This is one in a series of books all taking place at the same time but from different POV's.

Disclaimer: Obviously not JKR.


Mum was already up and about when I dragged myself downstairs this morning. When she heard me behind her, she paused before turning around. Today, even I could tell that the smile plastered on her face was fake.

"Why are you up so early?" I said.

"What, no 'good morning?'" said Mum, with a tense laugh.

I cocked my head to the side. "Mum, are you-" And then she pulled me into a giant hug, holding onto me for good sixty seconds, complete with lifting me off the ground. When I finally managed to pull away, Mum held me at arm's length, inhaling deeply.

Something was definitely up.

Mum handed me a bowl of oatmeal, saying, "You're running late, so you'd best hurry."

"Mum..." I didn't want to ask what's wrong because it was apt to blow up in my face. I take a breath and said instead, "Where's Dad?"

Wrong question. Even with her back to me, I could see the wooden spoon shaking in her hand. She tried to keep her voice level, but it was suddenly high-pitched. "Your father's at... work. He's at work."

I slowly got up from the table. Mum didn't breathe as she felt me come up behind her. I put my hands on her shoulders, turned her around, and sat her down at her place of the table.

I bent down so I was staring right at her. "Mum, Dad was fired before I came home this summer."

She averted her gaze, not saying anything. She was fidgeting with a piece of hair, twirling it around and around the end of her spoon. Looking down at her, sitting there, I was struck by how much taller I was than her now. I sighed, dropping into the chair next to hers.

Neither of us said anything for the rest of breakfast. After eating quickly, I threw on a pair of Muggle shorts and a t-shirt. I was back down the stairs and out the door before I realized I hadn't said goodbye to Mum.

When I got to the summer school I was tutoring at, I threw my stuff into the staff room, saying hi to Mrs. Knight, a tall woman with perfect posture. She was Mum's best friend. Hence my job here.

Today I was in charge of just three kids: Brian, Kelsey, and Sarah. They were all around third or fourth grade. I sat down at our table.

"Hey, guys. Let's jump to it. Today we get to diagram sentences!" Before the kids could groan, I said, "I brought chocolate..." My voice tapered off as I realized I left the box at home. I did my best to refrain from cursing in front of the kids.

Chloe Hill, a Hufflepuff in my year, walked over, throwing her hair behind her. Kelsey was already close to tears. She hated sentences, and diagraming was sending her over the limit. Chloe gave her a winning smile and said, "Hey, Kelsey. I brought peanut butter cups. Come on, I'll help you. Where's your workbook?"

As the kids started moving around, Chloe stepped closer to me, so close I could smell her gum. "My kids aren't here for awhile. Why don't you grab some chocolate from the store around the corner and I'll deal with this lot?"

"Brilliant."

The last thing I saw before I snuck out of the door was Chloe bending over Brian, a sheet of blond curls masking her face.

I had just finished paying when things went wrong. Dad's voice yelled, "Nick!" I automatically cringed before turning. He was standing in the frozen food aisle, waving at me in last night's clothes. I sighed before getting out of line and going over towards him.

He reeked of sweat, alcohol, and a perfume I didn't recognize. As usual. I glanced around the store; there were no wizarding folk. Good. I grabbed the fabric at his shoulder and pulled him out the door. A family of Muggles living next door to us were watching with great interest. No doubt the story of Ned Davies the Drunk would be spread all over town by that evening.

I shoved Dad up against the brick wall behind the supermarket. "Where were you? Some pub? Leaving Mum alone to worry about you?" My face was right in his.

He roughly spat on the ground right next to my shoe. I waited. Finally he said wearily, "Yeah, yeah. It was just one night, all right?"

The fight was out of him, and he was looking down at his saliva mingling with the dirt. I, however, was still going at it. "No. No, not all right. Mum was almost crying this morning! Where the hell were you all night?" I slapped his face towards mine. "Look at me!"

He looked at me as pointedly as he could while hung over. "Oh. Right," I say. "I don't think I even want to know." I let go of his jacket. "Get away from me. I'm going back to work."

By the time I got back to the school, I was calm. Even so, Chloe looked at me oddly. Even though she wasn't that smart, she was still a Hufflepuff. She could tell when something was wrong.

I held up the chocolates, and the kids came running. "Right," I said, back in decent human being mode, "Let's get those sentences diagrammed."

After all the kids had been picked up by their parents, the only people left in the building were a couple tutors and Mrs. Knight.

"Nick, your mother gave me a call on the telephone a little while earlier. She said to go out and have dinner, maybe with your friend Logan? I'm going to bring some soup over so we can have a girls' night." Mrs. Knight smiled and I could see all her wrinkles.

"Umm... okay. Have her give me a ring when I ought to come home, will you?" It had to do with Dad. Things weren't looking good.

Mrs. Knight smiles, fondly brushing off invisible lint on my shoulders. She looks at me sadly before leaving. We both know exactly what's happening.

I grabbed my stuff, fingering my phone. I didn't think I'd call Logan. Maybe I'd just go to Vanessa's alone and grab a burger.

I was headed towards the door when someone blocked my way. More specifically, a very blond, beautiful Hufflepuff. Chloe smiled at me, saying, "Where are you headed?"

I said, "Vanessa's, probably. You?"

She decided to take this as an invitation to join me. "I'll come. It looks like you need some company."

Say what you will, Hufflepuffs know how to talk to people. Chloe and I were sitting at Vanessa's, and she didn't seem perturbed about the fact that we were on a sort-of date. She was inspecting her lemonade colored nail polish as I said, "Well, thanks for taking care of the kids while I got chocolate."

"No problem," she said, looking at me curiously. "Is everything, well, you know, okay at home?"

"Kelsey was about to blow up. Good thing you had peanut butter cups. Oh, look, food." The waitress came over, balancing two plates.

Chloe watched her as the waitress put down our food and receded. Then Chloe turned toward me. "Nick, what's up? I don't know you that well, but I know trouble when I see it."

I sighed. "Can we not talk about this?"

"Nick..."

I mimicked her voice. "Chloe."

She laughed, playfully slapping me on the arm. She was going to keep prying unless I took her mind off of it. Fortunately, I was quite good at that. As she pulled her arm away, I grabbed onto it. "Is this a date, peanut butter girl?"

Her breath caught as I leaned in towards her. Then she smiled a smile only a Hufflepuff could pull off. "Oh yes, chocolate boy. It was from the beginning."

I had been dating Chloe for a full one-and-a-half weeks, a major accomplishment for me. I hadn't told anyone, but I was pretty sure sure Mrs. Knight knew and therefore Mum did too. The two of them talked for hours some nights. She brought dinner, and made sure Dad was home every night at eight.

Speaking of which, Dad had been perfectly controlled the past few nights. I didn't know what had happened, and I didn't think I wanted to. He hadn't mentioned our little exchange behind the grocery store, which I hoped was a good thing.

Mostly I had stayed out of the house, hanging out with Chloe. She turned out to be exactly as I had thought: pretty, nice, an okay kisser, and completely empty-headed. I was already considering break-up dates. I decided to wait until summer school was over, because I didn't want to deal with her sulking.

Today when I got out of work Chloe came over to my place. Mum was out for once, and Dad was hopefully somewhere he couldn't get into trouble. I was in the middle of snogging her when I saw two owls flying towards the window. I broke off, saying, "Look."

She glanced behind her. "I think they're our Hogwarts letters."

The barn owl landed at the window and tapped it three times with its beak. I went past Chloe, brushing her shoulder as I let the owl in. "For you," I said, giving the letter to her.

The second owl, a tawny, took its time. It dipped down, like it was carrying something heavy. I grabbed it just as it was about to hit the windowsill and crush Mum's planter box.

As soon as I felt my letter I knew. I thought the badge was going to someone more responsible, like Maya or Jeremy Cook, a Ravenclaw seventh year. Completely ignoring the letter, I yanked out the silver badge, complete with a tiny blue raven and a little "C" for Captain.

Whoever would have thought? Nicholas Davies, the school idiot, getting to use the prefect's bathroom. I grinned.

"What is it?" Chloe asked, absorbed in her letter.

"It's bloody brilliant, that's what it is," I said.

A few days later, Logan called me, asking if I wanted to go to Diagon Alley. We met up at the Leaky Cauldron. After trying and failing to get drinks from the bartender, we went to Quidditch Quality Supplies. I grabbed some handle polish, while Logan asked about Chloe.

"So if she's so boring, why'd you date her in the first place? There's loads of Muggles you could get to fall all over you."

Ignoring the second part, I said, "It's not like I'm going to keep her past the first couple days of school."

"And then be forever alone?"

"Well, I don't see you with a girlfriend, mate." I retorted.

"I'm just not a git like some guys I know."

"I'm not a git! I just prefer leading an interesting life."

"Interesting. Right. Good luck getting Quidditch captain, then."

I picked up a broom compass, pretending to become absorbed in reading the label.

"Mate?" Logan was looking at me, realization dawning on his face.

I grin.

"No... seriously? Why didn't you tell me?"

"For the look on your face right now, that's why."

"Asshole."

I grabbed a twig-straightening potion, unscrewed the lid, and threw it towards Logan's face.

We were chucked out of the shop two minutes later.

At a hole-in-the-wall bar, we managed to score some firewhisky. We sat drinking in a dark corner for a while, catching up.

"How's Maya?" Logan asked.

I smirked. "Interested, are we?"

"Just trying to make conversation," he replied lightly.

"Conversation." I waved it away with my glass. "Conversation is officially a load of crap."

"The wise words of Nicholas Davies."

"Um-hmm." I took a sip and let it burn down my throat. We were silent for a moment before I decided silence was overrated. "So who got Head Boy?"

"I heard a rumor it was Jeremy Cook."

I groaned.

"But you'll let him back on the team, won't you?" Logan had never been a big Quidditch player, but he came and watched practice a lot.

"Why so worried?"

"Cause he'll cut you slack in detention if you can kick him off the team."

I grinned. "Too right you are, mate. And next year, when you're Head, I won't even worry about keeping some git on the team."

"Come on, he's not half bad from what I can see."

I sighed dramatically. "Doesn't mean he's not a git." We drank to that.

"So," Logan said a minute later. "We need something dramatic. This summer has been entirely unmemorable."

"I was thinking exactly that a couple weeks ago. But we can't use magic," I said. "Dunno what would be that exciting."

"We could blow something up and invite the everyone in our year to come watch."

"Alcohol involved?" I looked up from my glass hopefully.

"Blowing something up. With a bunch of drunk people. Think, mate, use that Ravenclaw head for once."

"Right. I knew that. But we need firewhiskey to be able to truly appreciate whatever we're going to do."

Logan looked at me. "Have you ever considered that your parents would kill you if you came home drunk at insane hours?"

"So we get them out of town. We'd have the run of the place."

"And do what, exactly?"

"A party, of course. With loads of alcohol."

He tilted his head. "That could work. And then everyone would go back to school with a hangover." He grins. "I can just imagine what the first years would think..."

"Brilliant. So the night before the train then. Any ideas for getting Mum and Dad out of town? They haven't been exactly on great terms."

"I could probably get some concert tickets for them that just so happen to be on that night and late enough that they would stay overnight there."

"Sounds good. Come over around six that night to help get ready?"

"Done."

And just like that, we planned a party that certainly was going to be the most interesting night I had all summer.

I was about to head home after Logan left when I spotted a girl around my age hanging out, looking a bit nervous.

"Hey," I said, walking up to her, "Do you go to Hogwarts? I haven't seen you around."

She turned slightly, looking at me with concentration. "I'm new this year." I could tell that something was a little off with the way she was looking at me, but I didn't say anything.

Instead, I said, "So, what year are you going into?"

"Fifth, I think."

"Cool. Hey," I said seeing how nervous she looked. "D'you want to get a drink or something?"

She just looked at me a little warily.

I added, "Just as friends, if that's what you're asking."

She smiled timidly. "Sure."

Five minutes later, we were sitting in the Leaky Cauldron with butterbeers. "By the way, what's your name? I'm Nick."

"Jenna."

"Brilliant. Nice to meet you. So, tell me about your old school. What did you like to do?" I asked.

"I played Quidditch a lot, but it was hard to get onto a team." She looked down a bit.

"Why? You look like you'd make a good chaser."

"I'm blind in one of my eyes." She said it wearily, like she knew what was coming.

I furrowed my brow. "What's wrong with that? You can still see out of the other eye, can't you?"

She looked up. "That's not what most people say when I tell them."

I could definitely see it now. The way she looked at me earlier, the way she was looking at me now. But I didn't get what the problem was with that. "Well, if you're good, you should be able to play blindfolded, shouldn't you? I bet you could." She suddenly grinned, something I hadn't expected. "You should do that more," I said.

"What?"

"Smile. Looks good on you."

"Thanks," She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "So do you play a lot?"

"Oh, yeah, loads. I actually got Ravenclaw captain this year. You could try out for the team if you get into my house."

"Maybe I will. If I don't get too shy."

"You'll make plenty of friends. Do you know anyone else already?"

"My brother, Mark, is starting too." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Agrippa, I completely forgot! I was going shopping with him and was supposed to meet him at some Emporium a couple minutes ago!" She stood up abruptly. "I've got to go."

"Here, I'll show you where it is," I said.

Her eyes blazed. "I don't need any help."

"Nor do I plan on giving you any," I said, surprised by the change from calm to hectic in seconds. "I just wanted to meet your brother, if that's all right."

"Oh," she sighed. "That's okay. I just get a little... defensive. Sorry."

We left the pub. "It's fine," I said, deciding it was best to change topics. "So does this brother of yours play, too?"

"Not as much. He watches me sometimes. There he is." She pointed at a bloke with messy brown hair leaning against the wall of the Emporium. I nodded, going over towards him.

I stuck out my hand, saying, "Hey. I'm Nick Davies. I was just talking to your sister about Hogwarts. Hope to see you in Ravenclaw."

He smiled and shook my hand. "Thanks. I'm Mark. It's really good to meet people before school starts."

My phone buzzed. "Whoops, hang on. Sorry." I pulled it out. "Crap, my mom wanted my home fifteen minutes ago. I've got to go. But if you want to meet people, you guys should come to my party. It's a bunch of us getting together the night before school starts."

"I don't know-" Jenna started.

I waved her away. "Come on, it'll be fun. You're the first to be invited."

"Thanks," Mark said. "We'd love to. What time should we come around?"

"Starts at eight," I said. "I'll introduce you to some people."

"Brilliant. See you then."

I grinned. "See you." I turned and walked towards the Leaky Cauldron again, waving over my shoulder.

Everything went as planned on the thirty-first. I presented Mum and Dad with the concert tickets, and they left right as Logan came over.

"Hey, mate," I said.

"Hey. Is Maya here yet?"

"Maya? Why would Maya be here?"

"Oh," he said, "I thought I told you. She's going to come over and help us get ready. I thought you might like to catch up with her."

I raised my eyebrows. "Right," I said, drawing the word out. "I wanted to see her."

"Shut up." He came inside and closed the door. "Be grateful your best mate was brilliant enough to let you see her at all. I swear, if the two of you didn't have me, you would never have organized anything."

"I guess. Whatever. We need to organize a full-blast party in two hours. I assume you've told people?"

"Of course. Have you?"

"A couple people," I said, thinking of Jenna and Mark, the only people I actually invited. "I think I mentioned it to Chloe."

"Okay. And you stocked up on alcohol?"

"Mum and Dad were around, so I only got a couple of bottles." I showed him a drawer full of beer cases.

Logan nodded appreciatively. "Nice load."

Suddenly the fireplace across the room flared green. "And that," I said, "Would be the one and only Maya Wood."

Logan leaped over my bed and grabbed Maya as she lost her balance coming in, as usual. "There's my favorite girl," he said. Yup, there was definitely something between them.

Maya blushed crimson and stepped out of his arms. She came over to me and gave me a quick hug. "Hi, Nick. So what's with the party?"

I considered, then said, "We wanted an excuse to get drunk. That's basically the extent of it."

Maya rolled her eyes. "So what are you planning on setting up?"

Logan said, "Not sure. Maybe a punch bowl or something."

Maya, ever the fretful one, frowned. "Who will sell it to us?"

I said, "The bartender at the Hog's Head said they'd deliver soon."

"You know, I've never been there," Maya said.

Logan said, "It's great for a drink when Rosmerta's in a bad mood."

I snorted. "Rosmerta adores you, Logan."

Maya fondly looked at Logan. "Everyone adores Logan." I studied her. The way she was looking at Logan...

There was a silence that I tactfully broke by saying, "Oh, thanks, Maya."

She smiled. "Everyone loves you too."

Logan quite suddenly cleared his throat. "Right, let's get to it." He hurried down the stairs.

I turned to Maya slowly, with a mischievous grin. "So what's up with you two?"

Maya blushed. Jackpot. "Who two?"

"Never mind." I'd get her about it later. "How was your summer?"

She complained for a bit about her family, then mentioned Mari, her sister. My eyes widened. "Agrippa, is she coming tonight?"

"Mari, pass up alcohol? I can't even imagine it. She overheard me when Logan called."

"You have a phone?"

"Yeah, I convinced Dad to let me get one. I mostly use it to call Logan at his Dad's."

I grinned. "Never thought your mum would allow that sort of 'Muggle crap' in her house."

Maya snorted. "I was surprised she allowed it."

"Don't tell me she's still being insufferable."

"How could she not be?"

Maya's mum had always been a bit messed up. She loved Mari but was a complete bitch to Maya. "But she must have been proud of your marks."

"I got nine O's, but she's still trying to marry me off. She thinks I've lost all potential for a good future now."

I smirked. "I assume Mari's future will be perfect, then."

I was joking, but I must have struck a chord. Maya turned away from me and said something so softly I couldn't hear it. I loudly said, "So, um, d'you want to go downstairs and help Logan?"

She snapped back to normal and grinned. "Yeah, he's probably bungled everything by this point."

The doorbell rung. I said to Maya, "Probably the first people arriving. I'll unlock the door."

Going down the stairs, I opened the door to admit Mark and Jenna. "Hey!"

"Hi," they chorused.

I stepped aside to allow them in. "Come meet Logan and Maya, some of my friends. They're the only ones here so far." I called up the stairs, "Logan! Get down here!"

"If you're so desperate, come up here yourself!" a distant call echoed back.

I sighed. "The party hasn't really started yet. Go on up the stairs." I followed them up and found Logan in my parents' room, trying trying out how to lock the door from the outside so no one would go in there.

He turned around and saw Mark and Jenna. "Hey," he said. Then he looked inquisitively at me.

"This is Jenna, and that's Mark," I said. "They're new this year. Fifth years. That git is Logan."

Jenna smiled shyly. "Hey." Mark nodded at him.

Maya appeared at the top of the stairs. "And that's Maya. She's on the Ravenclaw team, too." Maya greeted her, and the two started talking as I slipped by them.

Downstairs, I saw Chloe walking up to the door. She came in through the door and I kissed her.

Mock accusingly, she said, "Why didn't you invite me?"

"Oh," I said. "I guess I forgot." And I actually had, though I don't know if that was a good thing or not. I was saved by a group of fifth year Slytherins letting themselves into the house. "Time to break out the alcohol!"

Half an hour later, I was one beer and fifteen conversations into the night. Chloe was enjoying herself; she finally got some attention as my girlfriend. I almost told her to relish it while she could. I left her talking to Maya's sister, Mari.

Looking for Maya, I walked over to the punch bowl. Abigail Lucas, Maya's antisocial best friend, was standing next to it awkwardly. I wondered what she was even doing here.

I said, "Hey, have you seen Maya?"

In her usual cynical manner, she said, "By the staircase." She pointed and I followed her finger. Maya was laughing, talking to Logan.

Grinning, I said, "Wouldn't want to interrupt them, now would we?"

"Whatever you say." She shrugged and reached past me for a cup.

I rolled my eyes. Abigail always had annoyed me, with her haughty expression and perpetual boredom. I grabbed her arm. "Oh, come on, Abby, have a little fun."

Her arm was pale and cold beneath my hand. I looked down at it and was about to release it when she snatched it away.

She called me an idiot and shouted that I shouldn't call her Abby. "Why not?" I asked her. "Maya calls you that."

She shrugged. "That's Maya."

"Well, anyhow, nice chatting with you," I said awkwardly. "Looks like Maya and Logan are done with their little talk. I'll see you at school."

Afterwards, I didn't remember much of our conversation. All I could think of was the feel of her skin under my hand and the way she twisted it away from me.

After talking to Abigail, the night began sucking. It might have just been my BAC skyrocketing, or the way I kept seeing Abigail pulling her arm away.

Or it could have just been Jessica Parker, a Ravenclaw in my year. She walked up to me almost immediately after I went looking for another beer. I've known her forever, but had never really talked to her much before.

"Great party, Nick."

"Thanks," I said, distracted by Abigail pulling on her jacket and leaving. "D'you know where the beers are?"

She nodded, and led me over to a crate full of drinks. Handing me one, she said, "So how was your summer?"

I frowned. Since when were we all buddy-buddy? "Fine. Chloe and I worked at a Muggle summer school."

"Oh?" The smile slipped off her face. "Are you two-"

"Yeah." I said it quickly, then rushed on. "How about you?"

She tilted her head a little bit. "Umm... I'm not with anyone right now."

I laughed, my voice amplified by the alcohol. "No, not that. I was asking how your summer was."

She allowed for a small smile. "Oh. It was okay. I didn't do much. Look, I'd better get back to my friends, I meant to get them some beers." She reached down, grabbing a couple of bottles.

I stopped her by placing my hand on her arm. "Here, let me get them for you. Who are you hanging out with?"

"Oh, um." Her face suddenly looked like it was turning into a tomato.

In my intoxicated state, I didn't realize what was going on. "Are you okay?"

She just got redder. "Well, I... I wasn't actually getting beers for anyone."

I tried to wrap my head around this. Looking back, I was being really thick about the whole thing. "So, do you have a problem with the whole me-dating-Chloe thing?"

"No, no, of course not. I think I'm going to go. Bye." She was gone before I could say anything.

"Well, that was interesting," I said to myself aloud. "Looks like we're going to have to watch out for her. She's definitely under the Nick spell." I grinned.

I was still enjoying myself when Maya walked over to me. "Hey," she said. "I think I'm going to take off. It's getting pretty late."

"So early?" I said.

She sighed. "Nick, it's nearly one. Some of us are normal enough to not be completely sleepless in the morning, on top of being hung over."

"Sleep. So unnecessary. Are you taking that sister of yours with you?"

"I wouldn't trust her to floo by herself in this state." She glanced over towards where Mari was sitting with a brown-haired Gryffindor seventh year, swaying slightly with two empty bottles next to her.

I laughed in my own slightly-drunken state. "Okay, well. See you on the train?"

"Of course. Bye." She stood on her toes and hugged me.

"See you."

I watched her as she walked over to Mari. They talked for a minute, then got into the fireplace together, with Maya supporting Mari.

The night blurred by as I found another cooler of beer. I wasn't even sure what time it was when Jeremy Cook the git walked over to me. "Congratulations on getting captain," he said grudgingly.

I grinned brightly like I had no idea he was jealous. "Well, you didn't do too shabbily yourself. I heard you got Head Boy." I laughed at his expression.

He flinched as he smelled my breath. "Been enjoying the last night before school, I can tell."

"Oh, loosen up, Cook," I said.

He blinked.

I snorted.

Thus ended my conversation with the git. I downed another can. And another. The night continued to drag on. At least until Adelaide Lupin, the slut of seventh year, walked up to me. By that point I was so wasted that I didn't even stop her as she stepped within a foot of me. She said, "So, Nick, nice party."

I managed to process that this was almost exactly what Jessica had said to me earlier, but the way Adelaide said it sounded so much more... appealing. It may have been the alcohol, but I was suddenly in a mood for something to happen. After all, wasn't that the point of this party?

Ten minutes later, we were alone in my room. I was enjoying myself until Chloe came bursting through the door. "Oh my Merlin," she said, inhaling sharply.

Now, I've broken many hearts. There were many types of responses. Some slapped me straight across the face and never talked to me again. Some just ran and didn't look back. Some began planning the gossip as soon as they realized what happened. But the worst were the ones who cried.

And that's what Chloe did. She broke down in sobs, complete with great, heaving, dramatic breaths as Adelaide and I untangled ourselves. I never really knew what to do with these sort of girls. Going to Chloe and, I don't know, patting her on the back or something, seemed like a brilliant way to turn this into a face-slap situation. But standing there, just feeling like a git, didn't really help my self-esteem much either.

That night I felt no satisfaction from breaking up with Chloe. Usually I was at least upbeat about it, thinking of who to go for next. But at this point, I was so drunk I really couldn't see the point at being positive, or even thinking at all.

Chloe screamed at Adelaide a bit after recovering from her tears. Adelaide just brushed by her and left, not the least bit ashamed. As I said, seventh year slut.

After Chloe left, still pink in the face, I went downstairs and collapsed in a chair. My head was spinning a little as Logan appeared. "Mate!"

He turned, walked over, and sat down next to me. The room swam as I turned my head towards him

"Did you hear?" I asked.

He nodded. "You were planning on breaking up with her tomorrow, mate. What the hell happened?"

I snorted. "Adelaide Lupin happened."

He nodded again wisely. "Ah, well..." he said as he stood with a great sigh, "We've got to take care of cleaning up before your mum gets back."

I didn't bother to tell him Mum and Dad weren't coming to see me off. "What time is it? Two?" I asked instead.

Logan shook his head in mock despair. "What are we going to do with you? You must be more wasted than I thought. It's nearly four."

"Seriously? Crap."

"We've got our work cut out for us."

I swung my head up to look at Logan.

"Conrad Warrington is passed out in your parents' bedroom."

"I thought you locked that door! Crap, if Mum smells any alcohol on that bed she's going to go after Dad with her best kitchen blade."

Logan was silent. We both sat in our intoxicated thoughts. All I could remember was Abigail's arm, so cold.

After a minute Logan said, "Look, you're too wasted to help. I'll get everyone out."

"No, mate! I can... I can help!" I shouted to his receding back from my chair, although I knew Logan was right, as usual. So I just sat there and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning, I decided that the party was officially a sucky idea.