IT WAS A FRIDAY EVENING in which Darren, as he had decided, would get some rest. He did this by grabbing his copy of Sapiens, a book he'd read three times before but that he still found himself thoroughly enjoying. Even if it oversimplified some facts to make the evolutionary process comprehensible to a bigger audience, Darren learned something new every time he read it and picked up some facts of things he hadn't known before to add to his ever-growing collection of knowledge.

That was precisely the thing he was looking forward to tonight. After having finished and sent in his application to every university he wanted to apply to, he wanted to clear his mind of human cloning and recommendation letters, the only thing he'd been thinking about for the past few weeks in preparation for this day. So, he'd picked up Sapiens, and allowed himself to get lost in the world of the Cognitive Revolution, a period many millennia ago when a whole new world opened up to humankind when they learned to use their imagination.

And for a second, Darren thought it was his imagination when he heard a doorbell interrupt his quiet reading time, but when it rang again, he realized he had to be the one to open the door. The McCosta family wasn't at home: Aimee was at a friend's house, Isaiah would be late from work, and Adelaide and Liam had gone for a walk – something Liam hadn't wanted, but his mother had insisted he needed some time outside. Darren figured they had forgotten to take a key with them when they left, so he got up from the couch to let the family into their own home.

However, when he opened the door, he was confronted with a figure who was much too light to be Adelaide. Instead of the dark-skinned mother standing behind her son in a wheelchair Darren had expected, he saw just one person, and this person – a girl – had very light skin and almost white hair. She stood out even more in the dark evening sky as the subject that the moonlight had chosen to highlight.

"Darren," she said. Her lips curled upwards, but stayed together to form a suspicious smile.

"Dakota?" he asked. He squinted his eyes as if he wanted to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"That's me." She grinned. "We have to go."

Darren's confusion intensified, so much so that he didn't know what to ask her of all the questions running through his mind. Why was she here? How did she find him? Why did they have to go?

Fortunately, he didn't have to ask: she clarified her comment herself. "You've been here for a few months now. It's time for you to explore the world."

Darren couldn't think of a better way to explore the world than with Sapiens, a book that took him through millennia of world evolution from the comfort of the McCosta's living room. "Now? I... I don't understand." 'Why now' was one of the questions circling his mind. She had gone through all the trouble to find the address he lived at so she could visit him on a random Friday night to go out. Also, many of her friends would probably be interested in hanging out with her for a night, but instead, she'd decided to go to him.

"You came here to broaden your worldview, right?" she asked. "And what have you done so far to explore this new world? You go to school, you live with the McCosta family. That's it."

"I went to a football match," Darren said, referring to the day he and Dakota met in a manner as spontaneous as this one.

"That was weeks ago." She shook her head. "No, tonight is the night to explore Jacksonville and the American life. We can't wait another second."

Darren just looked at her, his mouth slightly open.

"Now, are you coming with me?"

He struggled to answer her. "I... I don't have any shoes." He looked down and clenched his toes that were wrapped in black socks.

She looked at him with a straight face. "You're kidding, right?" She raised one eyebrow. "That problem is the easiest to solve of all world problems." She ushered him inside. "Come on, get shoes – we have to go!"

He turned and walked to the living room, where he last remembered his shoes to be. "Where are we going?" he asked Dakota, who had followed him into the house.

"Just put shoes on," she said with a grin. She folded her arms over each other and watched as Darren picked up a set of black Converse. "No, wear those," she said, pointing to a set of colorful Nikes in the corner of the room.

"Those are Liam's," he protested.

"He isn't wearing them, is he?"

He shook his head. "But–" It felt wrong, he wanted to say.

"We'll be back before he even has time to miss them," she assured him.

His gaze drifted to the shoes again. They looked brand-new, and Darren doubted whether Liam had ever worn them. He must have bought them right before the accident, and when he had the accident, decided to save them up for the moment he could walk again. Darren sighed, but walked to the corner of the room where the shoes stood and picked them up to put them on.

"Good boy," Dakota said.

"They're slightly too big," Darren said.

"But they look cool," she said, in a way that indicated that was all that mattered. She seemed to have dressed herself with that thought in mind too: in her bright-colored, skin-tight mini-dress and Nikes similar to the ones on Darren's feet, she would turn the heads of many strangers. It emphasized her already tall figure and pale skin that would even make many Scots jealous.

Darren stood up from the couch. His feet were bound in lightweight Nikes, but his guilt was weighing him down. To distract himself, he asked Dakota, "Where are we going?" The reason for her surprise visit and the spontaneous adventure awaiting them was still unclear to him.

She smirked. "You'll see." She turned her back to him and started walking to the front door.

"Wait, let me get keys," Darren said. He rushed to the kitchen, where the keys of the house laid, and took them. They clinked, but he gripped them tightly, which muted the sound, and he joined Dakota again.

"Great, let's go." She opened the door and walked through first. Darren followed her into the evening air, and when he closed the door behind him, he bent through his knees. Next to the door stood a plant, which looked like a tiny palm tree, and underneath its pot, he hid the keys of the McCosta family home. Just in case he wouldn't be back in time, Darren thought.

☆

Dakota had driven to the home with a white Kia, which would be their means of transportation tonight. It was Dom's, she'd explained once they'd gotten in. While he usually used it to get to work and home every day, she was free to use it during the evenings.

Darren didn't even ask where she was going. Long ago, he had realized asking would be pointless anyway; Dakota wouldn't tell no matter how many times she was asked. She liked the thrill of mysteries. So, they sat in the car, music playing in the background, and talked about everything and nothing at once.

An old, black car approached Darren and Dakota's car, and when it drove next to them, it lowered his speed and rolled down the window on the passenger side. A male face was revealed, and Darren estimated him to be a few years older than he and Dakota.

"Are girls still allowed to be out this late?" the guy asked over the noise of the engine. He was grinning broadly.

Dakota had rolled down her window too. "I never asked if I was allowed," she said playfully.

The guy laughed. "I didn't even know you had a driver's license, girl! I thought you were Dominic."

She raised her eyebrows and glanced at the road in front of her. "I figured. I noticed you tailgating me for the past mile or so."

"Well, don't be too flattered," the guy said. "It was meant for Dom." The volume of the music in the car next to them suddenly raised at least fivefold. The guy winced, put his fingers to his ear, and turned to the driver of the car. Darren wished to tell Dakota to close the window – both for the noise and for the cold – but waited to see how the scene would play out.

"Turn it down!" the guy yelled. He had to raise his voice even more than he already had to in his conversation with Dakota to be audible to the driver on his left. The driver's face was veiled in darkness, and from Darren was sitting, he could only see the white of his teeth as the driver's mouth curled into a smirk.

The guy himself reached out to turn the music down. "Asshole." He rolled his eyes and leaned out the car window to resume his conversation. "Sorry for that," he said, smiling apologetically. He then narrowed his eyes. "Who is that in the car with you? Your boyfriend?"

Dakota shook her head. "No, that's Darren."

Darren gave the stranger a silly wave.

"Well, hi Darren," the guy said. "I'm Julian."

"A friend on Dom's," Dakota clarified. "They went to school together."

"Class of 2015!" Julian said with more enthusiasm than Darren had expected from him. He added in a lower volume, "By the way, don't believe anything they tell you at school. Everything you learn there is pointless in life."

Darren doubted that, but he didn't comment on it.

"Thank you, Julian," Dakota said loudly. To Darren, she fulfilled her duty of introducing the other stranger in the car. "His friend behind the wheel is probably Kevin."

Julian smirked. "You know us well, woman."

From Julian's left, a voice said, "Hey, Dakota." The guy didn't seem as outgoing as Julian was.

Dakota grinned, but didn't return the comment while she turned on her blinker and looked over her right shoulder. "I'm afraid we'll have to say goodbye here though, boys."

"Wait, are you going to Bishop's party?" Julian said, who recognized the direction Dakota and Darren wanted to go in.

Party? Darren turned to Dakota, his eyebrows slightly raised. The destination was exactly the thing she hadn't wanted to tell him.

Dakota looked at Darren before turning back to Julian. "Yeah, we are," she said. "You too?"

Julian shook his head. "We wanted to, but then we found out about Kenzie and Justin's party. They have this huge mansion with a pool, and the party will be much better than Bishop's." His eyes grew twice their size when he thought of something. "You should come too!"

"To Kenzie and Justin?"

"And Darren can come too, of course."

"I don't know them, though," Dakota said, but the excitement was evident in her voice. Parties at mansions were the best ones, she'd always believed, and they allowed her to dream away into a new reality that she could be the one living in that mansion.

Julian waved her objection away. "Anyone is welcome. Just follow us!"

Dakota looked at Darren in a way of asking for his blessing.

"S-sure," Darren said. He hadn't been consulted on the idea to go to a party in the first place, but now that he knew he'd have to spend a night living his nightmare – parties full of drunk adolescents – it didn't matter to him which one they'd go to.

Just in time, Dakota managed to turn the steering wheel so the car would return to the lane on the left, missing the exit. "Okay, let's do it," she said. She rolled the window up again, drove behind the car of the two boys, and looked at Darren with a huge smile.

He repeated those words to himself. Let's do it. And he added: it's just for one night. So, he forced a smile on his face.