Jen finally came to a stop. 

Well past the Ferris wheel and the stage where a band performed, they'd left out the vans and trucks where they'd later pack the machinery. Gwen had long ago ceased to follow her, so she kept walking to the edge of the parking, where Brookland Park met the river.

She followed the light sounds of rushing water until she met the narrow riverbed. With a heavy sigh, she relaxed her shoulders. 

A beep startled Jen enough to make her squeak. When she calmed down enough to remember what phones were, she pulled hers out of her purse and read a text from Nora. 

"Where'd you go? Send location ASAP."

As Jen pressed send on her location, someone asked, "Rough night?"

She jumped and looked over her shoulder. Seated on a wooden crate, a blonde boy placed a blunt in between his lips and waved her over.

He seemed weird, but then Jen recognized the boy sitting next to her.

Wide receiver for the Brookland High Knights, playboy extraordinaire, and—most importantly—her crushes' best friend. Ben Stevens leaned against a school bus and stared at Jen. 

Ben blew out smoke as he asked, "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" He brushed perfectly wavy strands of brown hair out of his eyes before squinting at her.

"Uh, yeah." Jen ealked their way, keeping her eyes peeled for another boy, but it didn't seem he was around. "We go to Brookland High together."

"Right," Ben agreed. "You're . . ." It looked like he tried—really, really tried—to remember her name, but she knew he couldn't possibly know it. Last semester, Jen was a freshman who mostly kept to herself, and he'd been a junior. The only reason Jen knew him was because she was admittedly infatuated with his best friend.

"Jen," she introduced herself as she sat atop a wooden crate.

"I'm Emmett," the blonde introduced himself, then pointed at his tan companion. "That's Ben."

She shivered, regretting the pink tube top Nora had chosen for her. It wasn't that she was particularly cold, but a warm sweater could've really worked wonders to ease the goosebumps on her skin. She looked at her arms to see that most of the irritation had gone away, but it was still a bit red from where Gwen grabbed her. 

"The craziest thing just happened to me." Her hands rubbed at her arms. She wouldn't usually confide in strangers, but she had to tell someone! She felt like she was going to explode if she didn't.

Emmett chuckled, his tone not one bit earnest as he said, "Do tell."

"Those freaky fortune-tellers," she explained. "I swear they're actual witches."

"Don't read too much into that stuff," Ben said. "They're performers."

"I went yesterday," Emmett added, "Did they do the candle thing?"

Jen seemed surprised the same thing happened to him. So, she nodded and asked, "The glowing stuff?"

"Yup." Ben said, "I think it's some kind of projector."

"One of them's a real crazy bitch," Emmett shook his head and shrugged. "Kinda hot, though."

Jen leaned back and threw her head back. "It felt so real."

One of them walked up to her. She lowered her gaze to see Ben handing her his joint. "Here, it'll calm you down a bit."

Her immediate instinct was to say, "I don't know, I've never—" 

"Obviously," Emmett teased her. When she frowned, he threw her a wink. "She's a mousy little thing, isn't she?"

Ben let his hand down. "It's alright if you don't want to."

She felt so nervous and fidgety, she'd do anything to relieve it. There was a growing knot in her stomach and a deep chill in her bones. If smoking a little weed would cure it . . . "Sure," she said, snatching it out of his grip and pressing it against her lips. 

As soon as she inhaled, she felt a scorching burn in her throat. She tried to pretend she didn't feel it, but it itched and burned beyond control. Her eyes watered and she broke off into a coughing fit. 

Ben chuckled and patted her back. "Happens to everyone, don't worry. Try again, and hold it in a bit."

When she'd regained the ability to breathe, Jen brought it to her mouth again. She inhaled more softly this time. It still burned, but she let it linger. The smoke floated out of her parted lips, its ribbons disappearing as soon as they met the night breeze. 

"Cool," Ben said, flashing his dazzling smile. "Feel better?"

"If nothing else, it's a good distraction." She blew out what was left of the smoke and handed it back to him.

"Jen!" she heard Nora's voice. Ben stepped aside so she could see her head this way, her leather pants catching the light of every yellow lamp post she passed. There was someone behind her, too. She took a second to make out the tall, lean frame. That confident swagger seemed so familiar.

He walked closer now, so Jen could see his cropped, dark hair and pale skin. Her breath hitched when he walked under a lamppost, and she saw his freckled nose scrunch up as he grinned at Ben. The knot in her stomach unraveled, only to be replaced with a hurricane of butterflies. 

Eric Riley. 

The prettiest boy in all of Brookland slapped his hand against Ben's before knocking their fists together. Breathing was a foreign concept to her when he lowered his sparkling blue gaze at her. "This is Jen?"

Nora bumped against Jen's hip as she sat next to her. "Yep. This is the girl."

Eric smiled. Eric fucking Riley was smiling at her. "Your friend talked my ear off about you."

Jen flinched. "She did?"

Nora nodded. "Yeah, we realized we were going the same way. He asked why. I mentioned you. Yada-yada-yada."

"Right," Jen said. "Got it."

"And who are you?" Ben asked, tilting his head as he stared at Nora. 

She gazed up at him, her sparkly eyelashes catching the moonlight. "I'm Nora. Nora Drew."

The brunette's eyes rolled up and down her body, tendrils of smoke slipping out of his lips. "I'm Ben."

Eric stepped back and glanced around. "Where's Kev? I thought he was with you."

"Headed home early. Had to skype his boyfriend or something." Ben shrugged, his eyes drifting toward Nora every so often. 

"Thought you weren't going to show up, Riley," Emmett interrupted.

Eric glanced over his shoulder and nodded his head at him. "Hey, Mett. How's it going?"

"Just dandy," he answered, reaching into his pants to pull out a small plastic bag with two joints. "Fork up the cash, daddy's boy."

Eric looked at the two girls, then back at him. "Nah, man. Not now."

"Don't worry about them. They're cool." Emmett set the bag back down to push his long hair back.

Ben bobbed his head up and down as he offered the joint to her again. He clearly missed Jen's wide eyes and her shaking her head in a clear no. Because instead of pulling away, he opened his big mouth and said, "Yeah, Jen. Show 'em what I taught you."

Nora looked at the smoking joint in Ben's hand, then at Ben, then at Jen. When she finally put two and two together, she slapped a hand over Jen's bare thigh and gasped. "You did what?!" 

Jen could already feel her face burning up. In a few seconds, she'd be as red a cherry. "Don't freak out."

Nora stood up and paced around them, her fingertips pressed on either side of her forehead. "Oh, my God. Your dad's going to kill me."

"He won't find out. It was just a little bit." She threw a quick glance at Eric, who was busy glaring a hole through Ben's head. 

"It'll be fine," Ben tried to calm them down. He walked off to lean against the truck next to Emmett. "If it makes you feel any better, we'll wait it out. You'll see nothing'll happen."

Nora bit her nail before glancing at her phone. "I guess it's okay. We've still got time."

"See? Problem solved, and as a plus, we'll all have to sit and get to know each other a little better." He grinned at Nora, but she was still fuming. Stomping back to her seat, she looked more disappointed than ever. 

While Eric headed towards Emmett, she leaned close and whispered, "It's like you want to get grounded for life."

"No, of course I don't, but . . . Nora," she stopped to nudge her head at the boy she'd obsessed over ever since she stepped foot in high school. "What if I don't get another chance like this?"

Nora sputtered her lips and slumped her shoulders. The thin strap of her sequined top slipped off her shoulder. "Yeah, you're right. Might as well make the best of it. Seeing as your dad will never let me see you again."

Jen rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic." At most, she'd be grounded for a year.

"Since you two are stuck here," Emmett got their attention, his eyelids looked like they weighed a ton. "Let's do something to pass the time."

"Like what?" Eric asked, taking a seat on the floor.

Emmett wobbled forward and backward in his seat, searching for something in the ground. "Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed as he reached behind him and pulled up an empty beer bottle. "How about some truth or dare?"

✦✦✦Author's Note✦✦✦
Hey, lovelies!
We got to meet some new faces. Or familiar if you're re-reading.

What did you think of them?

There're two more chapter to this sneak peek. I realized there are a few more things I wanted to get across. So, I'll be posting two more, this next Saturday and Monday.

Much love!
- l i a n n -