Page 7

NYLAH

I lie on my bed, propped against a mound of pillows, staring at my phone screen. I texted my best friend, Hayley, over ten minutes ago, and she still hasn’t replied. I tried to call her earlier today. I have so many things I want to tell her… but she was in the middle of a study session.

She’s always been intense when it comes to studying. I didn’t mind it so much in high school, because we’d study together. Work hard, play hard. That’s the way we lived.

When Dad got the job at Nolan University, just before my senior year of high school, I literally dropped to my knees and begged him to let me stay in Kelsey so I didn’t have to leave my boyfriend and bestie.

My parents relented, and I moved in with Hayley. It was the best year ever.

We had so much fun playing sisters.

We shared a room, so it was nightly sleepovers.

She’d cover for me when I snuck out to spend time with Nick. I’d cover for her when she was drunk or hungover.

Life was perfect.

I mean, sure, I missed my siblings. But Mom called every single day to check on me, so I was getting updates on the regular.

I had to fly to Nolan three times that year.

After everything that went down with the Kelsey U team, Dad didn’t want to return, so I had to go to them.

We did holidays together, but school time…

that was for me, Hayley, Nick, and all my other friends.

Yeah, it really was perfect.

Until I flipped Nick’s car and everything turned to shit…

The party was still in full swing when I noticed the time.

Shit. My curfew was creeping up fast, and as much as I wanted to ignore it, I couldn’t disrespect Hayley’s parents that way. If my bestie had been with me, she would have been tugging on my sleeve, telling me we had to get going. Even drunk, she could be responsible.

But Hayley wasn’t at the party.

She’d gotten sick that morning. I told her I’d bail and we could watch rom-coms together—actually, I was trying to talk her into a Star Wars marathon, the original three—but she felt so nauseous, she didn’t want me anywhere near her.

Which meant all that awaited me when I left the party was an uncomfortable sofa bed in the den. Ugh. I wanted to stay at the party!

I was having fun, dancing and singing with Nick and our friends.

His hand crept around my waist, pulling me close, his beer-stained lips nibbling my neck—sucking, teasing, turning my insides to liquid fire.

Spinning to face him, I draped my arms over his shoulders and kissed him deeply.

He responded with his standard “Mmmm,” walking us backward until I was pinned against the wall.

He rested his hand near my head; I think he needed the wall for balance.

He tasted like alcohol and was swaying like he was about to topple over.

I giggled against his lips. “You are so wasted.”

“Yeah, baby.” His mouth covered mine and I sank into the kiss, loving the feel of his warm tongue and wandering hands.

I couldn’t leave now, could I?

The phone in my back pocket started buzzing and I groaned. I should have ignored it, but the good girl inside of me couldn’t do that.

Nudging Nick away, I pulled my phone out, then giggled as he came right back, sucking my neck and nibbling his way up to my ear.

“Hello!” I shouted. It was pretty damn hard to hear my caller with the music thumping, but I recognized Hayley’s mom immediately.

“Uh… Nylah?”

“Yes! Hi, Susan. Hi.” Pushing Nick off me, I ducked under his arm and ran outside. It was mildly quieter on the back lawn, although it had started to rain, so I leaned as close to the house as I could, trying to keep dry. “What’s up?”

“I was just looking at the time and wanted to make sure you were heading home soon. I know you’ve finished all your exams and this party is about celebrating that, but it still doesn’t change the fact that your parents are really strict on the curfew thing, and they’ll be calling me to check in soon.

They know you’re at a party, and they won’t like it if I let you flout the rules, you know? ”

I rolled my eyes, tipping my head back against the house. “Yeah. I know. It’s such a pain in the ass.”

Susan laughed. “They only do it because they love you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I sighed and crossed my arms. The rain was picking up, and despite the fact that it was late May already, there was a cool nip in the air.

“They’ll be here next week for your graduation ceremony, and I don’t want there to be any tension because I let their baby girl party too hard.”

I laughed and nodded. “I understand. I’ll go and get Nick, and we’ll hit the road real soon.”

“Okay. Thanks, sweetie. According to the kitchen clock, you’ve got thirty-two minutes to walk through the door.”

“Yep.” I nodded, then hung up with a huff.

I didn’t want to leave, and it was obvious Nick was still in party mode. The fact that he burst outside singing my name at the top of his lungs kind of gave it away.

“Where’s my angel?” He gave me a dopey grin, standing in the rain with his arms stretched wide and swaying on his feet.

I giggled and walked into his embrace, squeezing my eyes shut against the cold droplets. “Let’s go inside.”

“Kiss me in the rain, baby.” His mouth landed on mine before I could even respond, and we made out under those cold droplets until a crack of lightning pulled us apart. Thunder rumbled right behind it, and I tugged Nick inside.

“We have to go!” I shouted in his ear.

“What?” He frowned down at me. “But we’re partying.”

“I know, but I’ve got a curfew, and I need to leave now or I’ll get in really big trouble. It takes me like twenty-five minutes to drive home, and I can’t be late.”

“But I can’t drive.” His words slurred together. “I’m too wasted.”

“I’ll drive.” I held out my hands, and he dug the keys from his pocket.

He gave me a reluctant pout. “Bastian said we can stay. Let’s just crash here, baby.

Please. We can wake up together.” His dopey smile got wide and sloppy.

“We can do stuff.” Trailing his fingers down my body, he drew a circle around my right breast before flattening his hand across my waist and then down to squeeze my butt.

I laughed against him. “You’re probably too drunk to get it up anyway.”

“I won’t be in the morning. You can be my hangover cure. Please, baby. Stay with me.”

“I really want to, but my parents will never be okay with it, and I can’t put Hayley’s mom in that position. I’ve got to go.” I checked my phone screen. “Shit. I’m gonna be late.”

“That’s okay.” He pulled me close and whispered against my ear. “No one’s gonna die if you’re a few minutes late.”

I sighed, giving in to his addictive kisses. Even drunk, his tongue still knew how to melt me. Gripping his shirt, I pressed myself against him, and we made out until someone bumped him from behind. Cold beer splashed across his shirt and against my cheek.

With a shocked laugh, I wiped it off my face and made the mistake of noticing the clock on the wall.

“Shit! We have to go. Nick. I’m gonna get in trouble. Come on!”

Nick frowned at me. “You go. I’m gonna stay.”

“Really?” My insides shriveled.

“I’m gonna crash here. But I’ll come see you tomorrow, ’kay? Come pick me up in the morning.”

I frowned but couldn’t blame him. If my parents weren’t so annoyingly strict, I would have been staying too.

Lurching forward, I planted one more searing kiss on his mouth before forcing my body out that door. Everyone was disappointed I was going, and thanks to multiple goodbyes and explanations, it took me ages to reach Nick’s car.

By the time I started the engine, I had exactly seven minutes to make a twenty-five-minute drive. There was no way I was going to make it, but I rushed anyway.

The rain pounded the roof, lightning illuminating the sky while thunder rolled right behind it. I gripped the wheel and sped down the hillside, my insides jittering. I hated being late. And I didn’t want Hayley’s mom to get in trouble with my parents.

Grabbing my phone, I went to call her, but it slipped through my wet fingers and landed in the footwell of the car. I reached down, trying to find it while keeping my eyes on the road.

And then I don’t know what happened, but I hit the next corner, and Nick’s car didn’t do what I wanted it to…

I can’t remember exactly what happened after that. Sometimes when I sleep, I have these dreams of flying, like my body is weightless for a second, and then I’m crashing and tumbling. Spinning around like my body’s been thrown into a tumble dryer. I always wake up before that final crunch.

I remember the crunch.

Not when it happened, but when I came to, I remember the scrunched-up metal.

It was dark, but lightning kept flashing, giving me brief moments of clarity.

It didn’t take long to figure out I was completely trapped.

My leg was pinned; I couldn’t move an inch.

The car was down some kind of embankment.

I wasn’t upside down, but I was at this weird angle, my body starting to ache and burn as the rain pounded down on the roof and windshield.

It was machine-gun fire—hard and relentless, made a thousand times worse by the booming thunder and cracking lightning.

I don’t know when I started screaming, but I cried and called out until I lost my voice. I wept and whimpered until I eventually drifted away into blackness.

I thought I’d died.

But then I woke up in the hospital and?—

My dorm room door pops open, jolting me out of my memories. Thank God!

My muscles were already starting to coil, my heart racing as I tried not to go there again. I hate remembering, but sometimes the nightmare hits hard, and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.