"What about this?" Mia asked, doing a twirl in a shimmering red dress. She was tiny for a seventeen year old and often got mistaken for a young teen, but tonight in her dress and makeup, she looked even older than she truly was.

"Love it." I approved, locating the hoop earrings I had been searching for for five minutes and jamming them through my ears. I twisted my helix piercing once for no real reason and then stood up to grab my own outfit.

"And hair up or down?"

I glanced up, scrutinising Mia as she held her hair in a ponytail position before dropping it back down against her shoulders.

"Down, definitely."

Mia set to work styling her hair whilst I slipped into my dress-- a small black number with a plunging neckline. You could never go wrong with an LBD. I pulled my straight hair into its low pony and shoved my Jimmy Choo's on, grabbing a pair for Mia to wear as well.

"Are you kidding?" She gaped at me, staring wide-eyed at the nude colored heels as I held them out in front of her.

I frowned. "What's wrong? Is there a smudge on them?" I inspected the shoes quickly, but they looked fine to me.

Mia shook her head, her mouth popping open and closed like a fish. "These things cost more than I'd sell my brother for! Are you sure?"

I laughed and dismissed her woes with a hand flourish. "Of course I'm sure. What's mine is yours and all that."

I started packing my clutch as Mia squealed in delight, shoving my phone, house key, wallet and lipstick inside the bag. Once I was satisfied that I had everything I might need, I sat down on the bed and waited for Mia to finish up.

I was trying to keep on a brave face for Mia's sake, but I also couldn't shake the memory of the last party I had attended from my mind.

But this is different, I told myself. Just a little high school party. Nothing to worry about.

"Mia!" Brooks' voice rang up the stairs and through to my bedroom. "You ready to go?"

After applying one final coat of lipstick, Mia pressed her lips together and turned to me with wide, excited eyes. "Ready?"

She didn't wait for my response before she bounded downstairs, yanking her dress back down her thighs where it belonged when she reached the bottom step. I followed quietly behind her, carefully walking down the stairs so I didn't trip and kill myself. You'd think with the amount of events I'd been to I would be better at this.

When my feet found flat surface and I was confident that I no longer ran the risk of falling, I allowed my eyes to leave the floor. It was only then that I noticed Brooks was here, and next to him Jazmin was curled around his arm. She looked absolutely stunning in a sequinned silver dress that showed off her supermodel-thin figure. Her hair was pulled up into a loose bun, tendrils escaping around her ears and face. Combined with Brooks' sharp and trendy outfit combination, they looked like the perfect power couple. A pang of something uncomfortably similar to jealousy shot through me at the sight of her with Brooks, but I forced it into the vault in the back of my mind. They were just friends and, even if they weren't, I had no right to be jealous.

"Jaz you look gorgeous!" I smiled, gesturing towards her.

She blushed, self-consciously hiding her face in the crook of Brooks' neck. "Me? What about you? You look like a...a-- well, a movie star!" She laughed. I thanked her before adjusting my dress and heading for the door.

I jumped into the back of Brooks' car, carefully making sure I didn't expose myself. The night was cold, especially in this itty bitty dress, so Jaz cranked the heating on as soon as she was seated in the front.

"Hey where's Dallas?" I asked, suddenly realizing that we were one squad member short.

"He had to work, so he's meeting us there a little later." Jaz replied simply.

I nodded and turned to stare out the window, watching the cars and trees whip past. Ten minutes later, Brooks parked his car on the curb of a street lined with huge white houses. The pounding music and stumbling teenagers in the yard made it easy to see which house was Marc Dimmond's.

Mia and I linked arms as we entered, instantly losing Jaz and Brooks in a crowd of people who swarmed towards. Nerves bubbled up like butterflies in my stomach and I forced them away. You're fine. It's fine.

"Yo!" Someone yelled from an unknown location in the house. "SAVANNAH SILVERS IS AT MY PARTY BITCHES!"

A deafening shriek ensued, and a moment later we were surrounded.

"Hello." I greeted people awkwardly, offering waves and smiles wherever I could. Flashes erupted in my face from every direction and I blinked in a dizzy daze, feeling the circle close in. I turned around 360 degrees, seeking out an escape route but coming up blank. "Could you please-" I started, but my attempt at speaking was muffled by the noise of the crowd. The circle grew even tighter, hands and bodies pressing up against me and groping for something to take. Someone tugged roughly on my hoop earring and I yelped in pain. I whirled around vehemently, looking for Mia or Brooks or Jaz, but I'd been pulled away by the ocean of hands, and they were no longer in sight.

Voices echoed around me, mingling into each other and forming nonsensical sentences.

"Hey don't shove-"

"Watch your hand, asshole-"

"Savannah! Savannah please-"

"Did you really get kicked off Scandalous?"

"Savannah I love y-"

Sweat trickled down my back as the crowd and the panic continued to build. How many people were around me now? Fifty? A hundred? They continued to press in against me, a tangle of hands and phones and limbs wanting to touch me.

Fingers snaked around my wrists and I felt myself being tugged to the left.

"Hey! Let go of her!" A masculine voice called.

"Yeah? How are you gonna make me?" Another voice retorted.

The next events happened in a blur. One moment I was upright, and the next I was sailing through the air as a fist connected with my cheek and my neck twisted painfully in the opposite direction. I landed on the floor with an almighty thud, winding myself on a bony knee on the way down. I gasped for air, my head pounding as I curled into a ball on the floor. Voices continued to float above me, and someone yelled something, but I couldn't make anything out past the ringing in my ears. Vaguely, I noted hands around my waist, and I tried and failed limply to swat them away. My vision blurred and blackened as the hands lifted me, spots dancing across the scene before me.

The last thing I felt was someone stroking my hair before the darkness pulled me under.