We arrived at the party by nine, and after five hours of doing nothing, we were ready to let loose. Duke greeted us at the door, giving Arlene a smile that would have melted my heart like butter had it been directed my way. He was dressed in khakis and a tight black tee-shirt. "Come on in," he laughed, stepping to the side to allow us to pass. Arlene straggled behind, making sure that she was the last to pass through the door. Her hair was pulled back out of her face in ringlets, and she shook her head a bit to make them bounce. Cocking an eyebrow, she gave Duke a flirtatious smile; one that he returned.

The bass pumped loud music into our bloodstreams and we became more limber with every step we took. Tommy veered off to the kitchen, hoping to find out what was in the red cups everyone was holding. The place was packed, wall to wall, with teenagers. Everyone was laughing, engrossed in their own conversations. But even while chattering, everyone's hips swayed to the deep beat pulsing out of the two stereos at the far end of the living room.

I dragged Millie around a wall that divided the living room from the rest of the house, trying to ask her a question. "Are you sure about this? I don't know how foolproof this plan is." All throughout our grocery shopping and rest of the day, us three girls had managed to devise a plan that would somehow end up with Andy crawling back to me on bended knee, as Arlene had so graciously put it. And all of their talk about how perfect Andy and I would be had somehow lulled me into their mindset. I found myself agreeing with them and even offering suggestions for the night's agenda. "No, no... I think that we should be coyerwhen we tell Andy. We can't say it directly to him; we have to just let him overhear us."

Both girls had nodded feverishly in agreement. "She's right," they whispered, looking happily at me as they dolled me up. I was in a tight, very short, jean skirt with a low cut gray tee-shirt. My thick, normally curly hair was straight and smooth, arranged stylishly around my face.

And my eyes, normally makeup-less, were accentuated with dark, thick eyelashes and lined with a bold stripe of eyeliner. I'd hardly recognized myself in the mirror after Millie and Arlene were finished with me. However, I didn't stand out much from them- as they were dressed the same. Millie was in a short, tight sundress that had provoked a smile out of Charlie and Arlene was in tight white shorts and a tank top. Before tonight, I'd always thought I was pretty, but after watching multiple pairs of eyes follow the three of us enter, I was feeling hot tonight.

But even through all of that, I couldn't stomach this new nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. It was that little voice telling me, go home stupid. Get the hell out of here. I peeked back around the corner, scanning the crowd. The party wasn't in full swing yet, and probably wouldn't be for another hour or so, but as crowded as it was now- it was only going to get wilder. This night was going to be interesting, with or without my presence, I knew as much already. The question I had to answer now was whether or not I wanted to be here for all of it.

"You've got to stop worrying, Peyton Maye. That's your problem, you know- just let loose for once. Stop overthinking all of this. This is a party!" Millie screamed over the music. She gave me a look that told me to shut up about it or leave. Millie needed a party about as much as I did, and was here to cut loose for a night. Charlie rounded the wall with Tommy, both boys carrying two cups, handing Millie and I each one.

I looked down into at the liquid, a deep ruby and asked, "What is it?"

"Dunno' know, don't care!" Tommy laughed, taking a huge gulp out of his cup. I looked over to see Millie take a tentative sip and smile.

She looked up at Charlie, who met her gaze with a smile. "Wanna' dance?" He asked her, not waiting for a reply. Instead, he grabbed her hand and pulled her around the corner. I leaned sideways to see Millie sway so close into Charlie that it looked as though they were one person. Charlie put a hand low on her hip and matched her rhythm. Something told me that they wouldn't separate for the entire night, at least not by choice.

Tommy shot me a sideways glance, "Shall we join 'em, Ms. Hale?" I turned to him, cocking my head to the side. He gave me a lopsided smile and held out his hand. I looked down at my drink again and took a sniff. It smelled fruity, but the sharp stench of alcohol filled my nose. It was spiked.

I didn't drink, never had and probably never would. Nothing about alcohol looked appealing to me. And until this point, I would've guessed that none of the rest of our group did. But by the looks of it, Tommy was going to be sloshed before the clock struck midnight. Peering closer into his face, I could see the red veins of his eyes stand out more prominent, and his whole face had an unnatural sheen to it. My first reaction was repulsion and I wanted to leave then. But then my maternal instincts set in; as disappointed as I was in Tommy that he was drinking, illegally, I wasn't going to leave him at a party alone. How would he get home? How would any of them get home? Millie had already taken a sip and I was sure that Charlie was drinking, too. So the role of designated driver fell effortlessly into my lap.

Then finally, Millie's words rang in my ear. You've got to stop worrying. Stop overthinking all of this. I repeated them over and over, letting their effect wash over me. Stop thinking, I whispered to myself. Just let it go and have fun.

Letting go, mixed with the beat of the music, did the trick and I looked up to meet Tommy's eyes with a dark glance. Tommy was like a brother to me, and I didn't want to go there in anyway. "It's just dancing," I told him. And I meant it; he wasn't going to get anywhere if he tried for anything else. "No funny business."

"Not a thing," he vowed, smiling. I looked Tommy over once, realizing just how cute he was. His dark hair, his thick neck, his long and ripped body- maybe it was just the party, and maybe it was just this skirt that was cutting circulation off to my brain, but Tommy was looking good tonight. "No funny business," I whispered again, but this time... it was more to myself than Tommy.

He smiled wider and grabbed my arm, leading me out into the middle of the living room. We'd been there maybe 10 minutes, but the living room had somehow become even more packed with people. Girls danced with girls; guys danced with girls and some guys just chilled in the corner.

I looked for Duke and Arlene, and spotted them in the corner, sitting on a couch. Duke had an arm slung around Arlene's shoulders and she rested a hand on his knee. He yelled something in her ear and she nodded, smiling. Without another word, they rose off the couch and headed for the kitchen. As Tommy pulled me into him, running his hands down my sides onto my hips, I looked for Millie and Charlie.

Somehow, they'd drifted to off to the side of the room, where they were enveloped in their own little world. Thankfully, they were still dancing, and hadn't moved onto a sloppy makeout session. I turned my attention back to Tommy and I, letting the music guide my hips. Tommy's face was millimeters away from mine and he rested his chin on my shoulder. "Ya' look amazin' tonight, Peyton Maye," he told me. "I wish I was th'lucky one t'get ya'."

"You'd better shut up, pretty boy," I replied, yanking his hand up from the hem of my skirt. "You're like a brother to me, and you're grossing me out." I was lying; his compliment was nice. Still, anything with Tommy would be weird and feel oddly incestual.

But the music changed, to a constant, hearty downbeat that shook the entire house, and Tommy sank even closer next to me. Let go, I told myself, and relaxed back into his chest. We rocked side to side with every pulse of the music, and I slid my hand back around his head, nearly twisting around to kiss him. The feeling of incest held me back, thankfully. And I laughed at my own silliness. Tommy asked me what it was, but I ignored his question, trying to keep in time with the music.

Millie caught my eye with a questioning look, and tapped Charlie on the arm. He looked over at us and laughed, shaking his head at Millie. "Don't worry," I saw him mouth. She gave me a hard frown, but shrugged.

I knew that what I was doing was wrong, but Tommy should know, better than any one of these boys that what we were doing now was nothing. He knew I still had feelings for Andy, and he thought, like everyone else that Andy probably still had feelings for me.

The alcohol in his system was guiding his actions now, and I was counting on him to forget that this ever happened. It would make tomorrow morning a lot less awkward. Tommy was going strong on the spiked punch, and downed his cup in one swallow. With a deliberate pressure, he raked a finger up my thigh, sending chills up my spine.

"Tommy," I warned, pushing his hand back. He laughed and put his hand, safely, back onto my hip.

"Relax," he purred in my ear. "I'm just havin' some fun." His words were slurred and the smell of alcohol was strong in his breath.

Luckily, the tempo of the music increased to an almost dubstep beat. The crowd circled closer together and I let go of Tommy to dance faster. I knew the song by heart and screamed every line, along with every other person in the room. We were jumping up and down by the chorus, pumping our hands in the air. At one point, there was a pause in the song and all of us froze. Not moving, I scanned the crowd again, noticing a lone boy in the corner. He was staring at me, and grinning. His brown hair was wavy and was cut right above his ears. Even from far away, I could see how pitch black his eyes were. Their gaze was unnervingly intense and directed straight into my face. Something about the boy was oddly familiar, but I couldn't put a finger on it.

The music picked up again, but I didn't move. And this mystery boy laughed. It was only when Tommy lightly tapped my shoulder in between leaps off the ground that I pulled my eyes away from the boy. But all through the rest of the song and into the beginning of the next one, I was aware of the boy's dark eyes on my face. When I allowed myself to look in his direction again, he was gone. Oh well, I told myself. You didn't know him anyway.

"Wanna' take a break?" I heard Tommy scream into my ear over the latest song that was playing. It was one of those where the singer just oohed and ahhed without actually singing any lyrics. The beat was good, but other than that, there wasn't much of a song.

Tommy wasn't tired, I could see it on his face. But his cup was empty and he'd been edging closer to me since we'd started dancing. I knew what two things he wanted, neither of which I was willing to leave this dance floor for. "No, I'm alright," I yelled back and went back to dancing.

He shrugged and waded out of the giant crowd, disappearing from my sight. I tried to move more towards the center of the group where I could see a group of girls dancing, hoping to blend in before Tommy came back for round two. The more I danced with him, the more uncomfortable I felt. It didn't have anything to do with Tommy, and if I wasn't in love with his best friend and best friends with his sister, I'd probably have been all over him. But because of those two factors and the fact that I'd known Tommy since he was wetting his bed, I didn't want to be around him anymore.

Somewhere, mid turn, I found myself thinking of Andy. I was picturing him sitting next to me in his truck and giving me a lopsided grin. It was the image of perfection; he was so perfect. In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to run back to the house and apologize. I wanted to throw my arms around him and just melt into his embrace.

Then I remembered that I couldn't… because he wasn't speaking to me. And that pain that this thought caused me was nearly unbearable. It felt like a thousand pins suddenly found their way into my skin and were sinking deeper and deeper down into my flesh. I prayed briefly that the numbness would return, so I could enjoy the rest of the party and tried to force myself to let go, but relief evaded me.

Make him want you! I screeched in my head, trying to twist the words so that they said, he wants you. I couldn't. I didn't know if I would ever see those three words arranged in that order. But I did know one thing I could do tonight… I could make Andy jealous; if I tried hard enough, I could make any guy in here want me. With this skirt, I was invincible.

So I melted into the middle of a group of girls with a smile and they each returned it. One girl with the most beautiful smile I'd ever seen leaned over and yelled in my ear, "I noticed when ya' walked in 'n I just wanted t'say that ya' have t'be one of th'prettiest girls here."

"Thanks!" I yelled back, giving her a wide smile. "And you're really pretty, yourself." With that, she pulled me more into the center and we began to dance. "I'm Peyton Maye," I told her.

"Sarah," she replied and twirled out in a circle. As we danced, I kept glancing back at the corner where the boy had been. He hadn't returned to his spot and I hoped that he hadn't left the party. Arlene tapped my shoulder and told me that she was heading out back with Duke. I scanned her face, and knew that she was gone.

With a giddy smile, she kissed my cheek and danced off to Duke, who stood waiting at the edge of the dancing crowd. He leaned down and kissed her deeply before leading her out back. Please don't do anything stupid, I begged Arlene in my head. The last thing I needed was to find Arlene in a very compromising situation with a boy she hardly knew.

Sarah said something that I didn't catch, but I turned my attention back to the song, throwing myself enthusiastically into the beat of the music. We danced for a couple of songs without any further exchange of words until she put a hand on my elbow and leaned in to say, "There is a boy who won't stop lookin' at ya', he can't keep his eyes offa' ya'."

"Oh- the one with black hair? That's Tommy. He's one of my friends." I cringed internally, not wanting to have to send Tommy away. I was hoping that while he went to refill his cup, he'd find some pretty girl who didn't know him- someone that he could flirt with, who wouldn't have to ask him to pass the sugar at the breakfast table the next morning.

"Uhm, well yeah, but th'one with black hair stopped lookin' for ya' 'bout 10 minutes ago. This one has brown hair, 'n th'weirdest eyes." I stopped dancing, knowing that it was the boy from the corner. With a deliberate slowness, I turned. My heart leapt in my chest to see that the boy from the corner was less than three feet away from me, and had that same half grin on his face.

I returned his grin with a smile and took a step towards him. "Want to dance?" he asked me, with a very clear, very deep voice. There was no southern accent or inflection of any sort.

"Sure," I replied, smiling wider. Whoever he was, or wherever he was from didn't really matter. He was cute- really cute- and wanted to dance with me. He held out a hand and I slipped mine in to it, letting him twirl me around into him. Without a word, he took my hands and raised them above my head, along with his. In my ear, he whispered, "I'm Julian."

"Peyton Maye," I replied, laughing. Julian was a good dancer, and took complete control, leading my movements with his hips. The song was slower, but Julian was dancing to some exotic tempo of his own. It was a complicated rhythm, but in his arms, I had no trouble keeping up. We didn't speak anymore, only danced. Thankfully, he didn't try to kiss me or anything. He just danced. And from what I could tell, Julian wasn't drunk. He smelled like laundry detergent, probably from a newly washed shirt. His arms were strong around me and I could feel his ripped body pressed against my back. He was attractive and, I realized with a gasp, the perfect candidate to make Andy jealous.

Can I do this? I asked myself. Can I use someone to make Andy jealous? The song slowed into a slow dance and Julian spun me out into a wide circle, only to pull me back into his arms, only this time, so that I was face to face with him. The look in his eyes had cooled from intense to lustful and I smiled, "So tell me Julian, who are you?"

"Does it matter, Peyton Maye?" He asked, and his response solidified my resolve. Yes, I could do this. Getting Andy back starts now, Peyton Maye. So make it good.

"No… Not really," I giggled, narrowing my eyes and shimmying closer to Julian. At that moment, I looked past his face towards the door that had just opened, for just a split second. At first, the boy in a tight white tee-shirt and loose, worn jeans seemed like any other boy. It wasn't until I looked again that I realized who it was.

I saw Millie, still in Charlie's arms, shoot a frantic glance my way. I returned a cool smile, trying to tell her not to worry. I could handle this- in fact, it helped. We wouldn't have to tell Andy about the party later, because he could just watch it for himself...

Andy met my gaze with a surprised look, but I quickly pulled my attention back to Julian. Without missing a beat, I ran my hand around Julian's neck and pulled him closer. "Kiss me," I told him. "And make it count. Tonight, we're putting on a show for a little friend of mine."

Julian laughed, before running a finger under my chin and skimmed his nose along my jawline. "O'course, babe. It'd be my pleasure." He purred in my ear, and I wrapped both arms around his neck and let him dip me back. Without another word, he kissed me. And right before my eyes slid closed, I saw Andy's jaw drop wide open.

And he'll come runnin' back on bended knee… I heard Arlene's voice chime in my ear. God I hope so, I thought in my head. Otherwise, I just dug my way into a very deep hole that will be impossible to climb out of.