I wandered into Deanna's house in a considerably foul mood.  Thankfully, whatever mascara they'd used at the salon had been waterproof and the only evidence of my traumatic night was the redness in my eyes. At a party at Deanna's, red eyes were dreadfully common, so I'd fit right in on that account. My dress, however, was an entirely different story.

The second I'd walked through the front door, some guy I didn't recognize dropped his drink as all eyes in the foyer turned to me. I plowed through the crowd that practically parted before me as I cast my eyes around for a familiar face.  Usually at a party I'd be checked out in passing, but now, my heels clicking on Deanna's marble floor, I was drawing the attention of the entire room. Not that it surprised me, everyone here was in jeans and t-shirts while I was sporting a dress that could've been a downpayment on a car.

I'd just spotted Brandon ensconced in a rowdy game of beer pong across the open-concept living room-dining room-kitchen when Deanna swooped down upon me, literally pushing some drunk college guy whistling at me into the wall and out of her way.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded, taking in my attire, styled hair, and excesses of makeup in one up-down.

"Can we talk upstairs?" I asked, eyeing the crowd around us. They were all staring and it wasn't that I didn't like the attention - in any other situation I'd probably be soaking it up - but I had a mission to accomplish. I needed to convince Deanna to believe me over one of her fellow evil-minded minions, Will.

"Okay..." she said hesitantly. I must've sounded pretty stressed out for her to allow me to delay the explanation as to why I was at her party and not Will's.

On our way upstairs, I caught a glimpse of Tyler standing across the beer pong table from Brandon. I leaned over the rail to try to see who his partner was, but I was cued in almost immediately as excessive amounts of cleavage bounced up and down as Tyler got his ball into a cup. Jealousy seethed through me as Katie wrapped her arms around Tyler to congratulate him. I heard Deanna yelling from behind me for someone to get out of the way, her small hands pushing me up the stairs, so I vowed to find Tyler later.

"So what the hell happened?!" Deanna finally asked when she'd flushed a couple out of her room and shut the door when they'd vacated it.

"Will Dawson is a fucking crackhead bastard," I said, plunking myself on one of the squishy chairs by the window. Deanna straddled the back of her desk chair, leaning her forearms on the back as she looked at me with a frown.

"Yeah, I probably should have warned you about that..." she muttered, avoiding my eyes and looking away.

"You knew?" I practically exploded, flying to my feet. Ethan's words echoed in my mind, but I was too pissed at Deanna to actually understand what that could possibly mean.

"Well yeah...I mean, I'm the one that hosts the parties and finds him pouring lines onto my basement coffee table," she shrugged.

"Thanks, buddy," I snapped, adding some harsh sarcasm to the last word as I crossed my arms.

"Look, whatever, okay? He's rich, he's powerful, and he's looking for a good time, so what did you expect?" Deanna shot back, attempting to regain the upper hand. That's the thing about her, she always has to have control of the situation or she falls apart faster than a house of cards in the wind.

"I expected him to be a gentleman! But oh wait, he's already spread a vicious rumor about me and chances are since I dissed him and left his party early there will be hell to pay come Monday!" I vented. Then I started to cry. I'm not quite sure why the tears started in the first place, but as soon as my eyes prickled I decided that maybe falling apart in front of Deanna would make her side with me.

My hunch was right.

"Oh sweetie!" she gushed, running over to wrap her arms around me, "Look, it'll be okay! Seriously, don't worry about him. You know as well as I do that he was really only interested in you because you're the last junior A that he hasn't dated yet..."

She kept nattering backhanded compliments that were supposed to be comforting, but as she said those few words before I zoned out I realized the total injustice of the situation. Just because some jerk wanted to add another notch to his bedpost I was stuck in Deanna's bedroom, dissolving into tears. I forced the tears to stop and wiped my face dry with the kleenex Deanna handed me.

"I just seriously don't want to face whatever shit he's gonna dish at school Monday," I said finally, hiccupping for effect. I hoped Deanna didn't realize it was a fake cry because the tears I was dabbing away had been decidedly forced, my nose was hardly running, and my face still hadn't gone all blotchy and red.

"Don't you worry Maddie," Deanna said, offering me a comforting smile, "I'll talk some sense into him tomorrow. Besides, I promise I'll squash whatever rumors I hear Monday. It's really not fair what he did to you,"

I felt like shouting, "Oh, so now you agree with me you flaky bitch!" but instead I settled on a quiet nod as we rose and made our way towards the door. I didn't miss the little triumphant grin she tried to hide as the pieces slid into place. Maybe Deanna was after Will?

"Are you gonna stay for a bit?" Deanna asked as we walked down the hallway, "You look freaking insane hot tonight by the way,"

"Thanks," I said, "But I think I'm just gonna find a ride and go home,"

"Okay. But seriously, call me or whatever if you need anything," Deanna said, air kissing me as we parted ways at the bottom of the stairs. I made a beeline for the dining room table/beer pong room where I'd last spotted Tyler, but it was only Tierra and her senior A boyfriend Jeff playing against Brett and Vicky. As always, I paused momentarily because of how gorgeous Vicky was. I mean, she always looked like she'd stepped straight out of a magazine, even at 1 in the morning, half-drunk at a party. She saw me and gave a drunken little wave before lopsidedly pitching her ball towards Tierra's end of the table. The ball sailed into the wall, completely missing the table and Vicky collapsed with a grin against Brett. Brett wasn't as drunk, but he seemed to be having a good time.

"When are you leaving?" I asked him when he finally noticed me.

"Umm...." he said, but his eyes gave him away as they shifted sideways to Vicky. I laughed at him and shook my head when he flushed red.

"Fine, I'll let you two have a...romantic ride home," I teased, waggling my eyebrows at him before wandering away. Where had Tyler disappeared to?

"Maddie!" Courtney squealed, as she threw her skinny arms around me, enveloping me in citrus-scented red hair. When I finally saw her face I laughed despite myself at how drunk she was. She was totally leaning onto the doorframe to stay standing up.

"Have you seen Tyler?" I asked her. She looked at me with her glazed over, bloodshot eyes for a moment, then nodded and shouted a little too loudly, "Yeah, he left with Katie a few minutes ago."

"Oh," I said. Courtney slammed her hand onto my shoulder in what she thought was a sympathetic gesture, then leaned in and whispered (or should I say loudly spoke) something into my ear.

"Don't worry, he saw your sex-bombness before he left. He told me to tell you that he's sorry he couldn't stay later but he's gotta surf tomorrow morning and-"

"Wait, he qualified?" I asked, shaking Courtney's shoulders. She looked at me blankly for a few seconds.

"Oh, yeah he did!" she laughed. My mouth dropped open. He hadn't even texted to tell me! He hadn't even bothered to tell me when he'd called at the salon! Then again I'd been a bit of a shrew on the phone and I'd had to cut him off early. Maybe when he'd invited me to the beach he really meant to go watch him surf?

"I have to call him!" I said, whipping out my phone, but it was still nice and dead.

"Wanna use mine?" Courtney offered, but as she reached towards her pocket she fell over into me, slamming me into the other side of the doorway.

"Whoa...okay," I said, trying to heave her up, but she'd started giggling and was lurching over sideways.

"Wow, need a hand?" Brandon said, appearing out of nowhere to help me haul Courtney to her feet.

"Thanks," I said, pushing a piece of hair from my face and surreptitiously checking that Courtney's fall hadn't dislodged my double-sided tape.

"I need another shot," Courtney giggled and before either of us could stop her, she'd lurched over towards the living room bar.

"Oh man she is gonna suffer tomorrow," I said, shaking my head.

"Let's hope she has a nice big bottle of Advil at home," Brandon said, "Well, I'm on my way out,

"Hey, Brandon?" I called, grabbing his arm as he headed towards the door. When he turned those gorgeous blue eyes, the look he was giving me caught my breath in my throat. We stared at each other for a few seconds and I felt the heat rise into my cheeks as Brandon's eyes slipped down towards my dress.

I'd been relatively sure that I had sobered up from all the champagne and vodka...right up until the moment when I realized I was staring lustfully at my brother's best friend as he was giving me a once-over. Blinking furiously, I cleared my throat and dropped my hand from his arm.

"Um, could you give me a lift home?" I asked, crossing my arms. He smiled, his eyes back on mine.

"Of course. Anything for my little sister 2.0!" he said, ruffling my hair as I squealed in protest.

"Agh! Don't you see this is a very fancy updo?" I wailed, as we exited through Deanna's front door.

"In that dress you could have a bird's nest for hair and you'd still look like a million bucks," Brandon said, shooting me a sexy-half smile. I grinned despite myself, something somersaulting inside my stomach as warning bells went off in my head.

"How was the party?" I asked, as he unlocked his car and slid into the driver's seat. Once I was in, I kicked off my heels with a sigh of relief.

"The usual, although you've slacked off in your Danny Burp defence duties," he said, staring the car. I laughed.

"What, big bad Danielle got you all scawed?" I teased in a baby voice. He rolled his eyes.

"I don't think you get how persistent she can be when she's hammered," he said, "I need to employ you full-time as a decoy,"

"Well I'd trade your party for mine any day," I said, staring out the window as nocturnal Clairview passed us by.

"Yeah, how was that high society ball of yours?" Brandon asked, shooting me a sideways look. I sighed.

"I think it just took the title of worst party I've ever been to," I said.

"How so?" he asked, pulling in to my driveway.

"Getting fondled and offered cocaine does not rank among the things I want to do with my Saturday night," I said, grimacing. Brandon put the car in park and turned to stare at me.

"He did what now?" he asked, his expression fierce. A brilliant idea hatched in my head, something of an insurance policy should Deanna fail to hold true to her word.

"The bastard tried to grope me and threatened to kiss me," I said, watching Brandon's reaction. When his knuckles went white on the steering wheel, I knew I didn't have to worry about Will.