So this is the first chapter of my story. Hope you like it.

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"Come on, Seb!" I cheered, my voice loud enough to echo in the decent size gymnasium.

Sebastian looked up, his face instantly lighting up with a smile. Shaking his head at me, he directed his attention to the game again.

"It's just practice, Norah." Shay tugged at my sleeve, urging me to sit down back on the bleachers. Clearly she was embarrassed about the people looking in our direction.

"What? I just want him to know that I support him, real match or not." I shrugged my shoulders lightly at my friend.

"Oh, I think he knows it already that he owns his personal cheerleader." Shay smiled at me, pulling her hair up in a ponytail with a hair tie.

"Alright, that gave me like pretty kinky mental images."

Shay's eyes crinkled a bit as she pretended to smile but failed. She definitely had something going up in her mind and I was confident that I knew what it was about, or rather whom.

"So how are things between you and Liam?" I leaned forward placing my elbows on my knees. I turned my head to face Shay. Whatever little trace of a smile that was present earlier on her face was now gone.

I was right then. It was Liam she was worrying about.

"Fighting as usual." Her eyes drifted to the basketball court to find Liam. "I swear sometimes it feels like that it is the only thing we do. Always fighting. Why can't we be more like you and Seb?"

If she only knew.

"It will be fine, Shay. You guys always find a way." I put my arm around her shoulder to soothe her. She nodded and looked down at the ground.

A loud whistle caught everyone's attention and the voice of the basketball coach soon declared that the practice was over.

"I am going with Seb. Do you want a ride?" I asked getting up and patting the back of my dress to get rid of any dust that might have been on it.

"No, I brought my car today and I need to talk to Liam anyway," Shay answered while looking for something in her bag.

"Okay, then I guess I'll see you at the party tonight then. You are coming, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," Shay replied.

My eyes went up to the court to see if Sebastian was ready to go but after not finding him there I decided to wait for him at the parking lot.

A dry breeze blew across the parking lot. The sun was still up in the horizon giving a orange glow to the sky. It was the initial week of September so we still had time before the snow and clouds took over the weather.

I walked towards Sebastian's car, my four inch heels making a sound against the ground, disrupting the silence of the almost empty area.

I dug into my bag until I felt the cool surface of my phone and pulled it out of all the mess that I kept inside.

The screen lit up as I unlocked the phone showing that I had a few a Facebook notifications and a new text message. Ignoring the notifications, I opened the message to find it being a reminder of the party that I had asked Shay about. The party promised to be the 'biggest bash of the year'. Not my words, I am just telling you what was in the text.

I guess an American high-school life isn't complete without a long lineup of parties. They are like a rite of passage that you have to go through before you graduate high school. But no matter what they promise to be, ultimately almost every single one of them turns out to be just a big blur at the end. It's the same routine over and over again. Get drunk, make stupid decisions and do things that you would clearly regret while puking your guts out in the morning. However, my time at these parties consisted of roaming around aimlessly and trying to find a clean spot to sit which may not seem like a difficult task but trust my word on this, it really was.

I threw my phone back in my bag when I noticed Sebastian and his friends, Mike and Chad, coming out of the building, joking and laughing on the way.

"Hey there, beautiful." Sebastian gave me a quick peck on my cheeks and enveloped me in his arms.

"Hey." I smiled at him when he released me from his hold.

"I missed you." He wrapped his arm around my waist and pressed his nose against my cheeks, gently.

I smiled coyly, looking at him through my eyelashes and enacted the whole 'shy girlfriend' part. Through the months I had grown to be an absolute pro in acting to be in love with Seb and now it came out effortlessly.

"Okay, break it you two love-struck puppies or else I am gonna hurl," Chad commented making fake gagging noise.

"Oh come on, Chad! It's Norah we're talking about. You can't blame him," Mike said and took my right hand in his own while looking me directly in the eye.

I smacked his hand away from mine, feigning annoyance. Mike and I had this teasing kind of friendship where he would repeatedly try to tell me how much in love he was with me and I would turn him down every time. But it was all in good humor and neither of us meant anything.

A loud banging sound coming from the end of the lot grabbing everyone's attention towards it. A petite girl was standing beside a parked black car with one of her high heeled shoe in her hand and was making hits at the car's hood.

"Isn't that Dan's car?" Chad was the first one among us to speak.

Mike nodded his head at him. "Poor girl. May her soul rest in peace after Daniel kills her." I hit Mike on his arm at his choice of words and he made a face at me, pouting.

But it was true. Daniel Cohen, or better known as Dan around the school, was famous for two things, the first being his good looks. I bet you're already tired of the cliché 'all the girls wanted to be with him and all the guys wanted to be him' crap so I'll spare you the details. And the second one of his infamous attributes was his deadly anger. I bet even the Principal had lost count of the number school fights that Daniel had been involved in the last year.

"Shouldn't we go stop her?" I frowned looking at the brunette still molesting Daniel's car with her now demolished shoe.

"I would rather not get involve in anything related to Daniel," Sebastian said, leaning against his car.

"Well, talk of the devil." Mike subtly flicked his head and pointed his chin in the direction of exit of the building from where Daniel was approaching, his dark brown hair moving with every step.

Daniel's eyes went a bit wide and a scowl immediately appeared on his face as he took the view in front of him. His pace quickened and he reached his car in a blink of the eye.

He grabbed the girl by her wrist, lifted her up and away from his car with the brunette shouting and moving frantically in his arms like a little child. She flailed her arms rapidly to free herself from the grip. He lifted the girl a little more and placed her on top of another car parked besides his.

All the four of us watched silently as the girl stopped shouting out of shock. Before she could get down, Daniel got in his car and after putting it in ignition got out of the parking area. On his way out, he noticed us and drove away but not before giving Sebastian a glare.

"What was that?" I asked Sebastian who was frowning.

"Nothing, he and I got into an argument in the locker room. I'll tell you later about it."

I nodded at him, letting go of the subject.

"So anyway, I'll be seeing you both at the party, right?" Mike asked looking at me and Sebastian.

"I don't know man. We'll see." Sebastian opened the door for me before getting in.

"Do you wanna go?" Sebastian turned up the volume of the radio which was playing an Eminem song.

"I don't have much to do anyway so yeah, maybe I'll go." I shrugged at him and turned down the volume knob.

Sebastian slapped my hand away and adjusted the knob again to previous position.

All through the ride to my house, both of us kept fighting to gain the control of the radio.

"Nor, your taste in music baffles me," Sebastian pointed out for the hundredth time. I opened the door to my room, letting us both in.

"I don't take into consideration the opinions of people who listen to Eminem. Period."

Setting my bag in its usual place on my desk, I laid down on the bed beside Sebastian who was already sprawled across it.

"Scoot over. You are taking all of the space, jerk." I poked him in the ribs.

He moved to the side and placed his head on his palm, his elbows supporting him.

"I need some advice." He looked at me with pleading eyes.

I balanced my weight on the side too, facing him.

"Always there to help. What's up?"

"Help me think of a romantic evening for Luke. It has been a while since we went on an actual date." I noticed how Seb's eyes lit up when he said Luke's name.

"Asking for your girlfriend's help for a date with your boyfriend. You're a sucky boyfriend, Iver," I teased Sebastian who hit me on my arm in return.

"Please Norah. You know how useless I am when it comes to doing something romantic. I belong from the extremely rare non-romantic gay population of the world."

"Alright, jokes apart. Don't go too extravagant. You are way too awkward for that," I said to the pouting boy lying beside me. "Why don't you cook for him tonight? It's both simple and sweet. Perfect for you."

Sebastian pondered over my suggestion. "That's actually something I can do. It's great. Thank you!" Sebastian hugged me which was slightly difficult to do in our position.

"So I guess I am going to the party alone then," I stated getting up from my bed.

I took my books out of my bag and started my school work. I always had to complete all my work as soon as possible. It was as if my brain was pre-programmed for that. I could never leave work for later, even if I had a whole weekend ahead of me.

After four hours worth of assignments and other school work later, I was finally done. Sebastian was still in my bed sleeping comfortably. I swear that boy could challenge a koala bear when it came to sleeping.

I walked over to my wardrobe to pick a dress to wear to the party. After shuffling through almost every single outfit that I owned, I decided on a blue off shoulder dress which reached up to my knee. Several tiny sequin discs covered the whole fabric of the dress. I curled up my hair at the end allowing them to hang loose and applied my makeup. I ran eyeliner on my upper eyelid which left behind a light blue line.

I padded over to my bed to find my black pumps and to let Sebastian know that I was leaving.

"Whoa, No! You look gorgeous." Seb ran his eyes up and down my body, taking in my appearance.

"Thank you." I twirled around a little on my heels letting him see my whole dress. "Now get up or else you're going to be late."

Sebastian groaned. "Uggh, fine."

Closing my front door, I walked over to my garage to get my car and drove out of my drive way after Sebastian.

The air was blowing softly and the moon was casting a pristine glow all over the town. I was driving on the road which was adjoined to the vast lake which was almost at centre of the town.

I parked my car outside the house which was supposed to be the location for the party. A lot of people were sitting in the front lawn of the house in several scattered groups. Some of them were playing silly party games while others were just sitting and chatting with their friends. All of them had red and blue plastic cups in their hand. I hope I don't need to go into details about the content of the cups.

Loud pop music assaulted my ear drums the moment I entered the house. The living room was already swarmed with people dancing on the makeshift dance floor sitting in the middle of the room.

I started my mission of finding someone moderately sober to talk to. I found Mike dancing with a blonde girl who I think was Savannah from my English class. He already looked wasted enough that he might fall any second so there was no point of going there and talk to him.

An hour and half later, I had already socialized with all my friends present there, or at least those who were in a state to talk to.

The pounding beats of the music were starting to give me a headache.

I found an empty bar stool and started sipping the water that I had taken from the kitchen. I took my phone out to text Sebastian to know how his night was going on but saw a text notification and decided to read it first.

From Dad-

*I am so sorry. I won't be able to make it back home till next Monday. Will call you later*

Of course you won't be able to, I thought bitterly.

I gritted my teeth together as I felt the anger spreading through my veins. My fingers gripped my phone tightly and I restricted myself from throwing it on the wall opposite to me.

"Oh, look who I found," a voice came from behind me.

Great! Just freaking great!

I decided to act wisely and ignored him hoping that he would go away.

"Well, aren't you a complete looker tonight." Daniel's words were slurred indicating that he was completely under the influence.

For the next ten minutes he kept on uttering complete nonsense. That was the longest time I had ever spent with him. It was true. He and I had never crossed path.

"What do you want Daniel?" I finally decided to speak.

"You," he replied leaning towards me, his alcohol laced breath hitting my cheek.

"Go away. I honestly don't have the patience to do this right now."

My chest was heaving rapidly and my breathing was becoming ragged with every passing moment. The room appeared even smaller to me than it really was as if the walls were closing in from every side.

I need to get out of here right now, I told myself.

Daniel stared at me for a little while before taking a strand of my light brown hair wrapping it around his index finger.

"Why don't you talk to me like you do with everybody else? Why do you treat me like I don't even exist?"

What?

The throbbing in my head had reached an unbearable state. I could actually feel my heartbeat in my head.

"Cause I don't give a damn about an ass like you, that's why," I replied unsympathetically and got up from the seat, without looking at Daniel for his reaction.

I rushed out of the house pushing aside the sea of people and my lungs relaxed a bit after getting some fresh oxygen. My panting slowed down as I leaned my body against a wall.

I decided to leave my car there and take a walk thinking that I would get come get it later.

Without even thinking, I started to walk on the path that I remembered like the back of my hand. The sky was now filled with low hanging clouds and drizzling rain which made the roads glisten. And a feeling that somebody was following me, which I felt every time I was alone, grew inside me.

My shoes were digging into my feet by the time I reached the Old Higgins Bridge. No one used it anymore as it had gone weak and the authorities had issued a notice that it was not safe to drive on it.

Nothing but the roar of flowing water filled the air as I leaned on the wooden rails of the bridge and looked down. The river was flowing aggressively taking along everything that came in its path. Its level had risen a lot since the last time I was there.

My breathing had returned to normal before I heard the sound of a pebble falling into the river from the other side of the bridge.

Someone else was there too.

I squinted my eyes to focus better in the dark but was just able to make out a silhouette of a boy standing on the rails.

My mind went into a super speed mode as it processed what the person was doing.

He was going to jump!

It must have been the rush of Adrenaline in my body that made my legs move at an inhuman speed towards the guy. I caught the shirt of the person from back and pulled them down on this side of the bridge.

The boy stumbled a little before steadying himself. He raised his head to look at me.

My mind and body went numb for a moment as I looked at the somewhat familiar person, Daniel.

Didn't I just see him at the party?

"What...what.." I struggled miserably with my words, not knowing what to say.

Both the darkness and the alcohol must have hindered his vision as he took a little while to recognize me. His lips parted and then shut themselves in a tight line. Pain that swam in his eyes until a moment ago was replaced by a mix of confusion and anger.

Neither one of us spoke anything. We just stood there, my fist still clutching his white shirt and his eyes locked with mine.

What was one supposed to say in a situation like this?

I can't tell how long it was before he took a step back walked away leaving me all dazed and confused.

Soon the floodgates of my mind opened and hundreds of questions poured in.

Why was he going to jump? Did all of this really happened or was it all just my imagination?

I noticed a black car parked a few feet away from the bridge.

That is how he must have got here before me. He must have followed a different route though. I tried to come up with explanations.

I sat down on the wet ground, my back supported by the wood of the bridge and a single last question made its way in my mind.

What would have happened if I hadn't stopped him?

And I don't think I needed an answer for that one.

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