Madeline shut off the engine and double-checked her makeup in the mirror of the car's visor. I watched her, only half interested from the passenger seat. It was an unnecessary routine I had witnessed every weekday morning for the last four years. It was unnecessary because my best friend was one of those rare creatures who rolls out of bed in the morning looking runway ready.

"There's only a few weeks left in our senior year. Can you believe it?" she asks, flipping the visor closed and running her hand through her sleek black hair as she beams at me. Maddie's dark brown eyes are alight with a mixture of happiness and excitement that I wish I shared.

"Not really," I answered truthfully.

I glance through the windshield of Madeline's Audi and watch the students milling around on the quad, talking and laughing cheerfully before the first bell. Two girls with their ponytail-laden heads bent low over a cell phone sat on the bench near the school's entryway whispering and giggling while, nearby, a group of boys passed a football back and forth. A large festive booth erected to sell tickets for Hillmore High's annual end-of-year jamboree sits in the center of the sprawling campus, draped in the school's signature colors. Every square inch of the stall was painted or draped in red and gold streamers, making it impossible to miss in the early morning sunlight. A crowd of excited students has formed a line in front of the two cheerleaders seated inside as they take up money and pass out tickets.

All of this activity has been such an important part of our lives for the last four years that it's hard to believe, in a few short weeks, we'll be leaving it behind. Graduation was exactly what I had spent years preparing for. I was finishing my high school career with a GPA that landed me solidly in the top five percent of my class, but now that the moment was upon us, I felt conflicted. Everything was happening too quickly. To make matters worse, Maddie would be spending the majority of the next three months in Japan. We hadn't spent a summer apart since we were five.

Maddie's parents had been overjoyed when they found out she would graduate with honors. As a reward for her academic achievements, they decided to send her to visit her maternal grandmother, where she lived just outside of Tokyo. It was a trip Maddie had been begging to make for a few years now, and she was elated to find out she would be going.

She and her grandmother were extremely close, but her Sobo, as Maddie called her, had never left her home country, and it had been a decade since Maddie had visited her in person. I was happy for her, but I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt that we would be spending the better part of our last summer together on separate continents.

In truth, we've been practically inseparable since the day we met in preschool, although that wasn't always how I preferred it. Maddie and her family had moved to town late in the year, and she had started school a full month after classes had already begun. By the time she arrived, I had firmly established myself as the shy kid at the back of the class, more than content to play on my own. She zeroed in on me like a heat-seeking missile, and once Madeline had something in her sights, she was relentless.

See, Madeline has a superpower. She was born with the innate ability to root out lost souls in need, and my parents had been in the middle of an ugly divorce that year. My reluctance to be friends didn't seem to deter her. Instead, it seemed to embolden her, as if I were a challenge to be accepted.

She would tag along behind me day after day, chirping about one thing or the other, sometimes even turning up at my house after school, only two doors down from her own. The possibility that I might not want to be friends with her never seemed to cross her mind. I found her frustrating at first, the little girl with the big smile and pigtails, but it seemed even the most antisocial of us were not permanently immune to Maddie's charms. She was so charismatic that it was impossible not to be enamored with her.

Within a few short months, we were inseparable. Teachers and our parents alike quickly became used to seeing us together because where one was, the other would always follow.

As we started our junior high and high school careers, the differences in our personalities had never been more evident. While Maddie was dating, going to parties, and planning school dances, I attended art classes, volunteered at the nearby animal shelter, and worked a part-time job at the local fast-food restaurant. Even with our conflicting schedules, we still managed to make time to hang out together.

I was her campaign manager when she ran for class president. I showed up to every game she cheered in and helped her decorate for every formal she planned. Maddie was in the front row at every one of my art exhibitions, helped me collect for the animal shelter's fundraisers, and dropped in regularly while I was at work to keep me company and score free fries. We were closer than friends. Maddie was my sister.

Giving me an understanding smile, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking, Maddie stepped out of the car and into the early morning sunlight. She knows me better than I know myself sometimes, I thought in annoyance as I followed, pushing the passenger door open and hoisting my backpack up a little higher on my shoulder. As we made it to the end of the parking lot, I was still lost in thought and feeling more than a little sorry for myself. Consequently, I wasn't watching where I was going and scuffed one of my pink Converse on the elevated concrete lip of the curb, very nearly going down face-first in the grass. I heard Maddie giggle beside me as I righted myself and turned, giving her a playful glare.

"Not funny," I growled, trying to hide a sheepish smile.

"I promise you it absolutely was," she answered, giggling again.

At that moment, we heard a decidedly male voice calling Maddie's name. We turned in unison to see Lucas Reid jogging toward us, a bright smile lighting up the entirety of his handsome face. Lucas was captain of the football team, homecoming king, and Maddie's adoring boyfriend of the last two months. An absolute lifetime as high school relationships go. Maddie was crazy about him.

Coming to a stop in front of us, he pulled Maddie into a bear hug before setting her down and giving her an enthusiastic kiss. Madeline blushed and giggled as he slid an arm around her waist.

"You're running late," he said. "I started to think you were skipping today."

"You know I would never skip this close to graduation," she answered, pouting a little.

He kissed her on top of the head and then turned, suddenly realizing I was standing there.

"Hey, Jess," he said, giving me a little wave. "How's it going?"

"About as well as can be expected," I said, adopting a somber tone, "I survived your girlfriend's driving, after all."

Maddie made a face and stuck her tongue out at me as Lucas and I both laughed. From behind us, the first bell sounded, shattering the playful atmosphere that abounded outside.

We started toward the school, immediately getting caught in a crush of bodies and backpacks as the teens who had congregated on the school grounds began the slow disheartening trudge toward their homeroom classes.

"Hey, man, I've been looking everywhere for you."

We had gotten as far as the top of the stairs when the boy behind us spoke. I saw Lucas grin, already mid-turn before the newcomer had even finished his sentence. Maddie glanced at me, a look of amused concern on her face, as she too recognized the speaker.

As usual, the sound of that voice sent my insides into a disorienting tailspin. Butterflies, the size of large hippos, began their happy little ballet, slamming repeatedly into the underside of my ribcage.

I glanced over, already feeling the hot flow of blood creeping up my neck and into my cheeks, knowing too well who would be standing there. In front of Lucas, a reckless grin plastered on his heartbreakingly beautiful face was Mason Bradshaw.

I had known Mason for almost as long as I had known Maddie, who coincidentally was the only person aware of my unrequited crush. I had sworn her to secrecy years ago. She had initially wanted to play matchmaker, but I wouldn't allow it. There were two problems with that scenario. For one, Mason had no idea I existed, at least not outside being Maddie's adorable sidekick. Maybe that could be fixed. It was the second problem that was a little more daunting.

I physically could not speak to Mason. Not counting a series of grunts, nods, and small gasping noises, I had never spoken even one intelligible word to him. I haven't dated as much as Maddie, but at least enough to know that, at some point, I would be required to speak in full sentences. It didn't help that I had not been graced with the gift of coordination. I had managed, over the years, to rack up a laundry list of embarrassing blunders that always seemed to occur in his presence.

Unfortunately for me, Mason was Lucas's best friend, and because of my attachment to Maddie, we had crossed paths more in the past two months than in the entirety of my high school career. Most people would have assumed that, over that period, I would have become accustomed to seeing and even acting like a normal, functioning human when he was around. They would have assumed wrong.

"So, what's up?" Lucas asked. He had led us into the building, easing to one side of the hallway with a protective arm around Maddie's waist as people continued to pour through the open doors that were beginning to look more like a cattle chute and less like a high school hallway.

I stood on Maddie's other side, feeling more than a little out of place. I didn't belong here, but walking away felt strange too. Lucas's first class was a hallway over from the gym, where Maddie and I were headed for Phys. Ed. She would never let me hear the end of it if I left her to walk to class and change out by herself.

"There's a party tonight," Mason replied, running a hand through his dark, wavy hair, "I was wondering if you guys were going?"

"I haven't heard anything about a party. Where?" Lucas asked.

Mason hesitated a moment, letting the tension build as he smiled impishly, his dark golden eyes crinkling at the corners. "It's at the Hillmore house," he finally answered, his voice dropping an octave and taking on a forbidding tone.

Maddie's mouth dropped open as I heard myself gasp.

"Seriously?" Lucas asked in amazement. "Who's throwing it?"

"I have no idea, but everyone's going."

From above us, the second bell rang.

"I don't know, man. I have to get to class right now, but I'll think about it," Lucas answered.

"Alright," Mason shouted over his shoulder, already starting down the hall. "We'll talk third period."

"What do you think, babe?" Lucas asked Maddie as we started toward our respective classes.

"I'm not sure," she answered, the note of hesitation clear in her voice, "isn't that place supposed to be haunted?"

"Yeah, that's probably the reason everyone's going. I'll tell you what, just think about it and let me know. If you're not comfortable with it, we can do something else. There will be other parties."

Even as he said it, I could see the wheels turning in her head. There would be more parties, but she knew all too well that this chapter of our life was quickly coming to a close. I doubted that Lucas even knew that his words had influenced her. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, waved, and headed off toward his science class.

"What do you think, Jess?" She asked me as we hurried toward the gym.

"I'm not sure," I answered tentatively, "that place is creepy."

"Definitely," she sighed, "we don't have to stay long, though. Right? We could just drop in, and if it's too weird, we could leave. I mean, how many more of these parties are there actually going to be, right?"

"I'm not sure, Maddie. You're assuming that I want to go. It's awkward going with you and Lucas, and I don't really want to show up alone."

"I could always ask Mason if he's taking anyone yet," she said, grinning conspiratorially and waggling her eyebrows at me.

"Don't you dare!" I gasped.

"Ok, ok," she said, laughing as we walked into the gym, "you know I would never do that to you. Seriously, though, if you come tonight, I'll owe you one. That place is so creepy, and Lucas will have his friends there..." she said, trailing off sadly.

"Fine, fine," I answered, "I'll go, but you owe me huge, and I'm not riding with you two."

Maddie squealed and threw an arm around my neck before starting down the stairs that led to the locker rooms. "Thank you! I promise I'll make it up to you. And make sure you wear something cute. Remember, Mason is going to be there."

I was suddenly feeling more than a little nauseous. "You're a terrible evil creature, and you must be punished," I grumbled at her.

"Yes, but you love me," she said, grinning, already knowing she'd won.

"And I question my sanity daily," I retorted as she laughed merrily. "I'm so going to end up regretting this."

I had no way of knowing it, but those words were truer than I could have even imagined.