The frat house was a couple blocks down from their campus but it wasn't hard to find due to loud music blasting through the roof and a few groups of people outside of the house some were passed out drunk while others were doing some type of form of drugs and others had some type of alcoholic beverage in their hands. Candace walked in with Vanessa and Stacy the smell of alcohol and drugs along with the smell of sex hit her like a truck. She felt out of place noticing some were grinding on each other while others were making out.

"Candace welcome to your first official college frat party!" Vanessa said, snapping her out of her thoughts and threw her arm around her shoulders.

She huffed "Um.. yeah this place is insane"

Vanessa shrugged "eh I know but don't worry you'll get used to it just remember to have fun and speaking of fun let's go get some drinks." Vanessa said, leading her to the kitchen where the drinks were along with Stacy.

"Um...I think I'll just stick with water but you guys go ahead and knock yourselves out" Candace said nervously.

They both scoffed looking at each other and back at her. "Yeah no that's not happening, this is your first college party and I want you to have the full experience so here take this drink" Vanessa said, handing her a red cup with some sort of unknown beverage inside of it.

Candace eyed the drink suspiciously and Stacy rolled her eyes. "Come on, drink it, don't be such a goody, don't worry you'll be fine as long as we stick together."

She sighed and held her drink up "cheers" she said gulping the drink down. After she chugged her first drink she cleared her throat "Wow that is really bitter"

"Yeah well that's alcohol for you anyways let's hit the dance floor" Vanessa said walking off into the living room with Stacy.

She sighed following them into the dance floor joining. It hadn't even been 5 minutes when a random frat guy who was wearing a fraternity shirt and had black curly hair with green eyes and caramel skin walked up to Candace with some drinks in his hands.

"Hello" he said in a seductive tone.

"Um.. hi" "I'm just passing along these drinks to attractive women such as yourself" he said, handing a red cup to her.

Candace looked at him and the drink suspiciously.

"Don't worry babe I didn't put any drugs in it" he said smirking and she rolled her eyes but chugged it down anyways. "But I'm not the one who made it" the random guy said under his breath as he walked away from her.

It had been one hour into the party and Candace was now feeling the effects of the drinks she had taken and was beginning to feel lightheaded. She took in her surroundings and she felt like the room was spinning in circles. Just then a guy walked up to them who had black hair with pink highlights and his clothes were all black Candace could tell he was gothic.

"Hey you wanna dance with me?" He asked Vanessa who turned around and her face immediately led up.

"Oh hey Johnny yea I would love to Um girls I'll catch up with you guys later." She said taking off with him.

"We'll I guess it's just us now" she said to Stacy who nodded and they continued dancing for another 15 minutes before another random guy walked up to them this time he had brown curly hair and dark brown skin.

"Hey Stacy"

"Hey Coltrane this is my new friend Candace Candace this is my good friend Coltrane"

She smiled "hi it's nice to meet you"

"you too so Stacy do you wanna go dance with me?" He asked, causing her to blush."

"Sure Candace you'll be okay right?"

"Yeah don't worry I'll be fine" she smiled and took off with him. She continued dancing, moving her hands to tangle in her hair as she swayed to the beat of the music. She had never drank before but she liked this feeling. She gasped and moved away from the man who had just put his hands on her waist.

"What are you doing?" She questioned.

"Nothing, I just saw a pretty little thing like you dancing all by herself and thought I'd join." He said.

"Um, I'm not alone." she said

"Oh okay we'll, how about you come back to my room with me?" He asked and she could tell he was clearly out of it.

"Um.. no thanks I'm not interested" she said nervously.

"Aw that's too bad I was really hoping to show you a good time" he said getting closer to her when she suddenly heard someone clear their throat and they both turned around and she noticed it was that guy Jeremy from her class and club.

"Hey man she told you she's not interested back off" he said firmly and he scoffed walking away from her.

"Hi," she said smiling "hey are you okay?" He asked, standing next to her

"Yeah I am thanks for helping me out"

"Of course so who did you come with?" He asked her trying to figure out if she came with a boyfriend or something.

"I came with two of my girlfriends and now that I think about it I actually don't know where they went."

"Okay cool, is this your first time at a frat party?"

"Yeah" she said slightly embarrassed "what about you?" She asked.

"Nah I usually come to most of them anyways do you want to maybe hang out for a while?"

"Sure" she smiled, beginning to follow him away from where people were dancing. Her legs felt weak thanks to the alcohol and she tripped over her own feet and was about to land on her face but he caught her in his arms.

"You okay?" He asked just now, noticing how intoxicated she was.

"Yeah.. um thanks for catching me" she slurred staring into his piercing blue eyes and she began laughing a little bit.

"Yeah, no problem," he said, laughing along with her. "Um maybe you should hold onto my arm." she nodded and linked her hand around his arm and allowed him to lead her towards the corner of the house. She began silently laughing at the feeling of her phone's vibration against her chest. She sighed and took it out and noticed it was Jason calling her.

"Shoot" she slurred underneath her breath and stuck it back inside her bra. where she accidentally answered the call without realizing it.

"Hey babe! Candace? Hello?" Jason said as he began to listen intently to the noises in the background.

"You know you look really hot in that dress" Jeremy said to candace causing her to blush

"Um thanks so do you well in your clothes not the dress obviously" she slurred laughing nervously. He chuckled, staring at her and she smiled before turning and grabbing another drink.

"Is this your first time drinking? Because your already really wasted I don't think you need another one" he said taking the drink out of her hands she scoffed and was ready to tell him off but she kept quiet and stared at his deep ocean blue eyes.

"I never noticed how blue your eyes are there, very beautiful," she said and Jason scoffed while hanging up the phone he couldn't believe his ears she was at a college party drunk and was flirting with some random guy.

Meanwhile Jeremy smirked and leaned in to whisper in her ear "thank you beautiful" causing Candace to giggle and then she suddenly remembered she has a boyfriend who she's been with since her freshman year of high school and her eyes widen realizing she was flirting back with him and a rush of guilt ran through her body.

"Um.. thanks but there's something you should know." She said

"What? You think I'm handsome?" He said noticing her cheeks turning red.

"Uh.. well.. yes but that's not what I wanted to tell you" she said

"You know I'm finding it really hard to breathe right now are you?" He asked, smirking

"Um no, are you okay?" She asked concerned

"yes it's just you keep taking my breath away" he said smirking and she blushed while rolling her eyes.

"Oh you're good," she said laughing.

"You like that? You know if being sexy was a crime you'd be guilty as charged!" He said, making her giggle again.

"Wow you're so corny" she said just then Vanessa and Stacy walked up to her.

"Candace there you are we were looking for you everywhere" Vanessa said relieved

"Oh yeah don't worry I had Jeremy to keep me company he's in one of my classes and club"

"Oh okay cool we'll it's getting pretty late do you want to head back to the dorm?" She asked.

"Sure" Candace said, turning to look at Jeremy again. "Thank you for keeping me company. I'll see you later." She said and he nodded

"yeah I'll see you later take care" he said and she walked away while holding onto Vanessa's arm so she wouldn't hit the floor since she was still feeling dizzy.

...

It was 10:15 in the morning the next day and Candace woke up with a huge headache. Her head felt like it was going to explode from all the pounding. She groaned as she noticed the time on her phone.

"Hey sleepyhead, how are you feeling?" Vanessa asked from her side of the bed.

She sighed sitting up "I feel like shit" she said rubbing her eyes.

"Here take these aspirin pills and this water. Trust me it will help you with your hangover." Vanessa said, handing her the pills and water bottle.

"Thanks"

"So do you have any memory of last night?" She asked Candace.

"Uh yes!" She huffed in frustration "I'm a horrible girlfriend" she said pouting.

"What makes you say that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Candace sighed and began telling her about last night and their flirtatious conversation.

Afterwards Vanessa bursted out laughing while shaking her head "Uh Candace seriously?" She said, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"You didn't cheat on him, you're fine besides it's not like you kissed him or anything"

"I know but I still flirted back. I mean what am I going to do when I see him again." She grabbed her phone from her nightstand and realized she had 5 missed calls from her boyfriend. She groaned, running her hands through her hair.

"Okay calm down it's not a big deal, listen, you can just blame it on the alcohol and say you weren't thinking straight and tell him you have a boyfriend or something." Vanessa said

Candace took in a deep breath "your right i'm just making it a bigger deal then it is..I'm going to go take a shower" she said, getting up from her bed.

...

Later that day after Candace got dressed and drank a lot of water to soothe her slight headache she had tried calling Jason but his phone would go straight to voicemail. She was in class early when Jeremy walked in a few minutes later and took his seat next to her.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Well other than a throbbing headache I'm doing alright" she responded.

"Well I'll say. You were pretty wasted last night"

"Yeah...about last night there was something I wanted to tell you-"

Mr. Hayes entered the classroom at this moment. "Good afternoon class, I hope you guys read the material because today we're having a pop quiz." The class groaned and Candace cursed under her breath. Guess she'd have to tell him laterâ

Candace flew through the pop quiz easily. She finished a bit early and watched as some of the other students blankly stared at the price of paper or glared at it as if the answers would just appear if they stared hard enough.

"Alright times up" Mr. Hayes said after a few more minutes. He and his teacher assistant collected the papers and placed them on the front desk.

"Easy?" Jeremy asked.

"Piece of cake," Candace said cockily.

The rest of class went by smoothly. Mr. Hayes gave a group assignment of 2 or 3 people per group. The assignment was to find an issue on or around campus and do a moc PSA (public service announcement) either in video news form or article form. Jeremy looked at Candace who looked back knowing what he was gonna say and nodded.

"Sure, we can be partners"

"Actually, I was just gonna say you have a piece of lint in your hair" he said and reached up to touch her hair and take it out lightly. His hand grazed her neck and a pleasant shiver went down Candace's spine and she tried to not to blush.

"But yeah I'll be your partner," he said, smirking at her facial expression.

"Um o-okay" was all she could say. She cleared her throat and looked away from his piercing blue eyes and tried to focus on something elseâlike her notebook. Good ole notebook.

"So tomorrow then?"

"Huh?" She said, confused.

"Do you wanna start looking for a scoop tomorrow? Say maybe 11:30? We could get lunch too if you want."

Candace nodded. "Um yeah sounds good"

Candace left the class as swiftly as possible. She went straight to the bathroom and took a deep breath. "Jason. You love Jason" she whispered to herself in the mirror. "Jason is amazing, he's your soulmate so snap out of it!" She splashed some water on her face and dried it with a paper towel before gathering herself and exiting the restroom.

She went to the library for a few hours to study and went to get dinner before heading back to her room around 7. Vanessa didn't seem to be back yet. She showered and watched some funny YouTube videos on her laptop along with a big bag of cheesy popcorn when she heard a knock on her door. She stared at the door before getting up to answer.

She opened the door and gasped.

"Jason?!"