Later that afternoon, I'm picking out my outfit for tomorrow when I hear the doorbell ring. I assume my dad will grab it, but it's clear he isn't when whoever's at the door knocks again a minute later. Letting out an annoyed huff, I part my curtains and look out front.

My dad's car is gone again.

This whole "not telling me when he's leaving thing" is getting a little ridiculous now. Where does he even have to go all the time?

I throw the jacket I'm holding on top of the bed and go downstairs. When I look through the peephole, I'm met with Ronan's smiling face.

Shit.

What if he saw me snooping around earlier, and he's come to confront me about it?

I take a deep breath and yank the door open. I look at him impassively, hoping not to give him any indication that I saw his friends do some freaky shit earlier.

"Hey, are you busy right now?" He asks.

"Why, what's up?" I inquire, eager for him to get to the point of his visit.

He tilts his head, and his eyebrows scrunch a tad, but the smile never leaves his face. "Well... I'm headed to a bonfire the senior class is having to kick off the school year, and I was going to ask if you wanted to come."

I raise my eyebrow. "It's a school night," I state the obvious. "And it's getting dark."

He shrugs. "And? What bonfire have you been to during the day?"

I decide against telling him I've never even been to a bonfire before and instead cross my arms over my chest as I lean against the door frame.

"And tomorrow all that our classes will consist of is syllabuses and dumb games to learn about our classmates," he continues.

He may have a point there, but I'm still not inclined to say yes. I'm not a social person—I know, shocker. I'd much rather spend my nights in my room with a book or in the living room watching Netflix.

I'm about to tell him no when my dad's SUV pulls into the driveway beside my Honda Civic. He exits the car and walks up the stairs to the porch, a paper bag of groceries tucked under his arm.

"Hey, Ronan! What's up?" He greets with a smiling face.

"Nothing much, Mr. Jackson, I was just asking Zorya if she wanted to go to a bonfire with me."

My eyes widen. Ronan thinks he's slick. I know exactly what he's doing. Unlike what the responsible parent would do, my dad will make me go because, even though there will most definitely be alcohol and other shameful activities, there will also be kids my age and socialization: two things in which my dad would love nothing more than to see me engage in, and Ronan knows this. I don't know how, but he does.

"A bonfire sounds fun, huh, Zorya?" Dad says, looking at me.

"It's a school night," I repeat the obvious once more because it's the only way I'll possibly get out of going.

He waves a hand in the air, dismissing my words. "It's the first day... nothing but syllabuses and ice-breaker games."

"That's exactly what I said!" Ronan gasps, turning to me.

Asshole.

"Well, then, there you go! Go. Have fun, Rya," Dad demands, turning to me. "Atlas and I will be fine without you for one night."

I want to punch Ronan in the face so bad. Dad and I butt heads a lot about numerous things, but I've learned not to argue with him past a certain extent: I lose every time.

"Fine," I give in. "Let me go change my clothes real quick."

Begrudgingly, I go up to my room while Ronan waits in the living room downstairs with my dad. I throw on some ripped skinny jeans, a cropped t-shirt, and vans. I grab the jacket I had thrown on my bed earlier in case I get cold and head back downstairs.

I grab my keys off of the table as I head for the door. Ronan opens his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. "I'm driving. I want to be able to leave on my own terms and not anyone else's." He holds up both his hands in surrender, and soon my Dad's waving goodbye from the doorway as we pull out of the driveway.

*****

I don't care.

I will argue and fight with my dad tooth and nail for the rest of my existence if it means I never have to go to another social gathering ever again.

Ronan made it seem like the bonfire would be a small, intimate gathering with a few friends. Some music, some drinking, some poor decisions... no. The entire senior class must be here, and by here, I mean the middle of nowhere.

Ronan directed me for about twenty minutes and the further we drove, the deeper into the reclusion of the woods we went. I had to keep asking him if he was sure he knew where we were going.

The entire car ride I was tempted to bring up what I had seen his friends do earlier, but every time I opened my mouth to say something about it, I decided against it.

Now, I'm standing here with a beer in my hand—a nasty one, I might add—as a huge fire rages in the middle of a large clearing. Kids all around me are drinking, smoking, and conversing.

Me? Not so much.

Ronan's done a great job of trying to make me feel included. He introduced me to his two girl friends I saw him with yesterday and earlier today, Amaya—the one who had done the freaky shit with the water—and Calida. Amaya is sweet as can be, but Calida might as well be one of the prickly bushes I almost fell into on the trek back here.

Despite Ronan's effort, I still feel like an outsider. Even as I stand here beside him in the circle his group of friends form, I feel like a foreign invader. Like I shouldn't be here amongst them.

In my effort not to focus on this feeling all night, I've been taking notice of how much Ronan has changed. All evening he's been witty and charismatic. Almost every other sentence out of his mouth has caused his friends to burst into laughter. I take note of how some of the girls can't take their eyes off of him or keep their smiles at bay.

It's right here, right now that I've got a real glimpse of the person my former best friend has become. There's no way he's not the "it" guy at school. And he's an athlete? Yep, he's definitely popular.

I will say, the thought kind of upsets me for some reason. Even though Ronan and I's friendship is already tattered because of time and distance, now that we've reunited, it will most likely remain tattered because of the distance between us on the social ladder. I'm sure he's caught on to how much of an outsider I've become, but I'm sure he won't want to have anything to do with me when he finds out just how much of a recluse I am.

This feeling of being the odd one out has become a little too overwhelming, and I'm about to tell Ronan I'm going to leave when a scream rings out from across the field. All conversation stops, and all of our heads whip in the direction of the outburst. The sight fills me with panic. The bonfire has breached its containment and is now branching out and spreading towards the trees lining the clearing.

I gasp, covering my mouth with my hand. If it reaches the trees it could—no, will—cause a wildfire. Thousands of animals and plant life will suffer from the stupidity of some teenagers trying to squeeze in one last hoorah before the start of the school year.

I'm frozen in place staring at the path of the flames, like I can somehow will them to stop in their tracks, when I feel a hand of my shoulder. I turn and meet Ronan's gaze. All around us, our soon-to-be peers are wizzing past us and out of the clearing as their screams pierce the air.

"We gotta go!" Ronans shouts over the chaos.

"We can't just leave! If the flames reach the trees, a wildfire will break out!" I exclaim.

"And what good can we do just standing here? We'll burn with the rest of the forest if we don't get out of here now. Let's go!" He grabs my hand and yanks me in the direction of where we parked. I look back as he drags me and see the flames have gotten even closer to the trees.

My heart is beating out of my chest. The feeling of helplessness is overwhelming and a few tears leave my eyes as the flames creep closer and closer to the forest. By now, everyone has vacated the clearing except Amaya and Calida who remain standing at the edge as Ronan pulls me past them.

"What are you guys doing?" I cry out.

Calida ignores me, and Amaya offers me a smile before they rush back into the clearing towards the raging flames. My stomach drops when I lose sight of them as Ronan drags me further away.

"Ronan! Your friends!" I shriek, trying to pull my arm from his grasp.

"They'll be okay, Zorya, but we need to get out of here."

"What do you mean 'they'll be all right?' They went back into the clearing with a raging, uncontainable fucking fire, Ronan!"

Ronan stops dead in his tracks, releases my arm, and looks at me. At this point, we're mere feet from the car.

"Zorya, they will be fine. I can't explain it, but you'll just have to trust me, please."

That shuts me up. I glance back at where we just came from and then back to Ronan. His eyes are pleading with me to drop it and get in the car, so I do just that.

The ride home is a quiet one as Ronan and I both remain speechless, neither of us willing to discuss the elephant in the room. The silence is only interrupted by my phone giving me directions to home.

When I pull in front of Ronan's house, I'm fully prepared for him to exit without a word. He catches me off guard when he peels my right hand off of the steering wheel and holds it in his. My breath catches as I meet his gaze.

"I'm sorry about tonight, Rya. If I knew what would happen, I wouldn't have invited you."

I sigh, contemplating my next words. "I won't hear anything about a wildfire in the news tomorrow, will I?"

He simply shakes his head.

I nod.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow. Try to enjoy the rest of your night." He gives my hand a squeeze before exiting the car and closing the door behind him.

Thanks, Ronan, but that's going to be pretty impossible.