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“Sure, let’s. After an hour I might just run into Asher, in that case.”
Eve’s brother would make sure she went home if I couldn’t get her to leave when she said she would.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You wouldn’t.”
“I wouldn’t test that theory.” I smiled as I started on my fries.
The hot, salty goodness soothed my ragged nerves. I decided not to tell Eve about the weird incident in the parking lot. I didn’t feel like I came off very well in it. It left me unsettled, like a jagged tooth I couldn’t stop running my tongue over. Eve didn’t notice that anything was up as she filled me in on the latest gossip about the popular kids in our grade. I might not talk to half of them, but I knew who they were. I laughed until my sides ached. I wished we could just stay here, eating fast food and talking shit. I didn’t want to go to a party where I’d feel awkward and weird. I didn’t want to creep around, avoiding Eve’s brother. I didn’t want to wear this dress.
Stop being a buzzkill.It’s only an hour.
Right. I could do anything for an hour.Right?
Maybe if I kept repeating it, it would come true.
Lily
The party wasat Beckett Anderson’s house, a place high on a bluff overlooking the entire town. The area was as exclusive as you could get in Hade Harbor, and considering how wealthy the little Maine town was, that was saying something. Beckett’s father was a billionaire, and he let his son throw as many parties as he wanted while he traveled abroad on business. It seemed like Beckett’s father traveled more than he was in Hade Harbor, considering how many ragers had taken place this year at the big mansion at the edge of the ocean.
Tonight, the road leading to Beckett’s house was already packed with cars. Partygoers drifted up the road toward the building at the top, which shone like a beacon through the drizzly night. I parked where I could find a spot, at least a five-minute walk from the house.
“Damn, my hair is going to get wet,” Eve worried. She had waist-length, black tumbling curls that, wet or not, always looked perfect.
“I have an umbrella. You take it,” I offered, pulling it out from the backseat.
“Let’s share.”
We got out of the car, and I immediately felt ridiculous in my skin-tight outfit. I never dressed like this. I barely glanced in the mirror when I was getting in the shower. The dress showed way more of me than I was even familiar with. I was not a sexy person. It was something I’d slowly come to terms with. Other girls, my best friend included, had filled out in all the right places and become more and more magnetic to look at, while I felt like I’d gone the other way. I was awkward, with knobby elbows and continually scraped knees. I was all freckled limbs and red hair that had never darkened to auburn, and a smile that showed too many teeth. I’d made my peace with that as much as any seventeen-year-old girl, about to turn eighteen, could.
Still, I’d come this far, and I’d promised Eve. I gritted my teeth against the cool night air and the rain hitting my legs and wrapped my thin jacket around me. It was only a little wet from my fall earlier, and it was better than nothing. Nothing was going to save my hair, already working itself into red, limp strands snaking over my shoulders.
Eve looped her arm through mine and positioned the umbrella over our heads, making sure that we were both getting at most one shoulder wet. Together, we started up the road to the house. As we drew closer, music thumped in the still night air.
“Ah, I can’t believe we’re really here!” Eve grinned.
Nerves were growing thicker in my belly as we approached. “Remind me again who invited us?”
“Winter DeLaurie.”
“Winter? The cheerleader? Why would she invite us?”
Eve shrugged. “She’s nicer than she seems.”
“She seems like the anti-Christ, so that’s comforting to know.”
We walked through huge metal gates. They’d been left open so the crowd could drift through with ease. There was an enormous courtyard in front of the mansion. I craned my neck to look up at the house that Beckett Anderson called home. It seemed impossible that a student at my school lived in such luxury. Not only that, but he was also an Ice God. The Ice Gods were three of the best players for the Hade Harbor Hellions, the hockey team my father coached. Not only did they rule the team, but they ruled the school, too. They were beautiful and terrible. Callous, arrogant, and, at times, even cruel. No one wanted to get on their bad side. I seemed to have a pass, probably thanks to being the coach’s daughter. Eve also had a pass, since her brother was an Ice God.
“Okay, are you ready to do this?” Eve asked once we climbed the shiny white stone steps to the massive front doors.
“If I said no, could we go home?”
“Hilarious.” Eve pushed her shoulders back and smiled. “How do I look?”
“Perfect,” I murmured.
She really did. Eve and Asher had won the genetic lottery. They were dark and stunning, with caramel skin and black hair. Eve was easily the most beautiful girl in school, though she never acted like it. She’d have been popular for her appearance alone, if not for her overprotective brother warning everyone away from her and the stain that her address brought. While Asher was exempt from judgement, being an Ice God, Eve wasn’t so lucky. Hade Harbor students were snobby as hell, and my father’s attitude toward my friendship with Eve was a perfect example.
She’s a nice girl, but her family…I don’t want you hanging around that part of town with those kinds of people.
