"So how did you hear about this party again?" Edith asked, a smirk growing across her face.

I rolled my eyes at the blonde-haired girl, and said, "My answer is going to the same meaning as last time, so stop with the I-totally-knew-you-were-lying face."

I glanced out the window, my eyes moving across the passing landscape. The beaming headlights outlined the trees, and brought some light to the dark abyss of the night sky. The full moon was hiding behind the thick forest, and my eyes lingered on it for a moment, staring at it's mysterious beauty.

Ariana Grande was booming from the speaker from Edith's white Ford Explorer, and I lightly mouthing the lyrics to Problem. It took me hours to wrap my head around the fact that Liam had asked me to party and I had said yes. If I were normal, I would be bubbling with excitement and nervousness. I would brag to all my friends that I was the girl that the new popular transfer wanted to hang out with. But I have always been far from normal, and neither of those emotions were flowing through my bloodstream. I knew what was going to happen eventually, I knew that he was going to learn the truth and he would become another person that was repealed by me.

I sucked being labeled as crazy sometimes.

Once the reality of this evening steadied on me, I instantly called Edith and told her about the party. The blonde quickly invited me over to her house for a makeover, and it was obvious that she was more excited about this party than I was. Before we got ready, I had to spend ten minutes telling her that this wasn't a date and that there was no flirtation going between us. Honestly, I knew there might have been a slight flirty comment said from both of us. Liam might be cute, and he seemed very nice, unlike other jocks I've met, but I wanted to get to know him and savor the short friendship that we were hopefully going to have.

Edith eventually gave up on integrating me, and started with my makeover. I had told the blonde-haired girl that I just wanted to wear a cute top, and some navy jeans, but the girl ignored me completely. After the girl looked through her whole closet, she finally pulled out a short blood-red dress and black heels. My eyes traced over the outfit quickly, and I instantly told her no. The two of us argued about the outfit until I came to a compromise, I told her that I would wear the dress if I didn't have to wear the heels. Edith pouted about this for a moment but quickly caved. After the whole dilemma with my outfit, the blonde-haired girl didn't continue the makeover, which I was slightly thankful for.

I fidgeted with my fingers, trying to stop myself from pulling at the end of the dress. I felt too exposed, and I couldn't tell if I needed to pull the dress up or down. It was hard for me that people went out every day feeling comfortable in these tight, revealing outfits. Edith glanced over at me, and saw my fidgeting, her joking eyes softened and she said, "Look, your gonna be fine and you look great, don't be nervous."

I took a deep breath, gulping down the slight nerves that was starting to course through my veins. I wasn't used to go to parties, and being in a large social setting that didn't have to do with music. I might have friends, but that still didn't take away the pitch of anxiety that surged through me when I attended large society gatherings. Being in crowded place with many people makes me feel like I'm drowning in self-consciousnesses and self-doubt. But for some reason, it's different when I sing and play piano. I just go to a completely different head space, and the judgmental eyes of others drift away. But I was going to have to survive the night without the escape of playing music, which was going to be a slight challenge.

"Thanks," I muttered, giving the blonde a light smile.

Edith returned the small smile before turning back to the road. Instantly, the girl's eyebrows tightened and I followed her eyes towards the road. The car was slowly down as we came up to the cabin, and the sight was shocking. The cabin was nice and big, but every light in the house was turned off and it looked almost abandoned, execpt there were two cars in the front. I grabbed my phone out of the cup holders, and immediately went to my text messages, checking over the address that Liam had sent me. I glanced between the house and my phone, making sure that I was reading all the numbers correctly.

"Are we sure this is the house?" Edith asked, her eyes glued the dark, empty windows.

I nodded, "This is what the address said."

Edith parked her car next to the two other vehicles, and we both hopped out. We glanced at each other before we walked closer to the house, glancing inside the windows to see if we could see anything. I jumped lightly when I heard the loud beep of a car horn, and I turned on my heel to see a familiar car. A smile grew on Edith's face as she walked gracefully towards the car. Once the car was parked, three people got out. I watched from a distance as Edith hugged and chit-chatted with the very popular Garret, Violet, and Mason. Edith knew Garret and Violet since they were kids, like Corey, and even though they didn't hang out a lot at school, they were still really good friends.

Slowly, I made my way over there and I said my mumbled hellos to the three of them. I didn't know that too well, but I knew from Edith that Liam was good friends with them. It was surprising that the boy hadn't ridden with them, but I guess that he might be coming a little later. In a couple minutes, most of the freshman and sophomore class were standing in the famous Lydia Martin's parking lot. Slowly, we made our way close to the door, waiting impatiently for the door to the cabin to open.

Suddenly, the door opened and the chatter immediately fell silent. In the doorway stood Lydia Martin, who was glaring at us with her sharp green eyes. I had seen the girl around before, but now that I was standing in front of her, a weird feeling coursed through me, and the light murmur of voices started to talk inside my head. My eyes narrowed as the voices started getting louder, wondering silently why the sight of the strawberry-blonde haired girl started the chatter of the voices.

Lydia glanced around the crowd, and for a sight moment, her eyes widened. I blinked twice, and the expression was gone, but her green eyes were staring at me. The two of us looked at each other for a moment, and in that moment, a voices murmured words flooded through my head. The voice quickly got too loud, and I broke the connection between us. Once our connection was broken, a pain went through my head.

"Hey," Mason said, his voice filled with positivity, "Uh, are we in the right place?"

"For the party?" Garret finished, grinning slyly.

I didn't look up at the senior as she said, "Absolutely."

~~~

"Avalon!" Garret yelled, walking over to me with two cups and a bottle in hand. I gave him the side eye, not knowing why the smirking, blonde-haired, lacrosse boy was coming over to talk to me. He handed me one of the red plastic cups, and even though I wasn't much for alcohol but I still took it anyway. I glanced inside to see clear liquid, and my nose crinkled at the strong smell.

"What is this?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"I don't know," Garret said, "I think it's Vodka though."

I took a sip, and the strong liquid rolled through my throat. I gagged, and instantly put the red cup down on the closest table. The strong bitter taste stung my sensitive tongue, and the small sip already made me feel dizzy and nausea. Garret laughed at my attempt to drink, and a light blush of embarrassment crossed my checks. I crossed my arms over my chest then asked, "Did you need something from me?"

"Oh, I wanted to ask if you could change the playlist," Garret said, "I'm sick of Daren's playlist, and Edith does tell me how you are the queen of music."

I nodded, "I'll go change it."

I started away from Garret, and pushed my way towards the living room. I had watched Daren hook up the sound system at the beginning of the night, and I silently wanted to put on one of my playlist, so I was thankful that someone had pushed me towards asking. The living room was a lot more crowded then the kitchen, and I grimaced at the sight of the crowd. I took a deep breath, and I prepared myself to step inside the room, but that's when a person caught my eyes.

Mason was standing, alone, close to the stairs that lead upstairs. Even from afar, I could see his brown eyes glisten, and I felt bad that the boy was hanging out by himself. That's when the question of the evening, where the heck is Liam? The party kept going on, but the transfer still hasn't showed up. I kept looking for him, and I was starting to think that Liam didn't come because he learned about me. Those thoughts made me feel selfish, but the same thing had happened to me before. But the fact that Liam left his best friend alone at the party also made me upset.

Using the wall as a guide, I quickly made my way through the crowded living room. Mason same me coming towards him, and a light smile came onto his face. I smiled back, and I stood beside him, leaning against the wall. The two of us were silent for a moment, before I said, "I was going to ask where Liam was but I doesn't seem like you know either."

Mason laughed dryly, "Yeah, he texted me that he was on his way here but I've been looking for him and I haven't seen him."

"Really?" I asked, taking in the new information.

"Yeah, he texted me that like an hour ago."

"Weird."

"Very weird."

Mason cleared his voice, "So, I'm guessing that you're Avalon?"

I nodded, smiling lightly, "And I'm guessing that you're Mason?"

Mason nodded back, before turning to face the party.

I glanced overhead, and that's when my eyes caught sight of the staircase railing. I knew that the transfer wasn't going to be up here, and if he surprising was, I think I would want to continue any friendship with him. I turned to see that Mason was looking at me, his head titled and his eyes narrowed. I returned the glance, and nodded upward. Mason's brown eyes slowly looked up, and they immediately caught the railing. He bite his top lips in questioning before looking at me again.

"You think he's up there?" Mason asked, his eyes still narrowed.

I shook my head, "No, he probably isn't, but why not look and see."

Mason questioned my statement for another moment before shrugging his shoulder and pushing himself off of the wall. He started towards the stairs, and I followed close on his tail. The sound of the thumping music slowly got quieter as we walked up the stairs. Once we got to the top, we looked around for a moment, taking in the unknown landscape. The top of the stairs started with a middle sized room, but my eyes immediately landed on the hallway, the only opening in the room.

I started towards it before Mason, and my footsteps were cautious as I turned the corner. Mason's loud footsteps creeked behind me as I took a moment to glance around the hallway. All of the door were close, minus one that was at the end of the hallway. Not wanting to open the closed doors, I started towards the open one. I heard Mason muttering things to himself, but I ignored him. As I got closer to the door, the voices started to spike again, just like they did when they saw Lydia. The sound of the muttering made me stop in the doorway, but I quickly brushed off the feeling and walked inside.

My eyes widened, and I slowly started to circle around the room, looking deeply at all the details of the large space. Everything in my room was white, minus the light orange couches and a couple of decor. There were lights attracted to each walls, and two lamps that leaned over the couches. There was a small red record player sitting in front of the back wall, and the sight of the object made me jump with excitement, I had always liked record players.

"What are you doing up here?" A voice yelled, and I turned sharply to see Lydia standing in front of us. Her eyes were livid with annoyance and upsetness. Her green eyes travels between the two of us, but lingered on me longer than Mason. "The party's downstairs."

"We were looking for Liam," Mason answered.

Lydia rolled her eyes, and pushed past us towards the coffee table, there were two glasses on red wine sitting on top of the white surface. "Sorry, but missing freshman are a little low on my priority list."

"But not so low you don't know he's a freshman?" Mason said, walking over to the girl. I stayed closer to the doorway, watching the girl closely as I listening to the mumbling voices getting louder.

Lydia let out a sigh as she turned to face Mason, but she didn't look at him for long because her eyes fell on me. "I might have seen your friend," Lydia said sharply, her eyes digging in my skin, "Downstairs."

The strawberry-blonde hair walked forward, and hooked her arms around Mason. My eyes widened as I watched the two glasses slip from her palm and start tumbling towards the ground. I cringed as I watched the red liquid spill from the top, staining the white carpet floor under our feet. My left hand immediately covered my mouth, stopping me from gasping, and I slowly looked up at Lydia to see that her eyes were soft and wide with terror.

"Oh, my God!" Lydia said, crumbling to her knees, "The carpet..." Lydia started rubbing the fabric roughly with her very nice orange jacket, and I watched with empathy, knowing that that stain wouldn't come out easily. "No, god, no."

I crouched down beside the girl, and said, "Hey, it's all right. It'll come out."

The girl ignored me, and continued to rub the carpet. She was panting heavily with anxiousness, and I could see tears forming in her green eyes. My heart hurt for the girl, even though I didn't know her. I glared at Mason, who was just standing there like an idiot with a cringed expression. He raised his eyebrow at me, and I nodded towards the girl.

Mason crouched down on her opposite side, and said softly, "Oh, okay. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

"Was it valuable?" Mason asked.

"No," Lydia said suddenly, stopping her intense scrubbing, "That's the problem. Nothing in here's valuable. We just put the house on the market. It was supposed to be left without a scratch. It had to be in perfect condition. We need every penny we can get out of this place."

I nodded my head, "Okay, me and Mason will get some club soda and salt. Lydia, we will get it out."

Lydia turned, her eyes meeting mine again. A connection immediately grew between us, and at that moment, voices started erupting in my head. I cringed, wanting to cover my ears, but I didn't want to look crazy. I listened, trying to hear the prediction of death, but no one word could be understood in my mess of a mind. A light breath escaped me, and I looked away from Lydia. Once the connection, Lydia sturred and blinked a couple times. A tear rolled down her check as she blinked a couple times, trying to process something that she didn't understand.

No wanting to be in the room any longer, I got to my feet and started towards the door. I turned sharply once I raised the doorway to see that Mason was still crouching next to the sobbing girl. His eyebrows were raised in confusion when he looked in my direction, and his brown eyes darkened.

Ignoring the boy's expression, I snapped, "Mason, come on."

Instead of waiting for him to come, I turned on my heel and started down the hallway. My head was pounding, and each footsteps sent a wave of muttering voices through my head. My breathing was becoming shorter, and my head was starting to spin. The voices were drowning me, and there was no shore in sight.