The air is colder than this afternoon. I pull my coat tighter around myself as I walk briskly down the street. My phone illuminates in the darkness and I spend the walk to Kylie’s checking my messages (most from her saying how much she misses me) and Instagram and general online things. Then a text pops up from Mum.

Tell me when you’re there.

I hear the party before I see it. Quickly sending a message to Mum telling her I’ve arrived, I let myself in through the gate. Outside, figures are milling around, talking, sipping from the plastic cups in their hands. A few of them turn to look at me but I don’t recognise many.

The music throbs in my ears as I open the main door. Lights are thrown around the hallway and there’s a faint smell of vomit already. I push past people, the crowd so tight and the smell so strong that I find it hard to breathe.

Luckily I see Kylie near the kitchen, Gabe by her side.

She perks up when she sees me. Only her reactions are slower than usual and the punch in her hand tells me why.

“Chandy-pandy!” she yells, giggling. Gabe struggles to keep her upright; he’s a flailing mess himself. I get swept up in her hug. “I didn’t know you were coming!”

I have to shout to be heard above the thundering racquet. “I know! Megan told me.”

She raises an eyebrow but it doesn’t seem to register in her head. “Drink!” she yells, holding up her glass. I take it and move to the counter where a couple in the year above are taking things a little too far right in front of the drinks stand.

“Excuse me,” I mumble and half-shove them out of the way. They must have taken the hint because they move away and disappear out of my sight. Get a room, jeez.

I take a clean cup, fill it with punch, down it, re-fill it again as well as Kylie’s and turn round to begin my hunt for her. Soon enough, I find her on the sofa practically sprawled all over Gabe. I thrust the cup in her face and she takes it gingerly.

Gabe looks at me. I try to avert my gaze but the intensity of his stare makes it impossible.

Don’t make the connection that it was me spying on you at the courts today. Don’t. Don’t.

Just as he opens his mouth to say something, I grab Kylie’s arm and pull her from the sofa.

“What?” she yells at me, words slurring in her drunken state.

“Bathroom,” I hiss at her and drag her down the hallway and up the stairs. I can practically feel the walls sweating as it’s so hot. The booming sound of the party quietens slightly with each step we take.

Then I spot two familiar figures in the darkened corner. I turn my head away and Megan and Dayson make out right in front of me.

“What?” Kylie grumbles again to me as we make our way down the corridor. “Why do you need me to come to the bathroom with you? You’re not two!”

I stop in the hallway. The doors in the rooms springing off it are closed, and I’m thankful since I can hear certain noises that I don’t really want to.

“The bathroom thing was a lie,” I tell her. “I just needed to get you away from Gabe.”

She frowns. Even though she’s not fully here, I can still tell the real Kylie is upset. “Why?”

“You know how we’ve had suspicions of him doing drugs?” I prompt.

Dejected, she nods.

“Well, I saw him with Amias yesterday. It’s obvious he was dealing.”

This seems to make Kylie even more upset, but I can’t exactly blame her.

“Tell me more,” she urges.

So I tell her about the whole incident this morning and the suspicious nature of it all.

“So what?” she says once I’m finished. “We’ve had our doubts, and now they’ve been clarified.”

“That’s the point,” I say. “You need to break up with him.”

She recoils from me. “What? No!”

I take a step towards her. “Listen, Kylie. Gabe, he’s dangerous. What if he pulls you into this too? Would you want that?”

She glancing back down the stairs as though debating whether to throw herself down them. “Stop this!” she says angrily.

“I’m trying to protect you!”

She glances at my feet. “I know, Chands, and I appreciate you for that, but that won’t stop me loving Gabe, no matter what kind of person he is. And anyway.” She glances up at me now. I can see her eyes are bloodshot in this light. Whether it’s from the alcohol or not, I don’t know. “What does that say about Amias? Yes, Gabe was at the courts, but Amias was with him. He’s involved in this too!” She swallows forcefully. “So surely, if I were to break up with Gabe because of this, you’d have to cut things off with Amias.”

I double-take at her words.

She’s right. She’s absolutely right.

“Am I right or am I right?” she says with a smile.

I can only stare at her made-up face. “You’re right,” I admit.

Her smile grows wider. “Don’t worry,” she tells me. “Things will sort themselves out. And anyway, did I tell you how stunning you look?”

Then it’s back to the banter and us being best friends again. We go back to the drinks stand and push away the same couple as last time.

“No need for that,” says a voice. We both turn to find Gabe standing there, leaning against the counter lazily. He gestures to two glasses by his side. “I got these for you while you were gone.”

“Oh, my prince!” Kylie says with mock-enthusiasm before she flings herself in his direction and downs the drink in one gulp.

I take a tentative sip of mine, Gabe’s eyes burning my skull.

“A pleasant trip to the toilet?” he asks me, a hint of suspicion in his voice. I give a small smile before turning away and following Kylie out into the street.

The air slaps my cheeks and I sigh in relief at the coolness of it.

The night whizzes by. I have flashes of things; Kylie and most of the year busting out moves in front of the stereo; Gabe handing me glass after glass. And then Gabe finally suggests something.

“Come down to mine!” he shouts, stumbling over his own feet. “It’s empty tonight and I feel like we’ve trashed Kylie’s enough!”

This is met with a roar from the others. Then people are bustling to the gate and I join in too, feeling a rush of adrenaline. I don’t know how many litres of drink I’ve forced inside of me, but it only seems to make my head light and my arms heavy.

Somewhere ahead, Kylie is screeching in excitement. People turn to the kerb and vomit over the parked cars that gleam in the glow of the streetlights. It’s only a few blocks down that I see Gabe open the gate to his home and people begin to stumble over the threshold.

Only something feels wrong. My eyes feel too heavy, my head seems to be full of cotton wool. The world spins on an axis, tilting until I’m no longer aware of what is up or what is down.

Then, right on the gum-spattered pavement, I pass out.