17 3

It was a slaphappy comfort to know that some things didn't change – Paul still liked to screw with my head just as much as ever. It didn't seem to make a difference to him that we hadn't seen each other in months. As I walked down the humanities hallway around the end of lunch period, he came from where I was heading and extended an arm to block me from walking further.

"Woah there." He simply said, turning in an over-exaggerated manner to face me. He had some kind of imitation black leather jacket on that accentuated his ridiculously histrionic poses. "I wouldn't. There's a drama alert blaring down that hallway, and it's on DEFCON 2." He paused and looked at the side of my head. "You get a new haircut? You look great. Catch you later." Without another word, he casually resumed his swaying Stayin' Alive waltz down the hallway as if the conversation never happened. I stared at him for a few seconds in disbelief, then promptly ignored him as I turned the corner, ever closer to my history class.

Closer to seeing when the heck Paul was on about, too. As I turned the corner I saw a decent-sized crowd gathered around May and… Baseball Kid, of all people.

"You can't do this to me!" May loudly protested as I joined the crowd. "Who do you think you are?!"

"What's going on?" I quietly asked one of the on-lookers.

He turned to face me. "Jack's dumping this chick." He answered. "And she isn't taking it too well."

That certainly didn't do it justice. You could actually see May's shoulders rising and lowering with her breath. She certainly was a beautiful creature, though. My hormonal teenage mind couldn't help but drown out her yelling and focus on her chest, and remember the perfect nipples her breasts had.

My mood turned sour as I remembered the situation in which I saw them – the party. Cheating. Out of reflex to do something physical to distract myself from the thoughts of how terrible a person I was clouding my thoughts, I coughed loudly. The same spectator shot a look at me.

"Sorry." I mumbled as he turned back.

"May, look, it's over. No need for this drama." Baseball Kid said, turning to walk away from her.

"No. Please, Jack. I can't. I need you." May desperately retaliated, latching on to his arm.

Jack laughed. "We've been going out for like a month." He remarked, and shook her off.

May steamed like a kettle over an active volcano as Jack walked away coolly. "I hate you!" She shouted after him. "You were an awful boyfriend!! The worst!" She turned away from him and faced the crowd. "Go away!" She yelled with a rapidly dwindling anger, one that I could tell would soon turn to sadness and regret.

The crowd didn't dissolve, as expected, and still wouldn't until about twenty seconds after. The crowd had gathered around May to watch her meltdown like she was a circus act, and a teacher rounded the corner. Mr. Graves, I quickly realized.

"Class starts in a minute." He sternly ordered. "You all have somewhere to be." The crowd quickly left, leaving him, myself, May, and a few students at their lockers.

"Ms. Stevens, you made quite a scene today." Mr. Graves told her. "I'm going to need you to come with me please."

May had curled up into a ball on the floor. Her face was buried between her knees and her feet were firmly on the ground. Upon slowly looking up to see Graves, her legs caved in more. "No." She weakly responded.

"It wasn't a suggestion." Mr. Graves informed her, outstretching a hand. "Come on."

"No, please." She repeated. "I'm fine. I'll be okay."

Graves was persistent. "You don't seem to be perfectly happy when you're sitting down in a hallway crying when you should be in class. Not to mention, you caused a public scene. We'll just need to talk this over with Mr. Scott."

"I don't want to." May argued, yet staying as submissive as possible. "Is there any way I could just stay here? Please?"

"No." Mr. Graves responded. "Ms. Stevens, I really don't want to have to physically drag you to Mr. Scott's office, but I have the authority to do so. Come on, come on." He persisted, making a 'come hither' motion with his fingers and speaking with the kind yet stern tone all old male teachers seem to have mastered.

May shook her head. "Please." She softly repeated.

For some reason, I felt an overwhelming urge to help. My instincts were telling me it was a good idea not to get involved and that gumming up the works would only land me in trouble, but for some reason, I couldn't shake the determination to help May out of my mind. I thought quickly, and realized I had an advantage. From where I stood, because Mr. Graves had to turn the corner, he probably didn't see me yet, since he just advanced towards May. Seeing he had his back to me, while thinking on my feet, I tiptoed away from the arguing duo until I was out of sight, then walked swiftly and loudly up to Mr. Graves.

���Mr. Graves!" I called out to him.

He turned towards me with an irritated expression. "I'm afraid this will have to wait." He told me simply.

I shook my head. "I was sent here. You're needed as a supply for room 203, the regular supply couldn't make it today. Mrs. Luciano said she would take care of May. She thought it might help if a woman convinced her to go to Scott's office instead."

Mr. Graves was a man of reason. All math teacher were. To him, I had only turned the corner, and thus came across this scene, now. Thus, there was no way I could have known May was to go to Scott's office unless the teachers told me so. After all, it's not like I heard their earlier conversation or something.

"I see." He replied. "Very well. I'll stay with her until Mrs. Luciano arrives."

I shook my head. "She's along as we speak. I was only sent because they want you to move to the classroom now. Otherwise the students may think class is cancelled and walk out, causing disruptions for other students. I was asked to come supervise her for her until she comes, since she knows I'm a responsible student. They know I'm out of class – I have a note."

My lying caught up with me. If it weren't for that last sentence, I would have woven the most beautiful lie of my life, but of course I had no note on me. I struggled to keep a poker face as Graves, without missing a beat, asked, "Could I see the note?"

"Sure." I said, pretending to rifle through my pockets as my mind ran a 12k marathon. I feigned confusion then frustration as I remarked, "Shoot. I think I left it at the office. Want me to go get it?"

Mr. Graves looked briefly at May then back at me. "I'll trust you. This situation isn't that serious, I suppose." He looked back at her. "Make sure she doesn't leave your sight. If she does, it'll be at Mr. Scott's office. I'll be there after school to ask about this, so I hope this isn't an attempt to save her, Adam. This is a highly irregular order for a grade nine student."

"I understand, sir." I replied. "Don't worry. If Mrs. Luciano isn't around, I'll make her go to his office myself."

"I think I'll be speaking to her later too." Mr. Graves added. "This request sounds too strange."

Inside, I was worried, but didn't budge. "I'm not worried." I told him. "I'm just following orders."

Mr. Graves lowered an eyebrow, but nodded. "I guess then I'll follow mine." He stated, and walked down the hallway.

When he was gone, slowly and meaningfully, I took a few steps towards May, then sat down in front of her, facing her with a stone-cold serious look on my face. After about ten seconds I couldn't take it anymore and broke into a grin. "Too easy." I told her.

May practically melted onto the floor in relief. She exhaled loudly and threw her head down onto her knees. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." She breathed.

"Happy to help." I replied.

"But… Why?" She asked me.

I never stopped to consider that it really was something big I was doing. Not only did I risk getting caught, I was pretty much definitely going to be in trouble for this. And yet in a heartbeat, I did it. I would have loved to say it was because it was what was right and that I was helping a friend, but an interesting revelation caught up with me – we'd love to say we'd help our friends in situations like that, but it was completely different to be in that situation, watching it unfold. If it weren't for one thing I saw clear as day when she talked to Mr. Graves, I wouldn't have done what I did.

"You were afraid." I simply answered, looking up at the ceiling. "I saw the fear on your face. Remember when I was breathing heavily before our drama performance? I get panic attacks. They used to be really bad. I know how terrible it feels getting nervous or anxious or afraid of facing something you're not ready to face can be."

I looked back at her to find she had reburied her head between her knees. She didn't need this right now – I was just talking about myself. I understood school well enough to get this scenario – I was understanding the content and able to restate it, but I wasn't applying what I knew to make the correct decision.

"Enough about me." I remarked, and instantly she perked up, raising her head. "What can we do to make you feel better?"

"Why does no one like me, Adam?" May simply asked me, in a very sad voice. Not knowing how to respond, I scooted over next to her and hugged her.

"I'm still a good person." She said, mostly to herself. "Right?"

"I wouldn't be able to tell you." I shrugged. "Up until now, I didn't even know you were dating Baseball Kid."

"Who?" May asked, looking at me with a weird expression.

I forgot that people didn't know the nickname I made for him in my head. "Uh… Jack. I call him that because of the hat."

"Jack's an asshole." May sank her head down again.

"You thought I was an asshole when we were in a similar situation." I reminded her lightheartedly.

"Not helping." She mumbled into her knees.

"Right. Sorry." I scooted up right next to her and formed the same position, knees inward. "He still liked you though."

May scoffed. "Yeah. Liked. Past tense." She lifted up her head to reveal an angry expression on her face. "People like me before they know me. That's how it works. Because I have a pretty face. Because I have these." She held her hands up to her C cup breasts to prove a point. "When I'm a quiet, submissive girl, everyone loves me. But that's just, like, a mask I throw on. When I know people well enough to trust them, I take the mask off, and everyone – everyone – leaves me. You're taught to be yourself, but you're just screwed if you are, because then you have to reveal to the world that, news flash, I'm flawed. And people can't take that." She looked down at her feet. "How can I open up to people and have friends if people just see me as the innocent, quiet girl with big boobs? When I reveal myself as anything more, people just… Lose interest. Fuck, I'd rather be fat again. At least then I knew where I stood. Now I just have to constantly pretend to be someone I'm not just to have people like me. And then, it's not really me they like. They just like what they want from me. Who they want to see, not a human being." She sunk lower onto the floor. "I want to leave."

"I don't imagine Mr. Scott's room is where you want to leave to, is it?" I asked dryly. She looked over at me lazily and shook her head no. "Yeah, I figured." I muttered to myself.

May sighed. "Sorry I'm such a mess." She mumbled. "It's not your fault."

"I don't mind being a friend." I said to her, smiling. She briefly returned my smile.

"It's Carson's fault." She muttered. I looked at her in slight shock, and was about to ask why when she spoke again. "Who am I kidding? It's my fault. Carson didn't make me give my body up to him."

"Wouldn't have shocked me if he did, just saying." I dryly interjected.

May chuckled sadly. "Yeah, he was a horny bastard." she let silence fill the halls before she spoke again. "I just… I really wanted someone to fall for me, not my looks. Someone who wants to learn about me, who likes me for what I do and who I am, not what I could do or who I could be. I don't even know why I trusted Carson so much to be that person when he was always just looking for sex. I guess it's like there were two Carsons – the real one, and the one I made up in my head, the one made of hope, just so I could justify what I did with him." She smiled to herself. "Damn, that was good. I should write that down."

"Well done." I told her with a slight chuckle.

"But what's the point?" She continued. "It's high school. Guys just want one thing. It's stupid."

"Hey." I said and she turned her head to me. "Real talk?" I asked, and she nodded. "I used to have the world's biggest crush on you."

"Yeah, I know." She replied softly, taking her eyes away from mine and staring intently at the walls across the hall. "You weren't exactly good at hiding it." She chuckled. "You used to have a heart attack from me talking to you, and you were always staring at me."

"Shit, was I?" I meant to only think that, but the words spilled out of my mouth. May giggled and rubbed my knee supportively.

"I didn't mind." She said sweetly. "It was nice to have someone crushing on me. I just didn't want to string you along because shy guys aren't really my thing."

"Uh-huh, sure." I replied, smirking at her. "We almost kissed during a drama rehearsal at your place, remember?"

"Yeah, but we didn't." May fired back with a slight smile. "So your argument is kind of pointless. Not to mention, you were kind of scrawny. I mean, no offense or anything, but I did choose Carson for a reason."

Wow. That was bold, I thought to myself. My old self would have been torn apart if he knew his looks were what prevented him from getting his dream girl. "I was your first choice for the dance, not Carson." I reminded her, keeping up my humorous tone.

"No need to get defensive." She replied. "And truth be told, you were actually like my last resort. I asked out a lot, and I mean a lot, of guys before you. Most of them wanted to go solo, so I figured I was hunting in the wrong crowd."

Okay, now she was pushing her luck. "So Carson asking you out was a divine gift?" I asked, putting a bit more energy than I normally had to into my light tone.

She chuckled. "Sure, why not." She replied. Her hand moved from my knee to my chest. "I have to say though, you totally shaped up this year." She added slowly and meaningfully. "You went from a shy geek to a pretty good-looking guy, you know that?"

She began tracing my muscles, and I could only raise one eyebrow in response. I bet May was used to getting what she wanted growing up – telling me I was basically useless to her until I got muscles wasn't bold, it was rude. I don't think she could even hear her own words, or just figured I would go with it.

"Maybe I'm looking for too much with guys." She continued, still dragging her words a little due to either genuine nervousness, or a flirty fake nervousness. "I should stop expecting a guy to treat me like a princess, and instead treat my body like a temple. You get me?" She giggled.

"I'm not sure I do, May." I replied flatly.

She giggled naughtily. "I like when you play hard to get." She purred. "Maybe I don't need a boyfriend. Maybe I need to let emotions go and just go for something more on-the-fly. You know, like a fuck buddy."

"I can't answer that for you, May." I told her, finding it easier than ever to control my libido around her. "That's something you need to figure out for yourself."

"God, I was hoping you'd say something like that." May grinned. "Because I think I want one. And I think I want it to be you." She leaned over and kissed my neck slowly and sensuously. "After all, I already know you're good in bed. What do you say?" She asked.

Oh, May. She thought she had me hook, line, and sinker. If it weren't for that last line, I might have even entertained the thought. It sure sucked to be her. "Hold the fuck on." I said forcefully, pulling her off me. "Did you seriously just use the time you coerced me against my will to have sex with you, then blackmailed me to not tell anyone about it, as an example of a good time?"

May was completely caught off guard, and it was a delicious sight to see. "Well… uh…" She stuttered, the cogs turning faster than usual in your mind. "I mean, in the moment, we enjoyed it, so…"

"You know, I find it cute that you basically just told me my whole presence to you was just to stroke your ego until I started working out." I said, my tone reflecting the fact that I knew I had the higher ground. "I had a huge crush on you, and you knew. Yet I was a last resort to you. A last fucking resort. That's cute."

"I…" She started, eyes darting from side to side. "Maybe I shouldn't have used those exact words. I'm sor-"

"No, you totally should have." I interrupted her. "Because you meant it. Every word. I'm glad to know where I stood with you. It's beautifully ironic that you were complaining that people only like your face and boobs, because you didn't care about me until you saw my muscles and dick. It really fits." I stood up. "You know what's funny? I did it for you. The muscles, the working out, I did it to impress you. And now seeing that it did impress you, only now do I realize how meaningless it fucking was."

May's lower lip was moving without her realizing. "You meant more to me than that." She quietly protested. "You were a friend."

"Yup. A blackmailed, forced, contacted-only-when-you-needed him friend. A friend you tried to punch in the face when you didn't get your way. A friend you tried to seduce when you felt unsatisfied because fuck his feelings. And then when you feel lonely and he's the only guy willing to listen to your feelings, you seduce him again because you're lonely and want to feel validated by a guy who isn't scrawny. Well, this guy is saying no. How does that feel?"

She put her head down between her knees. "Why are you yelling at me?" She asked quietly.

Part of me felt bad for her, but this was beyond the point of no return. "Because I just guaranteed getting myself in trouble for you, all for you to tell me my body is the only part of me you see. Don't like guys staring at your tits? Well, welcome to hypocrisy. It's a bitch, ain't it?"

May started hugging her legs tighter, curling up into a bigger ball. "This always happens." She complained with a quivering voice. "I open up to a guy, and he does this. This is my problem. All of the guys in my life are dicks."

I leaned before her and reached forward. I found her chin and pulled her face up so I could look her right in the face. "No, May." I told her. "Your problem is you're the least self-aware person I met. When you find you have flaws, you blame someone else. When others tell you about them, you blame them for 'being dicks.' You were being rude to me. Own it. You were a bitch to me, playing with my affection for you. Own it. You blackmailed me. Fucking own it."

"Can you stop fucking bringing that up?!" She shouted, swatting my hand away. "I get it. It was a bad decision. I regret it, okay? I don't like being reminded of it. I can't move on if you keep dragging me down by reminding me."

"I'll stop reminding you when you stop using it as an example of a good time." I replied, standing back up and offering her a hand.

She took it gingerly and got up. "Fine." She huffed. "I have flaws. I get it. But so do you!"

I laughed. "Yeah, I know. That's the difference between you and me. I own up to my flaws. I accept them and move on. When you're confronted with your flaws, you find a way to blame someone el-"

"I get it." She interrupted. "Just… Fucking stop." She paused, and we stood in the hallway for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, she sighed. "I'm sorry." She weakly conceded.

"That's a good start." I replied with a smile, and went in for an embrace. She hugged me back, pulling me in close.

"I…" She began shyly. "I meant the whole offer for a fuck buddy. I'm sorry I said all of that stuff, but even though I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, you are really attractive to me."

I broke off the hug. "I think I'll pass for now." I replied. She huffed and looked at the floor dejectedly. "Just being honest." I added. "In the future… Who knows? For now, though, let's focus on you learning to function by yourself first. Sex doesn't have to be the solution to everything. Hell, I think we've both seen that it creates more problems than solutions."

May sniffled. "You were being really condescending back there." She pointed out.

I sighed. "I was, wasn't I?" I conceded.

"And cheesy." She added. "No, May." She added, deepening her voice to imitate mine.

"Alright, alright." I threw my hands up in defeat. "Point made. I'm sorry too." We both stood there for a long time, just looking at each other.

"This means I'll have to see Mr. Scott, doesn't it?" May asked sadly, after a while.

I nodded. "He'll come after both of us if you don't get down there, and I'm in enough trouble as it is." I pointed out.

"Fine." May conceded, beginning to make her journey. I followed her.

***

I approached Ms. Luciano after I made sure May made her trip to Mr. Scott. When I neared the room, I noticed it was empty and she was on her spare. When I knocked on the door she nearly jumped.

"Oh, Adam. Hola." She greeted me, her earlier scare still evident on her face. "What can I do for you?"

"Hey, Ms. Luciano." I greeted her back. "Odd request. Mr. Graves is looking for me, so if he comes by, could you just tell him that I delivered May to Mr. Scott's office?"

"Como?" She asked me, confused. "Why would he ask me about where you are?"

"It's a long story." I informed her. "To be honest, I'm kind of confused by this whole thing too. I think Mr. Graves is under the impression I'm doing something I'm not, or I'm doing something he asked you to do, or you asked him to do what I'm doing…" I felt downright malicious playing not only one but two teachers, but if I knew two things about Ms. Luciano, it's that she was easily confused and easily overwhelmed. And being in trouble wasn't fun – I wanted to avoid that to the best of my ability.

"Okay…" She said slowly. "If he comes by, I'll tell him you dropped May off with Mr. Scott. I suppose."

"Gracias, Ms. Luciano." I beamed. "You're an awesome teacher."

She smiled at the compliment. "De nada." She replied, her smile quickly turning back into a look of confusion as I left.

***

"Woah there, Muhammad Ali." Nicole exclaimed as I started a set. "We're the only two people in here. Who are you trying to impress?"

I didn't answer until I finished my set, then put the barbell down. "What are you talking about?" I asked her, wiping my face with a towel as I sat up on the bench.

"Besides your tendency to end your sentences with prepositions?" She asked me with a wink. "You were pumping that thing like you were trying to save your life. I mean, how much does this thing weigh?" She walked around to the side. "You could hurt yourself."

"You were spotting me." I retorted. "I'm not a kid."

"And you're being defensive too." She replied. "Did you have a difficult day? Did May take off with another guy again?"

I tried to keep a poker face. "I don't have a crush on May anymore." I told her flatly.

She looked me straight in the eyes and grinned. "Too little emotion." She told me. "You're hiding something."

"It's more like I don't see how any of it is your business." I replied, lying back on the bench and breathing heavy, preparing myself for my next set.

"You are my business." She replied, as smoothly as ever. Before I had a chance to grab the barbell, she reached forward and started playing with my hair.

"C'mon, Nicole." I told her, interrupting my breathing to shoo away her hand. "Quit it."

"What? Sorry for caring." Nicole replied with her signature seductive voice. "Besides, it's not like there's anyone else in here."

Right on flipping cue, a knock on the door shook us both from our conversation. We both looked at the door, then at each other.

"That was a whole new level of stupid irony." Nicole commented dryly as she started for the door.

"Your life is a sitcom, isn't it?" I asked her.

"It has its moments." She grinned at me before opening the door. She had to pull the door back, so I got to be the first to see the door open to reveal Phil.

"Yo, Nicole!" He greeted her. "I thought I'd find you in here."

"Hiya, Philly." She greeted him warmly, and gave him a hug. Despite my own jealousy, I had to smile – it looked like the two had worked out their differences.

"And Adam! What are you doing here, little man?" He asked me.

I gestured around me. "Playing cards." I replied dryly.

Phil turned to Nicole. "You should stop hanging out so much with him. He's starting to sound like you." Without waiting from a response from her, he walked over to me and gave me an enthusiastic fist-bump. "You lifting now?"

"It doesn't show, huh?" I replied in a mock dejected tone.

He laughed. "Quit putting words in my mouth." He leaned down and looked at the amount on the barbell. "Sheeeit." He murmured, then turned to me. "Not bad for a freshman. You thinking of trying out for the wrestling team next year?"

I shrugged. "It's just a hobby." I remarked. "Keeps my mind off of things."

"Oh yeah?" Phil asked. "Like what?"

With that, Nicole cleared her throat loudly. "Did you come here to badger him, or did you come to ask me something?"

Phil chuckled. "Always want the spotlight on you, dontcha?" He asked her teasingly.

"It usually is anyway." Nicole replied, fluttering her eyes seductively at him. "So what do you need?"

Phil turned back to me for a second. "I actually wasn't going to ask you this with Little Mac in the room, but anyway…"

"You just said I wasn't bad for a freshman!" I protested, standing up, giving up any illusions that I'd get to do my third set.

Phil turned to Nicole. "He doesn't play video games, does he?" He asked her.

"I'm working on it." Nicole replied. "Anyway…"

"Right. Anyway, it's time for the Love family year end party again, and I was just wondering if you'd be down." Phil continued. Nicole gave him a look, and he beamed. "Don't worry. Jeff's gonna be out of town. You won't see him there."

Nicole's look of disapproval turned to a smile of her own. "I'm down." She grinned. "Am I allowed to bring Mike Tyson with me?"

"How many frigging metaphors are you two going to come up with?!" I interjected.

"Uhh…" Phil started slowly, moving his eyes up and down over me. "I mean, I guess. He probably won't know anyone, though. The only freshmen that got invited this year just got in through families." Nicole gave him another look, and he smiled and threw up his arms. "Sorry, freshmen are lame." He shot a look towards me. "No offense, buddy."

"None taken," I replied casually, used to the classism of high school by now. At this point I joined them, wrapping my towel around my neck.

"So who are they exactly?" Nicole asked him.

"Let's see… We got Natalie's little sister, Swanson wants to bring his little brother along, Matt's bringing Megan with him, and I think Paul's cousin wants to come too."

"That's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?" Nicole asked him as if they were debating politics. "If we get into cousins we may as well invite anybody."

Phil nodded. "Yeah, I thought so, but I mean, it's only gonna be-"

"Ew, fuck." Nicole interrupted. "Paul? Can we blacklist him?"

"Why?" Phil asked, folding his arms.

"Because he's a fucking creep, that's why." Nicole answered him. "Calling it now, he's just gonna sit in a chair all night and look at everyone. That's what he does."

"So? Why does that affect you?" Phil asked her. "He deserves an invitation as much as you do. People are people, Nicole. It's not fair to play favorites when you're representing all of the students."

"Oh, grow up." Nicole responded, folding her arms. "We're in high school. Of course we're gonna play favorites. And since we are, if my opinion matters, I don't wanna see him there."

"It's funny how you're telling me how to run my own party." Phil replied, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"You guys are cute." I sarcastically grumbled. "If you need anything, I'm gonna hit the showers before we go. Okay?"

Nicole turned back to me and nodded. "No problem." She confirmed.

Phil turned to me too. "So, you want in?"

I had already started walking at this point. "Uh…" I started, not being good with being put on the spot. "…Sure." My mind was not on the invitation, truth be told. My mind was fixated on the fact that Megan and May were going to be at the same party, and one way or another, that was definitely going to turn into a disaster.

"Cool. See you there." Phil grinned at me, before turning back to Nicole and resuming their argument. As I headed to the showers, I suppressed a smile. Nicole was totally going to win. She always did when it came to arguments.

***

"As Student Council, you're supposed to treat all students with respect." Nicole mocked Phil as she bitterly drove us to the party. "What a bunch of bull. As if everyone deserved to be treated equally. News flash, Phil, some dudes are just assholes. Here's a thought, maybe we should treat them like assholes. That might get the point across."

"You are bitter, aren't you?" I asked her.

"Oh, does it show?" She asked me sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Fuckin' Phil. Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. He thinks he's such top shit for… For…"

"Treating people with actual respect?" I finished her sentence, smiling at her.

She gave me an evil smile back. "I could turn this car around if I wanted to." she reminded me. "If you ever wanna have sex with me again, quit sounding like him."

I looked outside the window, chuckling to myself. "What, he's a turnoff for you now?" I didn't get a reply, so I looked back at her. Her smile was gone, her back was stiff and she was intently staring at the road.

"Oh, sorry." I mumbled. "I didn't think that was still a bad subject. You two seemed to get along well."

"No, it's not that." Nicole replied, her tone reflecting her drop in mood.

"What is it?" I asked her curiously.

"How are your parents doing? Still angry?" She asked.

I sighed. "This again? Nicole, please don't hold this against me. Or think that it's bigger than it is or something."

"Well, it meant a lot to you at the time." Nicole replied flatly. At least she didn't sound sad anymore.

"They seem cool with me for now." I replied. "They didn't have any more questions when they found out you were driving me, or that I was going to a party. I mean, they had the usual advisory stuff parents say… 'don't drink too much,' 'make smart choices…'"

I turned back to her to see her still intent on the road. My cheeks flushed slightly and I suddenly felt like I was talking too much. "Sorry."

"For what?" She asked, turning to face me.

��I dunno. Mentioning it." I replied. "I feel like it's a load for you. I don't want to make you guilty. I want to make you happy."

Her plain face broke out into a slight smile. "Don't get yourself too worked up there, squirt." She told me. "It's a party. No need for heavy stuff tonight. Just enjoy yourself."

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked her.

"No, Romeo, I poisoned myself." She replied, losing the smile and rolling her eyes again. "God, everything's so dramatic with you."

Loosening up, I replied, "I prefer to think of it as adventurous." Nicole smiled, but didn't respond, so, like an idiot, I continued. "You're really sad lately." At this point I was thinking out loud. "I feel like I'm at fault. That's all."

She nodded. "So you're feeling bad about what you say, because anything could set me off?" I nodded without saying anything. "God, you're a tool." She continued, rolling her eyes. "I'm just feeling a little stressed lately, that's all. Big decisions, your normal stuff. It's not like you have to handle me with kid gloves. I'd appreciate it a lot more if you treated me like a girl rather than a China doll. If you touch me, I won't break."

I poked her shoulder to make a point. "See?" She asked me. "I'm not breaking down in tears, am I? I'm allowed to be sad, but I don't want that to change how you talk to me. I just want you to be patient. Can you do that for me, squirt?"

I nodded. "I can try." I answered.

She smiled. "Thanks. Now loosen up – tonight isn't about all that shit. Tonight's the night you'll learn what a real fuckin' party is like."

We arrived a few minutes later to find the place already booming. Cars lined up Phil's street and even from a few houses away, we could hear the music.

I glanced at the car clock. "We're early." I commented. "It looks like the party started hours ago."

Nicole chuckled. "Welcome to high school, freshman." She replied. "At parties, 'early' means 'on time.' 'Late' means 'I think this party is lame but have no other plans.' 'On time' means 'I still don't know how parties work.'"

"Sounds… Stupid." I honestly replied.

Nicole shrugged. "You get no argument from me." She opened the door and got out, waiting for me to follow suit before locking the car, which I think was vibrating from the music being blasted from one of the nearby houses – presumably Phil's house.

"Is there going to be a noise complaint?" I asked.

"I doubt it." Nicole replied, looking around at the houses. "He's had the volume up higher before and never gotten a complaint."

"Are all of his neighbors deaf?" I asked. "I almost have to shout over you and we're not even there yet."

"Calm down, you big baby." Nicole responded, smiling at me. "It's gonna be a great time. Phil is legendary at parties. He knows what he's doing." Her smile turned into a grin. "Plus, I'm here too, and I think I know how to make you have a good time."

"And how are you going to manage that?" I asked her slyly.

"I'm sure I'll think of something." She replied just as slyly, reaching down behind me and grabbing my butt. I yelped in surprise and Nicole lost it.

"Not funny." I mumbled sourly.

"Hilarious." She retorted, still laughing slightly. By then, we had made it to Phil's house, and Nicole invited herself in. Meekly, I followed.

The place was simultaneously open and large, and a packed mess. We were only in the foyer and yet the place was packed. "Oh, God." I muttered aloud, as I started to wonder why I came.

Nicole somehow heard me over the crowd and pounding music and rubbed my back sympathetically, smiling at me. Just as she stopped, Phil happened to come through the doors and spotted us.

"Nicole! A-dawg! Stoked you guys could make it." He happily greeted us, giving Nicole a hug and fist-bumping me. He stank to high heaven of weed. ���Make yourselves at home. What's mine is yours." He grinned at us then promptly left, leaving Nicole and myself standing there.

"Shall we?" Nicole asked me.

"I think I have a headache already." I complained in response.

Nicole sighed and shook her head pityingly. "I hope you're not gonna be a burden like this all night long." She replied. "Come on." She took my hand and guided me through the foyer door into the main hallway.

I had to say, Phil's family was pretty damn well off. His house looked really lavish from the inside. Everything was clean, well lit, polished, and it reeked of luxury. I liked it, but at the same time, knowing how much better his house was than mine for some reason made me uncomfortable. I didn't have too long before Nicole led me into another room, and shut the door behind us.

Slam. With that, the music was almost completely gone. I almost couldn't believe it. I thought my ears stopped working. It was louder outside the house than in this room. I looked around and saw a poorly-lit white room with a drum kit and some kind of booth with a computer inside.

"You have a tendency to be a bit sensitive about these things." Nicole started as she walked lazily towards the drum set. "So I figured this should be the first room I show you. This is Phil's drum room."

"Where's… where's the…" I began to ask, still confused.

Nicole laughed. "It's almost fully soundproof. This was Phil's birthday gift from his folks when he turned seventeen." She explained, sitting down at the drums. "If you ever get overwhelmed by the sound and the people, that's what this room is for. Not a lot of people will come here, given Phil's rules about this room are no shouting, no drinking and no sex."

"Sex? In here?" I asked, looking around.

Nicole chuckled. "Are you sure you've been to a party before, squirt?" She asked me. "Parties are like designated fucking and drinking nights for high schoolers. And the older you get, the more you seem to want. And the weirder stuff you wanna do, including weirder and weirder places. If Phil didn't seal off this room from fucking, we would've interrupted a few unfortunate fuckers when we came in." She took his drumsticks and began doing a small solo in perfect 4/4 timing.

I waited until she was done, then shrugged. "You popular people are weird." I commented lamely.

She put the drumsticks back and stood up. "You're not exactly unknown, you know. Like it or not, you're student council, went to a party and word is, you're known for fucking around."

I turned bright red. Did Nicole know? Did she know about May? If she knew about May, she would have killed me. No wonder she brought me into a soundproof room. No noise came in, but no noise came out. She could say, or do, anything she wanted in here. She was going to kill me. I could feel it.

I had no clue what story my expression told, but seconds later Nicole's eyes bugged out. "Jesus Christ, squirt, calm down." She ordered. "Jeez. It's not like you blowing Megan and then kissing May is news at this point."

I breathed a sigh of relief, hopefully with the 'relief' point unbeknownst to Nicole. She didn't know. Good. She would have killed me if she knew I cheated on Megan, even if I told her the whole story. "Anyway, my point is, for a grade nine, you're pretty popular. Sex news spreads fast at our school." She looked at her nails smugly. "Before I showed up, our school was pretty vanilla, you know."

I laughed nervously, still riding down the panic I had suffered earlier. "Oh yeah?" I managed to ask calmly.

She nodded enthusiastically. "I mean, I took me a good long while until I came outta my shell, but when I did, man, did I realize what a dry and shy school I was going to. Like, I almost think I invented having sex in a classroom. That's how fucking tame Hazelwood is. Can you believe it?"

"Yeah, in a well-developed neighborhood with good kids. Imagine that." I winked.

"Fuck off." Nicole playfully stuck her tongue out at me. "Anyway, with me being the only unashamed slut, everyone waits their turn."

"Waits their turn for what?" I asked.

She motioned around her. "This. Parties. Especially the girls. Boys get to be slutty all the time and we just roll our eyes and slap our knees. 'Oh, those gosh darn hormonal boys…'" She imitated, putting on a surprisingly good Deep South accent.

"Your Southern accent is hot." I unashamedly remarked.

She ignored me. "Usually we just call them bros or fuckboys or whatever, but they still get to be as slutty and polyamorous as they want. But girls, we need to watch our image, as long as you fear the word 'slut.' We get like a few days a year when judging eyes aren't fixated on us, looking for gossip. And that would be…" She trailed off, indicating that I should finish.

"…Parties?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Bingo." She pointed at me. "Girls get these rare opportunities to have a room full of boys, or girls if that's your thing, and make out with dozens of them in an hour without worrying about rumors getting started within minutes. No wonder we explode on the scene first basin' it with all the dudes we can find."

"Sounds… Gross." I honestly answered. "I couldn't do that. I needed to know both May and Megan before I even wanted to kiss them."

"You didn't need to know me." Nicole winked. "Am I just that hot?" She struck a seductive pose.

"Well, that's kind of different because we talked before and you offered me a r-"

"The correct answer was 'yes,' dumbass." Nicole snapped playfully. We didn't say anything for a few seconds, and she softly approached me and kissed me on the lips. "You cool with knowing you're not the only guy to me tonight?" She asked tenderly.

"Yeah. I've been warming up to the idea." I answered a little quietly.

"Thanks. It means the world." Nicole smiled at me, kissing me cheek. ��Some guys aren't that generous. They basically want to own me."

"I mean, I don't like it." I added honestly.

She nodded. "I'm sure if I were like everyone else, I'd probably get jealous of Megan too."

"And-" I stopped myself. Holy shit. I almost said May. I needed to practice thinking before speaking.

"And who? Is there someone else?" Nicole asked, seriousness painting her face.

"And anyone I manage to score with tonight." I finished instantly as I breathed an internal sigh of relief. Thank you, drama class.

Nicole did some kind of combination of a scoff and a chuckle. "Yeah, good luck." She replied, one eyebrow lowered. "Unless you get divine intervention, and of course by divine I mean by yours truly, something tells me you won't get to go all the way with anyone tonight."

"Hey," I lazily commented, pretending to stretch to showcase my confidence. "You just said I was popular. I bet I could do it."

"Yeah? Then go ahead." Nicole responded, motioning to the door. "Go out there and get yourself a nice piece of ass without having a panic attack about it."

"Hey!" I retorted, on the road to being genuinely offended. "I've been getting a lot better with those."

Nicole giggled. "I know," She replied softly, caressing my hair. "And I'm proud of you." She gave me a gentle kiss on the forehead before resuming her normal strong voice. "Now what the fuck are we still doing in here? I only wanted to show you this place in case you get overwhelmed. Let's fucking mingle."

I smiled at her. "Okay." Was all I could think to say. Bracing myself for the beat pounding in my ears once again, I opened the door and stepped back into the abysmal hell that was the epitome of the high school experience – the party.

Even in the hallway, the place was littered with couples talking. Most were talking with their faces really close to one another, and one guy had his girl straight-up pinned against the wall, furiously making out with her.

"Yeesh." I remarked aloud. Again, somehow Nicole heard me, rubbed my shoulder and smiled, although this smile was more like she just told a hilarious joke and wanted to share the laugh with me.

Before long, she practically skipped off towards the living room. Not knowing where else to go, I followed her. The living room, as I freaking expected, was also packed. Whoever wasn't drinking was dancing. Whoever wasn't dancing was flirting. Whoever wasn't flirting had already succeeded and was probably somewhere else in the house.

Nicole, suddenly feeling my presence, whirled her head around to find me. Upon seeing me, she broke out into a pitied smile. "You're like a lost puppy." I heard her shout over the music. She brought her arms out and pretended to shoo me away.

I sighed and took the hint. I suppose it might not be a bad idea to learn how to operate independently at these parties, especially if what Nicole told me was true and I was actually popular.

I looked around myself and saw loads of people doing things I wasn't interested in. The idea of drinking made me nauseous. Dancing seemed to be teen code for jumping up and down and grinding on each other. Pass. And flirting… I wanted to at least know someone's name before I jumped into bed with them. Not knowing what else to do, I went with my usual strategy and tried to find the kitchen.

This meant wandering through the halls, which meant going on a tour of the Museum of Promiscuity. Every few steps I took, I came across a couple being increasingly bold with one another. The first couple made me smile – It was a guy caressing a girl's hair as he complimented her eyes. It was kind of sweet.

The second couple was a girl pinning a guy up against the wall, giving him kisses all over his face. She was clearly the one in control, but he didn't seem to mind. I would have thought about it further, but the couple next to them definitely stole attention. Call me sheltered, but I wasn't expecting to see a pair of guys openly kissing in any high school event, let alone a party. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized I was in no position to judge. So they were both dudes. It's not like they had any less of a right to be public about their affection than any other couple I was watching. Still, I couldn't shake the notion that the idea… Made me uncomfortable. I don't know if that made me a bad person, but I knew I was fully straight, and the idea of watching two guys kissing made me less comfortable than watching a guy and a girl. I guess because I could relate more to the straight people. I wasn't sure.

The last couple was really trying to put on a show. The guy was definitely the one in control here – he was your typical short-haired 'is he on steroids or did he spend years on those arms' jock, and one of said strong arms was under the shirt of some redhead, grabbing away at her boobs as they were making out… Oh, wait. That wasn't some redhead, that was Natalie, the girl from Student Council. Well, good for her, I guess.

Eventually, I found an open arch that led to the kitchen. The music was only slightly quieter in here, but at least there was breathing room and no hint of PDA. I sighed as I leaned up against a wall and looked around the room.

A beautiful tile floor and polished granite countertops greeted me, topped with a toppled tower of beer cans and various opened alcohol bottles. Teens will be teens, I thought to myself. Am I going to turn into this?

My thinking was stopped short by noticing I wasn't the only one in here. I didn't recognize the guy guarding the fridge, but next to him stood Matt, and he was staring right back at me, with the same surprise I'm sure I had in my eyes. After the shock wore off, he slowly started walking towards me. "Adam." He said, barely audible over the music but not willing to shout it.

I was worse at dealing with shock than he was, so I stood frozen for a bit until he was too close for comfort. "Hey, Matt." I replied, with a calmness that surprised even me.

"It seems everywhere my sister goes, you're not far behind." He noted. I braced for him to hit me, but he waved me off. "I'm not going to start anything here." He told me. "That would be disrespectful to Phil. But I'm not happy with you. You got that?"

"I think I got that a few months ago." I replied, fear creeping into my voice.

He sighed loudly. "I don't want to talk about that." He simply said.

"So you feel bad about it?" I asked, hopeful that we could begin to leave that event behind us.

"I don't regret it at all." He let me know, staring into my eyes. "You don't get it, Adam. Are you an only child?"

I nodded.

"So you don't get it. I have a little sister that means the world to me, and you're corrupting her. You're bad news, Adam. I don't hate you, but you're bad news. I just want her to be the best she can, and you're dragging her down. Okay, bud?" He clapped his hand down on my shoulder. It felt warm, and almost kind, in a threatening way.

"What are you saying?" I asked him.

"I'm saying, I won't kick the crap out of you again. It was wrong." He told me. "I get it, it was wrong. But I want you staying away from her. I bet you can see you're not good for her too, right?"

His hand gripped my shoulder tighter. I think he was trying to intimidate me into saying yes, but ha! Joke's on him, I thought to myself. I already felt like shit for how I treated Megan. Boy, did Matt ever have egg on his face.

"Yeah." I conceded, but that was all I was going to say.

"So you're going to stay away from her?" He asked me forcefully.

"I mean, I'm in a class with her." I pointed out.

He sighed exasperatedly. "You know what I mean. Don't be around her any longer than you have to. She's only in grade nine. Do you know when her birthday is?"

I didn't like where this was going. I could only shake my head no.

"December tenth. And guess what you were doing week before?"

My stomach twisted. A year younger. She was a year younger than me when she blew me. That was sick. That was genuinely sick. Added to everything else, screw Matt – I was ready to punch myself unconscious. It felt like I got a fucking toddler to blow me. It seemed almost surreal. Fuck.

"She spent her birthday angry, and sad. My sister. Do you have any idea how that must have felt? For me? For her?" Matt continued.

I still couldn't get over how young she was. I felt like a pedophile, and I wasn't exactly an old man yet.

Matt could read that I was seriously getting affected. He snapped his fingers in front of my face to get my attention back. "Look, I don't mean to rile you up. I just hope you can see how twisted that is."

"Yeah, it's twisted." I managed. Jesus. Holy shit. I'm so sorry, Megan.

"Anyway, right now I'm trying to bring her back to how she used to be, plus I have to keep my parents unaware of it. Keep up the idea that she's a nice Christian girl, otherwise dad would have a fit. You ever had to keep something secret from your parents?" Uneasily, I nodded, as he continued. "So you get me? It's just a little hard with you in the picture. So can you promise me that buddy? No more sex, no more hanging around her. How about it?" He held out his hand.

He had me convinced, that's for damn sure. I took his hand and shook it.

He smiled confidently at me. "Thanks. I 'm glad we could settle this respectfully." He told me. "And I'm sorry for… y'know, what I did. I just get a little overprotective. But if you're good in the future, we'll have no more problems. You made a good decision."

I nodded and smiled weakly, needing to leave. I waited until he left for whatever reason, then sat down in the chair until my dizziness and nausea left. This was the last thing I needed at this god damn party. More fucking guilt. For someone who was in this house somewhere, no less.

Suddenly, the music didn��t bother me. I needed a distraction. I needed to be numbed. Walking up to the counter, not even feeling my legs do so, I found myself staring at a number of unopened beer cans. Not even thinking about what I was doing, I opened the can and brought it to my lips.

The taste brought to mind the smell of motor oil. It didn't taste very good, but the aftertaste made me crave more. I sipped slowly at first, then got braver and braver, eventually chugging it down once I got to halfway through. I didn't care. I wasn't thinking. It was just in the moment.

Once I realized I was staring at not one, but two empty cans of beer in my hands, I remembered I wasn't alone in the kitchen. Shit. Did I just steal?

I reared my head around to the fridge. The guy guarding the fridge, a smartly-dressed black guy with a classy haircut, read my panic and waved me off. "First two are free." He informed me. Thank God.

Was I going to get drunk? I wondered. I never really drank before. Was two beers enough to get you drunk? I really didn't know, but I think I felt 'buzzed,' or whatever it was called. I was beginning to mellow out, yet get giddy and fidgety at the same time. I wanted to do something. Before I knew what was going on, I started walking back towards the living room. Most of the couples had cleared out of the hallway, save for Natalie and her boytoy, who were basically doing the exact same thing except with her hand rubbing between his legs. Mazel Tov.

I headed back for the living room and I swear my vision was slightly delayed. I was drunk. This was what drunk must have been like. I was sure of it. I scanned around the room for faces I recognized, and found I was slightly dizzy. I would have thought I'd be more out-of-control since I was drunk and all. I guess movies exaggerated it when characters were drunk. I stumbled around for a seat and finally found one at the back of the room.

"You okay there?" I heard a familiar voice shout over the music. I turned my head over to see the smug grin of Paul meet me. He was sitting down, holding a Coke in his hands. "Hola." He greeted me.

My expression hadn't changed. I don't think I could feel my face. "I think I'm drunk." I told him.

"Yeah?" He shout-asked me. "How much did you spend today? Or did you BYOB?"

I shook my head no. "I just got the two free beers… You know how the first two are free? I got those."

His expression changed from serious to laughing out loud in seconds. After he recovered he looked me in the face. "Oh, you're serious." He muttered. "You're cute, you know that?"

"I'm not- I'm not gay." I confidently stuttered.

"Never said you were. Or that I was." Paul retaliated. "You're fine, compadre. Just buzzed. And I'm guessing this is the first time you're drinking."

I nodded.

"Thought so." He replied. "It takes more than two beers to get you drunk. What you're experiencing is a phenomenon known as the Placebo Effect. It-"

"I know what that is." I shouted over him.

"Alright, cool." He replied. "So how's alcohol treating you?"

"It's weird." I murmured, looking straight forward. "I feel… funny. I feel like… You know?"

"You get really deive when you get tipsy." Paul quipped. I was starting to see where Nicole was coming from. He was kind of annoying. And condescending. And he really was just spending the night sitting down, watching people.

"Why are you even here?" I asked him. He laughed and raised his glass.

"I get to see high school in action." He answered me. "I find it fascinating. We can barely talk over this music and yet you see so much communication going on. I don't really dance or drink, but it's actually really interesting to see your friends and classmates in this situation, then see them in class again. It shows you who changes and who doesn't when they're in public. And the ones that do are the most interesting."

I stared at him while he explained. "You're… You're a bit of a condescending prick." I told him, noting the slight slur of my voice. God, I'm such a lightweight, I thought.

He chuckled. "That's your opinion." He told me. "I'm not going to apologize because I find watching people more interesting than jumping up and down on the dance floor or pouncing on top of someone and engaging in sex with them."

"Are you a virgin?" I point-blank asked him.

He shook his head. "Nah." He told me casually. "I've been around. I thought I told you before, but I could be wrong." He took a sip of his Coke. "I just don't think sex is important. You do because you probably haven't had it before. Trust me, it means nothing."

He really couldn't see past his own experiences, could he? "If that's so, why do so many teens want it? And why do they want it more once they get some?" I grilled him.

He shrugged. "Because teens are hard-wired that way." He simply answered, before taking another sip. "Just because your hormones tell you to do something, or that you like something, doesn't mean it's true."

"So everything's pointless?" I asked him.

He looked me in the eye and grinned. "Kind of, yeah." He answered. "So why are you here, anyway? Still trying to go after Nicole?"

Before I could answer, something rapidly took Paul's attention completely away from me. His eyes immediately flew to the door, and his ears, almost invisible under his mangled Tarzan hair, almost visibly perked up. I followed his gaze and saw Phil hugging a girl dressed in some kind of modest dress. "Hey, Bri." He warmly welcomed her. "Glad you could make it. Enjoy the party!" He walked off, leaving her in plain sight.

She was really pretty, in a kind of 1950s kind of way. Her hair was absolutely beautiful in the way you only saw in movies. It was brown, and curled in beautiful ways that an artist couldn't have conceived if they were to draw the idea of beauty itself. It was definitely a natural curl too, which only helped her case. Her lips were absolutely covered in red lipstick. She could use those things to call down airplanes from the sky. Her lips naturally pushed out a little too, and her smile completed her face and lit up a room. She wasn't much of a looker in terms of her body – average was the best word for her. Relatively flat-chested, no real amazing ass, but that didn't take away from her overall looks. I didn't really want to do anything with her, but she was definitely one of those girls you could appreciate from afar.

Appreciating her seemed to be the last thing on Paul's mind as I turned back to him. His expression had changed from alert to alert and slightly upset. As small a change as it was, it was very noticeable. I turned back to the girl. She seemed almost shy… Kind of bashful, really, like she felt she didn't deserve such an atmosphere. She was actually kind of cute. I turned back to Paul, whose Coke was gone. Both of his arms were positioned on the armrests as if he were about to get up.

"Oh, Christ." He mumbled as he got up and disappeared into the crowd. Okay, then, I thought. Conversation over, I guess. I turned back to the hallway entrance to find Bri, or Brianne, or whoever, gone.

I figured sitting wasn't doing me any favors either. I had no clue what I was doing, or what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I was buzzed (apparently not drunk) and didn't want to sit still. I got up myself and headed to the hallway, surveying it. Well, I already know what's on the ground floor, I thought as I looked to the stairs. Shit, why not?

The atmosphere shifted when I went upstairs. Downstairs was a warm, open place, but upstairs was decidedly quieter. It became quite clear that most of the people that were up here were behind one closed door or another. I could hear noises, and by that I mean a lot of noises, but they were muffled. Anybody outside of the closed doors was either trying to find an unoccupied room or enjoying small talk because they had no further need for their own room.

Somewhat timidly, I traipsed the halls, looking for any point for me to continue being up here. I turned the corner and the sounds stopped. Curiously, I walked up to the nearest door and leaned my ear against it, seeing if there really was no one in there or if they were just being really quiet.

I was only there a few seconds before I felt someone lean against me from behind. "Someone's being a voyeur," I heard a girly voice murmur in my ear as I felt a pair of tits press into my back. I whirled around to see the drunken smile of a very familiar brunette girl wearing short shorts and a low-cut shirt beaming at me.

"May," I lamely mumbled. "You scared me."

She giggled. "Sorry."

"You're drunk again, aren't you?" I asked her, not forgetting that this time I was buzzed myself.

She nodded vigorously. "Not as much as last time though." She clarified, making as serious a face as she could. "I'm a good girl."

"Are you enjoying the p-"

"Tell me I'm a good girl, Adam." May interrupted me, putting her hands on my shoulders and bringing me in close.

Fine, what the hell. "You're a good girl, May." I confirmed. "So wha-"

"Thank you." She beamed, leaning in. Her lips extended forward, and met mine as we shared a kiss. Her hands explored my back as she wasted no time in vigorously grinding herself up against me, probing my mouth with her tongue. In the moment, I lost myself, giving in to the kiss and giving her my tongue to wrestle. It was evident by the way her mouth tasted that she was indeed drunk, and I prayed that she couldn't taste that I was on my way myself.

It's not like I wanted her to kiss me. Yet at the same time, she was the one who broke the kiss. After she broke it away, she looked me straight in the eyes and smiled. She exhaled loudly, then clumsily leaned in so her face could cuddle into my chest. "You're a good guy too." She sighed happily, then brought her face back up to meet mine. We shared a quick kiss, then she broke away and looked to both sides cautiously. "Do you…" She began shyly. "Do you wanna find a room together?"

Temptation, caution and adrenaline flowed through me like a river. "May… We shouldn't." I began weakly.

Amazingly, that was enough. May pushed me away in disgust. "Fuck you." She spat. "Why shouldn't we? I'm sexy, aren't I?" She pulled her low-cut shirt and bra down to prove a point. Her beautiful big nipples stared me in the face as I had to fight my primal urges.

Her little show got the attention of one guy walking by, who gave her a whistle as he appreciated her breasts. She smiled proudly in response. I figured the whistle would attract attention, and immediately grabbed her shirt and pulled it back up over her breasts. "Put those away." I instructed her.

She pouted. "Why don't you want me?" She asked me sadly.

"May, it's not a good idea." I told her.

"It's Megan, isn't it?" May asked angrily. "Is she here? I'm better than her. Are you… are you still in love with her?" She asked, stumbling as she attempted to speak and adjust her bra at the same time.

"It's not that, May." I said, trying to spin words before I spat them so I could speak as coherently as possible. "I think it's just a bad idea."

"It's a great idea." She retaliated. "It's only a bad idea when you decide to make it complicated."

"May, it always ends up complicated." I sighed, trying to tone down my volume so we wouldn't make a scene.

"It's no fair. You got to be with Megan. I bet you're fucking camera girl too. Remember? Megan told me, if that fucking skank can be trusted…" May spat, slurring her words every so often.

I really didn't like May referring to Megan as a 'fucking skank.' "May, I'm saying no. Remember last time? Not fun. Do you know what could make it better? Being better this time and accepting that I do not consent."

"That's not something you hear every day from a dude." I heard some jock comment to his partner as they walked past.

I sighed and stared at May, who clearly was firing up some kind of rebuttal. "Come on, May." I preemptively begged. "Don't you want to be a good girl?"

"I am a good girl." She stubbornly and bitterly mumbled, looking to the floor.

"Then please, just go find someone else or something." I asked her. "It would mean a lot to me if you did."

She slowly looked up from the floor to me with a twinkle in her eye. "I'm gonna go… I'm gonna go find someone else." She told me happily.

"That's gr-"

"I'm gonna make you jealous." She continued, the smile turning mischievous. "I'm gonna make you crawl back to me. I'm gonna show all these guys what you're missing."

Internally, I sighed. However, this was honestly my best bet if I wanted to get May out of my hair. "Wait." I said with fake hesitancy. "I don't want you with anyone but me."

May's smile got bigger, then she immediately hid it. "Too bad, Adam." She said, tossing back her hair. "I'm going to go fuck a bunch of guys. A whole bunch of them. I bet they're better looking than you too. You don't own me." With that, she started strutting away, trying as best as she could to sway her hips without tripping over her drunken self. I smiled and leaned against the door, pleased with myself. That was one problem, sorted out.

I didn't really count on the door being as poorly closed as it was. Within seconds of me being off scot-free, the door opened behind me and I fell into what looked like a guest bedroom. Worse yet, from the looks of things, it turns out there was a couple in here, judging by this random guy's back going up and down on top of the bed – they were just being really quiet.

"Woah!" The random guy exclaimed, covering the two of them up. "Looks like we got a listener. Get the fuck out of here!"

"Oh my goodness." Came a familiar embarrassed voice. Suddenly I was incredibly glad the door hadn't opened while I was talking to May – from behind the guy's back poked out the blond hair and shy brown eyes of Megan Schneider. "Oh my gosh. It's Adam."

"Adam? Who the fuck is Adam?" The guy demanded.

Megan seemed to have moved on from Carson. The guy I set her up with. I gave her a little push, but that was enough. She was sleeping with someone I was confident she didn't know before this party. Holy shit. "You guys look like you're having fun." I managed to say, standing up. "Why don't I just-"

"Do you have a fucking boyfriend?!" The guy demanded her, grabbing her shoulder forcefully. She looked too scared to react. "You slut!"

"Woah, woah, woah!" I stepped forward, attempting to calm him down. I wanted to leave, but there was zero chance Megan would have the nerve to defend herself at this point. "I'm just her ex, that's all. I accidentally leaned on the door when I was walking by. I don't mind at all. You guys can have your fun."

The guy appeared to calm down given what I was saying. Beads of sweat rolled off of his forehead as the cogs in his head turned and he got what I was saying. "Alright, cool." He simply said. "Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out."

"Cool." I said as I swung around.

"Baby." I heard Megan whisper to the guy as she tapped him on the shoulder. "Can he stay?"

"What?!" He and I both exclaimed as I whirled around.

"Do… Do you want to join, Adam?" Megan asked me sheepishly, giving me a bashful smile.

Jesus Christ. I was watching everyone in my life become a slut before my eyes. Including my own damn self.

"Fuck, doll." The guy, still inside her, commented. "You're a lot kinkier than I thought." He grinned evilly a shot me a look. "What do you think, guy? You up for it?"

I'm sure somewhere this was some guy's dream. I had to find that guy sometime and apologize to him for having such an opportunity and wasting it, but I already was put through this shit with Carson. "I'll, uh… Pass, thanks." I stumbled. "I'm good."

The guy shrugged. "Your loss, pussy. Get the fuck out then." He turned back to Megan and positioned himself. "You ready to keep going, slut?"

"Bye, Adam." Megan sweetly waved to me, ignoring the guy mounting her. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Um, yeah. Okay." I stammered as I walked out in a daze and closed the door behind me. What the fuck just happened in the past hour? I was sure the next time I saw Megan, I'd be apologizing to her, and vowing never to make her a sex object again. Looks like I was right – she was already doing it herself.

I thought parties were for making new friends. Why the fuck was I just bumping into everyone I happened to know? I guess I was ignoring everyone else… Maybe I should just go dance, I thought to myself. I resolved to, at the very least, go back to the ground floor, where things were less spooky, and make my decision from there.

I walked down the stairs, bracing myself for the music getting louder. soon as I got down to the ground floor, I was lost again. I figured a good first step was towards the living room, where most of the people were. Once there, I looked around for anybody else I recognized. No one, save for the corner of the room, where I saw Kenny, Thomas and Isaiah in a circle, cracking jokes with each other. For fuck's sakes. Pass.

Suddenly, a pair of hands whirled me around. Still holding on that last bit of buzz, my body wasn't ready and I got really dizzy. When I could refocus, I saw Nicole's smiling face staring back at me. "Hey, squirt." She warmly said.

"Hey." I said, still stumbling.

She studied my eyes for a bit. "Have you been drinking?" She asked me seriously.

There was really no point in lying to someone as psychic as Nicole. "A bit." I admitted. "Just two beers. I'm not drunk."

She kept studying me, but slowly nodded. "First time?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it sucks."

"It's cool. Just don't overdo it." She instructed me. "Having a good time?"

"Oh yeah." I sarcastically answered. "A blast."

She laughed. "I showed you the room if you get a headache. C'mon, let's have some fun."

"What, couldn't find another guy to have your way with?" I quipped.

"Nah, found two. They just finished already." She shot me a mischievous grin. "If you think I came to this party just for one guy, I'm disappointed in you, squirt. Now c'mon."

Just as she jerked my hand, indicating we should head for the stairs, I heard an unfortunately familiar voice. "Yo!" I heard shouted over the crowd. I turned my head and cringed, as I saw the Terrible Trio heading towards us. "Yo!"

Fuck. It was my turn to yank on Nicole's hand and lead her off. I really didn't want to talk to these bozos again. Unfortunately, by that point, Nicole had spotted them coming towards us. How the fuck was I supposed to introduce her to them? 'Hey Nicole, I'd like you to meet Kenny, Thomas and Isaiah. They bullied the shit out of me in middle school.' Didn't quite sound like the best.

"Nicole! Shit, babe, how you doin'?" Kenny greeted her as my eyes widened in disbelief. She already knew them?

Nicole gave a small chuckle. "Hey, Subway, how's it hangin'?" She greeted him, going in for a quick hug. "Hey Thom, Isaiah, you guys having fun?"

"Best fucking night of my life." Thomas answered. "I got it on with two fucking girls upstairs. Like, we're talking 'at the same time' here."

Nicole held her fist out and he bumped it. "And how were they?" She asked, with a hint of expectation in her voice.

Thomas made an over-exaggerated bow. "Not nearly as good as you, m'lady." He obediently answered her.

"Shit, you got to go all the way with her?" Isaiah asked in disbelief, then pointed his finger at her. "You still owe me a blowjob, bitch! What gives?"

Nicole folded her arms and pursed her lips. "Maybe if you didn't call girls 'bitch,' and maybe if you had more than four inches to your name, I'd be more eager to help you out there, Isaiah." Nicole coldly responded, causing the other two to guffaw at their horrified friend.

"Shit, babe, that was ice cold!" Isaiah complained. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"No one but me calls me a bitch." Nicole answered him. "I'm also not your coin-operated slut machine." I smiled at her pun. "If you want me to respect your dick, start by respecting me."

"Shit bro, you got owned by a girl." Kenny piped up, still laughing.

"Not just any girl, Subway." Nicole added, flipping her hair back dramatically, showing off her twinkling blue eyes.

"What's with 'Subway'?" I asked, finding the ability to contribute to the conversation finally.

With that, all three of the bros looked down at me and immediately lost their shit. "Holy shit!" Thomas exclaimed. "It's fucking Adam! Adam Watson!"

"From middle school?" Isaiah asked, equally excited.

Thomas slapped him upside the head. "We saw him at the last party, dipshit." He told him. "Remember? We got him set up with Mary, or May, or whatever her name was."

Shit. Shiiiiiit. With that, Nicole's blue eyes were now fixated on me, and they were ice cold. I pretended to not notice, and waved the guys off. "Guys, I already told you, I didn't want to have sex with May. Nothing happened."

"Oh, right! Shit, how'd I forget?" Isaiah piped up. "Dude, you totally banged May. We saw you go upstairs together."

"And when was this party?" Nicole asked him, keeping an even tone. When Nicole kept an even tone, that's when you knew you were in trouble.

"It was at Jeff Swanson's!" Kenny answered her.

"Thought so." Nicole simply said.

"Guys, fucking quit it." I angrily told them. "We went upstairs to discuss our relationships. Nothing more." Suddenly an idea entered my head. I head never ever succeeded in butting heads with Nicole and coming out on top, but I had just what I needed to do so. "Cheating is awful to me. I would never cheat on a partner." I turned to Nicole and looked her right in the eyes. "And I would never do anything with someone who had a partner."

Nicole's left eye twitched once, and our eyes were locked for what seemed like forever. Just when I was about to break eye contact, her gaze softened and she blinked slowly. She turned back to them, and it was clear she was no longer mad at me. Holy shit. I managed to win against fucking Nicole. This party turned out to be a momentous occasion.

Kenny appeared to sense that there was some kind of awkward moment and decided to end it. "Dude," He remarked, tapping me on the shoulder. "I believe you asked a question, didn't you?" With that, he smiled his obnoxious smile.

What? Oh, right. "Uh, yeah. What's with the nickname?" I asked again.

Kenny smugly turned to Nicole. "Yeah, Nicole? What's with that? Why do you call me Subway?"

Nicole sighed and gave him a mischievous smile. "Because I didn't have to pay five dollars for my footlong." She told him, as if she had rehearsed it over and over.

"Damn right." Kenny beamed at her. "Wanna go for round… What is it now… round twenty-two?" He asked her, walking up to her and stroking her arm.

Nicole smiled at them. "Sorry boys, but I got a date with this freshman upstairs. Maybe next time?"

On cue, the trio began to lose their shit again, whooping and hollering, causing quite a scene and getting attention from a lot of people, who stopped dancing just to stare at them. Thomas took advantage of the situation to grab me around the shoulder and yell "Adam Watson, the playa, ladies and gentlemen! Let's get some applause for this motherfucker!" Reluctantly, the quieted crowd began to applaud for the freshman they didn't know.

I freed myself from Thomas' grasp, face red. "Great, thanks dude." I mumbled as everyone went back to whatever they were doing. "You guys are still assholes."

"You mean fun." Isaiah corrected me.

"Hey Isaiah, how does Nicole's pussy feel?" I boldly asked him. "Oh wait, I should ask someone who knows. Or better yet, why don't I go upstairs and find out for myself."

Kenny and Thomas burst out laughing. Kenny was practically squealing as he pointed frantically at me, laughing his guts out. Nicole stared at me for a few seconds, and amazingly, joined them in laughter. I hadn't seen her laugh this hard in a long time, or ever.

"Holy shit." She remarked, wiping a tear from her eye. "Fucking owned by a freshman."

"Fuckin' shit." Isaiah complained. "You guys all suck." With that, he walked away dejectedly, and Thomas followed. Kenny held his fist out to me, and I bumped it.

"Enjoy, man." He told me. "You fucking earned it." He turned to Nicole. "Give him a good time. I like this guy."

"I don't take orders from you, jackass." Nicole playfully responded.

Kenny went in for a hug. "It's great seeing you, beautiful." He told her. "Call me sometime."

"Will do." She happily responded as he disappeared into the crowd. Nicole grabbed my hand and with a smile, wordlessly started to drag me upstairs.

As we walked through the hallways and scanned for an empty room, Nicole stopped and looked at me. "So what's the deal with May?" she asked. "Do we need to have a talk?"

I shrugged bashfully. "Don't believe those assholes." I instructed her. "Although May's here, and she asked me to have sex with her a bit ago."

Nicole nodded. "Alright, fine, I trust you. Sorry."

"I'm sorry too." I said, and she gave me a warm smile.

"So, did you fuck her?" She asked me. "I mean, if you're out of a relationship I guess it's cool, but she's more trouble than she's worth."

I enthusiastically nodded. "Yeah, she is. I told her no. She said she's going to have sex with other guys to make me jealous."

Nicole cocked an eyebrow. "Well, I guess we'd better give her a taste of her own medicine, huh?" She winked at me.

"Let's do it." I replied with a grin. She went up to a door, leaned her head against it, and closed her eyes. A few seconds later, she re-opened them. "In here," She told me, opening the door.

I walked in to the unlit room as she shut the door. A second later, we were met with light as Nicole found the switch. A king-sized bed and a room furnished with lavish dressers, mirrors, some kind of Van Gogh imitation… Jeez.

"Jackpot." Nicole declared triumphantly, proud of herself. "Phil's parents' room, motherfucker."

I gave her a look. "Are we allowed to do this in here? Won't Phil's parents mind?"

"Big talk from you, considering we did it in my parents' room. On Christmas, too." Nicole pointed out. "The only room out of bounds is the drum room." She swayed towards me and put her lips to mine, her hands curling around her back. "So, shall we?"

I was too pent up at this point to even give a response. I had to be strong to reject May and Megan, plus I was fairly sure Nicole's lips were hypnotic, because I could not refuse them. I could only grin in response as she grabbed me and whirled me around on to the bed.

"Shirt," She simply ordered. I hastily complied, quickly pulling mine over my head. In thanks, she removed her own, revealing, to the world's surprise, a bra.

"You're actually wearing a bra!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, my boobs kinda hurt today." she commented.

"I thought you said before that you never wear them and that you don't even know if you wear them." I pointed out.

She gave me a look like I was eating the bedsheets. "Yeah, because I was kidding, dumbfuck. Any girl with D cups has to wear a bra at least sometimes." She retaliated. "Now, are you gonna remove your pants yourself, or am I gonna have to remove them for you?"

I put my arms behind my head. "All yours." I quipped.

"My my, how generous." She winked at me as she reached forward, and undid the button of my pants. Slowly, teasingly, she pulled my pants down, lower and lower until they were off. She sat there for a second, looking at me before muttering, "Ah, screw it." She reached behind her and quickly removed her bra, before quickly removing my socks and my underwear.

"Well now that's just not fair." I pretended to pout. "I'm naked and you still have your pants on."

"Oooooh nooooo." Nicole replied sarcastically, crawling up to me, her beautiful boobs jiggling with each movement. "I guess you'll just need to earn it, now won't you, hotshot?" With that, she dove down and started to lightly kiss my neck.

For the first few seconds, all I could do was enjoy it. Nicole had such a purposeful, delicate, beautiful touch. My hand cradled the back of her head as she went from kissing, to licking, to sucking my neck. Every movement her tongue made complimented the last.

She eventually got bored of my neck, trailing her tongue down my chest, temporarily stopping at my nipples as she playfully flicked one with her tongue.

"How does it feel from the other side? She playfully asked.

I chuckled. "Just keep going." I ordered.

She raised one eyebrow and smirked at me. "Wow, for a second there it almost seemed like you were the dom of us two." She laughed to herself and continued her trail down my stomach.

Play-rage was building up inside of me. She didn't think I could be a dom, huh? I guess I just had to show her I could. I shifted downward, causing her to raise her head from my stomach.

"You okay?" She simply asked.

In answer, I sat up and grabbed her by the waist, throwing her down onto the bed with force I didn't even know I possessed. She was now lying on her stomach, and quickly, I pinned her to the bed.

"What the hell?!" She asked, some kind of anger building.

I was worried at that point that I had taken things too far, but I felt like continuing would have been better than meekly backing down and being awkward afterwards. I leaned in to her ear and whispered, "I'm going to fuck you now. And you're going to enjoy it. Understood?"

Her anger melted as I saw a smile build on her face. "Ooh, so little Adam is trying to prove he can be a dom, huh?" She smirked. "Go ahead, widdle guy. Show me what you got."

I wasn't worried. Nicole's domination, I had figured out, was all talk. As soon as I had her, she would melt. I was sure of it.Making sure she wouldn't move, I swifly got off of her, but made sure I would make my move before she could try anything. Reaching under her, I undid her pants and pulled both them and her underwear off in one fell swoop. Nicole may have talked a big game, but it didn't escape me that as soon as her bare ass was revealed to me, she let out an itty bitty moan.

Nicole's ass was definitely a work of art. I'm pretty sure I could thank her dedication to karate classes for that. As soon as I worked her pants off, with no warning, I smacked Nicole's beautifully sculpted ass, hard, earning a yelp from her.

"You know I'm just letting you do this to me, right?" She asked me, less confidently than she wanted to. "I could have kicked your ass when you tried to pull me down."

I released her from my grasp and simply replied, "On your knees." I said it slowly, deliberately, an inch away from threateningly. She didn't reply, but instead looked me in the face. Her eyes reflected everything and yet nothing, but the important thing I could read was a complete lack of a smug smirk. We stared at each other for ten seconds, and then she exhaled and slowly got up into doggy style position.

"Good girl." I continued slowly.