid soaking his white shirt, drips falling from his shirt to the floor,

"No, you were being a dick. Now I'd go clean yourself up otherwise you're going to struggle even more than you already do to get a girl to sleep with you" he gave him a slight push in the shoulder to make him walk away.

"Whatever, she's not even worth fighting you for" he mumbles under his breath as he backed away into the crowd and slowly disappearing, I chuckled at his little dig at me.

I've been called worse.

I turn to Flynn who had now replaced mason in where he was standing, but I had to look up to actually speak with him. He is so tall.

He was wearing light blue denim washed jeans with a white box oversized shirt, his hair was scruffy and the lights would hit his blue coloured eyes so easily.

His cologne was just the right amount, not too over powering but strong enough to smell when he's next to you, smelt of a sweet musk scent and it was divine.

"You okay?" He asks, his furrowed eyebrows returned to normal and his mad expression changed to a worried look,

He doesn't know half of what I've been through in my life, but I appreciated the check in. Feels nice, makes my body feel warm.

I laugh it off and smile, haven't really been asked if I'm okay before, "Yeah I'm fine" returning with a warm smile his way, his eyes looking deep into mine,

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't happy to see that you changed your mind" he lent down as he spoke so his head was near mine so I could hear him better, allowing my senses to get filled with his scent.

"I felt like I was missing out on all the fun" I reply, having to look away from his strong eye contact, I wasn't used to it, but I was enjoying it.

"Well then, we should go have some fun right? It is your first party with us after all" he says as his eyes turned off mine and looking down at my cup, instigating I take another drink.

And so I did.

"Follow me" he says as he walks past me, waiting for me to follow him. I could see his back muscles through his shirt as I followed him through the chattering crowd. Glances looking my way, from both boys and girls. The boys were just looking at me, up and down. But the girls were eyeing me and then realising I was with Flynn, and then couldn't take their eyes off him.

I take a big drink from my cup, the harsh alcohol sinking down my throat, the blaring music blasting in my ears, and the lights beaming through my eyes.

I wonder where he's taking me?

———

Authors note:

Hi hi hi! Thank you so much for reading this chapter!!! Are you enjoying the book? It's a very slow burn enemies to lovers book and lots of little mysteries in between!

Now that I've got some new readers, I'd love to hear where everyone is from?

I'm from Australia, so some words I use in the story might just be how we pronounce words, just so you all understand!

Anyway! Make sure to comment and hit the little like button on the chapter! It helps me out so much! Love you, thank you.

- A