Chapter Two

Corrie parked her car in between two pickup trucks after we slowly made our way up the windy, bumpy dirt road. We had stopped halfway there to mix a drink, so the other three of us had a bit of a buzz going on. I was already loosening up and as soon as I heard the music blaring from one of the trucks, I knew we would have a good time.

"So, let's find Adam!" Becca decided, taking my arm. I pulled myself away from her.

"Beck, don't." I pleaded. "I don't want to get embarrassed."

"Then let's get you drunker." Becca joked. "No, I'll lay off, I promise. Let's just have fun!"

I followed Becca, Carolyn and Corrie towards the fire. It was hard to tell who was there yet, until my eyes got used to the lighting. I was just about to take a sip of my drink when I felt someone jump onto my back, as though for a piggy back. I stumbled forward and whirled around. Behind me stood Alfred E. Newman... No, wait. It was Jackie Rodowski, Shea's younger brother and the spitting image of the Mad magazine mascot. He's normally a bit of a klutz, but this was more of a drunken action.

"Chaaaar!" He exclaimed. "I didn't think you did anything but study! I'm so glad you're here!" Jackie stretched his arms out and pulled me in for a hug. He gave me a sloppy smooch on the cheek.

"Oh, Jackie." I groaned, wiggling out of the hug. "I'm so happy to see you too. Just don't jump on me anymore!"

Jackie gave me a wink. "We'll save that for later, right?" He said jokingly, gave me a swat on the butt and walked towards another group of people.

"Ooh, maybe we'll scratch Adam off the list, and put Jackie on there huh?" Corrie teased. I laughed.

"I think when Jackie and I were little, we decided if we weren't married by the time we were, like, forty, we'd get married."

Corrie burst out laughing. "Well, forty is coming up awfully quick... we better find you a guy! Seriously," she added, "why not Adam?"

"I never said anything was wrong with him." I answered. "But he's Vanessa's brother. Can you imagine how awkward that would be if I went over there for dinner or something, and I have to sit across the table from her?"

"So what?" Corrie countered. "Vanessa is not the queen of the universe, as much as she would like to believe it. If you want to date her brother, you go ahead and you date her brother."

"I never said I wanted to date him either!" I protested. "Yeah, he's cute and everything... but I have never had a boyfriend. I don't even know how to flirt!"

"Well, let's go find Adam and say hi." Corrie replied, dismissing everything I just told her.

"Corrie!" I hissed. "I don't know what to do, or say! Please don't embarrass me!"

"I'm not going to!" Corrie insisted. "I'm friends with Adam. Why can't I go say hi to him at a party?"

"Well... okay." I agreed. I grabbed my drink and followed Corrie around the fire, where Adam was talking with his identical triplet brother Jordan. (Byron, the third one, is a bit of an emo-punk kid and spends his time playing guitar in this bad called Burning Sunday... don't ask, cause I don't know). Adam and Jordan were also chatting with Jeff Schafer and Shea Rodowski.

Corrie put her arm around Jordan's neck. "Well, well... four good looking boys and no girls around? Do you guys have some kind of secret to tell us?"

"Yeah." Shea answered with a grin. "Girls have cooties!"

Corrie frowned. "Well... too damn bad! Move over, dude!" She gave Jordan a hip check and he moved over to make room for Corrie and I.

"What's this!?" Shea exclaimed. "Corrie, this pretty girl beside you looks like my little neighbour, but it can't be Charlotte Johanssen, because Charlotte Johanssen studies every weekend!"

"Wow, I think I heard the exact same joke from your little brother a few minutes ago." I laughed. "Original much?"

"We actually traded jokes back and forth on the way up here, cause we knew you'd be coming." Shea replied. "We had to be prepared!"

"I haven't seen you around much, Char." Adam said to me. "It's good to see you up here."

I smiled shyly. "Thanks." I answered. "I guess even nerds need a night out every once in awhile, right Shea?"

Shea shrugged. "That's why I'm out!" He replied, mimicking Conan O'Brien's nerd impression.

"Nah, you're not a nerd." Adam assured me. "You're just the only one here who will actually be able to get into a good college!"

"Hey!" Corrie protested. "What about me?"

"What about you?" Jeff asked, slurring his words a bit. "You'll go to college just to get laaaid... Just like all the other hot girls do."

Corrie rolled her eyes. "Thanks, Jeff." She answered. "You're so sweet."

Jeff laughed loudly. "Just let me know what school you're going to and I'll be there." He took a little step backwards and tried to steady himself.

"I'll Facebook it to you, don't you worry." She told him, but Jeff had already wandered off by the time she finished talking.

"He's such a mess." Corrie said with a laugh.

"He showed up at my house this morning, while I'm getting ready for school, already drunk." Adam said. "He wasn't going to class, and decided to get up at seven AM and drink."

"Sounds like fun." I said dryly.

"I think I'd rather go to Ms. Alverson's history class than be drunk at seven in the morning." Adam said with a laugh.

"I like history." I said. "If it wasn't for Becca, I'd be doing history right now!"

"Thank God for Becca." Adam said with a grin.

Corrie tugged on my arm. "Hey, let's go fill up out drinks!" She said. I glanced down at my half full cup, but Corrie had dragged me away before I could say anything.

"He keeps looking at you." She hissed to me.

"Who does?" I asked dumbly.

Corrie sighed. "Adam, dumbass!" She exclaimed. "He has been staring at you since we went over there!"

I glanced back towards Adam, and thought I saw his head whip around, as if he had just been looking, but I couldn't be sure.

"Maybe." I said. "Maybe he's just surprised to see me out, and thinks he's hallucinating!"

Corrie rolled her eyes. "Seriously Char, " she said, "I really think you could have him tonight!"

"I don't want someone tonight." I told her. "I want someone for more than a night. I want someone who-."

"Bitch, why do you even talk like that?" a voice was yelling, "You're from Connecticut! It's hardly a ghetto."

"Bitch, I'm from New Jersey!" That was Becca's voice. "I can talk however I damn well please, I'm not some fucking cloned idiot like you all seem to be!"

"What's going on?" I asked Corrie. She shrugged, so we walked a bit closer to the argument. Becca was standing with her hands on her hips, hair as wild and curly as ever, staring down Vanessa Pike and Haley Braddock. Haley was the final quarter of our middle school group, but when Vanessa decided she wanted to be cool, Haley went right along with her. They are now teamed up with Tiffany Kilbourne and Kerry Bruno, two of the biggest, dumbest sluts in Stoneybrook history. I guess drinking and stealing and sleeping around makes you cool, whereas going to school, getting good grades and being an overall good person makes you a nerd.

"If we're all such fucking dumb cloned idiots, why are you even here?" Haley slurred to Becca. "You knew we'd be up here! This is our party, with our friends!"

"Last time I checked, this was a free damn country and I can have a drink around any damn fire I want to!" Becca exclaimed. "You don't own this fire pit, you don't own the road coming up here, you don't own shit! So keep your fucking mouth shut and stay the hell away from me!"

"With pleasure." Vanessa sneered. "You probably have scabies or some other shit you got from living in the ghetto!"

"Oh, bitch." Becca snapped. "Now it's on!"

Becca went to lunge at Vanessa, but Corrie and I quickly grabbed her arms.

"So not worth it, Beck." I muttered, pulling her away.

"Oh my God!" Vanessa squealed, her voice dripping with sarcastic sweetness. "It can't be little Charlotte! Didn't you get the memo, Char?" She leaned in closer to me, and I could smell the booze and cigarettes on her breath. "Losers aren't allowed here, no matter how much they want to be cool!"

She giggled and gave me a little push on the shoulder. "Go home to your homework, nerd!" She shouted, pushing me again.

"Vanessa, knock it off!" Adam snapped, coming towards her and grabbing her wrists. "Quit being such a fucking little bitch!

Vanessa scoffed and tried to shake Adam's grasp off of her. "Adam, this party was fun until these little losers showed up! I'm just trying to keep it reeeaaal!"

"This party was fine until you started being a cow to Becca and Char." Adam snapped back. "I think you need to go home." He glanced at Haley, who was slumped over the tailgate of Shea's truck. "And take your drunk friend too."

Vanessa stared at Adam. "Are you being serious?" She asked.

Everyone else was wondering the same thing. Vanessa and Haley usually got like this at parties. They got too drunk, started some fight with whoever would listen, but no one would ever make them leave. Adam would watch out for them, but wouldn't ever tell his own sister, the one he was closest to out of all the Pike kids, to leave.

"Yeah, I'm being serious!" Adam exclaimed. "You've just cause this ridiculous amount of drama, and we don't want that here. So leave."

Jordan and Shea were standing behind Adam, and Jordan shook his keys. "Come on, sis, let's go."

Vanessa scowled at Adam. The she stood against the truck and folded her arms. "Make me."

Jordan raised an eyebrow at Vanessa. "Really?" He asked. "Do you really want me to 'make you'?"

Vanessa glanced at both of her brothers, then rolled her eyes, grabbed her drink and stomped towards Jordan's truck. Before leaving the fire, she stopped directly in front of me.

"Enjoy my party." She jeered, tossing her drink onto my shirt. My mouth dropped and I was speechless as she stumbled away.

"Jesus Christ." Corrie said, shaking her head. "What a bitch!"

My chin started to quiver, and I did not want to cry in front of anyone. I didn't want to give Vanessa the satisfaction of making me cry.

"I'll be back." I said quickly, before pushing past Corrie and Becca and hurrying away from the fire. About twenty feet away, there was a large fallen log, so I sat on it with my back to the crowd, buried my face in my hands and started to cry. My friends, especially Becca, know that when I'm upset, I need to be alone. I don't let anyone see me cry. I mean, Becca has, of course, but I don't like her to. I especially didn't want Corrie or Carolyn to see me crying. I didn't want them to think any less of me.

"Char?" I heard a voice behind me and quickly wiped my face with my shirt sleeve. I turned around and saw Adam standing behind me. I wanted to tell him to go away, because I did not want him to see me cry, but I couldn't get the words out. I turned back around and continued sobbing.

Adam swung his leg over the log and sat beside me. "I'm really sorry about my sister." He apologized.

"You don't have to apologize for her." I said, sniffling. "But thanks for stepping in."

"I wasn't about to let my sister bully someone who used to be her best friend." Adam answered. "Here."

I looked over and he was holding out a big, grey zip up hoodie. "I know it's going to be kind of big," he said, "but it will keep you warm, at least."

I smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Adam." I answered, pulling the hoodie on.

Adam cleared his throat. "Um, you should probably... you should take the wet- the damp- shirt off first." He told me. "Otherwise you might catch a cold."

"I can't take my shirt off in public!" I said, blushing. "I'd rather catch the cold!"

Adam laughed. "It's dark out, Char." He stated. "No one will see."

"You'll see."

"I won't look!" Adam promised. "Look, stand up."

I stood up and faced Adam. He took me by the shoulders and turned me around. Then he stood directly behind me.

"I'll use the hoodie as a shield." He said. "Take it off and give it to me."

I turned my head and looked at him. "Promise you won't peek?" I asked.

"Promise." Adam assured me.

I felt really uncomfortable, but Adam was right, I would get sick, and I know I would reek of booze all night if I kept my shirt on. I went to unzip the zipper, but it wouldn't budge.

"The zipper is stuck." I complained, wiggling it up and down a bit more.

Adam came and stood in front of me and wiggled the zipped. "Damn thing." He muttered. "It does this sometimes."

"It probably doesn't matter." I told him. He came and stood back behind me.

"Let me try it from this way." He said, reaching his arms across my shoulders and grabbing ahold of the zipper. "Watch your chin, kay?"

"Kay." I said, not thinking of my chin, but thinking of his hands so close to my chest, and his body so close to my body. This isn't how people usually unstick zippers, is it? I wasn't going to complain though. He smelled awfully good.

"I can't get this stupid thing." He said, fiddling with the zipper a bit more. Then he backed away and shrugged.

"You can just pull it off over your head, probably." He told me. I pulled the sweater up and off my head.

"That was easy." I said with a small laugh. I sat back down on the log and tried to mess with the zipper. Adam sat back down beside me.

"You doing okay?" He asked. "You were crying when I came up, weren't you?"

I blushed. "Yeah... I was." I admitted. "I didn't want to cry over there. I'm not really a cry-in-front-of-people kinda girl."

"Yeah, I can understand that." Adam answered. "Here, let me try that."

I handed him the hoodie and pulled my knees up to my chest. Away from the fire, and with a wet top on, it was really cold out.

"There we go." Adam announced, holding the hoodie open. "Stand up."

I stood up again and Adam stood behind me, holding the hoodie wide open and curved into the sides a bit. I unbuttoned my top and peeled it off, holding it between my knees. I was hoping to leave my tank top on, but it was more wet than the top, so I had to take it off. I pulled it up and felt the cold air against my back and stomach. I was hoping Adam wasn't looking at me at all. Even though I wasn't taking my bra off, I didn't want him to look at my back or stomach.

Adam set the hoodie on my shoulders and I slid my arms though and zipped it up. I turned back around and smiled at him.

"Thanks a lot for this." I said. "I really appreciate it."

"No worries at all." Adam answered. "Hey... can I ask you a question?"

I felt a nervousness in the pit of my stomach, the way I feel when anyone wants to ask me my opinion on something... Except this was about a hundred times more intense.

"Sure." I managed to squeak out. Adam sat back on the log and I sat beside him.

Adam cleared his throat. "You sure have changed over the last couple years, Char."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You don't seem like the same girl who used to come over and annoy the shit out of me with Vanessa." He said, laughing. "I mean, you do... but you don't."

I laughed a little. "I still don't know what you mean, or what you want to ask me." I told him.

Adam ran his hand though his hair. "You were always cute." He said. "Cute in like a little kid way. You know, with the braids and the dimples."

"Um... okay?" I asked. I was still so confused. Nothing Adam was saying was a question, or even making much sense to me.

"I guess when I say you changed, I don't mean personality wise." He said. "You are still shy and sweet and so smart. I guess I mean in the looks."

I furrowed my brow and looked at him. "So... what?" I asked. "I'm not cute anymore?"

Adam grinned at me, almost shyly. "I would say you were more along the lines of beautiful." He told me.

"You think I'm beautiful?" I asked him. Adam nodded.

"I think you're more than beautiful." He admitted. "I think you're gorgeous... sexy."

Did Adam Pike honestly just call me sexy? I don't think that word goes with my name, unless you are going to say, Charlotte, you are not sexy!

I could feel my face getting more red by the second. I was scared as to what would come next. Was he going to ask me out? Worse, was he going to try to kiss me? I wouldn't even know what to do if that happened.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any time to think about it. Adam leaned towards me and went to kiss me. My eyes went wide in shock. I didn't know how to react, so I quickly pushed him away and stood up.

"Um, thanks for the sweater!" I muttered, then turned and ran back towards my friends. Becca was leaning against a truck, chatting with Corrie.

"Guys!" I said breathlessly. "We need to leave now."

"Whose sweater?" Becca asked me.

"We need to go now." I repeated, more desperately.

Corrie looked at me, confused. "Well, I can drive you home if you really want to go." She told me.

I nodded. "Yes, please." I answered. "Can we go now?"

"I'm coming too." Becca said quickly. "Something's up."

"Whatever, let's just go." I said, turning towards the car. Someone reached out and grabbed my arm before I could go any further. It was Adam.

"Are you leaving?" He asked me.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I think so." I answered.

"Was it something I did?"

I glanced back at Becca and Corrie, who were both staring at Adam and I. I cleared my throat. "Um, no." I told him. "Maybe. No. No, it was me. I'm sorry."

"Why do girls always say that?" Adam asked with a sigh. "'It's not you, it's me'."

"But it's true." I told him. "I just... I don't know. I'm just going to go home."

"Sure you don't want to stay?"

I shook my head. "No... I want to go home."

Adam shrugged. "Okay." he said dejectedly. "See you around, I guess." With that, he turned and wandered back towards his friends, without a second glance back at me.