This story contains adult themes. Underage use of alcohol and/or drugs. Teens having sex, with consent, with multiple partners... etc. There will be uncannon pairings of the characters but stick with it if the concept is interesting to you, you never know how the story will progress.

Chapter 1

The Story So Far

Rosalie

It was supposed to be an easy day. The first day of classes are never hard, especially since this is my senior year. The first day is always so boring. Orientations. Rules. Syllabuses. Often a lot like the movie Groundhog Day. Same thing over and over, only the teacher and classroom change. And it was all that and more, don't get me wrong, I was bored to tears. But after struggling through all 9 periods I found myself locked in a bathroom stall crying. No, it wasn't boredom. It wasn't the frustration. It was all for the fact that I was again forced to come face-to-face with the thought of my own mortality. The entire student body was.

Usually on the first day of school our afternoon classes are cut short for a long and boring back to school assembly. A welcome back pep rally, you could call it. But today, it was different. Much different. People were obediently filling into the gymnasium not for a happy welcoming but to say a final goodbye to a student. Angela Weber. And the saddest part, this wasn't even our first memorial service.

I couldn't bring myself to enter the gym. Each step that I got closer my breathing became more labored. My heart raced so fast in my chest that I swear I was only a few beats away from a heart attack. So instead I sought out the safety of an unoccupied bathroom stall and let all my emotions release.

Me and Angela weren't close. Freshman year she sat behind me in Algebra. If I fell asleep, which happened often, she would kick the back of my chair and wake me up. She was nice. One of those girls that was almost always too nice. She kept a perfect 4.0. She was always willing to help tutor. She even reluctantly let me copy her homework a few times. She was cute and quiet, not very popular but still well liked. Angela was the type of girl that could have been successful at anything she tried. She could have gone to any college she wanted. She could have been a doctor or a lawyer or even been something greater. She could have found the cure to cancer. She could have done anything to make the world a better place. Cleaner air. Cleaner water. Anything. She was that amazing already at such a young age, you could see it. Or maybe she would have just been an amazing wife and mother. And maybe her children would have done something amazing and changed the world for better. But we will never know.

Angela was born with a mess of health problems. When she was 12 she had to have a kidney transplant. But that's neither here nor there. That isn't what brought her to her death. But it sure didn't help. It was probably why her death happened so much faster than it should have. What had silently wreaked havoc on her body wasn't something she was born with. It was just one moment. One stupid and selfish moment. Knowing Angela, it was probably the only one she ever had. One stupid little mistake that a lot of us make on a daily basis. The same exact mistake that I once made. Royce King, rich, star quarterback, most popular guy in the school. Someone that all the guys wanted to be and all the girls wanted to be with. And a lot of them were.

Royce had a knack for convincing girls to sleep with him. I fell victim to it. The way that he would lock eyes with you and slowly and quietly woo you. My night with him was amazing. Not that the sex was anything to brag about. We were both drunk and it was average at best. When he approached me at a party he acted as if I was the only girl in the room. And it is hard not to fall for that. He was the most popular guy in school, he could have chosen anyone. But he chose me. Sure, I had friends and I was likeable enough. I was even told by many that I was beautiful. But I never saw that. I always wanted more. I always wanted what I didn't have. And I wanted Royce. And For those few brief moments I was with him, I was the most envied girl in the school. I was the girl that everyone wanted to be. I got exactly what I wanted. And I almost lost my life because of it.

One night. One guy. One mistake. One missing fucking condom. Maybe if I hadn't have been drinking I would have made a different decision. But I doubt anything would have changed my mind at the time. No one had ever turned Royce down. But if I could go back in time I would take back everything about that night. And every girl that has ever shared a bed with him wishes the same thing.

In October of last year, Royce took his life. It was a shock. The powerful and almost mythical Royce King had committed suicide. No warning. He just took his fathers fun, put it to his head and said good-bye. No note. No apology. No explanation. We were all left wondering why the fuck would someone in his position do something like that. He had everything. Wealth. Popularity. An athletic scholarship to the college of his choosing after graduation. Scouts from all the major football schools were already on him, trying to convince him to join their team.

Of course there was a memorial service. It was our first. It was much different than the one being held for Angela. His was bigger. A lot more tears. A lot more flowers. His picture hung in the halls, memorializing his great memory. After the service was concluded everyone suddenly felt that it was okay to resumed gossiping again. The rumors spread like wildfire. An abusive father? A secret gay life he was ashamed of and didn't want exposed? Each one you heard was more unrealistic than the last. But when the truth finally came out it was worse than anything anyone had speculated. Royce took his own life because he tested HIV positive.

The day the news broke our world just stopped turning. That was the hardest day of my life. It was the first time I ever questioned my own mortality. In our careless night together could he have passed it on to me? How many other women did he fuck? How many of them had he delivered a death sentence to?

In the end, no one really cared how he got it. Sex? Drugs? Medical malpractice? By that time it was a moot point. Once you've died because of that disease the world just stops caring about you. Not to sound callous or mean but its true. The negative connotations that it carries with it makes everyone that has it… damaged goods. They have the biggest fucking scarlet letter known to man. And then when the disease finally wears down your weak and wary body, your letter is gone and you are forgotten. You're no longer a threat. All they want to know is who had it now. Who else had to bear that heavy cross burdened with shame? Who was the new threat?

At first people were afraid to come back to school. Funny how in those early days people feared that it could spread through the air like a cold or the flu. And funnier still, no one wanted to get tested. It's so much easier to die if you don't know its coming. It took me three weeks and the unrelenting support of my closest friends to gather enough courage to get tested. I breathed a sigh of relief when the results were negative but the nurse hit me with a surprise left hook by telling me it could take months for the disease to present itself in blood work. Fortunetly, I got lucky. All my tests came back clean. But I was still scared shitless.

No one really knows how many people contracted the disease from Royce or from anyone else who might have been infected by him. For all I know some peope still haven't been tested. There are rumors flying around about who it was passed to. Lauren Mallory, the one girl he actually dated for more than one night. Could she now have it and have passed it along to the next guy she was with? Could he now be spreading it?

At first, people were afraid. No one made out in the hallways. No one went to all the secret spots to have sex anymore. People barely held hands. But like anything else, it passes. Slowly the sexual activity rose again. Once they got a negative test, things were all better. Royce was just one person. The rest of us were all young and invinsible still. We were all along, nothing that bad could actually happen in high school. Especially our small town school. Teenagers don't die because of AIDS. They die in tragic car accidents while texting. They die because of cancer. And up until then I believed it too. How many kids are walking around not even realizing that they next person they sleep with could slowly be killing them? You don't think of the AIDS epidemic as something that tangible. You know the stereotypes. It only happens in Africa, or other poor nations. Gay men. Strung out, homless, drug uses. You don't think of it in terms of the star quarterbacks of the world. And that is exactly what makes it so dangerous.

Angela's parents won't admit to what really happend. But we all knew. No one would say it, but we knew just the same. And now it is time to play the guessing game. Who's next?

I forced my sobs to cease as the door opened. And before I could wipe my tears away and compose myself, a familiar face peaked under the door. "Fuck! What are you doing, Emmett?"

"I thought I saw you duck in here. You know, instead of waiting it out in here. You can just sneak out the back and head home. It's a lot easier. And much more comfortable. He crawled under the doorand wrapped his arms around me, finally noticing my sorrow. "What's wrong, baby girl?"

"That could be any of us," I say, wiping at my tears. I don't like to show emotion in front of people. In my experience they use it against you. But I have no problem being vulnerable around Emmett or any of the other members of our very selective group. But it's still hard to let myself be out there on this one. I made the same mistake as Angela. I just got lucky. "You played on the football team with Royce, went to the same parties, hooked up with a lot of the same girls. I spent the night with him. It could have been us."

"But it wasn't. We're smarter than that," he reassures me. But it's not just about smarts. A lot of it is just plain luck. "Come on." He winks and pulls me in close. His hands gently press against my cheeks, the pads of his thumbs slowly wiping away my tears. "I bet I know what would make you feel better." He brought his lips to mine. And as usual all my worries and fears melted away. Maybe once upon a time I was dumb and not careful and I got lucky. But this time, from now on, it's not about luck. We are smart. We are careful.

Emmett and I are part of a group, you coud call it. A small circle of friends, really. Very very close friends. Eight of us total. Emmett McCarty, Jasper Whitlock, Edward Masen, Jacob Black, Bella Swan, Alice Brandon, Jessica Stanely, and me Rosalie Hale. We have always been friends. But after finding out about Royce, I guess you could say that we became more than just friends. TThe way that most of our peers treated our AIDS crisis was careless. But none of us were willing to risk being with someone that was being irresponsible. And it was difficult to imagine being celibate, not at seventeen. So we took matters into our own hands. A pact. Complete openness and honesty with each other. We all got tested. We were all clean. We did it multiple times and we always got good news. We didn't want to take any chances. As soon as that was all taken care of we decided that we would all become friends with benefits. Four guys. Four girls. No stress. No worries. Just friendship. Just love and acceptance.

And at this point, we are no longer just friends. We've become so much more than that. Sharing our bodies with each other has brought us closer together. We don't keep secrets. Because if you really stop to think about it, we're not just six individuals anymore, we all work together to form one. We know evrything about one another, intimate things that you would sometimes struggle to tell family and loved ones. But it's easy with us, it always has been and always will be. I don't know what I would do without them. You take one from us and we will all fall apart. We've become dependant on one another. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sure, no one is really going to understand our decision. But we do. And that's all that matters. If anyone actually stopped to think about it, it's so much easier than torturing yourself with adolescent relationships. By only spending time with each other, we avoid all the drama that usually plagues a normal high school kid. And I can't even begin to describe how fulfilling it actually is. It's not a long string of random hookups. I'm not sleeping with anyone so they will like me. I'm not being pressured at all. We genuinely love one another. And we are always there for each other. Sex or no sex. We are and will always be friends first.

"So what do you say?" Emmett asked, pulling away from me and raising his eyebrow. "Show we take this to the loft?"

"I can't think of anything else I would rather be doing." I smirked. We sneaked through the parkinglot to his truck. There we already find everyone else waiting for us. I think that this will be a good year after all.