Earlier that same Day

"Suze! Suze! Wake up." David's quivering voice registered somewhere in the back of her mind. "Suze. She's done it again." With that her eyes popped open and she jumped out of bed. 10 year old David was standing beside her bed looking anxious. He was still in his spider man pajamas and his red hair was wild and crazy.

"Fuck, where is she?" Suze asked him and he flinched at her bad word.

"Kitchen." David said and Suze raced past him, down the stairs.

"Mom?" She called and got no response. "Fuck, fuck!" She grumbled. When she entered the kitchen the smell hit her like a ton of bricks and she covered her mouth to stop herself from gagging.

Her mother sat on the floor, her back against the cupboards in last night's outfit, vomit covered her black shirt and there were pools of it on the floor in random spots.

"Oh for the Love of God!" She carefully stepped around the puddles and went to her mother's side.

"Mom?" She said touching her shoulder. Her mother groaned and opened her eyes. Her eyeliner and mascara had smeared giving her an upside down Gene Simmons look. She gave a weak smile and then hiccupped.

"Hey Susie baby." Suze sighed when her mother spoke. She took a deep breath and grabbed her mother's arms gently.

"Come on Mom. Time for a shower."

"Ugh, my head hurts." She said staggering. "What is that awful smell." Suze bit her tongue as she helped her mother up the stairs, avoiding the puddles along the way.

When they were in her mother's on suite bathroom, Suze stripped her mother's clothes off and helped her into the shower. She stood outside the shower and remembered how embarrassed she had been the first 3 times she done this. Now a million times later it seemed like the norm; like she was bathing a child, almost.

Half an hour later her mother was clean, in fresh pj's and asleep in bed with a cold cloth on her head. She grabbed the cleaning products and headed down the stairs to clean the house. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that the kitchen was completely spotless.

"I did it. Is it ok?" David asked, appearing at her side. Tears formed in her eyes and she took a deep breath. 10 year old kids should never wake up on a school morning and have to clean up their mother's vomit. She sighed and looked away so he wouldn't see the tears. Once she was sure she had a handle on her tears she wrapped an arm around his shoulder and smiled at him.

"It's amazing! Thank you." He blushed slightly, but smiled. "I'm gonna go shower and then I'll make you your favorite breakfast, pancakes and bacon." David smiled but shook his head.

"I've gotta catch the bus in…" he counted the minutes on the clock carefully. "15 minutes." Suze sighed as she looked at the clock, which said 8:10.

"Sorry buddy. What about tomorrow?"

"Ok." He said with a shrug. She kissed his head and headed up the stairs. "Oh don't forget your lunch." She called down to him. "I put it in the fridge."

20 minutes later she was wearing a black t-shirt that clung to her body, dark blue jeans and her black motorcycle jacket. Her dyed black hair was damp and starting to curl with the humidity and she had put on black eyeliner and mascara. She shrugged at herself in the mirror and checked on her mother again. As she was closing the door she caught a glimpse of the time. She was really late. She grabbed her backpack from her room and raced out to the car.

She caught site of Maria climbing into Jesse's car in her blue cheerleading uniform and white flats. Suze watched as she tossed her black curly ponytail over her shoulder and smiled at her aunt in the doorway. Suze quickly locked the house and scurried to the car.

She started her car and her cell rang. She cussed as she searched threw her back pack to find it. When she finally did find it, Ceecee's name flashed on the screen and Suze flipped the phone open.

"Sup?" Suze said in a mocking tone. She watched Jesse's car pull out of the drive way and fly by as she remained sitting in her driveway.

"I have a huge favor to ask you!"

"Can it wait? I'll be there in 10."

"Ok we'll meet in the main hallway." Ceecee said and then hung up. She threw her phone back into her bag and backed out the driveway

10 minutes later she was pulling into the school parking lot behind Jesse's sleek corvette. It had been the talk of the century when he pulled into school with that thing. Everyone had crowded around him and asked him about it, how much it cost, what it was like to drive, blah blah blah! It made her want to puke. He got the nice fancy car and she got stuck with a hunk of junk.

He spotted the only open spot closest to the school and took it, which left Suze to park by the back of the parking lot, beside the dumpsters. She sighed as she found her usual spot. She turned off her car and grabbed her back pack.

"Hey Susie." When the voice reached her ears she froze. She closed her eyes and silently groaned before she turned around and smiled slightly.

"Hey Mike." She said to the Michael Meducci who was leaning on the hood of his own hunk of junk car across the aisle.

"How's it going?" He asked jutting out his bony chin and sticking his hands in his pockets. His jet black hair was combed neatly to the side and his thick dark, square framed glasses hid his deep blue eyes. He wore light blue jeans with a red polo shirt, which would've looked good on a guy like Jesse, but didn't suit Mike. He was the band-t-shirt-and-jeans-with-holes-in-them kind of guy.

"It's going fine." Suze said, trying desperately to give him the hint. She walked away from him, but he just followed her.

"I was thinking…" Mike started.

"That's dangerous. You shouldn't do that." Suze teased and he chuckled.

"Funny. Anyways, I was thinking that maybe we could go see a movie or something?" He asked.

"Umm….."She opened the door to the school and racked her brain for a good enough cop out.

"You know…I haven't been able to pay you back for how much you helped me with my sister that one time…" Mike's voice drifted off as he remembered the time that Suze had helped Mike take care of his sister after she had gotten really drunk at one of the parties.

"Oh it's ok." Suze said with a shrug as she opened her locker. "Don't worry about it."

"I'd really like to take you out Suze. How about tonight?"

"Oh well you I cant because…" she froze trying to come up with a reason.

"She's going out with me." Ceecee said, coming to her rescue.

"Oh." Mike said with a frown. "Where are you going? Maybe I could meet up with you?" He said looking hopeful.

"Excuse me, but it's called girls night for a reason." Ceecee snapped. "No boys allowed." He scowled at her for a second and then shrugged.

"Oh well. I guess we've got the whole summer." He said brightly and Suze gulped.

"Defiantly." Ceecee said positively.

"Alright, well I guess I'll see you in Bio later." He waved at Suze before walking off.

"Phew, that was a close call." Ceecee said, leaning up against the lockers and picking at her bright orange nails.

"Except now I have to avoid him for the whole summer." Ceecee shrugged.

"He…isn't too bad." She said unconvincingly. Suze closed her locker and sighed.

"I cant wait to get out of here."

"Don't be that impatient. Us poor folk have to stay local, which means I'll be stranded here for the rest of eternity." Ceecee whined.

"You will look out for Dave right?" Suze asked, suddenly worried about her baby brother.

"Course. He's like family." Ceecee said. "No worries Susie, I'll take care of him while your away becoming a paleontologist." Suze laughed.

"Its an Anthropologist."

"Same thing." Ceecee said with a shrug and Suze laughed again.

"One is human bones the other is Dinosaurs. Completely different."

"Still bones." Ceecee said looking bored and Suze shook her head. "So… Wanna know what we're doing tonight?" She said with a devious smile.

"I thought you were just kidding?"

"Nope we're going out." Suze looked at her worried.

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably not." Ceecee said honestly. "Debbie Mancuso invited me to a party."

"No way Ceecee! I hate parties."

"Please! You're my best friend. I cant go into the lions den without my whip!" This made Suze chuckle.

"Fine." She said and Ceecee squealed. "Is that what the favor was?" Ceecee's smile dropped.

"Uh no…I need you to help me get people to pay for Grad."

"No way!" Suze snapped.

"Oh Come on Suze!"

"No I don't want to sit in the middle of the hallway and give people the opportunity to make fun."

"And I do?" Ceecee begged with her eyes. "Come on Suze. Don't make me do this by myself."

Suze sat at the table in the middle of the main hallway and opened her latest novel, Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris. They were surrounded by kids and Suze continued with her reading and left Ceecee to deal with their Grad debt. When the crowd cleared away Suze grumbled.

"I can't believe you talked me into this." She said.

"You wouldn't want me to sit her all on my own would you?" Ceecee said pushing back her bright red curly hair. Suze rolled her eyes and sighed. "Oh and this party…at Debbie's…it starts at 8. So I was thinking that we should go around 10." Ceecee said matter of fact like. Suze felt a ball of uncertainty in her stomach. She hated parties and the last thing she wanted to do was go to one, but she had promised Ceecee.

"I guess I'll drive. Seeing as your quite the boozer lately." Suze teased and Ceecee shrugged.

"One of us has to be normal." She said with a grin and then her grin dropped as Adam and Jesse came into view. "Oh God!" She said shrinking in her seat and playing with a long strand of red hair. Suze rolled her eyes and held her breath. She waited for her moment of embarrassment that was soon to come. Too soon…

"Don't forget to pay for Grad people! Only 14 days away." Ceecee shouted in a crisp but high pitched voice. Suze groaned and stuck her nose farther into the book. Hair draped across her face so majority of it was covered.

"He's coming over here." Ceecee whispered nervously.

"What do you expect? You shouted so loud the penguins in Antarctica could here you!" Suze snapped.

"What do I do?" she asked ignoring Suze's comment.

"Nothing. Be "normal" as you call it." Suze whispered and pretended to be reading.

"Hey Ceecee." Adam said leaning against the wall next to Ceecee. Suze noticed Ceecee's tightly clasped hands in her lap and smirked.

"Adam." She said in a stern/stuck-up tone. Suze rolled her eyes.

"You know, I bet you'd get more people to pay if you took off that hideous blue top that you're wearing." Adam said. Ceecee's breath caught and Suze could see her knuckled turn white. Suze sized and realized Ceecee wasn't going to say anything.

"You'd like that would you?" If Ceecee was a skank like the rest of them?" She snapped at him. She couldn't see him face but she he would smile, as if to save his dignity. So she added. "Why don't you just ask her out already? I'm getting tired of your sad attempts to get her attention." She heard Ceecee sigh and heard Adam snort.

"Well, well. The hermit speaks. How's it going Susie Sunshine? Haven't seen you around here in a while." Adam fought back and Suze chose to ignore it, partly because she knew that he had seen her. He made fun of her at least 2 times a day.

"She goes to school everyday." Ceecee defended and Suze groaned. Ceecee meant well, but she always ended up saying the wrong thing.

"Oh well then. I guess I just never noticed you." As the words left his mouth, Suze felt her body rejects her tough front and flinch.

"Piss off Adam." She snapped at him and everyone knew that Adam had won.

"Here's a tip Cee. Ditch the vamp. She's kind of depressing." And with that he let out a cackle and walked away. Suze waited for Jesse to leave before she lifted her head. The last person she wanted to show emotion to was Jesse.

"He didn't mean it." Ceecee said nervously. Suze looked at her friend and sighed. Then she turned and looked at Adam.

"I don't fucking care what he has to say." She sighed. "He Cee…Here's a tip…I'm a total douche bag." She mocked. "Why do you like him? I mean look at him." They both looked at Adam as he lifted a girls skirt and laughed when she burst into tears.

"Well…its for the same reason that you like Jesse." Ceecee shot back and Suze choked.

"I…I…No Way!" She stumbled over her words and Ceecee looked victorious. "I don't like him."

"Oh no?"

"No, defiantly not!" Suze looked in his direction and shook her head. Sure she still had those feelings that she had since they were kids, but it wasn't serious. At that moment she heard a high pitched voice shout, "Jesse". Almost everyone in the hallway stopped what they were doing and looked towards the voice. Kelly Prescott strutted towards him in her blue and white cheerleading uniform, her blonde hair straight down her back. She watched as Kelly smiled up at him and then noticed that Jesse was watching her and she looked away. When she looked back they were exchanging saliva.

"Ugh, gross!" Ceecee voiced both of their thoughts. "You sure you don't want that?" She said with a playful nudge.

"Defiantly not!" Suze said with a nod.

The phone rang at 9 o'clock that night. Suze was sitting with David watching Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. It was his favorite movie and since their mother had been feeling sick they ordered a pizza and watched movies.

"Hello?" David said into the phone. "Oh hey Ceecee. Yea she's right here." He passed Suze the phone. "It's your girlfriend." He said giving her a wink and started to giggle. She shoved his head lightly,

"Very funny baby brother." She said to him, then lifted the phone to her ear. "Hello Susannah Simon speaking."

"So Funny! Listen. Are you coming to pick me up or what?" Ceecee said impatiently.

"I thought you said 10?"

"Yea well…I thought we might go early."

"Oh yea….No!" Suze said sarcastically.

"Come on Suze."

"I can't pick you up now anyways. I'm watching Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith with David.

"It's Return of the Jedi!" They both corrected at the same time and Suze smiled and shrugged. "Come on. Please!" Ceecee begged.

"The movie's almost done. 20 minutes." Suze said.

"But…"

"20 minutes Cee." Suze said mocking Adam from this morning. "Huh I kinda like it…Cee." She let out a small giggle and heard Ceecee sigh.

"20 minutes! No later!" She said and hung up.

"Sheesh! She's bossy today." Suze said hanging up the phone.

"You can go if you want to." David said with a small smile. Her heart broke at his loneliness.

"No Way!" She said with a smile. "And miss the best part if the movie? I don't think so!"

"Suze, the best part is when Luke finds out about Darth Vader." David said with a laugh.

"I'd rather be here with you than at a lame party anyways." She said with a shrug and he looked at her curiously.

"You're weird. Did you know that?" He said to her. She sighed and nodded.

"So I've been told, many times."

Half an hour later she was at Ceecee's front door and Ceecee was pushing her towards her room, avoiding her over protective parents and her excited Terrier Tito.

"I need help!" She begged and Suze rolled her eyes.

"I don't think I'm qualified to help. A shrink would be better. Hey I have Dr. Osmond's number still if you want it."

"Haha. No seriously!" She opened her door and Suze shook her head.

"You weren't kidding when you said you need help. It looks like someone tore apart your room." Suze chuckled as she looked at the different articles of clothes around the room.

"I'm not sure which looks better yellow or green?" She held up a long yellow blouse with a black belt in one hand and a green summer dress with a white jacket in the other. Suze pretended to actually think about it, for Ceecee's sake, and then nodded.

"Yellow, I guess."

"You guess? What do you mean you guess?" She asked on the brink of hysterics. Suze couldn't hide her amusement any longer. She let out a laugh and Ceecee pouted. "It's not funny."

"Seriously it's not that big of a deal. Adam's going to be so drunk by the time we get there anyways. He won't care what you're wearing." This struck home and Ceecee nodded.

"Yellow it is."

They pulled into Debbie's long driveway and parked in the only visitor parking spot left. Ceecee fussed with the green dress and turned to Suze.

"Are you sure that I look ok?" Suze shrugged.

"Yea. It's ok." She bit back a laugh as she saw Ceecee start to panic. "Jeez Cee, you're such a girl." Ceecee rolled her eyes.

"FYI you are too. Unless you have to tell me something. That would explain why you're so in love with me!" Ceecee teased and Suze cringed.

"Sorry but I don't do girls." Suze made a gagging motion.

"You don't do anything." Ceecee laughed as they reached the front door and Suze decided not to argue. "Should we knock?" Ceecee asked all the sudden quiet.

"What do you think this is? A dinner party?" Suze asked and Ceecee chuckled.

"Imagine."

"Yea, Adam defiantly would not be invited." Suze laughed and Ceecee frowned.

"Yea well neither would you." Ceecee teased.

"Touché."

Ceecee opened the door and loud music fill their ears and the nauseating smell of too much perfume and sweat made Suze want to puke. They looked around and spotted many people from school. One boy in their bio class was standing on the glass coffee table. Suze shook her head and looked away. She was bored already.

"I'm gonna get a beer, want one?" Ceecee shouted over the music.

"No, I'm driving remember?" Ceecee smiled and nodded.

"Be right back." She said disappearing into the crowd. She looked around and spotted Jesse by the kitchen. Kelly was twirling around showing off her extremely skanky dress. Suze shook her head and headed outside for fresh air.

Outside was a lot better; less music and people, plus the air was cooler and clean. The only downside was that it seemed that everywhere she looked there were people making out. She groaned as she looked around at the hot tub, the pool and the garden which were filled with hormone driven, sex craved teens.

"So no boys allowed huh?" Mike said in her ear and caused her to jump. She smiled slightly at him and pretended to be suffering from the fright.

"Way to sneak up on a girl." She faked a laugh and sat on the closest vacant bench. He sat next to her, a little too close and she could smell scotch on his breath. She felt her stomach churn as he scooted closer to her.

"I never thought parties were you're scene." Mike said.

"I decided to widen my horizons." As the words left her mouth she felt her cheeks heat. She bit her tongue and hoped that Mike wouldn't take it in the "pervy" way. His next move showed that he had. He casually placed an arm around her shoulder and slid closer.

"You know, I really like you." He said.

"Yes I know, but-"he placed her finger to her lips and smiled.

"Shh…"The next move completely shocked her. He touched her face shocking her into a stilled silence. He then licked his lips, bent forward and kissed her. She stared at his closed eyes with horror. When his tongue slipped through her lips and met her tongue she broke from her frozen horror and jumped away from him. She stared down at his dazed face in pure shock. She couldn't speak. All she wanted to do was get away and rinse out her mouth. If she had stayed a moment longer she would've puked. She heard him call her name as she raced into the house but she didn't stop to talk, she just kept going. She spotted a garbage can filled with ice and beer and headed in that direction.

"Excuse me." She said shoving the person, who stood between her and the garbage can, out of the way. She grabbed a bottle hastily and popped the top off. She took a long swig and sighed when she had stopped.

"Jeez Buffy! Don't be so rough." Bryce Martinson said, with a smirk. Her eyes narrowed as she took in Bryce's pale faze and glossy blue eyes, his blonde hair was sticking to his heat with sweat. In the corner of her eye she saw Jesse standing beside him and realized he was the one that she had pushed. But she never looked at him, or offered an apology.

"Buffy was a vampire slayer, not a vampire moron." She corrected and to her surprise Jesse laughed.

"At least she was hot!" Bryce said with a triumphant smile. Suze resisted the urge to sucker punch him.

"Oh that's right! I forgot that my life's mission was to dress like a skank and pretend that you're smart just so you'll think I'm hot!" She snapped and walked away muttering under her breath.

She spotted Ceecee by the pool table. She was leaning against it and talking casually with a guy from chemistry while Adam stared at them with obvious jealousy and anger. When she looked away she spotted Michael right away and immediately panicked. She looked around and spotted a closed door, so she opened it and went inside.

She waited a second and then turned around. It was pitch black in the room but she could see the outline of objects in the middle of the room. She hesitated before she felt along the wall for the light switch and when she turned on the light she sighed. It was like a home movie theater. At the far wall there was a huge screen that covered majority of the wall, dark red curtains covered the windows and there were three rows of red armchairs in front of the screen. She looked around the room and spotted everything that would make the TV work.

20 agonizingly long minutes later she had the Strangers playing on the screen at a low volume. She turned off the lights and made herself comfortable in the second row of chairs.

2 hours later the movie ended and Suze yawned. She checked her phone and noticed that it was almost 12. She didn't feel like staying any longer and went searching for Ceecee. She started off in the more crowded spaces, but people were so drunk that it was hard to move let alone search for someone. So she climbed the stairs and looked out over the crowd. No red anywhere. She sighed and looked up the long stair case. Maybe Ceecee was…but should she go and look for her?

Suze debated the subject for a minute then decided her need to go home was more important than her friend having a drunk hook-up with some random. She climbed the stairs and watched a girl with short blonde hair lie down in the middle of the hallway and close her eyes. When she reached the landing a girl with straight brown hair and dark brown eyes bumped into her.

"Oh 'Scuse me. But have you seen my boyfriend?" She asked staggering as she spoke. Suze wanted to brush her off but there was something about defenseless drunk people that she had this strong urge to help.

"Um…what does he look like?"

"Well…" She laughed. "He's this tall, brown hair, beautiful blue eyes and he's got…he's got…"she waved her hands over her shirt trying to figure out what to say. Suze looked down the hall and spotted a guy leaning against the wall, who matched the girl's description. Plus he was wearing a dark blue shirt with white flowers on it, like something that you would wear to Hawaii.

"Does he have flowers on his shirt?" Suze asked and the girl smiled.

"Yes that's it! Flowers!" She laughed.

"Down there." Suze pointed to the guy and the girl gasped.

"There he is." The girl cried. "Tommy baby! Where were you?" The boy looked up and smiled. They embraced each other hungrily and Suze cringed as they pressed up against the wall. She looked around at the closed doors. She didn't want to disturb anyone, so instead of knocking she started calling out for Ceecee.

"Ceecee? Are you up here? Ceecee?" She called and got no response at first. But then when she called again she heard something from one of the closed doors. She moved towards it and opened it.

"Ceecee?" She asked. "Oh God!" She said at the sight of Kelly and Bryce pressed up against fresh towels thrusting against each other. Neither one noticed her so she closed the door over and headed back down the hallway. She felt nauseous and went into the bathroom, which luckily was open. She splashed cold water on her face and calmed herself down. Now she remembered why she hated parties. When she opened the door somebody hastily walked into her.

"Hey watch where you're going mor-oh sorry." She instantly apologized as she realized that it was Jesse that she had walked into. He stared down at her with a curious expression and she became aware of his warm hands on her arms. She looked down at them, to make sure she wasn't dreaming and he quickly let go of her. He looked at her daze and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Sorry." She said again stepping around him and heading downstairs.

"Hey wait!" She froze at the sound of his voice and turned slowly. He stood staring at her like she had three heads. She felt her anxiety increase, which only made her become more annoyed. To show her impatience she raised her eyebrows and he coughed.

"Uh have you seen Kelly anywhere?" He asked. Suze was confused and annoyed but she also felt a little bad for him as her eyes flicked to the closet door and she remembered what she saw.

"No, sorry." She said quickly and turned hurrying down the stairs without looking back. She spotted Ceecee on the way down. She was making out with Adam, in a dark corner. Trust Adam to make sure it's where no one can see them. She debated breaking up her friend, but she knew this would mean a lot to Ceecee and decided to leave her. She would text her later and see if she needed a lift, but for now she needed to get out of here.

Suze pulled into her driveway and turned off the car. She sat in silence and breathed deeply. She hated parties, which was why she avoided them. She kicked herself for letting Ceecee convince her to go. All she wanted to do was be a kid again, carefree and in bed by 10.

She sighed as she climbed out of the car. She looked up at the house and in the distance she spotted the outline of the old tree house. What better way to be a kid again then to revisit the place where she spent almost every minute as a child? She smiled as she headed towards the gate. Just a couple of minutes in there wouldn't hurt anybody.