“Sal, this is Alex,” Beth introduced us. Sal was short for Sallaway. He owned a tattoo parlor and had known Beth for two years.

The two whispered to each other over the next hour while I sat beside them and drank my beer. When my cup would get empty, I’d go and fill it up again. Beth did the same, taking mine with her a few times until some of Sal’s friends showed up. They brought two coolers into the room, sat them beside the beanbags, and opened them to show an impressive display of hard alcohol. Bourbon. Rum. Whiskey. Bacardi. As the two couples continued to be the room’s entertainment, a bottle of Wild Turkey was opened and passed around.

Beth took a drag and handed it over.

The stuff smelled foul and I was full from too much beer so I passed it.

“Hey, you need to drink.” Sal grabbed the bottle from the guy next to me. He gave it to me. “It’s a bonding thing.”

I stared him down.

Beth had frozen on his lap. His hand was tucked on the inside of her pocket, but her eyes were glued to me.

I glanced at her in questioning. Was he serious? Then I shook my head. What did I care? Coolly, I handed the bottle away and said, “I don’t have to do a goddamn thing.”

His eyes narrowed. Despite the music still blaring, the room fell silent. Sal must’ve been a big deal with these people.

Lifting my chin, I still didn’t care.

Beth whispered something in his ear as her hand started rubbing up and down over his chest, through a rip in his shirt. After a moment, he broke out in a grin and relaxed back into the couch. “Yeah, whatever. Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

The guy next to me took his swig of the alcohol and continued passing it on. Everyone went back to what they’d been doing. The couple progressed to complete nudity.

When Sal didn’t pay me any attention, I went back to my beer.

It wasn’t long until I’d gone from being buzzed to being wasted so it took me a while to register that Beth was pulling on my hand. She was saying something to me, but the beer had given me tunnel vision and tunnel hearing. It mixed with all the other noises in the house. She kept yanking at my hand and her face was masked in concern.

I rolled my head over. Sal wasn’t paying any attention to her now. He was chatting with another girl, with his hand inside her front pocket.

Was that why she was upset?

I started to point at him, but my arm was so heavy.

Beth kept tugging on my other one and I fell off the couch. Stumbling to my feet, I shook my head. Everything spun around me. Had the couches turned upside down? Ugh, no. That was me. She kept tugging at me and I tried to follow, but all the people kept getting in my way. Bumping into someone, I turned to apologize, but Beth grabbed my pants and literally dragged me behind her. She was going at a breakneck speed. I wanted to tell her I was sorry about Sal, but she was better off. He didn’t seem like a good guy. I never got a chance. When I’d open my mouth, she’d yank me through another group of people. The words kept getting swallowed as I tried not to hit anymore people.

And then she pulled me through a doorway. The house had been overheated, but a rush of cool air blasted me. Being sweat-soaked, I began shivering and wrapped my arms around myself. It was f**king cold. I could hear a chattering and looked around for the sound, and then I realized it was me. My teeth were chattering against each other.

“Hannah!” Beth yelled next to me.

I clamped my hands over my ears and fell down. She was so damn loud. Glaring at her, she didn’t seem to care. She rushed forward and I swung my head to follow her direction. From the ground, I watched as she ran to a group at the end of the driveway. There was a girl with white hair, grappling with another girl with blonde hair. That hair was familiar. I frowned, scrunching my eyes together and saw it was Hannah. Ah, Hannah! She must’ve been done with the party owner. Good for her.

Beth reached over and grabbed the white hair, then yanked the girl backwards. She began dragging her away from Hannah, who was on the ground. Why was she on the ground? Oh, I saw the blood next.

“Hannah,” I croaked and began to go to her. When I pushed back to my feet, everything spun around me again. I took a step forward, but my body went to the right. Crashing into a chair and people, I tried to apologize again. Nothing came out. I could only mumble words. Even in my drunken state, I knew I was a mess.

I tried to say I was sorry for that too, but someone caught my elbow and spun me around.

Oh, the world.

I felt vomit rising up in my throat.

Hannah. Hannah had been beaten up. I needed to help.

Muttering a thank you to whoever had stopped me from falling, my foot stepped forward, wavering. I waited until I regained my balance and took another step, then another step. I kept going until I reached Hannah’s side and knelt down. She was wiping blood and tears from her face.

Oh, her poor hair. A big chunk had been pulled out. Her eyes lit with anger. She put the hair in my hands and darted off.

“Alex?”

I turned, hearing a familiar voice, and squinted at Marissa.

No. Not Marissa. She couldn’t be here.

But she was. She took my arm and lifted me to my feet. Then she wrapped an arm around my waist, asking, “What are you doing here?”

I gave her the hair. “That’s Hannah’s.”

“Oh.” She looked at it with disgust. “But Alex, what are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Sarah and I drove down. Cord said he was having a party and we came here to pick up Sarah’s cousin.”