**New Chapter**Created- 07.07.21

(Yes this story is complete. I've been re-editing the story and adding things to it though and found this chapter I had taken out. I'm thinking about adding a few new chapters but I want your feedback as to if I should or not? Keep adding to the story or leave it how it is? Hmm...decisions decisions...)

Kent tossed me my zip up hoodie before grabbing his own shirt. For once we were both waking up at the same time for classes. It was nice to have Kent in the room with me for once in the morning, but also felt weird getting dressed with him in the room as well.

"Don't you have that test today in bio?" Kent asked, pulling his shirt over his head and I stole one last peek at him before he was completely covered.

"Yeah unfortunately, I feel like I didn't study enough," I mumbled, facing my dresser and pulling out a pair of socks. Kent took a few steps towards me, reaching out to brush my hair from my back over my shoulder. Before either one of us could say another word, something slammed against our window, causing both of us to jump.

"What the hell?" Kent rushed to our window to glance outside. It was pouring rain and extremely windy, small branches and debris were flying through the air. "I didn't know it was supposed to storm,"

"Do you think-" I wasn't able to finish my sentence before the lights flickered off and all power went out. "Kent!"

Suddenly Kent's hand was grabbing my arm and pulling me into him, soft laughter escaping his throat in the darkness.

"You're not scared of the dark are you?" Even though I couldn't see his face I knew the exact expression he had at the moment.

"Hey! Everyone get downstairs!" We heard Charlie start yelling from in the hallway before he started kicking open doors. Everyone was using their phone's flashlights to navigate out of our rooms and down the hall. Kent stayed right behind me the whole time, holding onto the bottom of my t-shirt, down the stairs and into the large recreational room in the lobby of our dorm.

When we got down there we saw Mr. Finn, standing on one of the coffee tables and holding two flashlights. I heard Kent take a sharp breath in before grabbing me by the waist and pulling me behind him, out of Mr. Finn's view.

"Chunk, get over here," Kent whispered to Chunk who only stood a few feet away from us. Chunk understood the mission without Kent having to say anything. I hadn't felt like my time at this school could possibly be at stake until now, knowing the boys were hiding me from Mr. Finn to avoid further questions. Whether me staying in the boys dorm was a mix up or not, I didn't want to move anymore. Even if a room in the girls dorm opened, I wanted to stay with Kent.

"Alright, everyone listen up! Quiet down!" Mr. Finn's loud voice called out and slowly everyone stopped talking, "Obviously the power is out, I don't know how long it's going to be out so don't ask me. We are being instructed by the Principal to stay indoors at all times, do not attempt to leave the building. All classes are cancelled for today so I would use today as a study day, a day to catch up on reading and all of your classes,"

Mr. Finn gave the group of boys a pointed look, knowing that none of them were going to be getting any studying done today. Taking a deep breath, looking more tired and annoyed than anything, Mr. Finn rubbed his temples before continuing.

"Don't burn the building down," Mr. Finn promptly nodded, hopped off the coffee table and walked out the front doors, into the storm.

"Didn't he just say we aren't supposed to go outside?" Jayden asked loudly, the group of boys bursting in laughter while Sid locked the front doors of the building.

"Now that no one can get in or out," Sid announced, turning to the boys and I with an excited smile, "It's time to party!"

Loud cheers erupted through the sea of boys before everyone scattered. It was scary how everyone seemed to know what to do in this moment, like they had trained for this. A group of boys led by Chunk were pushing up the ceiling tiles and handing down bottles of alcohol, while Kent, Charlie and Ryan pulled out three tables from one of the closets. Jayden and Jace had ran upstairs to grab two dozen red solo cups and Sid returned from the office with three cases of Coors Light beer.

"What about mixers?" I asked Kent quietly when I had a moment. The boys were setting up one table as the bar, with all the hard alcohol and beer. Another group was setting up one of the tables for Beer Pong and the other table was being used for Flip Cup.

"Dylan is taking care of that," Kent reassured me. One of the freshman boys, a face that looked familiar but I didn't know his name, stumbled up to us and handed Kent a large brown paper bag.

"I know you said you weren't much of a beer or whiskey drinker so," Kent set the large bag on the table and pulled out a 5th of Huckleberry Vodka and a six pack of Mikes Hard Lemonades. "I hope you like this stuff,"

"When I woke up this morning I definitely didn't expect to get drunk," I hugged Kent from the side, examining the flavor options I had, "Thank you, are you going to share these with me?"

"Whatever you're willing to share with me,"

Within a half hour the rec room had transformed into a rave scene. A lot of boys had camping lanterns they had brought from home, a few candles were lit around the room and most students still had their flashlights on, but the lighting was still bad.

"Who's ready for some Beer Pong?" Charlie called out, looking over at me with a bright smile. A few of the others cheered, grabbing their drinks and huddling around the table to watch.

"I call Sadie," Kent called out as Charlie made his way to the table, looking annoyed.

"I've never played this before, I doubt you want me as your partner," Kent just smiled down at me and pulled me into his side.

"I'll play with Charlie!" Squid burst out of the crowd, way too excited, and stood on the opposite end of the table with a grumpy Charlie standing next to him.

Kent ran through the rules quickly and before long the intense game began. I had played sports most of my life but nothing compared to having ten guys yelling in your face to watch your elbow while you tried to shoot a ping pong ball into a red solo cup at the end of the table.

In the end Kent and I beat Charlie and Squid pretty bad, with Kent leading the team of course. I was starting to feel tipsy after finishing the second drink Kent had made me so I decided to sit out for the next game.

"Then I'm stealing Kent as my partner," Charlie said, pushing Squid away from him.

"Like old times huh?" Kent laughed, walking over to stand next to Charlie.

"You guys are like 16 years old, what 'old times'? When you were in diapers?" Squid mocked Kent and Charlie, causing a few others to laugh before Squid was being pelted with ping pong balls and screaming.

Out of nowhere Dylan was tumbling down on the couch next to me, laughing and looking a little flush. Actually, most of the guys were looking a little flush in the dim lighting. Maybe it's because they all had dove straight into the hard liquor instead of sticking with beer.

"Sssadie, how are...you?" Dylan slurred, smiling up at me. He sunk deeper into the couch, leaning his head against my arm and sighing loudly.

"I'm good, are you doing alright?" I asked and Dylan giggled, shaking his head slightly.

"I'm just ssslightly tipssssy, thats it," Dylan managed to mumble while still giggling.

"Light weight," Kent called out, he was looking over at the two of us from the beer pong table and laughing. Before he turned his attention back to the game he winked at me.

Suddenly Dylan gasped from beside me.

"Did Kent jussst wink at me?" Dylan asked, glaring over at Kent who wasn't paying attention to us anymore.

"No, no, I think that was for me Dylan," I couldn't help but laugh, my face feeling a little tingly and light.

"Ooooh," Dylan drawled out, sitting up to stretch lazily before plopping down next to me again and using my arm as a pillow. "He soooo likes you Sssadie,"

I leaned over, looking down at Dylan who's eyes were half open. It could only be maybe noon, he was in for a rough day from the looks of it. He was drunk, he didn't know what he was saying.

"Dylan! Stop being a little bitch!" Squid yelled from the flip cup table, a red welt from one of the ping pong balls thrown by either Kent or Charlie on his left cheek.

Dylan snapped up from where he was sitting and, with a new wave of energy he mustered from who knows where, jumped from the couch to go join his buddies playing flip cup. I carefully stood up and decided it was time for another drink, I hadn't been crazy in a while anyway.

Sid smiled at me while he poured me another Huckleberry Vodka and Sprite drink, but when he handed me the drink he didn't let go.

"He hasn't been able to keep his eyes off of you," Sid whispered, staring at me before glancing over at Kent who had just turned his attention back to the beer pong table. Sid stifled a smirk.

"You're imagining things Sid," I rolled my eyes and pulled my drink out of his hand. Sid held his hands up in front of his chest in defense.

"Whatever you say Princess, a lot can happen behind closed doors though, hm?" Sid shrugged and laughed at my expression before starting to make another drink for Chunk.

Maybe it was the poor lighting that was making me see things but ever since Sid made that comment I caught Kent glancing at me often. I tried to play a couple games of flip cup but I was so terrible no one wanted me on their team and I wasn't up to play another game of beer pong.

"Could you believe we'd be in 5th period right now?" Ryan slurred, throwing his arm around my shoulder and leaning against me with most of his body weight.

"Really? Is it 2 already?" We had been drinking since 9 this morning when Mr. Finn had made the announcement. Ryan nodded with a sassy 'mhmmm' before he flopped on the couch and started singing to himself.

I looked around the dark room, seeing a lot of boys still partying hard. I wasn't seeing Kent though, maybe he had gone back up to the room.

The party wasn't stopping anytime soon so I got up and made my way over to the drink table to mix up another drink for myself. This time I wouldn't make it as strong though.

"Hey, how's it going?" A deep voice slurred from behind me. I turned around, holding my fresh drink in my hands and stared up at the guy. He looked familiar, I had definitely seen him around school before but I didn't know his name.

"Hi," I responded, starting to walk away from the table but the guy stepped in front of me, forcing me to take a couple steps back into the corner to create some space. I glanced around the crowded but dark room, looking for Kent or Charlie or Chunk, anyone at this point. No one seemed to notice anything.

"You're Sadie right?" The guy took another step towards me, he stunk like cigarettes and whiskey. Were people smoking in the dorms too?

"Uh, yeah," My grip tightened around my red solo cup, almost spilling some of it while I continued to stare up at the guy. He towered over me, like most of the guys did, but there was something in his eyes that made my stomach tighten. He was obviously drunk.

"Heard there was a girl livin' in the dorm but I haven't had the pleasure of introducin' myself yet," He continued to slur, holding out a shaky hand but I didn't move an inch. His eyes darkened. "Why does Agather think he can keep all the fun to himself anyway?"

The guy took another step forward, his other hand reaching out to grab the back of my neck. Before I had time to think about anything I was dumping my drink all over the front of the guy and shoving his chest as hard as I could. He let out a loud string of curse words as he tumbled to the ground and I stomped on his crotch before sprinting towards the stairs. Most of the guys didn't even bother looking around to see what was happening. I couldn't think straight, all I knew was that I needed to get away. I needed to keep running.

The stair well was pitch black, the soft glow from the candles in the lobby disappearing as the heavy metal door slammed shut behind me. I used my hands to guide me to the stairs and began stumbling up to my floor. I fell quite a bit, my shins and knees scraping against the edges, my palms stung from catching myself so many times. Finally I reached the top of the stairs, before going up to the roof top, and burst into the hallway.

My chest was tight and stung badly, from panicking and sprinting up eight flights of stairs I'm sure. Instead of going to my room I went straight to the bathrooms, I doubt anyone would be up here right now. Trying to catch my breath, I slowed down so I wouldn't slip on the slick floor in the bathroom. A wave of relief washed over me when I didn't hear anyone else in the showers, although it was still dark I could vaguely make out shadows, thanks to the small window in the corner letting in a small amount of light.

I ripped on the water, turning it all the way to scalding hot and stepped under the flow without waiting for it to warm up. I crumpled down, hugging my knees to my chest and letting the water soak into my hair and clothes, finally allowing the tears to fall freely. A few, eerily quiet moments drug on before I heard someone running down the hallway. They were getting closer.

My heart rate picked back up again, it felt like it was going to break out of my ribcage and my breathing sped up as well, I began gasping. Should I try to hide? Should I even move?

I wanted to move but I couldn't, my feet were suddenly cinder blocks, they were already in the bathroom now anyway.

"Sadie, where the hell are you?" Something inside of me instantly relaxed when I heard it was Kent. His footsteps got louder and louder until suddenly he was right behind me, I could feel him towering over me. Even if I wanted to say something back, I couldn't seem to form any words.

Kent didn't say anything else, instead I felt him moving closer before he was sitting down behind me, both of his legs wrapped around mine and his arms crossed over my arms and knees, pulling me into his chest. His grip tightened around me, holding me closer than ever and resting his cheek against the top of my head.

I stayed still, completely still, almost afraid that if I moved this wouldn't be real and Kent wouldn't be here holding me in the showers. Kent was sitting behind me, allowing the water to soak his clothes and not bothered by it one bit. Kent wasn't bothered by my panic attack.

"It's okay Sadie, I'm here," Kent continued to whisper, rocking both of us back and forth slowly, "Everything's going to be okay now,"

Finally, allowing myself to relax against Kent, my breathing was becoming more stable and the internal shaking I felt was beginning to fade. Slowly.

"Do you want to tell me what happened at all?" Kent asked after about ten minutes of just listening to the water flow over us in the darkness. I slowly shook my head against his chest. Kent sighed, lifting his head to rest his chin on the top of my head and loosened his grip. Gently he began rubbing circles on my arms, still rocking back and forth.

I didn't want to tell Kent what had happened, what if he thought I was flirting with the guy first? What if Kent and that guy were good friends and he believed him over what I say? I'd rather not say anything then.

"It worries me when you have these moments," Kent finally muttered, bending his knees to cross them around the two of us, moving my body on top of his lap instead of the tile floor, "My mom used to have moments like this, she'd lock herself in the bathroom with a bottle of wine and blast music for a few hours while she cried,"

I remained silent, was Kent trying to get me to open up more by opening up more himself? I highly doubt Kent wants to know anything about my past.

"If only I had wine," I muttered back but Kent didn't laugh, he only hugged me tighter and sighed again.

"I don't want you to feel uncomfortable or worried with me around, I want to take care of you," Kent cleared his throat, loosening his grip on my arms a bit, "I'm not saying you can't take care of yourself. . . I was just meaning. . . well, you know what I mean. . ."

Kent cleared his throat again, obviously uncomfortable and regretting what he had said. It was entertaining, and sweet, hearing Kent stumble over his words and get embarrassed. I knew exactly what he was meaning to say, trusting what he was saying though was going to be the hard part.

"I care about you Sadie, that's all," Kent finally whispered, pressing his lips against the side of my temple and keeping them there for a few moments, "Hey, do you-"

Suddenly the lights flickered and the two of us were blasted with blinding, fluorescent light. Kent didn't let go of me right away, we both looked around the empty showers as if expecting to see an audience who had been there the whole time. No one was there though. Just us.

Slowly, so we didn't slip, Kent stood up, bringing me up with him as well and carefully set me down on my feet.

"I'm going to take an actual shower, are you going to be okay?" I nodded, smiling up at Kent who was standing awkwardly in his soaked clothes, smiling down at me too.

"Thank you," I reached out, wrapping my arms around his waist and pulled him into a tight hug. Kent's arms wrapped around my head, keeping me close to him for what felt like five minutes but was more like 5 seconds. He let go of me slowly, his hand trailing through the ends of my hair as he moved away from me.

Once Kent started to rip off his wet clothes I decided it was time for me to head back to the room. It was a lot easier to find my way back to our room with the lights back on and thankfully most of the boys hadn't made it back upstairs yet. All I could hope for was to never run into that drunk guy around school.

Right before closing my door, a weird chill ran down my spine, like someone was watching me, but when I looked around the hallway it was empty and the doors were closed. I was probably just shivering due to my soaking wet clothes.