Make sure you have read chapter 14! It posted before the CAST.

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Dedication: Myawkwardcomment for being awesome. Thanks for voting and commenting! I really appreciate it :-)

Recap:

I jostle him, trying to get him to rouse. I hear Alec move to sitting position.

"Damn." he sighs, meeting my eye. "You know what we have to do, right?"

"What?" I ask nervously.

"We need to call Finn."

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"What about an ambulance?" I cry out frantically.

"Invite them to a party, where 70% of the kids are underage?" Alec points out, already dialling Finn's number. "Besides, he's already been seen paramedics, he just passed out because he drank too much, under the influence of pain killers. I need help carrying him."

"Alec, we can sort this out ourselves. We just need to get him inside," I insist, wanting nothing more than to leave Finn out of this.

"Hey man, what's up?" I hear Finn's voice as Alec has his iPhone in his hand, Finn on speaker.

"Don't," I mouth, my eyes pleading.

Alec returns my stare, a blank expression on his face. "We need you here, man. It's Jai."

I shake my head at Alec in disappointment, getting to my feet. Jai's face seemed peaceful as he lays there on the cold grass. I turn my back to Alec and walk into the party, attempting to find Samara.

Ignoring the stares and a few fox whistles, I push past people. A warm hand encloses around my wrist. I turn and let out a startled gasp as Bentley stares at me, mere inches from my face.

"Quite the performance from you and Samara," he smirks, brushing back his dark hair. "I knew you had it in you."

I pull my wrist from his grip, letting my arm fall limply to my side, feeling myself sober up slightly.

"Yeah," I reply bluntly, before continuing to walk.

"Is," he says, grabbing me again. "Come dance with me."

I shrug him off, ignoring his request as I continue the search for my flaming-haired best friend.

I eventually find her, pressed against the wall, her tongue jammed down the throat of Benji, one of the footballers.

Letting out a sigh, I fold my arms across my chest as I debate whether to disturb her or not. Deciding on the latter, I turn and make my way back outside. I find Alec and Jai in their same positions, however, Jai's eyes are open now.

"Welcome back," I say to him with a small smile.

Alec reaches out for me and I side-step him, getting to my knees beside Jai.

"I am in a lot of pain," he mumbles, looking confused.

"I know," I agree, patting his good shoulder.

"Where did you go?" he questions quietly.

"I was trying to find Samara."

"Didn't find her?"

I chew my lip. "She was busy."

"Was she?" he asks calmly, intentionally keeping his face blank. "Who was she with?"

"Jai," I whisper, rubbing his arm, not wanting to say.

"Tell me."

"Benji." I reluctantly say, after a few moments.

Jai nods. "Alright then."

"Do you like her?" I murmur, trying to say it quiet enough that Alec can't hear.

"I don't want to," he replies with a grunt.

I pat his arm gently, until I hear the sound of Finn's hotted up Lancer, pulling up. I let out a sigh, knowing this won't end well.

Finn comes around to the side of the house, dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a black hoodie, his hair wet from his shower.

He walks over to us and I avoid his eyes. He drops to a squat.

"Hey buddy, how you feeling?" he asks Jai.

Jai only groans in response.

"Come on," Finn says to him, wrapping an arm around his torso. He looks over to Alec, expectantly. "A little help?"

Alec wobbly gets to his feet, still quite drunk. He helps Jai drag his feet over to Finn's car.

Alec walks to the back door and climbs in. I step back, rubbing my arms.

Finn turns around, giving my appearance a once-over. I feel my stomach clench at the disapproving stare on his face as I fold my arms across my chest as if that will help hide my outfit from his intense gaze.

"Get in."

"I need to tell Samara where we're going."

"Get in, now." he repeats, before throwing the driver side door open.

I reluctantly get into the car. Alec is looking at me and I don't meet his eyes. I stare out the window.

"Which one of you is going to tell me what happened?" Finn asks as he pulls out onto the road, one of the only times he doesn't have his music blaring.

I nervously play with my fingers as I avoid his question.

"Jai hit Miles," Alec eventually said.

"Jai did?" Finn asks in surprise. "Why?"

Jai must have fallen asleep, as he is very quiet. He would usually be the one to explain everything.

"Because Miles hit me," Alec replied evenly.

"You shoved him first," I spoke for the first time.

"Why?" Finn pressed.

"He put Isobel over his shoulder and carried her out of the house."

I saw Finn's hands tighten around the steering wheel. "For what reason?"

"I was dancing," I say in a quiet voice.

Finn didn't reply, obviously knowing there is more to the story. He will ask Jai tomorrow, when he is awake, I'm sure. Everyone knows Jai can't lie very well.

We pull up home, the rest of the trip having been silent. Finn cuts the engine and both him and Alec, support a limping Jai into the house. I go ahead, to turn the porch light on and open the front door.

"Oh Jai," my mum sighs, looking concerned, dressed in her pyjamas. "What happened to him?"

"We'll explain later," Alec says vaguely.

"Probably wouldn't have happened if I'd been there," Finn bit out, glaring at her.

Mum fell silent, pursing her lips while toying with the necklace locket that dad gave her on their anniversary.

After getting him up the stairs into the spare room, Finn pulled his shirt off, so mum could rub some ointment into his shoulder. I silently pass Jai a bottle of water. He downs almost the entire bottle. While mum busies herself, looking after Jai, I go downstairs to re-fill the water.

"I'll sleep on the floor," Alec tells us, once I walk back into the room. Finn is standing off to the side, his arms folded, looked unimpressed. "In case he wakes up through the night."

Mum agreed that was a good idea, before setting Alec up with a blow-up mattress, the smell of the ointment she used lingering heavily in the air. I open the window so that a breeze can come through.

As I walk into the bathroom, Finn leans on the door frame. "Nice outfit."

"It's Samara's," I reply quietly, pulling the knee-high boots from my feet.

"You okay?" he asks softly.

"Yeah."

"Okay," he nods, seeming understanding. "I'll talk to you tomorrow?"

"Sounds good."

He left me alone, then. I shower quickly, changing into one of Finn's shirts, before crawling into bed, my body sagging onto the soft mattress, silently hoping Finn's understanding nature carries through to tomorrow.

I haven't been in bed long, before my door creaked open. I hear someone stumble in, before collapsing onto my bed. A strong scent of alcohol washes over me, causing me to scrunch my face up.

"Are you mad at me?" Alec asks.

"I didn't want you to call Finn."

"It was the right thing to do," he replies softly.

"I know," I sigh.

"Can I sleep in here with you?"

I grow silent for a few moments, a little surprised at how nonchalant I am feeling, having him ask me.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?"

"You know why."

"It's because of Miles, isn't it?"

"Alec, I'm tired. I just want to sleep," I mumble, hugging my pillow to me.

He is quiet for a few moments. I see in the dimly lit room that he reaches for me, but doesn't touch me.

"Okay."

He gets to his feet and leaves the room.

I bury my face into my pillow, feeling more confused than ever.

***

I lay in bed the next morning, feeling lifeless.

I showered, ate and put makeup on, but found myself crawling back into bed an hour later, feeling tired. I roll onto my side, staring at the empty spot beside me, thinking back to Miles. The things he said to me last night were things I've wanted to hear for a long time.

The kiss we shared was passionate - fuelled with longing, desire and memories of how things used to be. I can't help shake the fact that he left me, for someone else. Even if we weren't technically 'dating', we were still seeing each other.

A soft knock at my door, brought me out of my thoughts.

"Come in."

Alec wanders in, giving me a small wave. "Hey."

"Hey," I reply quietly. "What's up?"

"Your mum forced Finn to go grocery shopping with her, because of how he spoke to her last night," he informs me, collapsing on the end of my bed, looking up at the ceiling, which still has outline marks of the glow-in-the-dark stars I used to have up there.

"Sounds like something she would do," I nod in agreement.

"I wanted to talk to you... You seemed mad at me last night."

"I was in a mood. Sorry. You did the right thing calling Finn." I tell him, with a sigh. "How's Jai?"

"Sore but okay." he told me. "Jai told Finn what happened."

I stare down at my nails as I scratch at my black nail polish, just to have a reason not to look up at him.

"What did he say?"

"He actually didn't seem that mad. I think he's annoyed that you did it, but he knows he can't control you."

"He tries pretty hard to," I mutter.

Alec pushes himself to sitting position, before crawling towards me. He moves to my side, propping his head onto his hand.

He reaches out, touching my chin with his fingers, bringing my face closer to his. I look away, shifting back.

"I can't." I apologise, feeling my cheeks redden.

I can't kiss Alec, after kissing Miles last night. It would be wrong.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"I just want to talk..." I trail off, before looking up at him.

He looks taken back by my response. Slowly, he nods, moving so that the gap between us increases.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?" he asks, brushing his dirty blond hair from his face, his eyes having dark circles from lack of sleep.

"What are you doing with me?" I ask him, nervously. "Are you just wanting to hook up, or what?"

"Honestly? I don't know," he answers with a small frown. "It just feels so natural with you."

I give him a half-smile, not sure if that was the answer I was hoping for, or not.

"What's going on with Miles? He wants you back?" Alec asks me.

"Appears that way," I nod, waiting for him to lecture me, like everyone else has.

"Don't really blame him."

"Thanks," I whisper, sinking back into my pillows.

He leans forward, pressing his lips to my forehead softly.

"I'll see you later."

"Okay," I weakly reply, unable to think that the 'talk' barely lasted a minute.

He pushes himself to his feet, giving me a friendly grin, before loping out of the room, leaving me feeling more lost than I already was.

***

I inwardly groan at the number of eyes that swivel my way, when I walk into school, the following Monday.

"Hey girl, I'll give you a tenner to give me a lap dance," Bentley calls out loudly, causing a few of the football guys to smirk.

"You could pay me a thousand dollars and I still wouldn't," I smile back sweetly, causing his smirk to drop.

I stride past him and head to where Samara is. She's sitting on one of the outdoor tables, Jai standing beside her. I stop before I get to them, realising that they're having a serious discussion.

"Hey," a voice says behind me.

I turn to see Miles, who is dressed in his leather jacket. He pulls gloves from his hands, obviously having ridden his motorbike to school today.

"Hey Miles," I greet.

He shoves his gloves into his bag and adjusts his beanie, looking far too adorable.

"How's it going?" he asks, giving me a lope-sided smile.

"Good," I say slowly. "Yourself?"

"Fine."

My eyes involuntarily drop to his lips and I think back to when he kissed me hard and passionately, like I was the only girl in the world. I wish he was like this before leaving. Everything would be much different, if he had.

"What are you doing tonight?" he asks as a silence had lapsed.

"Homework, probably." I reply honestly.

"Do you want to go on a date with me?"

I blink a few times, waiting for him to smirk or say that he is kidding. Miles Carter - notorious player and well-known legend amongst all males of the school, is asking me on a date?

"Or a hang out, if that makes it seem less serious," Miles rambles, scratching the back of his neck, appearing nervous.

"Why me, Miles?" I murmur in wonder, my wide eyes taking in his fidgeting.

"It's always been you," he says softly. "I just couldn't see it."

His eyes never leave mine and I feel a blush kiss my cheeks at his words. My eyes moisten and I quickly look down, so that he can't see.

"Please, Issy," he murmurs, stepping closer. "Please let me make it up to you."

I find myself nodding, before I even think it through. "Yes. I'll go on a date with you."

The widest grin I've ever seen, split across his face. He reaches out and grabs my hands, his warm from his gloves, making mine feel cold.

"Thank you," he smiles. "Can I pick you up or will Finn kill us both?"

I let out a laugh. "I'll meet you."

"Okay, where do you want to go?"

I bite my lip, well aware that many eyes are on us as he is holding my hands. I find myself thanking the universe that both Finn and Alec are in football work out training, Jai being exempt due to his injury.

"I don't care, anywhere."

"Do you still like Chinese?"

"I do," I nod.

"Meet there at 7?" he asks eagerly.

"Okay, I'll be there," I promise him, returning his smile.

With one last squeeze, he lets me go.

I begin walking towards Samara, who is watching me, open mouthed.

Nerves plague my body as I rest my hand on my stomach, hoping that I haven't just made a terrible mistake.

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Thoughts on the upcoming date? Any of you disappointed she agreed? Please tell me what you are thinking!