"We call it Saint Blaze," Kain said, thrusting a red solo cup at me. "You know, Patron Saint of the throat."

I swallowed a quarter of the green liquid in one fearful gulp, hoping against all hope that it didn't contain the smallest percentage of alcohol.

"So," Kain proceeded to refill my cup, "how is it?"

Sweet was the only way to describe the taste. Sweet, heavily saturated with sugar and chemicals. "It's...um...nice." I didn't want to hurt his feelings.

He picked up a blue cup and moved to the next cooler. "Okay try this one. It's—"

"No, please." I belched. "Sorry."

Kain laughed as he wiped his hands with a napkin, the strobing neon lights framing his high cheekbones. "You used to be the party type Claire, what happened to you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think you mean Peggy."

"Yeah of course, forgot that you've always been the sad party popper."

I punched his arm weakly and turned to admire the feral chaos before me. The dance floor was wild, Saint Margaret Mary girls were wild. I spotted Peggy in the crowd, dancing  with some tall Saint Patrick guy as if her life depended on it. My eyes met hers and she gave me a thumbs up in the air. At some point in time, I almost thought they were going to kiss. The guy grabbed her waist and pulled her deeper into the crowd.

Under no supervision, Saint Margaret girls were far from the presentable and well-groomed ladies everyone saw them to be.

When I heard Roman's voice from behind me, I nearly fell off my chair. My purse landed gracelessly on the floor, spilling its contents : My strawberry chapstick, blue face towel and a small piece of bubble gum.

"Oops," Roman smiled apologetically, picking up my purse and handing it back to me. He flicked his hair backwards and flashed his teeth. "I didn't mean to startle you."

My words were caught up in my throat.

"I'm Roman," he extended his arm for a handshake. His modesty both surprised and amused me. Introducing himself was totally unnecessary— I knew who he was. Everyone knew who he was.

"Claire," I said before realizing the foolish mistake I'd just made. "Claire Macogniscock," I added quickly, trying desperately to regain my composure.

I saw Kain stifle a laugh in my peripheral vision.

"Macogniscock?" Roman raised an eyebrow, a grin gently hovering around his lips.

"Yeah." I chuckled uncomfortably.

"Well nice meeting you Claire,"

"Likewise," I said, awkwardly letting go off his hand.

He half filled a cup with Saint Blaze and melted into the crowd.

"Really Claire? Macogniscock?" Kain shook his head.

"Shut up Kain," I was so embarrassed that I wanted to puke. I'd never felt like such a fool.

"When are you going to reveal Claire McDonalds to him, Claire? You know he's going to find out anyway right?"

I pretended not to have heard his question and turned away. "I need to use the bathroom."

***

When I returned, the party had moved from Saint Patrick's Assembly Hall to their Ceremonial Grounds. Everywhere, people stood in small groups—a boy and a girl, two boys and three girls, one girl and two boys.

"Kuh-Laire!" Peggy called from behind me. I turned, only to see her nearing me with the guy she'd been dancing with all night. The guy had his arm around her neck and seemed to have said something funny because Peggy threw her head back in laughter.

"Freddy, meet Claire, bff," Peggy sounded drunk. Her eyes looked hazy and her smile, unusually goofy.

"Hi," a rather sober looking Freddy nodded in my direction. I knew Freddy— he was in the lacrosse team.

"Is she drunk?" I asked him.

"Hello?" Peggy snapped her fingers in my face. "I'm right here bee-yeatch."

I tried to not believe what was happening. How on earth had Peggy gotten hold of alcohol?

"See ya!" Peggy slapped my arm and staggered away with Freddy, leaving me with my mouth wide open and my words stuck underneath my tongue.

"Is your friend Freddy's girlfriend?" A male voice asked from beside me.

"Freddy? No." I turned to answer, recovering from the messed up state I'd just seen my best friend in.

"I'm —"

"Caleb Du Bois."

He didn't seem surprised that I knew his name. Of course, why would he?  Caleb Du Bois; most popular rapper/ most popular guy in all of Saint Patrick.

"What's your name?"

"Blaire," I cleared my throat, "Blaire Woods."

He nodded. "You know you're really pretty right?"

Caleb Du Bois. Fuckboy numero uno. I'd heard rumors of all the girls he'd slept with: Trenequa, Franchester, Naomi—

"Mind if we take a walk?" He asked, licking his lower lip.

"No, I'm good."

He stared at me for a brief moment. "I've slept with many girls Blaire, and you're not going to be an exception. Write my words where water won't touch." With that, he winked at me and sauntered off.

"Dick," I said a bit too loudly and looked around in panic, hoping that no one had witnessed my brief fall from grace.

***

Peggy, as well as few other girls, were under punishment for getting drunk at the party. Matron was so enraged that she instructed them to scrub all the gutters around the pantry before midnight. As if that wasn't enough, she also called their Parents and informed them about what they'd done. Peggy didn't care, but Sin-Jun was in tears.

"Stop being such a fucking baby about this Sin-Jun, no one forced you to drink," Peggy barked coldly as she filed her nails.

Sin-Jun gasped pitifully and buried her face in my chest.

"Peggy," I looked at her pleadingly but she flipped me off. "Ignore her Sin-Jun, it's just the alcohol talking." I rubbed her back. The tiles on the floor were too cold, but I couldn't afford to leave Sin-Jun all alone.

"Oh yeah, of course, if it isn't Little Miss Righteous Claire McDonalds," Peggy said, her voice, hostile and mean and angry.

I blew a small puff through my nose. "Don't try to involve me in this Peggy—"

"Or what? Huh?" She snorted. "You go about acting all meek and quiet and humble, but deep down, you think you're better than all of us." Hate burgeoned from her voice.

"You know that's not true Peggy,"

"Oh do I?" She laughed, a fake laugh that came from anywhere but her heart. "You get all the good grades, every teacher likes you, you don't socialize with boys, you wear decent clothes—"

"Stop Peggy, please." My eyes began to water, so I sniffed to prevent myself from crying.

"Yeah whatever." She walked out, making sure to bang the door shut.

Even though I knew Peggy was heavily under the influence of alcohol, her words had poked at my heart so hard that I tried to stop myself from hating her and failed. At that moment, I wished that I hadn't ever been friends with her.

Sin-Jun finally stopped crying and left the room to begin her punishment.

I was in the hallway, heading towards my room when I met Emily who squealed and pulled me into a hug. She didn't give me the opportunity to speak. "Claire, you can't believe what has happened!"

"What?"

"Your book Claire, your book has over a million reads and is ranking at number one on Wattpad Teen Fiction's What's Hot list!"