-----------------------------------------------

I was feeling kinda lonely by myself. I stared down at my slippers as I walked around the pool for the fourth time.

I contemplated going upstairs to read, when something shiny caught my attention. I moved the pool noodle that was lying on top of it and picked it up. It was a butterfly necklace. Callie’s necklace!

I had to get it back to her before she started freaking out. After all, it was a gift from Demetri.

I glanced around the place until I spotted her fiery hair. She was with Demetri. I went over to them tentatively and tapped her shoulder.

Before she could say anything, I held out the necklace. Her eyes widened and she touched her neck, realizing that it was gone.

“Omg, thanks Liz!” she said, sweeping her hair to the side and handing it to Demetri to clasp around her neck.

“It’s nothing, Cals. I was just walking around and I was really surprised to find it-” I paused mid sentence as I caught sight of Demetri’s glare.

What was his problem?

I ignored him and turned back to Callie.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if I couldn’t find it,” she sighed.

I smiled. “I’m glad I found it because-”

“Um… Elizabeth?”

I turned to Demetri, who’d just spoken. He flashed me a small smile that I could tell was forced.

“Callie and I were in the middle of something.” He coolly dropped an arm around her shoulder. “You don’t mind, do you?"

“U-um… sure, no, it’s fine. I’ll talk to you later,” I stuttered as my face heated up in embarrassment.

She nodded and I turned and walked away. I probably deserved that.

I got back into my routine of walking around the pool deck, when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned to find a guy with dark hair and dark brown eyes. He was taller now, and more freckled, but I recognized him. Orion. What was he doing here?

I frowned as I faced him and he scratched his neck awkwardly. Orion was Melissa’s childhood friend and ex boyfriend. They had broken up a year before she met Trey. He wasn’t a bad guy, they just drifted apart.

The question was, why did he show up now?

“Hi, Elizabeth,” he said, offering me a small wave.

I waved back, still confused.

“I’ll just cut to the chase,” he sighed. “You’re probably busy with the party.”

Yeah, pool patrolling was hard work.

“I’m looking for Mel,” he said, wincing slightly when he saw my befuddled expression. “Let me explain,” he said hurriedly. “I just want to talk to her.”

“I mean I can’t stop you from seeing her,” I said slowly. “But you do know that she has a boyfriend now, right?”

He looked winded. “What? So I’m too late? She’s already taken?”

I nodded sympathetically. “Sorry.”

“I still want to talk to her,” he said, a determined gleam flashing in his eyes. “I’ve tried to stay away from her but… I just really need to talk to her again.”

I sighed and pointed him in Melissa’s direction. His face lit up with a thousand watt smile as he saw her. He thanked me and then picked his way through the crowd.

I smiled sadly. He shouldn’t get his hopes up. Melissa and Trey really liked each other and she was happy with him. I still didn’t know Trey that well, but he seemed like a really decent guy. And Melissa was a good judge of character, so I guess he was.

Orion wasn’t a bad guy, but maybe I should follow him in case he ended up causing a scene. He could be a little hot-headed sometimes. I decided to go after him, but was yanked back by someone.

I met Ashton’s irritated glare with a somewhat annoyed glare of my own.

“Yes?”

“Who is he?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It is my business.”

“Really?” I scowled. “How so?”

He scoffed. “It doesn’t matter. I thought you only knew one guy.”

“Talk to. I only talk to one guy. There’s a difference.”

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Can’t you just listen to me and stop talking to them?”

I pulled my arm away from him. “Maybe if you asked nicely, I might consider it.”

‘”I’m not a nice guy.”

“Wow, surprise of the century,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I think I figured that out, Sherlock."

He smirked. “Is that sarcasm, I hear?”

“Yeah, I’m bilingual.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Who cares what you like, Ashton?”

“You would.”

“I would not.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“You’re annoying.”

“You’re infuriating.”

He sighed and I huffed. Usually I would not even consider talking back to him, but after that scare earlier, my senses seemed to have gone on vacation. He would make school hell for me this week.

“Just for tonight,” he said slowly as if explaining to a child. “Just be the loner you always were tonight.”

He walked away, leaving me confused and newly irritated.

“I’ll do whatever I want,” I said to myself. “I’m a rebel now, so there’s no going back.”

I wandered inside the house to see how everything was going and to make sure nobody was wrecking the place. It would be hard to explain broken furniture to Callie’s parents.

People were making out and dancing and I almost tripped over something. I glanced down. It was a box of condoms. How very high school party.

“Heyyy there,” a guy slurred as he made his way over to me.

Another guy who had been standing beside him smiled and walked over too.

“You’re looking kinda lonely there.”

I ignored them and tried stepping past them, but the second guy blocked my way. They weren’t even from our school. I spotted a college jersey on the first guy. He looked half drunk.

He grinned at his friend and pointed to me. “She’s pretty cute.”

His friend was holding a drink, but he was obviously sober. Still, his eyes held a dangerous gleam. He laughed and picked up the box at my feet.

"You dropped this? Why don’t you come have some fun with us?”

I couldn’t go past them so I turned around and walked away as fast as I could. They tried to follow me, but luckily I lost them in the crowd. That was unsettling. I shook my mind, trying to clear it of those two creeps.

I just realized how stuffy and congested inside the room had been as I stepped into the cool night air. I inhaled deeply. I didn’t want to go back into the house and run into those guys. I was feeling pretty lonely now, though. Too bad I had left my phone in Callie’s room.

I could feel Ashton’s burning gaze on me and it was starting to get on top of my nerves. I sat by the edge of the pool and dipped my feet in. I looked over in his direction. His eyes were glued to me.

Because of that, I had now attracted the attention of his girlfriend, Nicole. She narrowed her eyes at me and I looked away from Ashton.

I didn’t need her or her cheerleader drama in my life right now. I just wanted to have a nice night. Melissa and Callie probably thought I was hanging out with Kevin right now.

Speaking of Kevin, where was he? I’d walked around the pool a million times tonight and I hadn’t seen him. He was probably inside the house.

“Fight!” someone yelled.

There was a lot of excited shouting and I was almost stampeded as people rushed out of the pool to see what was happening. I’d have been Mufasa’d if I hadn’t jumped back in time. Poor Mufasa, RIP.

I wasn’t interested in the fight, but I was curious to see who was trying to ruin our party. I spotted Melissa, who was screaming frantically at someone to help.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Orion was on top of Trey handing out punch after punch. He looked furious.

I knew I should have followed him. I sighed and tried making my way over to them, but it was no use. The crowd was too thick.

Trey managed to flip Orion over onto his stomach and pinned his hands behind him.

“I still have feelings for you, Mel,” Orion sighed as he realized he had lost the fight.

“Orion, you’re my friend,” Melissa whispered. “I don’t want us to change that again. I like Trey, he makes me happy. Can’t you understand that?”

“I’m going to let you up,” Trey said slowly. “But you’re going to have to leave. You had your chance.”

Orion glared at the ground in silence and Trey released him. He gave Melissa a last sad look and muttered a ‘sorry’, before turning away and slinking through the crowd. They parted to make way for him and Melissa ran over to Trey, who stood up shakily. He had a bloody nose and his jaw was bruised, but he smiled at her.

She smiled back. “Are you okay?”

“As long as I have you, then I am.”

She hugged him. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t seem that badly injured. I’d go get him an ice pack then. I turned to leave, but was greeted by the two guys from earlier. I groaned.

“Why’d you run off like that?” the drunk one pouted. He threw his now empty cup on the floor.

Okay, first, that was littering. One of my pet peeves. Like there was literally a bin a few feet away from him.

“Don’t be shy,” his friend said, wiggling his eyebrows. “We just want to get to know you better.”

“No thanks,” I told them in annoyance. “Please leave me alone.”

He chuckled. “Relax. Why don’t you take this off?” He pulled at my cover up.

I swatted his hand away. “Stop.”

“Don’t be like that,” the drunk one giggled and slapped my butt. I scoffed in disbelief at how rude they were being. Couldn’t they see that I clearly wasn’t interested?

He tried to reach for me again and it was after I felt the stinging sensation in my palm that I realized I’d just slapped him. Apparently, as hard as I could. His neck was still turned to the side and he seemed to sober up immediately.

“Don’t try anything like that on me or anyone else,” I spat. “When someone says no, they mean it!”

“You b*tch!” the friend yelled, pushing me with all the energy he had. Which was a lot.

I stumbled backwards and I didn’t realize that I was that close to the edge of the pool. I tried to keep my balance as I felt my foot touch the edge, but it was too slippery and I lost my footing and fell right in.

It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I had known how to swim. It would have been even better if this wasn’t the deep end.

I flailed around in the water, trying to come up to the surface. Every time I thought I was floating upwards, I would just sink back down. I didn’t even get to take a breath and now my lungs were burning. The water invaded my nostrils as I fought to hold my breath.

Bubbles of air escaped my lips and rose to the surface as the water enveloped me, weighing me down. I must look pretty ungraceful right now.

I reached out my hand as my vision started to blur and darken. Was this really the end? But what about my family? My friends? Med school?

At least it wasn’t dark. There were little lights at the bottom of the pool. Did anyone even realize that I fell in? Maybe not… they were all too excited about the fight.

Here ends my life as a rebel. It wasn’t particularly fun though.

I felt arms latch onto my waist and pull me closer. Then we were going up.

I must have blacked out for a moment because when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t remember the last thing that happened. I coughed violently, feeling like I was throwing up. Oh, it was only water.

“Hey, can you hear me?!”

I blinked again and then stared up at my hero.

Kevin.

I smiled. “You came back.”

“Shh,” he quieted me. “You’re okay now.”

“I was so worried,” Callie sobbed, kneeling beside me. Melissa was there too, her face clouded with relief.

“You need to go to the hospital,” Kevin said, gently picking me up.

“Rebels don’t go the hospital,” I murmured, and then everything went dark again.

-----------------------------------------------