I had to suffer through a lecture from my mom before leaving the house, and it lasted way longer than necessary. She should know by now that her daughter was pretty tamed when it came to parties. I would be the one getting kicked out for being lame and all-around boring.

Pulling my phone out, I checked in on my blog. I posted something about school bullying a few days ago, and it's been accumulating a decent amount of views. There weren't many comments, but that was fine. I scrolled through them, replying to as many as possible before reaching the bottom.

A person with the name Lonelystar commented again. They were one of my most loyal readers, and I looked forward to hearing their feedback.

If I could meet them in person, I would. I wanted to know if they went to my school or did they live out of state? Were they a teenager with some dumb dream like mine?

Lonelystar: I'm guessing this has something to do with those idiots that vandalized that one dude's locker the other day. That wasn't cool.

Wait a minute. They actually went to my school!

I like your stance on bullying and how you're trying to bring awareness. Your blog has more substance than most, and you deserve more credit. This post was written better than half of the articles in that crappy local newspaper. And...

"Turn left, and in three hundred feet, your destination is on the left." The navigation system said. My head snapped up, looking out the window.

Rosie borrowed her dad's car to drive us to the party so she wouldn't rely only on our cellphone and Google maps. We rarely traveled to this side of town, so odds were that we would have gotten lost.

I closed my tab and made a mental note to later return to this blog stuff.

The only parking left was down the street from Abbi's house, so we had to walk up. I wore these wedge heels that the girls swore completed my outfit perfectly. I had disagreed but wore it anyway. I was regretting it already; I felt awkward dressing up like this, and I didn't want Jason to think I was trying to impress him.

I wiped my hands on my red floral sundress. Then I adjusted the skinny straps once more before tucking my side bang behind my ear.

"Stop it! You look hot," Kenny told me.

"I didn't want to look hot. I wanted to look like myself," I grumbled back.

Rosie giggled. "Don't you always tell me to step out of my comfort zone every once in a while?

Kenny snorted, holding in her laughter. I glared at her back.

I poked Rosie's side. "Not the time to throw my own words back at me." I scowled jokingly.

She wrinkled her nose, and I cracked a smile.

"We'll help you find Jason, then hand you over," Kenny informed me.

My smile vanished. "Gee, thanks," I muttered. I wasn't sure if I would be comfortable being alone with him. I felt like we would need a buffer or two until he felt comfortable enough to open up to me.

Kenny and Rosie looped their arms around mine, flanking me. "Come on, don't be like that. We'll be creepy and watch from a distance. If you need a reason to escape, start twirling the tip of your bang, and we'll swoop in." Kenny tugged on my hair.

"I'll dramatically start crying about my goldfish dying or something, and then we can leave," Rosie told me. I knew she was serious because that girl could fake cry in a snap. It was almost scary how she could go from smiling sweetly to puppy dog eyes filled with tears.

When we made it to the house, I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled through my mouth. Well, here goes nothing.

Abbi's house looked exactly how I expected, like new money and a waste of money. There were these random statues around the yard and this glittering stone driveway.

Marble steps led up to the front doors. Great, more walking obstacles.

Rosie gingerly skipped up the stairs to ring the doorbell, and some guy opened the door. He had a crazy resemblance to Abigail. It must be her older brother or maybe a cousin.

He looked Rosie up and down, sipping on a can of what appeared to be a can of bud light. Don't tell me this will be one of those cliché High school parties with booze that got snuck because her parents are out of town. "Hey, cutie. Please tell me you're legal."

"Why would you do that?"

"So I could chat you up."

"You smell like beer, and you dress like you got your clothes out of a dumpster."

Kenny busted out laughing. I tried to contain a mine.

He looked down at his shirt and pants. "This is the Yeezus collection. You know fash-shun." He pulled the collar of his shirt.

"You know gar-bage," Rosie fired back.

He stared at Rosie in disbelief. If he thought his name-brand clothes were going to catch her eye, he was wrong. "Never mind, you're not that cute after all. Come in, girls. Enjoy the night or whatever." He stepped back to let us in.

"Who are you, by the way," Kenny asked when we stepped in.

"Abbi's brother, Dustin. I'm a sophomore in college."

I eyed the beer in his hands. He caught me.

"A buddy of mine hooked me up. He even added a little something to the lemonade. You're welcome."

"Leave my guests alone! You're like dirt old," Abbi said, popping out of one of the rooms. "There's how many hundreds of girls on campus." She waved us over.

"I'm nineteen!" he told her like she needed a reminder.

She ignored him, and we did too.

"Welcome, girls. Glad you could make it." I couldn't tell if she was being genuine or not.

Rosie rolled her eyes, Kenny forced a polite grin, and I didn't do either.

"Follow me," Abbi led us down a hall. We couldn't hear any music, nor did we see any faces. Is a party supposed to be this quiet?

We went down a set of spiral stairs to the basement. "So there's a bathroom down that hall and around the corner. That door leads to the backyard. And here is the party." She opened these two double doors.

The sound of the music hit us, and a crowd of people came into view. Some looked in our direction, and others continued to keep themselves.

"This area is soundproof. That's why you couldn't hear any music until just now."

We all nodded.

"It was my idea. I could throw parties as loud as I wanted without bothering the neighbors or my parents. They're out of town, by the way, so drink all the booze you can enjoy." She pointed to the table across the room.

"I'd give you girls the tour, but I'll leave you three to explore on your own." Abigail sashayed off in her little ballerina-looking cocktail dress.

"Okay then," I mumbled, taking in the groups of people huddled together.

"There looks like a game room is down there." Rosie pointed to our far left, and Jason suddenly stepped into our line of vision. I pretended not to see him. I wasn't ready to step over there just yet.

"How about we get...." I thought of something that wouldn't be compromised. "A can of soda." I hauled them with me.

"Am I the only one who expected this party to have like prom feel with a crap ton of balloons and streamers? Maybe even some fluorescent lighting."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the warm lights in the room started to fade to black. Then it flickered to a deep blue, purple, and so on. The music switched too from some techno music to Ariana Grande.

"Never mind," Kenny said quickly, taking back her previous statement.

I grabbed three cans of sprite off the table.

"Oh, I spot your man," Rosie said.

My heart sped up. "Ca..." I stopped myself midsentence. My eyes scanned the area. It took me a moment to realize Rosie was talking about my so-called "date." "Can you stop calling him that?" I hoped my almost mistake went over their heads.

Kenny smirked. Therefore I knew it didn't. Dang, it.

"Go get him." Kenny gave me a push in his direction. "We'll be here rooting you on." That was a lie.

"Fighting!" Rosie said with her fist.

I gave them a tight smile, slowly making my way over to Jason and his buddies across the room. That felt like the longest walk of my life.

Jason called out my name as I got closer, and to my surprise, he ran over to hug me. I stood stiffly in his arms.

"Hey," I said.

He stepped back, and his eyes took me in. "Hi, you look good."

"Thanks." I would have said the same to him, but he was in Adidas joggers and a white polo shirt. It wasn't a good look for him, but okay.

"I see you got a drink already."

I nodded awkwardly. "Yup."

"That's cool. Let's take a seat on the couch and chat with the guys."

"Sure," I replied, letting him pull me behind him.

Jason introduced me to the friends I didn't know. To the ones I already knew, I just waved.

It was weird seeing them as a group without Cam being present.

How good of friends could they have been if they dropped Cam as soon as they heard some bad news about him. Did none of them care to think there must have been an alternative reason why Cam acted out of character? How could they all believe it was out of jealousy or whatever the rumors claimed?

I hadn't known Cam as long as these guys, but I still believed in him. He hadn't given many reasons to, but I knew him well enough not to need any.

Jason and I took a seat on the couch while he and the guys launched into a conversation about the upcoming hockey season.

Now that was something I could roll with.

I took my phone out of my cross-body bag. Double checking that no one had their eyes on me, I hit that nifty record button before slipping the phone back in.

I angled my body towards Jason and smiled, flipping a few locks of hair over my shoulder. "So y'all must be happy that Cam is out of the picture. Now someone else could be voted captain."

"Serves him right. He was always acting like the shit." One guy whose name I couldn't remember said. He was on the hockey team, and if I remember correctly, he and Cam never got along. I couldn't tell you why, though.

This guy was always on the bench, barely getting playtime. If anything, I'd say he was jealous, which made him an instant suspect.

"I didn't wish for his downfall or anything, but it's weird to see how people act when they become public enemy number one." Some guy to my left replied. He wasn't a teammate but probably just a gossip.

The few teammates surrounding Jason were kind of quiet, as if they couldn't be bothered with the conversation.

"Any thoughts on who the new cap will be?" I asked my question to whoever would answer.

Jason puffed out his chest. "I have some ideas."

Of course, you did.

I knew it hadn't been decided if Cam would play for the team this year. But I also knew the guys and half of the school were strongly against it.

"I can't imagine the look on his face when he sees me living his dream. It'll be priceless." Jason swirled the leftover contents of the drink in the can.

"You want to get revenge that bad?"

He laughed. "Why not? He nearly tore my family apart with his stupid, no-good antics. It's the least I could do." I gulped down a few sips of his drink.

I nodded slowly. "You think all the things happening to Cam is what? His Karma?

"Sure is."

"So the stuff that happened with his locker was justified?" I asked him in a lower tone than before.

Jason gripped the can in their hands tighter.

I think I might be on to something.

Prepared to fire a round of questions at him, I opened my mouth, but Jason loudly and randomly about some other guy stuff I wasn't interested in.

Seeing the conversation taking a turn, I decided to wait until I got him alone to pry some more info out of him.

After about fifteen minutes or so, I decided that I was bored. I wasn't the one to beg for attention, but you'd think that when you asked someone to be your date for the night, you'd want to talk to them more than the guys you see every single day.

One of the guys dragged me into a conversation about a research paper due at the end of the year and asked if I had a topic already.

I told him "no," not unless I could research the stress of being a senior in high school with inconsiderate teachers and the ridiculous pressure to grow up while somehow remaining a kid. I meant we had to worry about college applications, college essays, open house tours, and a million other things.

He laughed at my mini-rant and then told me how his mom was on his case about not applying to ten colleges instead of three. He only had three options, and he felt like he had an excellent chance to get into all of them.

I had four options, but I think I had it narrowed down to two that I wanted to attend.

This guy was at least nice enough to attempt to hold a conversation with me. But Jason didn't seem to like that, so he threw his hand over mine possessively, steering the conversation to something new again.

More painfully boring minutes trickled by, and I was staring at the refreshments table, wanting an excuse to get away.

"I'm going to grab another drink." I jumped to my feet without waiting to hear if he had something to say before rushing off.

Disappointedly, I turned off the phone recorder. I would have left my purse there to see if I could catch something else, but I didn't want to risk it getting stolen or misplaced.

Rosie and Kenny weren't where I left them, but I heard shouting from the games room. I recognized the voice.

Kenny was holding up a pool stick, pointing it at this guy. "Don't be such a sore loser. You acted like you bet money on this game, or are you just upset that your winning streak is coming to an end?" she tilted her head with a mischievous smirk.

"Stop causing trouble," Rosie said with a concern creasing her forehead.

"Fine." Kenny rolled her eyes. "I'm out." She handed the stick to someone else and told them to have fun.

They found me standing a few feet behind them, leaning against the wall with my second can of sprite.

Their faces were blank. "We're guessing it's not going well, is it?" Rosie pointed out.

"What gave it away?" I said sarcastically, popping open my can and taking a long sip. "I need my girls to help make me feel like tonight won't be a total bust."

"Sure thing!" Kenny spoke first, already jumping into rescue mode.

First, we grabbed a couple more drinks, snacks and then found some chairs in the far corner.

I gave the rundown of the worst date of my life.

I watched them think of possible reasons why Jason was completely ignoring me.

"It's only ten, and I'm already over the night. A good hot shower, pizza, and a studio Ghibli film are exactly what I need right now." I rose to my feet. "Well, that and a bathroom." I gave my drink to Rosie. "BRB."

I headed to where I remembered Abigail saying the bathroom. Luckily the door was wide open, so I didn't have to worry about knocking. A few minutes later, I made my exit and heard Jason talking to someone.

Curse my nosey tendencies. I chose to eavesdrop. I couldn't see who he was talking to, but I knew he was talking about me. Awesome.

"Yeah, I only asked her here to piss off Cam. She was his girl, and I don't want to make her mine, but if it makes him feel like I was giving him the huge middle finger, I should keep her around."

Ha. Bold of you to assume I'd want to be kept by you.

Jason was always making a fuss about how Cam had changed, but so has he. I didn't remember him being this petty and arrogant. He used to seem kind of decent. He had to be if he hung out with Cam.

Jason's major flaw was that he kept going back to Abigail when neither of them took their relationship seriously.

"Can't get what Cam liked about her. She comes off as a prude, honestly."

The devil on my shoulder wanted me to throw my heel at him, but the angel fought back hard. I quietly walked back to the party, overly eager to tell the girls I was ready to go home.

The party portion of the night had finally started, and the lights were flashing like I imagined they would at a rave.

I had to maneuver my way through, trying to find the girls again, when I felt a hand grasp my arm.

"Hey, let's dance," Jason shouted over the music.

I loved to dance, but I didn't want to dance with him.

"No thanks. I think I'll pass." He frowned. "You're not having fun with me, are you?"

Of course not, you idiot! I stifled my anger, not wanting to make a scene.

"Oh no," My voice cracked like it sometimes does when I lie. I cleared my throat. "I'm having a great time."

"Then give me one dance." Jason wasn't asking anymore. I was pulled onto the dance floor.

I didn't blink when I saw him break out into some atrocious moves. I kept it simple, swaying from side to side until he pulled himself up against me. His hands were resting a bit low on the backside.

"Okay." I smiled, sliding his hands down and off of me. "We don't have to dance like that. Let's stick to those moves you were doing before."

"You don't want me to touch you?" Jason so stupidly placed his hands back on me.

I laughed under my breath in disbelief. If I had to tell him one more time...

Jason spoke low enough for only me to hear. "Would you be so against the placement of my hands if they were Cam's?"

I gave him a slight push.

"You..." He started but then stopped. His eyes went to someone behind me.

I twisted my upper body. Cam was less than a foot away, glowering at Jason.

"Cam," I breathed his name.

His eyes locked with mine, and suddenly his fingers encircled my hand. "Let's go."