While Amy and Sarah got ready upstairs, I sat on the couch and scrolled through my YouTube feed.

I felt weird wandering around. Not that I thought Amy would have minded, but this house was big. Big enough to get lost in.

I looked up to the sound of footsteps padding over. Maria strolled through the living room, downing a glass of something.

I watched her, the calm sorrow on her face intriguing. "Are you..." I started. "Are you okay?" Maria terrified me. She was tall - a lot taller than me - and looked like she could beat up someone twice my size. "You look upset."

She set her empty glass on the floor by her bare feet. "I don't know. I just... don't know if this is my crowd, you know? I'm used to barbeques and dirtbikes, not..." She made an overdone smile and imitated the girls' excited chatter.

"I get that." I drew my legs up onto the couch cushion and crossed them over each other. "Are you from around here?"

"In state. A couple towns away. It's more rural. Hence the dirtbikes and, well, dirt. Why, you can't be a local?" She raised her eyebrows teasingly.

I grimaced. "Hell no. And people seem really weird around here." Kitty and Michael in particular, but I didn't name them. Maria twitched the corner of her lips and nodded slowly. "So what's Amy's deal?" I asked. "Is she, like, Regina George or something?"

She snickered. "How do you know who Regina George is?"

"Sarah and I alternated picking movies to watch every weekend. Hers were all, entirely, chick flicks."

Maria sipped her drink. "I see. Do you... like her? Because, take it from me, being friend-zoned is the most painful thing a human can experience."

"I don't like her," I said quickly. "I mean, we grew up together. But she's not my type at all."

Maria narrowed her eyebrows a little but said nothing.

"I'd like someone like you more," I murmured. "You're chill."

She gave a sharp laugh. "You like lesbians."

My face turned bright red. "Oh," I said. "I didn't-"

She smiled. "It's cool."

Amy and Sarah were trotting down the steps, giggling over something or other. Sarah was now sporting huge gold hoops and her lips were a deep red. Strands of her blue hair kept getting stuck against them.

"Guys, why are you just sitting around?" she cried. "Get up, people are getting here!"

My gaze flicked out the window to the Chevy Cruze pulling up. "That's literally one person," I pointed out.

Amy ran a hand through her hair, fluffing it up. "It's Alicia. You remember, your match made in heaven?" She looked at Maria, or rather the bottle in her hand. "Pass me, I gotta be buzzed before we do this thing."

Sarah flashed me a look of excitement and bounced on her toes.

Maria pushed herself up to her feet. "I'm going in the kitchen," she said. "I plan on being a lot more than buzzed."

"Same," I muttered. Sarah was frowning, her forehead crinkled like she was nervous, and she relaxed a little as I walked over to her. "Hey, save a dance for me tonight," I said.

She wrapped her arms around me briefly. "Sure will," she promised. "C'mon, let's go in the kitchen." We followed Maria's path, where she was now making a line of clear shots, and each grabbed one.

I heard the clicking of high heels and looked up to see Amy, accompanied by another girl. Alicia. "Hey," she said. She was also tall, or maybe that was just the stilettos she had on. Her straightened black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail that brushed her bare shoulder, where an unzipped gray sweatshirt hung loosely. She smiled at the group of us, her white teeth shining, her brown eyes warm behind her long dark eyelashes.

She was beyond beautiful.

"Wow," I whispered.

"I know, right?" gasped Sarah. "Fucking Instagram model."

Maria's eyes hardened. I looked over at her and saw her eyes glued to Alicia's body the way mine had just been moments ago. Is she- oh, I thought.

Alicia leaned forward, her body pressing against the counter, and picked up a shot glass before downing the clear liquid.

Sarah placed her hand on my chest and patted it. "I've been telling Ben here to get Instagram for years. Do you have any idea the number of girls that would slide in his DM's at one picture? But no," she sighed. "He's such an old man with social media."

I was too busy watching Alicia and Maria staring at each other, a fire burning in their shared gaze. "Sarah, stop it, would you?" I snapped. I could hear the doorbell ring in the background.

Amy's next guests came as a group: a tall, skinny guy with an odd goatee and a mullet, a short, plump girl with shoulder-length cropped hair, two boring jocks without any distinct features, and a freckled girl with dirty blonde beach waves and huge glasses.

I stayed behind in the kitchen with Maria. She'd lit a cigarette, it dangling from between her fingers, and was sitting on the counter under a cloud of smoke. "I understand," I said quietly.

She frowned down at me. "What, exactly, do you understand?" she said, raising the cigarette to her lips.

"I mean, you like her, right? Alicia? Does she like you?"

Maria spun her cigarette around her knuckles, a sad smirk flickering on her lips. "Only at night, it seems."

"Maybe give her some time," I told her. "Maybe she'll be more comfortable... uh..."

She nodded, but said nothing, and I figured I was just annoying her. What did I know anyway? I went into the living room where I figured Sarah would be, but it was crowded by a large group of disturbing-looking people, all drinking. I was starting to get a bit tipsy myself from the shots I'd had before.

I spotted Amy surrounded by a number of guys and joined the circle. "Hey, c'mere," she said, handing me a plastic red cup. Yup, definitely filled with some alcohol mix. "We drink until we can't. Last man standing wins." I definitely wasn't going to be anywhere near that man, but I accepted it and drank. "Hey!" Amy yelled out to someone I couldn't see. "Change the music in here!"

I suddenly realized how badly I had to pee. I pushed my way past the beer pong game and took the stairs two at a time. The bathroom was nice, white walls and marble counter, a huge bathtub with a silver faucet. Robbers would love it.

I had just flushed the toilet, my jeans still unzipped, when the door swung open and a girl stumbled in. The door smashed against the wall and swung back again. "Um, excuse me-" I began before she collapsed in front of me and vomited into the toilet.

I flinched and backed away, fixing my pants with my one hand as I pushed open the door wider with my other. Another girl stood outside the door, anxiously peering in. This one I recognized. It was the short girl with cropped hair. "She okay?" she murmured, looking in at her friend.

I looked back at her. "Freckles?" I said aloud. I hadn't seen her face clear enough. Now I remembered her scowl. "She looks fine. Wanna head downstairs?"

"Sure," she said. "I'm Lydia."

"Ben," I returned at the quietest point of the music. "So... wanna dance?"

"Sure," she said again, grabbing one of the plastic red cups off the table on her way to the middle of the floor. Everyone had seemingly partnered up - I could see Amy and Jock #1, Mullet and some brunette. A dozen or two other random pairings.

Dance with Lydia, I told myself. Then go find Sarah. I sincerely hoped she had not snuck off to some room with a guy. That would be awkward. Lydia crumpled her empty cup, maybe simply to show she'd drank the entire thing, and pulled her body up against mine, swaying her hips. The group of people dancing grew closer together, mingling, switching up. I danced alongside several different girls, some of them drunker than others.

My vision was tilting as I moved, my limbs loosening up. After a song or two, I found Lydia again and she danced, her back to my chest, me holding onto her waist. I looked up, distracted, as a cheer rippled through the room. One of the blonde girls had taken to hurridly ripping off her shirt.

Lydia looked back at me. "I'm not doing that," she muttered.

"That's probably best," I told her, then nodded toward the girl. Two dudes were holding up their phones.

Lydia made some sound of disgust and grabbed my hand pulling me around so we were walking out of the living room. We didn't make it very far. "Hey," a girl interrupted, her voice slow and lazy. It was Amy herself, and she was smiling. "You left," she murmured, her hand sliding up my arm. "And now you're leaving again."

"I am going... somewhere... with this fine lady," I said, slumping into her, "but I will be right back."

"Uh-huh," said Amy, and then she turned to Jock #2.

I was feeling pretty sick at this point; I had to swallow down whatever kept rising in my throat, and my thoughts weren't processing right. I wished I was free to go home whenever I felt like it, maybe with one of the many, many chicks, and not having to deal with Sarah, wherever she was.

Another cheer went up from the crowd in the living room. There were now a total of three topless blonde girls dancing for the guys. I sighed.

Lydia and I went into this little den filled with old bookshelves of paperbacks. It smelled like dust and wood in there, and it was quiet. "So," she said as I leaned against one of the bookshelves. Well, more like fell. She grabbed my arm, stabilizing me. "You okay?"

"Um," I said. "I drank a lot."

She laughed. "Me too," she said. "So did you want to..." I blinked in confusion. Lydia stared at me. "You know, like, do stuff? I don't know, usually the guy leads it."

"Actually," I said, "do you think you could help me find someone? My friend? She's not anywhere and I'm supposed to watch out for her."

"Wait, you didn't bring me in here to fuck me?" Lydia said.

"No," I said. "I-I mean, I could..." I stammered. "But no. I brought you in here to talk to you."

She smiled. "Oh. Okay." She looked genuinely thrilled. "I gotta wait for Liv to get herself together before I'm going anywhere 'cuz Donny won't leave without her." I wondered who Liv and Donny were. Maybe they were Freckles and Mullet.

We left the den and walked back to where the main group of people was. A guy and a girl were stumbling up the stairs in each others' arms. I saw Amy and one of the jocks by the beer pong table and turned to Lydia. "Be right back," I said. "One second."

I stumbled over and practically knocked into the guy, which effectively got Amy's attention. "Hey, you," she said brightly.

"Hey," I said, grabbing onto her. "Have you seen Sarah?"

She frowned. "Sarah? No. Why?"

The guy she'd been standing with suddenly started pushing between us. "Hey, so, if you're not taking her, I am."

"Hey, hey, have some respect." Lydia was suddenly by my side again. "She's a person, not a thing you rent out for the hour."

The guy scoffed and turned back to the blondes. "Whatever."

"Asshole," muttered Lydia.

"So," Amy said. "You're looking for Sarah?" I nodded. "I'll keep an eye out," she told me. She flipped her hair over to the other side of her head where it had gotten messed up. "Oh, and thanks for the backup."

I scoffed. "No problem." I left her with Lydia by the table and shoved my way through the group of dancers, tripped over the long legs of the people lounging on the couch, and made my way back to the kitchen, thinking she'd headed there to restock on shots. Instead I saw only two people, tangled around each other against the counter, dark hands weaving through red hair.

I stopped and stared, and Alicia lifted her face from the girl and made direct eye contact with me. Then Maria turned around and raised her eyebrows. I gulped and backed up, then lifted my hands in two cheeky thumbs-up and left the room.

On my way out I bumped into Lydia, and quickly steered her around and walked with her down the hallway. "She's not there," I told her.

"Maybe she went home with somebody," Lydia suggested.

It was then that I heard a shriek of laughter and turned to see Sarah barrelling down the hallway, her makeup smeared all over her face. "OH MY GOD!" she screamed, throwing her arms around me and jumping up and down. "I just made out with someone!" She burst into another fit of laughter.

I cringed and shook her off. "Uh, cool?" I said.

"He was so hot!" she shouted.

"Where is he now?" Lydia asked.

"I don't know!"

"God, I need to get her out of here before she ends up being passed around unconscious by ten dudes and three cameras," I muttered.

"Not to mention the STD's," Lydia added. The word earned a round of obnoxious laughing from Sarah, who grabbed her middle and toppled forward into my arms. "So how the hell are you gonna get her into her building and room and all?" Lydia asked.

I felt something inside me die a little. "I don't know."

"Well, you can't leave her."

"Yeah, I know. Go get your friend. I'm gonna need more help." Lydia went back into the living room to find Liv and I was left alone with Sarah, who babbled into my shoulder where she kept her face pressed. I am never going to another party with this bitch so long as I live, I vowed in my head.

"When are we dancing?" Sarah mumbled to me.

"We're dancing right now, can't you tell?"

She laughed. "No, we're not, stupid."

Lydia reappeared in the hallway, Freckles by her side. "Her room's in B Building, right?" Lydia asked. "That's where we live. I'm sure we can manage to get her up the stairs."

I suddenly felt like owing her every last cent of my non-existent earnings. "Yes," I whispered. "Thank You. Thank you, Lydia. Thank God."

"Woo-hoo!" Sarah yelled as Lydia and I hauled her to her feet. "Where we goin' now? More part-tee!"

"Not tonight, sister," Lydia replied under her breath. She wrapped one of Sarah's arms over her shoulder and I did the same with the other. Liv trailed behind us and shot me an abundance of scowls.

I had to keep a somewhat passable smile plastered to my face, at least until we got to Liv's car, because one, if I was too rude they might withdraw their offer to help me, and two, I was genuinely grateful to Lydia.

"Where am I?" Sarah said as we loaded her into the backseat.

"A really nice place," I told her. "Called bed. Oh my god. I can't wait to get there myself. You're lucky, Sarah."

"I know, right? I'm a lucky bitch. I'm a fabulous, lucky, beautiful-"

I slammed the car door before she could finish and looked at Lydia. "Don't mind her," I said. "She doesn't, uh... do this much."

Lydia smiled warmly. "It's fine. Always happy to take care of a fellow girly."

"I cleared my throat and nodded. "Great." I turned, waved to Liv, who scowled, then headed down the long stretch of Amy's driveway in search of my car. It was wedged between two other cars. There was an entire street they could have chosen to park on, but no. Pick half a foot from my car. On both ends.

I was a horrible driver. Like, seriously horrible. But if I hit one of the other cars and then left, I'd be a felon.

I had to back up, go forward and turn a little, back up again, go forward. I did this until I was nearly in tears and then, finally, I was able to escape. I tailgated Liv's car until they broke off into the B Building lot.

It was hard to see, because of the darkness and also my drunkness, and I turned the corner sloppily, eager to be done with this stupid, horrible first day. Perhaps it was my fault, then, that I didn't look up in time to see the mass of black aluminum backing up out of my spot.

Perhaps it wasn't, because even when I beeped the horn the car didn't stop.

It just lurched back even farther and slammed itself directly into my impala.