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Then I did my hair and face and aimed for the natural zone where Sarah lived, landing somewhere south of it, in ‘I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing here so I give up’-land. After that I sat on the couch, nervously playing with Allie’s hair.

Liam would text me any minute now, wouldn’t he? I mean, of course he would. He hadn’t forgotten about me again, had he? I could just drive over to his place, I remembered the directions from the other night—besides, if I did that, I might be better off, I could get closer parking—like that’s what was important tonight, rational parking.

Just when I’d written him off, I saw-felt his text come through.

Party’s on!

I stared at the phone for a long moment. Was I really doing this? Oh God.

C U soon!

Flashed across the screen, far more positive than I felt, but before I could change it I pushed send.

CHAPTER 29

Ishould have maybe worried harder about the parking thing—I wound up parking like three blocks away, although if I’d been blind I still could’ve echolocated the party, the music was already up.

Would all of the baseball team be there? Where else would Danny be? I pocketed my ID, keys, and phone, and walked up.

Two seniors I didn’t recognize were holding fort at the door.

“Who’re you?” one of them asked as I approached.

“A friend of Liam’s.”

“Sure,” he said, like he didn’t believe me, looking me up and down. I was cute, but not cute enough, this early in the night. And maybe after Lacey there was a general crack down on sophomores, no matter that Liam was one.

This twist hadn’t occurred to me, to get so close only to be denied, and I was fumbling to pull my phone out for proof when Liam arrived on the door’s other side.

“She’s with me,” he said, leaning forward to pull me through. Both of them grunted and went on staring at the lawn. “Sorry—can’t be too careful these days,” he said. “Too many people are too close to graduating, you know? Can’t blow any scholarships.”

“Of course,” I agreed, like the team getting off successfully to college was all that mattered.

His house, which’d seemed so empty when I’d last been there, was now filling—there were clusters of people over every surface, shouting into one another’s ears louder than the music. I kept following Liam and realized we were in his kitchen.

“Want something to drink?” he said and started pumping a keg.

“Yeah.” Without a cup in my hand, I’d stick out like a sore thumb. “Where are your parents?”

“What, you want to say hi to my mom?” he said as he handed me my beer. “They know better than that—they’re off at a casino for the weekend. Plenty of time to party hard then clean it all up tomorrow.”

“With a hangover?”

“Price of popularity, gladly paid.” He took a long swig of his own beer and I pretended to follow suit. “Good. Come on, Jessie—you’re going to have a good time here. I just know it.”

And then I heard my name shouted at high volume. “Jessica!” and Sarah flew into the room to hug me.

Half my beer wound up on the floor as I fought her off. She clung to me, spinning a little. “You’re here! You’re finally here!”

“Sarah, Liam, Liam, Sarah,” I said by way of introduction.

“See? You’re already having fun.” He gave me a grin and then a teammate wanted a beer and Sarah was dragging me away alone.

“Didn’t I teach you to put on make-up better than that?” she said, looking at me solemnly in the hallway to the living room.

“Yes, probably.” I was glad to see her, even if I could almost taste the alcohol on her breath. “How long have you been drinking?”

“Everyone smuggles in vodka to add to their sodas at the game. Come on, let me show you around,” she said, lunging forward like she owned the place.