It is Friday evening and Ashley, Kelsey, and Samara are coming to pick me up for Noah's party in an hour. Poppy's infamous black dress is perched on the edge of my bed, waiting to be worn. I pick it up and slowly slip it on, attempting to forget about the crypticness of what I saw yesterday. I don't want the words I discovered to spoil the exciting night that is ahead of me.

    I admire my body in my full-length mirror, twirling around and letting the ruffled bottom flow like the wind. The bodice is tight and hugs curves I didn't even know I had. The dress makes me feel very exposed in many different places and it is more revealing than anything I had ever worn before. Though, to be completely honest, it does look good on me. I must break out of my shell and just wear the damn thing.

    I quickly do my makeup the same way I did on the first day of school. I'm sure Ashley will fix it before the party anyway.

As soon as I hear the screech of a car pulling into the driveway, I rush out of the house before my mom can see what I am wearing and admonish me for it. I climb into the backseat of Ashley's mid-sized vehicle, Samara sitting beside me. Kelsey is chilling in the passenger seat.

    "Girl, you look gorgeous!" Samara exclaims immediately. She is wearing a royal blue micro skirt and a white cropped tee that flatters her body perfectly.

    "You all look amazing too!" I respond, taking in the three of their outfits. I can catch a glimpse of Kelsey's emerald green dress from where I am sitting and I just know that it looks phenomenal with her unique eye color. Ashley is looking breathtaking as always in a bodycon style dress.

    "Who's ready to have a great time tonight?" Ashley announces, her voice blaringly loud.

    "Me!" Everyone in the car exclaims, matching her excitement.

    "I know you've never been to a party, Ivy, but Noah's parties are not the typical High School parties you see in movies. They're much fancier."
Ashley explains to me and my excitement increases.

Even as the words written on the inside of the dress come back to me, I push them as far away as possible out of my brain. I barely even care if practically everyone attending this party is aware of the Poppy drama. Tonight, I will take a deep breath and let all of that unnecessary weight be lifted off my shoulders.

Once we arrive at Noah's party, the first thing I notice is hundreds of teenagers filing into his gigantic mansion. Seeing the sheer number of people that are going to be here speeds up my heart rate and makes my palms sweat a slight bit.

Ashley opens the car door for me and, sensing my stress, places a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry, Ivy. Everything will be fine." She assures me and I smile, knowing I must believe her. I suck in a deep breath and step out of the car.

When I approach Noah's mansion, I am greeted by a large metal gate and a long cobblestone walkway leading up to the three-story building. No wonder why he is known as the go-to party host in our grade. Based on his stately cobblestone home, complete with a large garden in the front, his parents must be very wealthy.

Kelsey, Samara, and I walk up the many steps leading to his polished wooden front door. As soon as we enter, we find Noah standing beside the door, dressed casually in a pair of dark wash jeans and black collared tee. He runs a heavily tanned hand through his dark, messy hair, which gives the impression that it hasn't been washed in numerous days.

"Welcome, guys," He greets us, the greeting sounding incredibly rehearsed. "Drinks are on that table and food is in here. You can stay in here or go outside, just don't go upstairs please." He explains, pointing in all different directions of the huge first floor of the house.

"Can't go upstairs. Got it." Samara teases as she turns left and pretends to step up the marble staircase.

"Samara. I'm watching you." Noah warns while rolling his eyes. I chuckle at Samara's playful behavior. This causes Noah to focus his attention on me.

"Hey, aren't you that new girl everyone is talking about. Ivy or something?" Noah questions.

"Oh, yeah. I-" I pause when I take sight of the necklace that is hanging around his neck. Attached to a long gold chain is a circular pendant with a detailed finch etched into it. A pendant I know all too well because it belonged to Poppy.

I remember the day she received the 14-Karat gold necklace from her close grandmother who passed away shortly after. She was battling cancer ever since the summer before our freshman year and after fighting for months, she finally died. The beautiful pendant was so special to her and she wore it everywhere she went. So, how in the world did Noah get ahold of it?

"What?" Noah asks, a look of confusion on his face. I tear my eyes away from the pendant and back up to his face.

"Oh, nothing. I was just looking at your necklace. It's really nice." I lie.

"Oh. Um, thanks." He says hesitantly. Hm, suspicious. I think to myself.

"Hey, Ivy. Do you drink?" Ashley asks, grabbing me by the arm. Noah turns away and approaches another crowd of people, ready to repeat the same instructions to them.

"I actually never have." I admit. Poppy and I shied away from alcohol, especially because I did not want to turn out like my dad. He had always been an alcoholic and the way he treated my mom when he drank terrified me. I would escape to my room and drown my fear out with music when it happened.

"Me neither. You don't have to try if you don't want to." Kelsey tells me. I think about it for a second and then make a bold decision.

"I will. Why not?" I declare.

"Okay, girl. I'm shocked." Samara gapes and I grin. Tonight, I'm determined to act cool.

"Same. Let's go." Ashley leads the way to the large drinks table set up in the corner of the house.

On top of it, there are hundreds of wine bottles of various sizes arranged in neat rows, including bottles of red wine, white wine, champagne, and chardonnay. It looks as if Noah raided his mom's entire wine collection for this party.

Rather than the typical beer keg that most High School parties feature, a cooler filled with cans of beer lays on the ground beside the table. Now I see why Ashley described Noah's parties as more on the fancy side.

"Noah has all kinds of stuff. What do you want to try?" Ashley questions me. I gaze at all the possible drink options, the large variety overwhelming me a little.

"What do you think I should have?" I ask Ashley since I didn't know anything about alcohol myself.

"Let's be fancy and have a glass of champagne." Ashley suggests, grabbing the bottle and two wine glasses.

She pours the fizzy liquid into each of our glasses, filling them up almost to the brim with the sparkling golden wine.

"Thanks." I grab my glass and she leads me to the middle of the house, where most people-including Kelsey and Samara- stand.

Everyone is dispersed across a dance floor that covers nearly the entire spacious ground level of the house. It lit up vibrantly with many different colors, such as lime green, turquoise, magenta, and dandelion yellow. Loud pop music is blaring from the speaker at the side of the room, reverberating noisly throughout the entire area. Many people are dancing along to the beat, shaking their hips and bobbing their heads. The sound of their voices blends in with the music.

"Let's dance!" Ashley shouts over the noise, starting to do a body roll matching Samara.

"I don't know." I say hesitantly, not really knowing any moves.

"You got this, girl! Just follow my lead." Samara instructs me.

She begins to do fast movements with her arms and hips and I do my best to follow along.
Soon enough, I am replicating every motion of hers perfectly and somehow, Ashley, Kelsey, Samara, and I end up in the center of the dance floor. I notice that a huge crowd of party-goers has formed around us, cheering us on as we move in unison.

When the song ends, I spin around and take in the large amount of people who were just watching. It's ironic that I told myself to not stand out a few days ago; this is the exact opposite of that. But, honestly, I really couldn't care less. That is until I spot Brandon in the crowd, approaching me.

"Look everyone! It's the weird new girl." He roars, his words echoing across the whole house.

Everyone turns away from whatever they are doing to follow where he is pointing to. My body heats up under the scrutinizing gaze of a million pairs of eyes. I want to crawl into a hole and hide more in this moment than I ever have before.

After a few seconds, the painful lull in the room starts to fade and I gulp down the remaining liquid in my glass all at once. The fizzy drink seeps through my throat, leaving me with an unsettling feeling by the time it reaches my stomach. Suddenly, I get the urge to be as far away from these people as possible.

Trying my best to slip under the radar, I place my empty glass on a nearby table and sprint away. I peer up at the lengthy spiral staircase Noah had warned us not to go up and without thinking twice, start climbing it. Nobody will ever find me here.

Once I reach the top of what felt like a million sets of stairs, I begin walking straight down a narrow, dimly lit hallway. I creep past a series of closed white doors until I spot a wide open one on my right. Kind of random. I think to myself. But nonetheless, I decide to step inside that very room. The light is off and I make sure not to shut it on so I can be left unfound.

I am greeted by a king-sized bed with a raggedy comforter and a worn out carpet floor. This definitely does not match the rest of the sleek, fancy house. I wander toward the very back of the semi-large room, where a sliding door that leads to a balcony is installed. Why would someone build a gorgeous balcony outside of such a hideous room? It makes no sense to me.

Still, taking the opportunity, I slide open the glass door and escape into the cool night air. The balcony overlooks a large portion of the city of Denver. I lean my arms against the frigid marble railing and gaze at the tall buildings out in the distance. They light up the skyline with fluorescent yellow light, other parts of the city balancing it out with cool indigo tones. I can hear the subtle sound of car tires screeching against the road past the shops that stay open late, increasing the golden glow in the air.

Suddenly, the calm atmosphere is interrupted when I hear the door screech behind me. I whip my head around to see Jesse, sporting a smirk and a fitted black T-shirt that fits tightly around his toned arms.

"Not enjoying the party very much?" He asks, teasingly. I roll my eyes, not in the mood.

"No. How did you find me, anyway?" I shoot back.

"Well, you weren't as sneaky as you thought. You forgot to close the door." Stupid me. I think to myself.

"Whatever." I mutter under my breath as Jesse starts to move a few steps closer to me.

"Just to let you know, nobody cares about what Brandon said." He assures me.

"Are you sure about that?" I question in a skeptical tone.

"Yeah. Nobody listens to that idiot. Besides, everyone will forget about it in a week anyway." I cross my arms over my chest, still not fully believing him.

"Ashley, Kelsey, and Samara are looking for you. They told me to join in the hunt too." He informs me.

"Oh, so you didn't actually want to find me?" I retort. I have no clue where my sudden boldness came from. The champagne must be doing something to me.

"Of course I wanted to find you," He whispers slowly. "Did you want me here?"

He takes two more careful steps toward me. We are only a couple inches away from each other at this point and I shiver.

"Maybe." I whisper back as he wraps his cool arms around my waist.

A tingling sensation runs through every inch of my body. I place my hands on his broad shoulders and he leans in, closing the small expanse of space between us.

I can feel the gentle pressure of his warm breath against my cheek and before I know it, our lips meet. They move slowly and passionately against mine and his mouth tastes of sunshine and dark chocolate. His hands travel up my spine as he slips his tongue into my mouth and feeds me wild kisses. Wow, he is a good kisser. I think to myself.

I feel as if I am seconds away from passing out right there in his arms. This is not at all how I imagined my first kiss to be, but I'll happily take it.

"What the hell, Jesse?!" I hear a high-pitched voice holler from behind us. Jesse and I tear our lips from each other and I turn to see a pale girl with bleached blonde hair and voluminous fake eyelashes.

"What, Sarah? We're broken up, remember?" Jesse hisses, speaking in a bitter tone.

"You need me back and you know it. Why are you making out with the weird, new girl who killed her annoying friend?" Sarah shouts in return and I blink repeatedly.

What does she mean by annoying friend? How would she know if Poppy was annoying or not?
All of a sudden, someone else barges onto the balcony: Noah.

    "What are you guys doing out here?" He demands, his words slurring together and his shirt much more wrinkled than when I saw him earlier. His fingers are wrapped tightly around a red solo cup and I'm a hundred percent sure that he's had far too much of whatever liquid it holds.

"Come here, Noah." Sarah says, suddenly grabbing onto the collar of Noah's shirt and pulling him closer to her. Their lips crush one another's in a hungry way and I stay rooted in place, my jaw on the ground. This just got awkward.

I turn my gaze to Jesse and notice his fists ball up and his nostrils flare in an angry, envious expression. When Sarah pulls away and sees Jesse, she looks extremely satisfied with herself. I see what this is all about; Jesse only kissed me to make Sarah jealous and get a reaction out of her. I can care less about that, though.

What I can't ignore is what Sarah does when she finishes practically eating Noah's entire face off. She wraps her flawlessly manicured fingers around his gold chain and brandishes Poppy's bird pendant.

But, that's not all. She does it while her eyes bore into me, as if she's in on a secret and trying to communicate with me that she knows. Something is up and I have a strong feeling that "innocent Ryan" is the one to blame.

heyy guys! i feel like less people have been reading my book now lol. but, if you're still here, tell me in the comments and pls vote!

- mari 🩷💜