Hey, lucky me, managed to find some wifi in the restaurant I'm at in Toronto to do this upload!

Again, Out of Tune is available for pre-order now from booksellers and as an ebook. The external link goes to my blog page for Out of Tune where you can find all the pre-order links!

Anyway - hope you like this chapter! Let me know what you think :)
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Chapter Four

We hang around on the front lawn until Josh arrives with Austin, Sam and Neil. Sam and Neil are non-identical twins; Neil's on the football team with Josh, but Sam prefers computers to sport. I don't know Austin that well.

'Hey, babe.' Josh kisses me briefly. I love how easy and natural that is - kissing him. I'm smiling when he pulls away. He glances at Allie. 'Hi, Allie.'

'Hey,' she mumbles.

'Where are the girls?' I ask my boyfriend. (I just love being able to say that. My boyfriend.)

'They're inside already. They got here like, twenty minutes ago. Come on.' He takes my hand and leads me inside, the boys trailing behind us. I can hear Sam asking Allie if she's done her English essay yet. I guess they must take that class together. I let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding. At least Allie will be able to talk to Sam too.

Inside, it smells like pizza and sweat and beer. The music is so loud that people have to raise their voices for the person next to them to hear, and when I glance into the lounge I see stacks of empty Papa John's pizza boxes, and some crusts littering the coffee table.

We head straight for the kitchen, and I see Naomi standing near the beer keg, flipping her hair over her shoulder and placing her hand on some guy's bicep. Her three-inch heels and non-push-up-bra-enhanced cleavage make her look older than fifteen, and I feel a pang of jealousy.

Josh goes straight for the keg, fills two cups with beer, and hands me one before saying hi to Naomi.

She spares him a glance. 'Hey, Josh.' Then she sees me, and grins. 'Ashley! You made it!'

'Uh . . . yeah, yeah I did.'

'I thought maybe you weren't gonna come.'

'Why not?'

She shrugs. 'I don't know, it just seemed like you weren't too excited about coming when Josh asked you about it.'

I look down at the beer in my hand, and swirl it around. 'I was just a little nervous, I guess.' I thought I'd managed to hide it.

'Don't be!' She smiles, and her eyes flit behind me. The guy she was talking to clears his throat, and she puts her hand back on his bicep to let him know she's not forgotten all about him. 'You're Allie, right? Ashley's friend.'

I turn sideways so I can see them both 'Yeah. Hi.' .I don't miss Allie's grimace, and I don't think Naomi does either.

'I'm Naomi.'

'I know.'

'Oh, okay. Well, um, it's nice to meet you. You know, properly. I know we have Spanish together but I don't think we've actually talked.'

'No, we haven't.'

I know Allie's being awkward and uncomfortable, but Naomi doesn't know her like I do - she'll think Allie's bluntness is her being rude. I can see her perfect smile freezing into place, stiff and put-out.

Naomi gives me a look - eyebrows slightly raised, lips pursed, and forehead a little puckered. Then she turns away from Allie and back to Biceps, to carry on flirting with him.

I look down at the beer again. The boys have collected drinks too, but Allie keeps her arms crossed over her chest and doesn't get one.

'Come on, let's go out back. Danielle text me that she was there with Eliza,' Sam says. Naomi told me that Sam and Danielle have made out a couple of times at parties, but they're not actually a couple or anything. They just like making out with each other.

Our little group skirts round party-goers to get to the glass doors that open out from the kitchen to the back yard, where people are hanging out.

I don't know Danielle and Eliza very well. Eliza bugs me a little, because she ends practically every sentence she says as if it's a question, and I get the feeling that Danielle doesn't really care to get to know me much. They've both been pleasant enough to me when I've sat at their lunch table, but they're not easy to get on with like my own friends. It's like I have to work hard to socialize with these guys.

Josh and I don't even have that much in common. But we get on so well, it hardly even matters.

I'd worked up the courage to ask him, a few days ago, why he'd asked me out in the first place.

He'd just grinned at me. 'Why wouldn't I?'

'You're not actually answering my question.'

'I thought you were cute. And you are,' he added, making me blush. 'You were a little shy and awkward and I thought it was adorable. Especially . . .' he brushed a hand over my warm cheek. '. . . when you're blushing.'

I thought that kind of thing was only cute in the movies. And my dad would joke that I looked like a carrot when I blushed, with the auburn hair too.

'And you're smart. And funny. I liked you.'

'Since when?'

He just smiled again, making my heart skip a beat. 'Since that first class when I made you blush, and you ducked your head to hide it, and thought I hadn't noticed.'

Now, I feel almost as uneasy as Allie looks as we stand around in the garden with Josh's friends, listening to their inside jokes as they laugh and chat.

Not having much in common with Josh hasn't really been a problem between us.

It's just kind of a problem when I have nothing in common with his friends.

Surprisingly, Naomi's the only one I actually feel like I can talk to, because she's a pretty chatty person. She's very open about herself, and doesn't really care if people call her a stupid slut, because she knows she isn't. She's actually pretty good academically. She just doesn't like school much.

But with her and all the others, we don't like the same music, we don't really like many of the same movies, and I spend a lot of my free time reading, where they seem to think books are boring.

Josh has his arm round me, and occasionally one of the others will direct some comments or questions my way so I feel included, but I never really know what to say. I force laughs a lot.

Allie doesn't. She just sort of stands there with her arms crossed, shifting her weight from foot to foot, she checks her cell phone and looks around, and sighs a lot.

They start talking about some article from the school paper about schools banning cell phones completely, and I say, 'Hey, Allie, didn't you help write that?' I thought this would be a great way to bring her into the conversation. Nobody loves to debate like Allie does.

But she looks up, a little startled. Her eyes skim over Josh's friends warily. 'Um, yeah, a little.'

'It's totally ridiculous. I mean, I get that we can't use cell phones in class, but what's so bad about using them at lunch?' Danielle says to Allie. 'Like, it's not hurting anybody.'

'Actually, some studies have shown that it can - um . . . Never mind.'

I've never heard Allie back down like this and not argue her point.

I give her a worried look, but she pretends not to notice.

'Oh. Well, anyway,' Danielle carries on, ranting about cell phones and how her Biology teacher confiscated hers the other day when she was only using it for the calculator, she wasn't even doing anything wrong.

Allie mumbles to me that she's going to go to the bathroom.

I give Josh a kiss on the cheek and say, 'I'll be right back.' I follow Allie into the house, putting down my still-full beer cup on an empty space of kitchen work surface.

When she hears me behind her, she turns to me. 'You could've stayed there. I'm sure I can find a bathroom by myself.'

'I wanted to talk to you.'

'About what?'

'What's up? Why are you acting so - so . . . I don't know. You're acting weird.'

Her mouth twists. 'I just find them hard to talk to. I don't know how to act around them. They look at me like they don't know what I'm doing there.'

'Maybe they just think you look uncomfortable.'

'I am uncomfortable.'

I hesitate. 'Do you want to go home?'

She looks at me and then sighs. 'Nah. We'll stick around a while. It's not that long until Sara's going to pick us up.'

'You sure?'

'Mmph,' she grunts, meaning 'yes, but I'm not happy'. I shift my weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, wondering how to fix this and make her enjoy the party more.

'Do you want to try find Steve?'

'I want to pee, Ashley. I'll meet you guys back outside.' She puts on a smile that's clearly forced, and I see it disappear before she can turn round and make her way out into the hallway to go find a bathroom.

'What's up with your friend?' Sam asks me as I get back out to the yard. Naomi's joined the group again, but Biceps Guy isn't with her.

'I thought you said she'd love this?' Josh pitches in. 'It's like she wants to be anywhere but here.'

I bite the inside of my lip. 'She's just . . . uncomfortable. Uh , not that you guys are making her uncomfortable, or anything, she just doesn't know you very well. She's not used to being at parties like this, and she doesn't really know anybody here.' I turn to Naomi. 'And she wasn't being rude to you, before, in the kitchen. I mean, she kind of was, but it wasn't intentional. She's just like that when she's uneasy.'

Naomi huffs, but shrugs. 'Whatever. Are you having a good time, at least?'

I'm not sure if I am or not, but I say, 'Yeah! It's great!'

We talk a little longer, and then Josh pulls me away into the house. We each get another cup of beer. Josh takes a gulp from his, and I smell mine. It can't be that bad, can it? And one cup won't make me drunk. This time I take a sip, and pull a face. How do people like this stuff?

Gross.

'Not your thing?'

'I don't think so.' I drink a little more, just to check, and pull an exaggerated face of disgust. 'Nope. Definitely not.' I pour what's left of my beer into his cup.

'This is pretty cheap stuff, I think. There's much better beer out there.'

'Maybe I'll try it again another time.'

Josh shrugs, like it doesn't bother him either way. He takes my hand, and we walk into the lounge, where some people are splayed out on couches pushed against the walls, the pizza boxes have disappeared (but the crusts are trampled into the carpet) and people are dancing.

I'm about to protest that I don't really dance, but Josh gives me that dazzling grin and instead of begging off dancing, I smile back and move my body to the music, trying my hardest not to feel too self-conscious. Besides, most of the people around us aren't even looking at us.

And I've already made a fool of myself around Josh a few times, so what's one more?

His hands are on my hips and soon his lips are on mine. I feel a little weird, kissing him like this with so many people around, but even when I crack an eye open to look, none of them are paying us any attention.

For the first time in the evening, I really loosen up.

I move my body to the music, I kiss my boyfriend, and I start enjoying the party.

And it's just as amazing as I had imagined it to be.

It's about eight thirty when we head out to find Josh's friends again, after talking to a bunch of random people - the guys on the junior varsity football team, some girls who tell me they really like my hair and my outfit (did I curl my hair? No? That's natural? God, I'm so lucky to have such great hair), and the guy who's throwing this party, who slaps Josh on the back and asks him about football and then teases him about 'his cute redhead girl' until Josh blushes.

The group are sat in a circle under a tree in the back yard, and Allie's with them, on her cell phone, not a part of their conversation.

When we reach them, my best friend doesn't even look up. 'My sister's on her way. She'll be here in about fifteen minutes.'

My heart sinks a little. 'Oh. Okay.'

She raises an eyebrow at me. 'You can stay longer, if you want. Maybe Josh can take you home.'

'No, no, it's okay, I'll go with you.' I smile, but she doesn't smile back.

Great. Now she's mad at me.

We talk a while longer (well, they talk, I try and pitch in and they try and include me, and Allie stays mute and keeps her gaze on her cell phone), until Allie stands up. 'My sister's here.'

'Okay.' I stand up too, and brush the grass off my butt and legs. Josh stands with me to walk to the door with us, and I wave and say goodbye to the others.

Naomi says, 'Bye, Allie. Nice to meet you.'

Allie at least replies: 'Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you too. Bye, guys.'

Josh gives me a soft, lingering kiss on the porch. 'Night, Ashley. I'll see you tomorrow.'

'Night.' I give him a last quick kiss, then scurry after my best friend, who's already started down the street to Sara's car.

Her sister asks us about the party, but doesn't pry too much. And she catches on that Allie didn't really enjoy it, because she says, 'Not your thing, huh?'

Allie shrugs.

'I'm sorry I ditched you for a while,' I tell her. 'I didn't mean to. I lost track of time.'

'It's okay.'

'Did you see Steve, at least?'

'I saw him making out with someone.'

'Oh. That sucks. Who was she?'

'He.'

'Oh.' I bite back a laugh, not sure if she's in the right mood, but when she steals a sidelong look at me, the two of us burst into fits of giggles that last the rest of the drive home.

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Only two chapters to go! Chapter five will be up about this time on Monday :) xo