Within five minutes of being here, for what seemed like the hundredth time, I asked myself what I was even doing here. Gabby and I were pushed to some far corner of a makeshift dance floor. The music was tenfold louder inside and it was much darker, save for the occasional flashes of pink and blue strobe lights. I knew that some part inside of me longed to prove a point. By attending this party I was trying to show my friends - and myself - that I wasn't completely ruled by my past decision, by its consequences. I wouldn't let my past mistakes guide my future actions. And if the proud glint in Gabby's eyes when I had conversed with a couple of senior girls from our English class earlier was any indication, then I was passing with flying colours. A bead of sweat trickled between my breasts, some guy dancing frantically close by managed to spill his sticky drink all over my forearm, and there was still no sign of Layla. In the mean time, Gabriela and I had decided on the buddy system - meaning we'd be glued to the hip. If her behaviour got out of hand or some creep started pawing at her, I'd step in. Vice versa. Though the former and latter were most likely not going to apply to me. Gabby tipped the beer bottle she'd snatched on her way in to her lips. "What?" I shouted, leaning in closer. From the way her mouth was moving, I knew she was saying something but I couldn't understand it. Placing her mouth directly to my ear, she tried again. "Layla hasn't replied to my text. I don't know where she is." Normally I'd just let it be; Layla wasn't a fast texter. She took forever, sometimes days to reply. But our earlier conversation blazed in my mind, and there was that skin crawling sensation tugging at my insides. Maybe she was just away, socializing with others. Not caught up with girl-using, rick jock Joshua Brown. "We'll find her," I grated, throwing an anxious glance over the swarm of dancing bodies. At this point, I was probably just trying to convince myself. "I hope so." Gabby snorted as she took another swig of her beer. "I ain't waiting all night against the wall." "You want to dance?" "Desperately." I cocked my head to the left, where a boy with shaggy brown hair was standing. For the last song or so, he'd been eyeing Gabby like Tom Cat eyed Jerry Mouse. "That guy has been looking at you" Amusement leaked into my tone. Gabby followed my line of vision before she choked on her drink. "Oh, God," she mumbled, seeming as if she had seen a ghost. My eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?" "Shane Feller. Hooked up in the back seat of his truck last year. Asked me to be his girlfriend. Ran away." I let out a shaky, whistling breath. "You're kidding me." "Nope. He'd blurted the question before disposing of the condom. I couldn't get out of there fast enough." "TMI, Gabs. Too much information." My best friend had an aversion to commitment, and maybe that was partly due to her parents' wreck of a marriage. Anything other than "casual sex" wasn't up her lane. The words "monogamous" and "relationship" didn't exist in her dictionary. From the corner of my eye, I spotted Shane Feller stepping toward Gabriela, his features weighed in determination. Another choked sound reverberated from her throat and, much to her delight, some other guy made a move forward and asked her to dance with him. She all but bolted to the dance floor, her hand locked with the new guy's. I didn't miss how his eyes lingered on her ass awhile longer. She even added an extra sway of her hips. For Shane or the new guy's benefit, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that she'd thrown the buddy system down the drain. Uneasiness crept inside me the moment that followed. Glimpsing around me, I noticed several interested pairs of eyes staring at me. Someone tried to make a grab for my arm and I politely brushed them off. When it happened again, I took matters into my own hand. Dipping into the swamp of people, I shouldered my way past clinging bodies. Across the room, I spied an area where there seemed to be a built-in home bar. The crowd seemed thinner there and I figured since I had a torturous two more hours to spend here, I might as well make it in a place that was a lot more quieter. I was almost across the room when someone roughly shoved their elbow between my shoulders blades, jostling my entire body. I had the wind knocked out of me. As I gasped for air, a strong hand latched onto my wrist and steered me clear of the undulating bodies. When I regained control of my breathing, I gave a quick glance up. And fell into another coughing fit. The stranger tapped my back a couple of times, the worry lines around his brown eyes deepening. "Are you okay?" "F-Fine." "That was one helluva hit," he said next to my ear. His warm breath tickled my neck. "I saw you trying to make your way across the place. Is there anything I can help you with?"