Zeya had convinced herself that only a few kids, one's who had nothing better to do, would show up. Well, apparently every kid in town had nothing better to do.

The first hour of the party confirmed this for her for that's when everyone showed up. Her house was packed tightly with people.

And where was Zeya?

Whelp, she was hiding in the bathtub. No, she wasn't lying among the bubbles and candles trying to block out the party below. She was just sitting in an empty tub and had been for nearly an hour and a half.

Zeya wasn't a party person.

The idea of acting like a drunken idiot in front of the entire school didn't sound appeasing to her whatsoever. To make matters worse, as soon as Ryker and Jonas had shown up with the alcohol Sadie had ditched her.

And that's how Zeya had ended up in the tub.

She considered going downstairs and just standing somewhere, waiting to either be approached by someone or asked to move out of their way. But the courage to actually exit the bathroom never came. She had been tempted a few times to call the police and grumble about the noise but that'd just get her in deep water with her mother.

So, in the end, she didn't-

"Come on!" Someone pounded their fist against the door, slashing Zeya from her thoughts; she jumped. "You've been in there for an hour. I've got to take a piss!" Her cheeks were hot and she wished there was a window or some sort of back door she could hop out of so she wouldn't have to face him.

Zeya hoped that staying silent would convince him to leave but, when the guy on the other side muttered a few swears, she decided she had no choice but to go.

Besides, she quite literally couldn't hide in the bath tub for the rest of the night.

Zeya bounded from the tub and opened the door, making eye contact with their high school's resident stoner. He bounced around on his feet like a child doing their 'pee dance'.

"Finally!" He roared, shoving past Zeya. He rushed for the toilet, kicking the door closed behind him; Zeya was thankful the moment was over.

But, of course, her humiliation wasn't.

Some giggling sounded to her left and, when she glanced in its direction, she discovered two girls waiting. She had been hiding in there for so long that a line had formed.

"Your stomach doing okay?" Taylor Whittaker chuckled. Her little minion cackled along and Zeya did the only thing she could think to do: she sprinted down the stairs.

She tiptoed around a couple making out on the staircase and hurried into the kitchen. The music blasting from the stereo felt like a knife to her ears and she didn't even want to know who was doing what nasty deed on her couch.

Something crunched under her feet as she rounded the counter and that's when she noticed her mother's favorite vase was sitting in shards on the tile.

"Dammit," Zeya murmured, kneeling down. She held the shambles in her palms, assessing the damage. There was no way her mother would forget about this one.

Her father had gotten it for her.

Zeya wished she hadn't left her cellphone in the upstairs bathroom because she was prepared to phone the police, shut it down, and accept her attempt at a social life as an utter failure.

"Hey!" Someone hiccupped from behind her. Zeya peered over shoulder at Sadie, whose arm was thrown around Ryker's shoulder. "What'd youuuuu break?"

"Would you please help me?" Zeya questioned with a frown, rising to her feet. "Can you get everyone out of here? They're breaking all our stuff and she'll- "

"UHHHH," Sadie let out the most spoiled-brat whine anyone human being had ever heard. "Told you she'd do this," Sadie stamped, throwing her arm off of Ryker (whom was too busy guzzling down the contents of his drink to pay the situation any attention). "She always does."

Sadie stumbled onward and pointed her finger right in Zeya's face. Her breath was atrocious and Zeya had to take a step back to escape its putridness.

"I paid forward it, okaaaay." Zeya raised a brow at her inability to form a functional sentence. She also held back a laugh at how Sadie strained out her 'okay'. "Tis is my party! You-you can just get out cause losers like you weren't even invited anyway!"

Zeya knew it was foolish to be offended by Sadie's drunk rant. Not only did she sound like she was under the age of seven but if every kid in their town was there obviously there wasn't a no loser's policy.

Nonetheless, the fact that her so called "best friend" had loudly declared her a loser in her own home stung.

Sadie snickered, her laugh reverberating through the party as there was a break in-between songs. So her insult might not have been a public spectacle but her sardonic laugh was and that was just as embarrassing.

Zeya bumped shoulders with Sadie as she passed her, knocking the lightweight onto her butt. She was trying to put as much distance between them. She wasn't a huge fan of drunk Sadie.

She advanced and crossed through the back door, her mind preoccupied. The second her foot met the patio ground she banged into something.

Well, more like someone.

The two knocked heads, the blow sending Zeya onto her back. She held her throbbing head in her hands and hissed.

"Dammit!" Someone growled.

"I am so so sorry!" Zeya apologized as soon as her brain comprehended that she had hit a person and not a wall. She rushed to sit up, locking eyes with none other than Christian Johns.

"It's fine," he shook his head with a minor grin. "Probably my fault, I tend not to pay enough attention to just about anything." Zeya chuckled along but only out of pure anxiety.

Christian, who had been hovering over her, extended a hand. Zeya accepted it, though her palms were awkwardly clammy, and he tugged her to her feet. "It's Zeya, right?"

Her heart lurched.

"Yeah," she bobbed her head with a giant child-like smile.

"Nice party. Probably the best one this town has ever seen."

"Thanks." Zeya was at a loss for words. She'd dreamed about conversations with him and now she was actually having one. She was quite literally lost in his crystal-blue eyes.

"I was actually going in to get a drink, want one?" Christian wondered, gesturing towards the kitchen.

"I'd love one, thanks." Why had she accepted a drink? She honestly would rather vomit than choke back any alcohol.

"I'll be right back." Christian disappeared inside and Zeya allowed her guard to fall.

She inhaled deeply, mouthing "oh my god" as if to reassure that he'd

a. known her name and

b. wanted to talk to her.

She scrutinized her reflection in the back door. She scanned her teeth for leftovers and fixed her hair in preparation for his return.

"Here," he announced and handed her a cup. Zeya twirled around on her heels, spiraling to face him.

"Thank you," she beamed, accepting it.

Zeya shifted the weight on her feet and Christen started to guzzle down his drink, neither knowing what to say. She'd imagined this exact moment in her head for so long but now that it was really happening she couldn't think of anything to say.

"Parents out of town?" Christian broke the stillness, starting to gradually walk away. Zeya took it as a sign that he was sick of standing still and followed, the pair wandering around the backyard. The backyard was occupied but, thankfully, not as full as the house was.

It was much more intimate.

"My mom is yeah," Zeya nodded.

"And your dad? Business trip?" Christian questioned.

"No he uh . . ." Zeya struggled to find the correct way to explain their situation. "He's not around." Going into detail about just how her father had disappeared off the face of the planet and was presumed dead by pretty much everyone wasn't exactly a turn on.

And it always made her unbelievably sad.

"Wow I'm such a jerk," he scoffed. "I'm really sorry."

"No, you're fine," Zeya faked a smile. "How is class going?" She rushed to change the subject.

"I'm not taking any this semester." He watched her to judge her reaction. "I wasn't really enjoying myself at St. Joes so I decided to come back home and," he broke off, stopping their walk to stare into his cup. "figure stuff out I guess."

"You just have to find your place, that's all." Zeya felt more like a mother giving advice than anything. Yet, she wasn't sure what else to say. After all, one of her biggest fears of the future was never finding her place; never fitting in.

"Yeah exactly," he lifted the corner of his lip in an effort to smile. "Looked into any schools yet?"

"Kind of . . ." Her mother had given her a list of schools to look into but so far thinking about moving on was terrifying.

"As in you have absolutely no idea?" He speculated, finishing off his drink.

"Yeah." The duo shared a much needed laugh which was cut off by someone's loud and drunken singing. They both looked towards the source of the sound to discover that the wretched voice belonged to Sadie.

She was standing amongst a group of mildly intoxicated guys, dancing around like a child.

"I guess some people can't handle their alcohol," Christian joked and Zeya cracked up. "Sorry, I know you guys are friends."

"Can't ignore the truth," Zeya teased. They continued to observe Sadie as she twirled on her heels so hastily she ended up emptying the contents of her stomach all over Ryker's shoes.

"Wow, that's just so hot," Christian snorted at his comment. Ryker freaked out, kicking her leftovers off of his shoes. Sadie stammered thru an apology but Ryker was so infuriated that he stormed from the backyard and around to the front of the house.

Sadie hustled after him, tripping every couple steps and swaying in-between.

"I'm really glad you threw this party," he admitted. "Because that was the funniest thing I've seen in my entire life." Zeya doubled over she laughed so hard at his remark. ". . . Besides, I'm . . . I'm really glad I got to see you."

Her laughter ceased instantaneously and she was tempted to look around and make sure she wasn't being pranked. The most shocking thing so far had been that Christian knew her name.

Zeya was beaming, she couldn't tone down her overbearing smile. She was blushing hard; Zeya could just feel the heat in her cheeks. Christian surveyed their surroundings before he tossed his cup into the grass. He reached out, interlocking their fingers.

"Come here." He pulled her, causing Zeya to drop her drink. She would have been worried but first, this was her house, and second she had to see where they were going.

Christian guided Zeya to the edge of the woods, walking them to the start of the trail. Their town was famous for their vast and breath-taking hiking trails. Zeya even had one in her backyard (her mother loved to hike and had insisted on creating her own trail to jog in the mornings).

So, as horror movie cliché as it was to be drug into the woods, it wasn't an entirely creepy trait for their town.

"Where are we going?" Zeya inquired as they entered the path. They walked down it a foot or two before Christian spun around to face her. Zeya could see his face due to a combination of the reflection of the moon and the glare from the outside lights.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time." With that he set his hands on her cheeks and planted his lips onto hers.

Zeya almost pinched herself. It couldn't be true: she was actually kissing Christian Johns. His lips were warm and he set one of his hands on her back, deepening the kiss.

Tonight had gone from bad, to terrible, to embarrassing, and then was now twisting into mind-blowing. All the suffering had been worth it since it had all led up to this moment.

But, as in everything, the scale had to sway and the bad began to sneak its way through. Christian's fingers found their way down to her shirt and he started to fumble with the buttons of her blouse. Zeya broke away from the kiss.

"Christian stop." Zeya set her hands on top of his, shoving them off. Her rejection didn't even phase him. He thrust her back and against the nearest tree, now attempting to remove the belt from around her waist. "Stop!"

His lips relocated to her neck, his hands unsteady. Christian was persistent. She again tried to push him away and, this time, he pinned an arm down.

"Come on," he muttered into her neck, his lips crawling up and reattaching themselves to hers.

Zeya's stomach dropped and the fear began to settle in. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly and found herself quaking. Anytime she'd try to call for help, he'd silence her with his lips. Christian had managed to undo two buttons on her blouse and now his hands were tracing the lace of her bra.

She dug her nails firmly into the tree, praying for a way out. Get him off of me! Please!

And that's when she heard a startled yelp.

Christian's hands no longer gripped her. In fact, she didn't even feel his breath on her. A vociferous thud sounded and, when she opened her eyes, she realized he was gone.

Not only was Christian not standing in front of her, he was lying a couple feet away.

"What the hell?" Zeya whispered. She made an effort to step in his direction but, as soon as she did, it felt as if the whole world was rushing in at once. She felt so much pressure in her head she was sure that it was going to explode.

She could feel something trickle from her nose and her lungs abruptly felt as if they had been set on fire. Zeya crashed into the nearest tree, digging her palms into the bark. She strained to scream but it was, as if, someone had snipped her vocal cords.

Her vision began to stagger and her legs wobbled.

Before Zeya could question the situation, or even think of a way to distance herself from the unconscious Christian, her world went black.