Eighteen.

Stacey

"Stacey?"

That feeling, the one of slowly being pulled out of sleep against your will, is one of the worst in the world.

I just fell asleep. I know I did.

"Stace..."

My brain, still technically asleep, recognizes Claudia's voice. My body, still very asleep, scrunches it's eyes tighter shut and turns away.

"Come on, Stace..." She says a little louder. Then she ruins it. She shakes me.

My eyes flew open. "What?" I grumbled, sounding a little more grumpy then I intended. With my eyes open, I can now see that's it's broad daylight. So maybe I didn't just fall asleep. I turn to face her. "Hey, Claud."

Claudia's face is a mixture of anger, worry, and frustration. "I need to talk to you. It's ten. I can't wait anymore."

The events of the early, early morning come back to me. "Is Dawn okay?"

"You could say that. She's out on the beach already, working on her tan like nothing happened."

I raised an eyebrow. Drugs make people so weird. Up and down, up and down. She's probably already on the stuff again. "So what's up?"

Claudia sat on the bed next to me with a heavy sigh. "It's pretty bad, Stace. I mean, I think it is. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know." Shaking her head, she pounded her fist on the blanket. "That little bitch has been lying to us!"

"What? Who?"

"Mallory." Claudia spat.

Oh, no. Struggling to keep my face neutral, I sat up a little. "What do you mean?"

Claudia looked me in the eyes. I cannot lie. I'm terrible at it. I know damn well what she means, and she picked up on it. "Logan. I saw him going into her room last night..." She did not take her eyes off mine. I sank down a little, and looked away. "You already know." She finished, matter-of-factly.

I shrugged, still looking away.

"Stacey! What do you know? How long? Why didn't you tell Mary Anne? I've been thinking she might have gone crazy!" Claudia exclaimed.

"I only found out last night." I snapped back. Sinking further down, I covered my face with my hands. "I didn't ask for this, Claud. She said she had something she wanted to tell me. I listened. But, but... it's so much more than you think..." I sighed. "It's bad, Claud. It's really bad."

Claudia continued to gaze at me, her face softening. "What happened?"

"It's... oh, Jesus. I can't tell you. I really can't. Mallory's just so messed up about things right now." I continued to hide my face. After Mallory told me what she did, I had wished she hadn't. While she told me I started wanting to leave the room. but she just kept going, spilling her guts to me, tears falling down her face. You've been so good to me... I want to tell you something. I should have just ran. I don't need Mallory's problems. I don't need anyone's but my own.

Claudia waited patiently, not caring that I did not want to tell her. So much like I had waited for Mallory last night. I should have left her alone. Claudia should leave me alone.

"You're going to regret this." I told her with a sigh.

"Logan and I are together." That's how it all started. I wanted her to stop right then. It was already too much. I mean, I suspected it, yes, but making it a reality was disturbing. Mallory, of all people, dating Mary Anne's ex-boyfriend. But then she kept going, and I could not believe what she was telling me.

"We've been dating for about three months," She had rushed on, not letting me react. "Stacey, he's just so cute and he's a senior, and I knew I was going to be the envy of all of my friends. I didn't plan on doing anything with him. I mean, he is eighteen. It's not really, like, legal, right? Plus I wanted to wait until senior prom. I know it's really stupid and cliche, but that's was my dream. Logan just... he can be pushy, you know?"

"So you did." I had said gently. It was kind of obvious.

"I did." She replied, nodding in agreement. "We went to this party one night, a senior party. I was so excited! It was my first senior party, and they had alcohol. I'd never been drunk before, Stace. Logan kept getting me drinks and I just... lost myself I guess. He took me into one of the rooms and we did it. Just like that." Her face began to darken. "I was so stupid. I mean, I let it happen, you know? I had no willpower, I guess. After that he just wanted to do it, like, every day. All the time. I never made him wear a..." She smacked herself in the forehead with the heel of her right hand. "God, I'm so stupid! He always said all this crap about wanting the real thing and I just... let him."

I must have looked horrified. Mal didn't seem to notice. She just. Kept. Going.

"And then, in May, I missed my period. When I told him he was so mad! I don't know how I let it happen. He was so angry. I should have been keeping track or something, I know. " She was shaking her head. I wanted to shake her. "So he made me buy a test and yeah, I was."

"Was!" I squeaked. Ten billion things were running through my mind. He made her buy a test? What the hell is wrong with this guy?

"Yeah, was." She was almost nonchalant. "Logan was so freaked out. He said he couldn't have a baby, and if I kept it, he'd leave me. So I used some money I was saving for a car, baby-sitting money, you know. He felt a little bad, though, afterward. That's why he bought me the Ipod."

Holy mother of God.

"Why... why are you crying?" I'd stammered. None of what she told me seemed to upset her. It was giving me a heart attack.

"Because... I love him so much, Stacey! I want to marry him, be with him forever. He promised me we would be together forever, but just now he told me he wanted to take a little break. From our relationship, not sex. He wants to see other people! He said that I can, too. I just can't sleep with them. But, but I think he still likes Mary Anne!" She buried her face in her hands and sobbed. "I could never compete with Mary Anne! She's his first love!"

I had done my best to comfort her. What I really wanted to do was call her mother. Logan was controlling Mallory to a point of... I don't know what. Anyone, anyone else on the planet would have been horrified by what Mal had described to me. She seemed to think it was all okay, normal, and her fault.

"I just didn't know what to do. I got her to stop crying, I went back to the kitchen, tried playing some more poker... I just could not wrap my head around it. I still can't."

Claudia's jaw was practically hitting the floor. I could see the same thing I felt in her eyes. Regret. The urge to turn back time. I don't want to know.

"Oh, my lord." Claudia whispered. "What... what do we do?"

"I don't know, Claud." I replied, sighing loudly. "I just don't know."

Claudia left my room in a daze soon after, saying she was going to sleep before she fell over. I got up and threw on my green bikini and black short shorts. I glanced outside. Dawn, Mary Anne, Kristy, Alan, and Mal were all on the beach, along with Trent and another guy from his house. Pete's truck was not parked in front of the house, and I saw no sign of Logan. Thank God. Hopefully they left altogether. Probably they were just exploring the town or getting food. I considered joining my friends on the beach.

But Mallory was out there. I didn't think I could face her quite yet, so I decided to park it on the couch for a while and indulge in a little Jerry Springer. At least their lives were worse than Mallory's.

After about ten minutes of Springer, I heard the screen door slam. I looked up to see Trent walk by in the foyer, on his way to the kitchen. I heard him stop, and he backed up and leaned past the wall. "Hey." He said, smiling.

"Hi." I had nearly forgotten Trent. He sauntered into the room and sat beside me, draping an arm around my shoulders. I looked at him, smiling. I knew he liked me.

"I missed you last night." He said, looking sad.

"Yeah? Sorry." I don't even know how long he was here last night. I was in too much of a daze. "I... I kinda missed you, too. Mallory was telling me about this whole thing with Logan, and... " I just shook my head. It's not like Trent could possibly care about that.

"I'm glad you missed me." His arm dropped from my shoulders, his hand quickly finding it's way to my leg. Or more like my thigh. He squeezed. "We kinda started something there, huh? I think we should..." He drew his face close to mine, and kissed me lightly. "You know, finish."

All thoughts of Mallory and anything else in the world flew from my head. I focused on Trent, his tan body, his handsome face. I leaned forward and kissed him again, this time harder. Trent reacted instantly, pushing me down on the couch. His hand was still on my thigh. It quickly made it's way between my legs. I drew a deep breath, my mouth still on his, and he seemed to like that. "God, you're so sexy..." He moaned as his hand moved up to my waistband and slipped under my shorts.

The screen door slammed again.

I have never, ever seen somebody move so fast. A millisecond later I was still laying on the couch, flushed and turned on, but Trent was walking away from me. Kristy walked by and saw nothing. I sat up, feeling relieved, disappointed, and a little silly. What was I thinking? Right here in the living room for everyone to see. I don't do PDA. And what the hell kind of spell does this guy have on me? I'm not easy. He almost got as far as anyone has ever gotten with me.

Shaking my head, I ran my fingers through my hair and shook it, trying to focus on Jerry.

Did that really just happen?