For Context, this is related to Olivia's comment at the end of Chapter 3. Enjoy!

Olivia's POV

January 2018

"Chug, chug, chug!" The crowd of partygoers yell across the lawn as I stand in a line with five football players, shotgunning our beers.

A little of bit of beer dribbles down my neck and the warm metal from the opening that I had made at the bottom of the can bites into my lip, but I ignore it and drink as fast as I can, watching the other five boys out of the corner of my eye.

Once every last drop is gone I throw the beer can on the ground pulling a disgusted face, ignoring the cheers behind me. "Eughh, you couldn't have given me a cold beer at least?" I shout at the random kid that was the 'judge'. He shrugs indifferently, walking away from the crowd. "Idiot. Beer is so gross." I wipe my lips with my shirt sleeve, feeling the alcohol slowly hitting me.

"Ahh! You did it!" Charlotte screams, bumping into my side, squeezing me in a tight hug. "Look at them pouting," she gestures to what I am assuming is the football guys.

A loud burp interrupts my thoughts and by the way Courtney is staring at me, I guess that it had come from me. "You are disgusting."

I tilt my head, suddenly needing to lean some of my body weight on Charlotte, "Hey, you got your money, didn't you?"

She smirks in reply, holding up a bunch of bills, "Easiest hundred bucks I've ever made," she uses the bills to fan her face.

The girls chuckle and Charlotte wraps an arm around my shoulder, keeping me steady as we move through a throng of people. Freddie's house is trashed; there are cups everywhere and the whole house smells like burnt cookies.

A rumble in my stomach causes me to pause in the doorway leading to the living room where the makeshift dancefloor has been set up, along with a dj. I feel the alcohol sloshing around in my stomach and I grab the doorway for support. "You know what, I'm just going to go outside for some fresh air," I jerk my thumb in the direction of the front door and don't even wait to hear their response as I push through the crowd, craving the fresh air.

The door slams behind me as I take a step onto the front porch. The porch is covered in cups and trash, and there's a puddle of an unknown substance on the floor. There's only one other guy sitting on the porch rail, smoking a cigarette. He gives me a subtle head nod and I use that as my que to sit on the porch chair, taking deep breaths.

"Rough night?" he mumbles with the cigarette between his lips, glancing at me for a few seconds before looking at the ground.

"Fuck yeah," I groan, leaning my head back trying not to think of chundering everywhere.

"I'm Ren," he offers up, blowing a cloud of smoke into the night sky.

"Olivia."

"Yeah I know who you are. You're the girl who sucker-punched Willow Ferreira in the face in sixth grade," he smirks, tapping his cigarette towards the ground, letting the ashes float off.

"Ah, my reputation proceeds me," I gloat, feeling a cool breeze hit my skin. I doesn't say anything after that and we just kind of sit in silence for a few minutes. Fuck, I am starving. I slap my legs as I move to stand up.

My foot catches on the leg of the chair and my body gets thrown forward and my brain doesn't even process anything until it's too late and Ren goes falling backwards off the porch and into the bushes at the front of the house. Everything is quiet for a few seconds as I tiptoe towards the railing that was recently occupied by Ren.

Shit, fuck.

I keep my ears tuned to the sound of a groan or moan- or even a cough from him but all I hear is the party still going on inside. "Ran-Ren?" Silence. "Crap... Ren, you good down there?" My palms are clutching onto the railing so tightly that my knuckles are slowly turning white. But on the bright side I feel a lot more sober now.

I peek my head over the railing and look at the bushes, spotting a foot sticking up, but no body. "Shit." My shoes stomp along the porch as I sprint down the few steps around the front of the house to the bushes.

The foot is still sticking out of the bush, his shoe has come off slightly and his Batman sock is showing. I shake his foot, "Ren?" Nothing. I move two pieces of the bush to the side and peek my head into the hollow space. Ren is crumpled up in the bush on his back with one foot in the air and the other bent over a branch. His eyes are closed but nothing looks broken as I reach into the bush and shake his shoulder, trying to wake him up.

After a full two minutes of shaking his shoulder and slowly losing my mind in the fear of killing one of my classmates creeps into my mind until I'm hysterically pulling at his clothing trying to get any reaction from him.

A dreaded sigh leaves my body and I brace myself to pull him out of the bush. As I'm pulling him out of the bush a disgusting smell reaches my nose. "Oh, gross, who is burning what?" It's almost as if a force hits me square in the head when my head whips back to the bush and the glowing embers from Ren's abandoned cigarette smoking the leaves. "Fuck," I hiss, yanking on Ren's shoe, pulling it clean off; the momentum making it fly out of my hands and across the front yard.

I turn back to the bush and see a little orange flame spark in the bush and I know that it will only get bigger. "Fuck, fuck, shit," I chant, pushing through the shrubbery, grabbing any cup I can reach off the porch and throwing it onto the flames. One cup makes the flames burst brighter and I scramble desperately for something else. "What the hell do people drink, gasoline?" I grab a half full cup of water and throw it directly onto the mini flames, sighing in relief and declaring the light hissing sound of the flames being quenched, to be my new favorite sound.

"I am too drunk for this," I hit my face with my palm, looking down at the still unmoving Ren. "Dude, how are you still comatose, you literally fell two feet?" I drag his body out of the bush and onto the grass of the front yard.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I quickly reach for it, ignoring the message someone had just sent me and immediately dial Charlotte's number. The line picks up but before she can get a word out, I start rambling.

"Char! I think I killed someone! I accidentally pushed him off the railing and he fell into the bushes and I had to pull him ou-that's not even the worst part- I nearly burnt down the whole fucking house! He's still out cold, get your ass out here and help me!"

"Olivia?"

I pull the phone away from my ear at the sound of a male voice I am eighty-seven percent positive does not belong to my best friend. The bright light glares at me but written clear as day is Charlotte's Dad. "Crap."

"It is you. What was all that nonsense you were sprouting? I could barely understand a word of it."

A loud fake laugh comes out of me, "I was just kidding, bye!" I end the call as fast as I can.

"Olivia?" My head shoots up and Charlotte, Courtney and Quinn are standing at the top of the porch steps.

Quinn covers her eyes, "Sorry, didn't know we were interrupting."

I look at Charlotte and Courtney with wide eyes, "Help me." They rush over, pulling Quinn along and I give them a quick recap of the last fifteen minutes. "-and I think I killed him! Look, I don't even know if he's breathing!"

Charlotte leans her the side of her head on his chest and pulls away with a calm expression. "He's still breathing so I don't think he's dead."

I sag onto the grass with relief, "Oh thank God."

Courtney starts giggling softly, but it soon turns into a loud and boisterous laugh, "You thought you killed him." She leans on Quinn, tears starting to form at the corners of her eyes. Charlotte bites her top lip trying not to smile.

"Thank you for laughing at my pain, you're true friends," I tell them with a deadpanned expression. A shuffle distracts me from my self-pity and a hand tugs at my arm. I glance down and see Ren, blinking up at me in confusion. "Ren, you're alive!" I gasp, throwing myself at him, squeezing him tightly as I silently thank god for letting him live.

"Hey Olivia," Ren starts but I cut him off quickly.

"You can call me Liv, it's the least I can offer since I nearly killed you," I ramble, smiling at Charlotte, showing off that I didn't accidentally kill anyone today and she gives me a proud grin and a thumbs up.

"Yeah, that's great but where's my shoe?" We all look down at his feet and see his toes wiggling in his Batman sock.

I laugh and pat his head softly, "Oh, Ren."