Something wrong

Well, until she was forced to interact with Daniel, who had a habit of setting her off when she was like this. I was plotting ways of keeping them apart for the remainder of the evening when I saw him walking toward us with Kylie firmly attached to his side.

I sighed and prayed that Rachel wasn't too tanked to keep a lid on the drama. "Mags! Rache! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Daniel gave me a Polo Sport-scented hug and I nearly gagged. He wore way too much and the smell got stuck in my nose. He then turned and kissed Rachel on the forehead. Rachel scowled at him.

"I seriously doubt you were looking for us, Danny. You seem busy enough." Kylie pulled herself up at Rachel's biting comment and interlaced her fingers with Daniel's in a territorial move.

Daniel frowned at Rachel but chose to ignore her words, which was probably smart on his part. He turned to Clay. "Hey, Clayton, good to see you made it out." I couldn't help but smile at Daniel's efforts to be nice. They engaged in that weird guy fist-bump/handshake/half-hug thing boys do.

Clay gave him a small smile. "Hey, Daniel. How's it going?" Daniel shrugged but gave a wary sideways glance at Rachel, who was now focused on anything besides him and Kylie. She was definitely failing in the subtlety department this evening.

"You know, same ol', same ol'." Rachel's head whipped around and gave him a hateful smile.

"Yeah, it is the same ol', same ol'. Isn't it, Danny? I can't figure out why you'd keep coming back for the same old and tired thing instead of finding something new." Kylie's face turned red and I knew I had to intervene before there was an outright catfight.

"Rachel, enough," I hissed under my breath. Daniel looked pissed.

"What the hell is your problem. Rachel? If I've done something to offend you, just tell me already." Poor, delusional Daniel. He was seriously about to open up Pandora's box and had no idea.

"Rachel's just had a few too many drinks. She'll be right as rain tomorrow. Don't listen to her..." Rachel shoved me in the chest so that she could move past me. She got right in Daniel's face, her expression murderous.

Clayton, thankfully, realized something was about to go down and moved deftly between them. "Rachel, could you help me find the keg? I'm pretty thirsty," he asked her, shouldering Daniel out of the way. Rachel blinked a few times, but the change in topic worked and she gave Clay

a bleary smile. "Of course, Clayton. I'd be happy to show you. I need to get away from all this bullshit, anyway." With a final look of death in Daniel's direction, she led Clay toward the house. Clayton looked at me as he started to follow her. "Come find us when you're done here. I'll probably need the help." He looked at Rachel's rapidly retreating form.

"Sure, just give me a minute," I said. Clayton nodded before hurrying after

Rachel. "What the hell is that bitch's problem?" Kylie growled. My back stiffened. Yeah, Rachel was a little out of line, but no one could call my best friend a bitch but me.

"Watch your mouth, Kylie; don't say shit about her like that." My voice was hard and I gave the smaller junior girl a look of steel. Kylie shrank a bit under my stare.

I turned to Daniel. "Danny, can I talk to you a moment?" I looked pointedly at Kylie. "Alone, please." Kylie's face turned red again. It seemed to be her natural coloring tonight. She let out a dramatic "harrumph" and stomped off. Kylie wouldn't be joining the Maggie Young Fan Club anytime soon, that was for sure.

Daniel rubbed his hand across his face. "Seriously, Mags? I'm gonna get so much flak for this. I really didn't need all of this drama. I thought you girls were cooler than that." Daniel's shoulders sagged and for a moment I felt bad for him. He was my friend and I loved him.

"Sorry, Danny, but Kylie kind of grates on my nerves." I sat beside him on a large boulder along the edge of the bonfire. "Don't read too much into Rachel. She's just mouthing off." But Daniel knew as well as I did that Rachel didn't just "mouth off." When she spoke, she spoke her mind.

"I didn't realize you guys disliked Kylie so much," he muttered, hanging his head, his elbows propped on his knees.

"We don't dislike Kylie so much as we just don't like how she treats you." Daniel just shook his head. He looked up at me and I felt bad that he was so miserable. He loathed any fighting among us as much as I did. "Is there more to this? Is there something you're not telling me?" he asked me, frowning.

When had Daniel become so perceptive? But there was no way I would tell him about Rachel's crush. That would be breaking her confidence, and if she had wanted him to know, she would have told him. So I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Not that I know of." But then I added, "Just be gentle with her, Danny. You

know how sensitive Rachel can get. She gets her feelings hurt easily. Just be aware of the things you say and how they affect others, all right?" I put my arm around his shoulders and gave him an affectionate squeeze.

Daniel laid his cheek against mine. "I love you, Mags." He patted my knee and stood up. "Okay, enough of this girly crap. Let's go find Rachel and Clay so I can make this right."

I stood up, ready to follow him, but then paused. "What about Kylie?" | asked, surprised he didn't choose to go find his girlfriend first.

Daniel snorted. "I don't feel like hearing her particular brand of bullshit right now. Besides, Rachel comes first." I grinned. Daniel did have a good heart. Per- haps I'd never given him enough credit. "Let's go get a drink and find our friends." Daniel tugged on my hand and I laughed as he pulled me after him. My heart warmed when he included Clayton in our circle of friends, despite his wariness toward him. Daniel was a good guy.

We made our way through the backyard. It felt like trying to part the Red Sea: there were people everywhere. Melissa would have a nasty mess on her hands tomorrow morning. I would have been too paranoid to throw a party like this at my place, although, looking at her huge house, I figured she could afford to have cleaners come in and take care of it for her.

Daniel led the way and we went in through the kitchen. A few kids were mix- ing drinks with Melissa's parents' liquor, sloshing liquid all over the counter. "Hey, Daniel! Maggie! Want a Long Island Iced Tea?" Jake Fitzsimmons asked, pushing a full cup in our direction.