"Oh, please please please please Vannah! Come on, it's the last day of summer and what better way to celebrate it than going to a party. Pleeeeaaaase," Liberty whined. She knows I hate parties and yet here she was, trying to get me to go to one of the biggest ones. She had a point though, but that point only pretained to her. I prefer to be alone, on the couch, with a book in my hand... or with Liberty. She's my best friend, and I don't exactly know why. I mean, we are so different. I am quiet, shy, and nerdy while she is popular, confident, and outgoing. Exact opposites, yet I love her like she's my sister. I guess I could go, just this once.

"Liberty, you know I love you, but you also know that I hate parties," I said so matter of factly and just before she started to whine again, I said, "but, I will go to this one. Just this once okay?" I know that if I didn't go, she wouldn't and I didn't want to take away some fun experience from her. She squealed an extremely happy squeal, and gave me the biggest hug ever. "Quiet Liberty, you're gonna wake my dad up."

My dad was a police officer, and he usually was on call all night long. The man never got a day off of work and he didn't sleep very much. Him and I both cherished the hours he got to sleep, but they were never enough.

"Oh yeah, sorry." She closed her mouth and grinned at me, throwing her arms over my shoulders. "I'm gonna bring Joe, okay?" Joe was her boyfriend and she always wanted him around. At first, I hated it. I was the third wheel, akways in the background, feeling awkward, but Joe saw how uncomfortable I was and he always tried to include me in things. He was very nice to me and he understood that I didn't really like people, but he was always trying to make me comfortable. Liberty got lucky with him, he is so much better than some of her exes. I had grown to love him like a brother and if he went with us tonight, I knew I would feel safer and a little bit more comfortable.

I smiled and hugged her back, "Yeah sure, Joe should come." She gave me one last tight squeeze, and squealed again. I sent her a warning glare and giggled when she said, "Okay, I'm gonna go get ready for tonight and tell Joe to get ready. Wear something red, that color looks amazing on you. I'll be here in like two hours to pick you up. Love you!" She ran out my room, towards the door and almost fell on her way out.

That was one of my favorite things about her, she was very clumsy. She always had random scrapes and bruises, but always managed to hide them. Always falling over things, or tripping over her own feet, Joe had to learn to always catch her, or at least have bandaids with him at all times. That's why their relationship was so good, he was always there to take care of her and he did it with so much joy. Just the way he looked at her, showed you how much he really loved her. I admired her for that, maybe even envied her, but I would never step out of my comfort zone. Well, at least not volintarily.

Now I had to think about what I would wear. Liberty said something red, and she was right, red totally looked good on me. I decided on a tight red dress that ended just above my knees, and a pair of red pumps. My hair was a curly, brown mess, but I made it work, twirling it into a low bun and pulling loose some strands off the side. Makeup was simple as always, a little bit of lip gloss and mascara was all I needed. Liberty said it was because I was just very beautiful naturally, but in reality, it was because I didn't care.

It was seven o'clock, and Liberty was four minutes away, but Dad was still asleep. I just left a short note for him in case he woke up to an empty house.

Dad,
I went out with Liberty and Joe to a party. I'll be home in a couple of hours. Dinner is in the microwave. Love youuuu!
Love, Vannah Bear

Honk honk honk! Great, was she trying to wake my dad up? I ran out, only turning around to lock the front door. I could hear Liberty whisteling at me, trying to embarass me, but I ignored her and got into Joe's silver truck. "Wow Savannah, you like really pretty." Joe was looking back at me, making sure I shut the door all the way, and I couldn't help the blush that creeped up my cheeks. Liberty agreed with him and said, "Let's go, my babies! This is going to be so much fun!"

The car ride was full of Liberty's pointless banter, and Joe explaing how beautiful we both looked. At one point, he said, "Savannah, I know you don't like parties much, but enjoy yourself. Be a teenager, have fun. Stay away from intoxicated people though, mostly intoxicated boys. They are all oblivious to the word, 'No'. If anything bad happens, find me and Liberty. I'll take care of it from there." Of course him and Liberty would be together the whole time, so if I wanted one of them, I just had to look for the other.

As I was thanking him, the sound of pulsing music was getting louder and louder, letting us know we were close. Cars were lined down the street and around the block, making it extremely hard to find a parking spot, but Joe managed to squeeze his truck in between a small Toyota and a Ford Mustang.

The house was huge, overflowing with drunken teenagers. Music was blasting out of every window and door, loud enough that I could feel the vibrations in the floor. It was some of today's more popular rap music, and I didn't recognize the song, but Liberty seemed to beacause she grabbed my hand and said, "Dance with me Vannah." She dragged me to the living room where everyone else was dancing, or whatever they were doing. Most of the people were couples, and it just looked like they were rubbing themselves against each other. It smelt like sweat and alcohol was dripping from the walls, and I couldn't stand the smell. I told her to dance with Joe while I got drinks for everyone. As I was leaving, trying to find my way to the kitchen, I could see Liberty and Joe doing the same exact thing every other couple was doing, and once again, I felt like the third wheel.

The kitchen was just as full as every other part of this house, and smelt even worse than the living room. This time instead of sweat and alcohol, it was alcohol and smoke. Some jerk stood in the corner, with a cigarette to his lips, and puffed the revolting cloud of smoke out into the air. It was intoxicating, and not in a good way. I grabbed the first cups I saw, and hurried out of there.

I couldn't stand the smell of cigarette smoke. I remember being little and the woman who said she was my mother, always smoked. It had gotten so bad, that when I got to school one day, the teacher had asked if I had been smoking. Of course I said no and told them it was my mom, but they didn't believe me. That day, I had my backpack checked, my locker checked, and even had to have Dad come pick me up from school. He knew it was from Mom, so he wasn't upset with me, but let's just say that that day was not a good one. That day, my mother left and I haven't seen her since. It was fine with me though, as long as I had my dad.

My mind was so consumed with my memories of my mother, I didn't even realize the gorgeous boy in front of me before it was to late. I colided with him, feeling like I walked straight into a wall, and spilled my drinks all over him and myself. I was drenched in whatever those cups contained, and this model looking boy was staring at me with suprise, and maybe even a little bit a hatred in his eyes. He looked so intimidating, all I could do was look away and try to apologize as quickly as possible, but before I could leave to get something to clean up my mess, he grabbed my wrist and pinned me against the wall.

"This shirt was over three hundred dollars," he said in a deep, husky voice. I trembled beneath him, trying to look away from his glare, but he held my chin up so I couldn't move. "But seeing that you're just as equally wet, if not more, I guess we're even. Watch where you're going." He released me and started to walk away. I was terrified of him and went to find Liberty.

As soon as she saw me, her smile faded and a worried look appeared on her face. She ran to me, pulling Joe behind her. "Baby, what happened?" She always called me "baby", or "Vannah", and most of the time, it was always super comforting to me, but not right now.

I explained the whole thing to her and Joe was furious by the end of it. "Where is he? This guy needs to learn how to treat a girl." Joe was looking around the room for a guy with a wet shirt, but beacuse the room was so full, he failed miserably.

"It's okay Joe, can you just take me home?" The sadness in my voice made his angry glare falter, and his face changed into a sympathetic one. He nodded once, and ushered us out of the house, still looking for the person who pinned me to the wall.

By the time I got home, I was beyond ready for bed. I didn't even bother to shower. Dad had already left for work, and I was all alone. That was okay though, I just needed peace and quiet. Sleep found me very easily and I was out within five minutes.

That guys was scary. What makes him think he could do that? If I ever see him again, he is getting a piece of my mind!