Text from: Jake Morris-Whittaker, 6:30 am

Ellie's Daily Reminder 40/180: Too much of anything is never a good thing

That's...cryptic?

I know you
It's almost Halloween
You're going to gorge on candy like it's your job

loll
busted 😅🤤🍫

~*~

I didn't speak to William once—not even in passing—for the rest of the week. Worse, he'd left me on read when I texted to schedule our next tutoring session. I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd done something wrong, just like I couldn't shake the urge to look for him every time a group of seniors passed by. Whenever I set foot in the dining hall, he never even looked up, where once he'd waved or at least smiled. And it's not like he was scowling or moping, either. He seemed happy as a clam, talking and laughing with his friends, while I was dreading that I'd completely blown my chances.

"Relax," Theo had said more times than I could count. He said it again on Friday evening, when we were all decked out in our costume togas and sliding into his little black car. And by little, I mean small, sleek, and expensive. It definitely wasn't the beat-up, second-hand Civic that Jake had driven in high school.

"I am relaxed," I said, buckling myself in. Though I jumped when the engine roared to life with an obnoxiously loud rumble.

Theo eyed me, fighting a grin. "Whatever you say, Emdubs."

"You're not gonna drink tonight, are you?" I asked, as the streets flew past. I cast a wistful look at the turn towards Audra's, where she and Gyeong-Ja were probably halfway through their Saw marathon. Audra had agreed to sign me out again in case we missed curfew, and Theo had just laughed when I'd asked how he was going to explain away his absence.

He laughed again now, at my question, and swatted my thigh beside where his hand rested on the gear shift. "No, mom. I know better than to drink and drive. Especially with such precious cargo."

I swatted him back. "Good. Because I have absolutely no idea how to drive stick and I'd crash our sorry butts into a ditch if I had to drive us back."

He glanced sidelong at me and shifted gears to merge onto the freeway. "Any interest in learning?"

I fixed him with a look. "Sure. Let's teach me, the clumsiest girl in school, to drive stick in a car that probably costs more than I could ever afford."

"Don't hate on my ride, Emdubs. I know you love it." Then, for emphasis, he accelerated with a way-too-macho growl of the engine.

I scoffed. "It's as showy as you, Ellerby."

He grinned.

The drive flew past way too quickly, but maybe that was just because I was dreading the party. As if he could sense it, Theo distracted me with idle chatter while the light faded and the miles sped away. We debated our favorite Avengers. Which superhero would win in a fight. Which actor was the best action star. Soccer tactics and set plays. The other opponents left on the varsity girls' schedule, and which ones I'd have to watch out for.

Right before we exited the freeway, I asked him about the rest of their schedule.

He just laughed. "We've got nothing but easy wins until finals. Which is too bad, because I'd totally tank us just so we don't end up with a quarterfinal round bye. A playoff game might be the only excuse to get me out of my parents' dreaded Thanksgiving banquet."

"Sounds like quite the party." I made a face, wondering whether William would invite Madeleine to that fancy event, too. He still hadn't bothered to reply to my texts, which left a sour taste on my tongue. "Maybe you can pretend you've got something else that night?"

Theo laughed again, though this time it was the hard-edged one that was anything but amused. "When the governor, a handful of judges, and their entire families and assorted hangers-on are attending? Not a chance. Not when my parents expect me to network like I'm some Ivy League grad already."

We lapsed into silence, punctuated only by his navigation's directions along the twisty, wealthy suburban roads. These weren't suburbs like I was used to, though. No quaint saltboxes or craftsmans with white picket fences and amateur gardens. These were properties so massive that I couldn't see the houses from the road, either because of huge, wrought-iron gates or the sheer size of their lawns. The Desautels' ornate gate was flung wide, and we turned onto a winding driveway lined with glowing jack-o-lanterns.

"Relax," Theo said again, moving his hand from the gear shift to where mine had clenched into the cheap material of my toga.

I inhaled a deep, steeling breath and loosened my grip. He didn't release my hand though, and that horrible, terrible something in my stomach urged me to knit my fingers with his. I pulled them away instead. "If it's awful, can we bail?"

"It's going to be epic, not awful." He maneuvered around a growing mass of haphazardly parked cars. "But it's always wise to plan for a quick getaway."

I snorted.

When we pulled to a stop and he climbed out, I took a second to steel myself. I didn't have to impress these people, nor did I have to fit in. These weren't my friends, they were Theo's. I just had to endure the night and pretend like I really was his girlfriend. Hopefully if I did a good enough job, I'd be able to beg off any other invites to parties I definitely didn't want to attend.

Theo opened my door. "Come on, Emdubs. Best to just rip it off like a bandaid and get it over with." He offered me his hand, then again didn't let go after I'd climbed out.

Instead, he twined his fingers between mine as we crunched up the leaf-strewn, jack-o-lantern lined driveway to the Desautels' Georgian mansion. Hay bales with witch hats and scarecrows flanked the front door, and more jack-o-lanterns glowed in the rows of identical windows. Bass thumped through the night, punctuated by excited shouts and the honks of arriving cars as they jockeyed for parking spots.

Inside, a mass of costumed partygoers filled the entryway and all the halls leading off it. It was the biggest house party I'd ever been to, and to say I was intimidated would be an understatement. Everyone was older—probably the same age as Aurelia's college freshman sister—and they definitely partied harder than anyone I knew. Someone dressed as a unicorn was already throwing up into a potted plant, while a cloud of stinky smoke nearly obscured one of the rooms we passed. I clutched Theo's hand like an anchor as he led us deeper into the throbbing party house, past a sleek, marble kitchen filled with cauldrons of questionable punch and coffin-shaped coolers of beer and soda. I gulped when we emerged into a two-story greatroom, where someone dressed as green T-rex was being lifted upside-down for a keg stand to cheers of "Chug! Chug! Chug!"

"You made it!" came a shout from beside us, and before either Theo or I could turn, Connor wrapped his arms around both of us. He was dressed as Batman and already reeked of spilled beer.

Aurelia appeared behind him, dressed as Harley Quinn, and nearly sloshed her drink all over Theo. "Welcome to my house! Just don't break anything, or Wonder Woman over there will kill me, 'kay?" She pointed towards the leather couches, where an older girl with the same freckles and dark hair eyed us before returning to her conversation with a guy dressed as a hot dog. Beside them, two girls were snorting lines of white powder off the coffee table. I swallowed the bundle of nerves that had climbed into my throat. I'd never actually seen someone do cocaine before.

"I was starting to think you'd never show up." Connor rumpled Theo's hair. "We reserved the best guest room for you two. You know, in case you didn't want to wait for the beach house."

"The door even locks," Aurelia put in, glancing at me before she giggled into her cup.

"Sounds like you two might need that room more than us," Theo said, play-shoving Connor off us.

"Oh come on, Tee." Aurelia punched his arm, then leaned in as if to whisper something. She was already so drunk, though, that she just said it aloud. "Just get it over with so you can ditch her already."

I fought to keep my pleasant smile in place as if I hadn't just heard her. Or like I didn't care. Because I didn't. We were on borrowed time anyway. Aurelia's words shouldn't have tensed up my shoulders like they did. Worse than how they were trying to upset me, though, was what they were implying about Theo. Sure, I'd been warned that he was the type to use girls and then dump them. But the more I got to know him, the more it felt like he was different. And not just because he was faking it for the sake of our ruse.

Connor's wolfish grin fixed on me. "What kind of friends would we be if we didn't make sure your new girlfriend gets the full Ellerby experience?"

Theo's chest swelled as if he was about to say something, then thought the better of it. Aurelia cackled a delayed, drunken laugh at Connor's comment. With the way she kept glancing at me as if expecting a meltdown, she'd obviously shifted from laughing with me to laughing at me. It didn't exactly alleviate my already overwhelming sense of being super out of place at her party.

"I gotta say, Tee, I'm a little disappointed," Connor continued, plucking at Theo's toga. "What kind of half-assed garbage is this? Looks like you lost a fight to a bedsheet or something. You should've gone as Aquaman again, and Red here could've put that hair to use and shown some more skin as the Little Merm—"

I nearly snapped a tooth with the force of my clenched jaw. "I'm going to get a drink." I said, and whirled away from them before I exploded.

**A/N: This scene is so super long that I split it into two, more coming next week! Because nobody disrespects Theo's girl and gets away with it... 😉

As always, if you enjoyed it, please take a moment to vote and comment!**