Here is the first chapter in the sequel to Whispers. The Secret Keepers is now available in my works. Thanks for reading :) Don't forget to vote and comment! THANKS!!!

GRADUATION

I write my name on the car window pushing around the tiny beads of condensation the rain is leaving. It's been raining all day which means Harper's graduation party was pushed from the park back to her house. Liam is driving and Lily is in the back seat staring out the window bobbing her head to the music.

"Ellie, don't do that." Liam says as he swats at me, "I will still be able to see that when it's not raining you know." I continue writing and then turn and face him, "Good, then everyone will know who this seat belongs to."

He smiles and even though I have seen that smile for months now, I melt. We pull into Harper's long driveway and from the number of cars already here, I can tell the party is in full swing. I wait for Liam to pull open my car door and he pops an umbrella open for Lily and me to stand under. We rush towards her door, splashing through puddles and kicking small amounts of mud all over us. I haul the door open and we pile inside welcoming the warmth that swirls around us. I look up to see a huge "Congratulations" banner hanging from the banister and Harper's senior picture sits framed on the foyer table. A massive stack of cards has already formed in front of the picture and there is a scrapbook of Harper's high school days next to it. I'm just about to flip through it when Harper's mom's voice interrupts me.

"Hey girls! Lily, I never got to tell you how amazing I thought your valedictorian speech was yesterday!"

"Thanks, Sherrie! I was glad Ellie and Harper helped me with it." More Ellie than Harper since Harper just complained about how boring writing a speech was the entire time. I smile at Lily's thought and we give her mom a quick hug and follow her into the kitchen. Harper spots us immediately and rushes over, pushing her way through her guests. Even though it's cold and gloomy she is wearing a strapless pink sundress and her spiraled curled chestnut hair sits just above her shoulders.

"Thanks for coming!" Harper says and her arms fling around me to pull me in for a hug.

"I can't believe we graduated!" Lily squeals and Harper pulls away from me leaving me covered in her sweet-smelling perfume. She turns around and we follow behind her into the kitchen.

I can't help but agree with Lily. It didn't seem like it was that long ago that we were little freshmen with braces and no sense of style. We dwelled over what table to sit at in the cafeteria, not wearing the same article of clothing twice in one month, and how long it took for our crushes to text us back. A year later, we got our braces off, got a subscription to Cosmopolitan magazine, and stopped giving our numbers out to just any boys. They had to earn our digits and soon we were ruling our sophomore class. We were the leaders who had everything.

Harper hands us each a plate and we move around her kitchen buffet style as we load up on different foods and desserts. Of course, Harper would have her party catered and the smell of fresh brownies fill the air. We all plop onto her couch and I see Derek with his friends Mike and Aaron walk in. I lift my free hand and we wave to each other before I return to eating my brownie. I watch Derek's eyes shift around the room and he finds Harper in seconds. He wraps his arms around her and he plants a big kiss on her lip gloss-covered mouth.

Derek and Harper have been dating for five months now and I am still not used to seeing them together. It's not even that I have any feelings left toward Derek, it's just weird to see my ex-boyfriend grope my best friend every chance he gets. On New Years' Eve, Harper threw a huge party for the senior class to get together over winter break and somehow Derek ended up being her midnight kiss. They kept kissing after the party was over and by the time school started again for our last semester, they were "official." When Harper called me and told me she managed to take Derek's virginity the night of prom I bawled my eyes out and I still don't know why.

I shift my gaze from Harper to Liam and I feel his fingers weave into mine. He also knows I have no feelings for Derek, but he still held me while I cried over the two of them sleeping together. I squeeze his hand and then feel a Cheeto hit me in the cheek.

"All the love birds need to stop touching each other. Single people need to feel the love too ya know," Lily jokes, and I throw her Cheeto back at her.

"Hey, maybe you'll find love on our trip this summer. Find a hot Californian to spend your time with."

She rolls her eyes at me but I know she's hoping for that to happen. She's never come out and said she hopes to find a summer fling, but I have heard her think it an awful lot. 

All of our parents decided to come together for our graduation present and pitch for a trip to California since we are all going our separate ways in August. Harper's parents have a beach house in Malibu, so we are going to spend two weeks hanging out under palm trees and taking in the California sun. My eighteenth birthday is also while we are out there, so my parents thought this would be a fun way to celebrate. 

Harper and Derek squeeze in next to us and we all excitedly talk about the trip coming up. Derek and Liam have never been in a confined space together for this long before, so I am hoping they can put their hatred aside for each other and have a pleasant outing.

Once most of Harper's family leaves, Harper leads us to her parent's alcohol cabinet and the real party begins. She pulls out rum, tequila, and flavored vodkas while I grab shot glasses and we sneak quietly down to her basement. There are 15 of us total and all the former senior cheerleaders are here along with our guy friends. She sets up a large circle of shot glasses and fills them with different alcoholic liquids including water and soda. We all drop our car keys into a basket and she shoves them into a closet before locking the door, forcing the people drinking to stay the night. No one has been stupid enough to drink and drive after what happened to Brittany and Ashley last year. 

We all gather around the circle and she sets an empty bottle at the center on its side.

"Okay, everyone! Let's play spin the bottle, drinking style!" She grips the bottle and then gives it a twirl. We watch the bottle spin between the shot glasses and it lands on a glass with clear liquid. She holds the shot up and motions toward us. She tips her head back and we watch the liquid drain from the small glass.

"Mmm, grape vodka," she says as she smacks her lips together. Mike grabs the bottle next and we watch him mimic Harper. He gags and then reaches for a water bottle.

"That was disgusting! I Don't want any more sugary vodkas. Ellie, you're up"

I grip the sticky bottle and tighten my fingers until I release it. I watch it land on a pink-colored shot glass. Liam nudges me with his shoulder and I raise my glass in the air and shoot back the tangy liquid. It burns as it slides down my throat and I slam my glass back down on the floor.

It doesn't take long for me to feel the effects and the game keeps going until all the glasses are empty. We switch the game up to a round of Kings Cup and Harper raises the large cup in the middle when she loses. She takes a few swigs of the concoction but then refuses to finish it. I look around the room and judging from everyone's giddiness and droopy eyes, I am not the only one feeling buzzed.

Lily leaps up and runs to the sliding glass door to heave it open. The smell of the rain sweeps in and we can hear the raindrops splashing onto the patio. Lily runs outside and stretches her arms out while spinning around, getting soaked in the downpour. Harper and I leap up to follow her lead and the rain feels cool against my warm skin. I turn my face up towards the sky and I hear Adam, Mike and Derek join us.

I watch as Adam walks up to Lily and he puts his hands up to her face. Her arms flop back down to her sides and they stare at each other not saying anything. I feel like I'm watching a moment in a movie as he pulls her in for a kiss. Lily and Adam have been off and on since homecoming and they've been sleeping together off and on since then too. Her hands pull his waist forward and the kiss quickly turns into a steamy make-out session. Heat comes to my cheeks and I turn away to find Liam.

I spot him with his back against the couch and his long legs are straight out in front of him forcing his feet to rest on the ottoman. His eyelids droop and he has his hands nestled in his lap.

"Hey you little drunkard."

"You aren't that far behind me missy." He's right. My energy is gone and my eyelids feel like they weigh a few pounds. I walk my tired legs closer to him and when I'm within inches, I feel his hand in mine. He pulls it so I fall onto his lap.

"Where do we get to sleep?" Liam asks and I look around the room. Harper is now soaked from being outside and has Derek pushed up against the wall that sits beside the patio door. Mike and Aaron hang on to their red beer cups as they linger by the bar and a few of our cheerleading friends are texting their guy friends hoping to get them to come to Harper's house.

Harper's basement has two spare bedrooms fully equipped with beds and bathrooms while the other bed pulls out from the couch we happen to be sitting on. Her parents tossed a few sleeping bags around and there is an oversized beanbag that is wide enough to fit someone comfortably.

"Harper will manage to sneak Derek back into her room while Lily pulls Adam into one of the spares. So we can go commandeer the last spare or pull the oh-so-comfortable pull-out bed from the couch we are sitting on." Liam looks off toward the spare bedroom and a smile spreads across his face.

"It would be nice to have some privacy, but I know what being alone in a spare room insinuates. So you make the call."

Liam and I still have yet to "do the deed" but I've allowed the assumption to spread. I hated getting hassled about losing my virginity by Lily and Harper so I lied to both of them and told them it romantically happened over winter break. I now feel like I'm included in this new club of "girls that have done it" and the members love to dish out details. I remain quiet and recite scenes from movies as if they were my real experiences and this seems to satisfy their nosiness. I remember I told the girls that Liam and I had gotten caught in the rain and he carried me up his stairs while making out and soaking wet. I said we were so excited I didn't even get all my clothes off and it was so good that we did it again. Not one of them even put together that that was the big love scene from The Notebook.

"Yeah well they'll think we're doing it anyway, so let's take the spare room. But we better claim it fast because if Ashley gets Cody over here, they'll take it over." Liam pushes himself off the couch and turns to face me. He extends his hand so I can place mine in his. He pulls me up and I wrap my arms around his waist.

Temptation has found me several times over the course of our relationship, but we've both agreed to wait. I said I wouldn't allow myself to be exposed in that way when Liam can still break into my thoughts. It's embarrassing enough to expose that huge piece of myself without the guy fully capable of hearing my every thought. And Liam already told me he doesn't want to know my judgments when we do the deed. That he'll be nervous enough. We've been practicing closing off my mind and remaining silent, but it has yet to be perfected.

"Let's go to the bedroom and cuddle," I suggest while I raise my eyebrows.

"I'm about to cuddle you so hard girl. I don't know if you can handle it." I laugh as he yanks me toward the empty bedroom.

THE REST OF THE BOOK HAS BEEN UPLOADED ONTO MY PAGE.