"GUESS WHAT," MONICA SINGSONGED. It was 8:30 in the morning and she had been calling me nonstop until I picked up. I was not amused.

"What," I grumbled into the phone, hoping that whatever it was she had to tell me, it was worth it.

I was one who loved my sleep. I never slept past noon, but I also never woke up before nine o'clock either. 11 AM was the perfect time for me, and naturally, that's when my body would wake me up during the weekends.

"I got you invited!" She squealed on the other end and I pulled the phone away from my ear, wincing. She was just a tad too loud.

It took me a while to register those words, and when I did, I straightened up in my bed, fully awake now.

"How?" I asked.

"Well, I simply just asked her if I could bring a friend and she said yes, as long as it was just only one person."

"That easy?" I thought Ginny would be stubborn about it, but I guess not.

"I know! She's actually pretty nice," Monica was shuffling through her closet now and I scrunched up my nose in disbelief at her reply. There was no way Ginny Andrews was nice, not after that death glare she gave me last night.

"Anyways, I was thinking that we could go shopping for an outfit for tonight?" Monica questioned and I thought about it for a bit. I had plenty of clothes in my closet, but it wouldn't hurt to get something new for this party.

"Let me ask my mom," I left her on hold for a bit as I searched the house. I found my mom in the kitchen and it seemed like she'd already read my mind.

"What's going on tonight?" She took a sip of her coffee and I hesitated before I told her I'd been invited to a party.

"As long as you're home before midnight and you stay with Monica the whole time, you can go," she didn't look up at me once, her eyes glued to her Home & Garden magazine. I gave her a quick thanks and walked back up to my room.

"Pick me up at 10:00?" I inquired.

"Sure thing!" Monica happily replied and hung up after that. I smiled to myself and started to get ready.

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"What look are you going for?" Monica stood next to me in the clothing store, my eyes taking in all the different possibilities that I could combine.

"Anything that catches my eye," I remarked.

I started to look through the racks of clothing. There were a lot of shirts that I liked, but I found a ribbed, long-sleeved off-the-shoulder white shirt that had brown buttons on it. It stole my eye. It was cropped but if I found jeans high-waisted enough it would work. Monica seemed to like it too and I smiled to myself. I ended up grabbing a pair of light-washed jeans that had holes in the knee-caps and went to try it on.

As I looked at myself in the mirror, I noted how the jeans hugged at my curves perfectly. The top still managed to show some of my midriff and hung pretty low. I stared at myself, not sure if I liked how low the top hung. As someone with a bigger chest, it was hard to find clothes that could fit me perfectly, without people thinking the worst of me.

I debated with myself for a while until Monica rapped on th door. "Come on Finnley, I want to see it!" She begged.

I bit my lip and started to pull the top up higher to hide some of the cleavage it was already showing. I quickly realized that if I did that my whole stomach would be showing, and I wasn't really comfortable with that. I didn't want a bunch of random guys to be eyeing my skin. Reluctantly, I pulled the top back down and walked out of the dressing room.

"You look amazing," Monica breathed out and adjusted my hair a little bit.

"Is the top too low? I feel like it's too low," I started to pull at it but she stopped me.

"Finnley, it's perfect. Don't worry about it. If you're not comfortable, there are plenty of other shirts in here that you can wear," she pulled a fuzz off of my right sleeve, giving me a soft smile before going into a changing room herself.

I went back to my changing room and stared at myself— hard. I really did like the top, but I was just worried about how it'd look. But then again, I was buying these clothes for myself, not for anyone else. So hell, I was getting the top.

I ended up finding a different pair of jeans that I liked more, and Monica walked out with a red dress that complemented her skin tone. Excited with our outfits, we went to go get some lunch before heading home.

We talked about the party for a little bit, eating our food and wondering what kind of drama would happen. Monica took a sip of her drink and leaned towards me.

"Do you think Collins will be there?" I let out a short laugh and crossed my arms over the table, leaning forward.

"If Jamie's there, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be there too," I reassured and Monica pursed her lips, nervous.

"Look, Collins already seems plenty attracted to you, so just be yourself and you'll be fine," as I stole one of her fries and she let out a small gasp.

"Only fair I get some chicken," she grabbed my last nugget and before I could protest, she closed her mouth around it.

"You're dead," I threatened, my voice low.

"Mm, who's gonna drive you home?"

She had me there. I was hoping to get a car soon, but money was tight with just my mom and me. I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. Monica would pay for this, she surely would. She just wouldn't see it coming.

"Okay, I better get home and shower before we go, you too," Monica took one last sip of her drink before throwing our garbage away.

It was only t-minus 8 hours until the party started and I was already terrified.

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As soon as I got home, my mom had disappeared. There was a note on the fridge telling me there'd been an emergency at the school, so she had to rush in. My mom was a guidance counselor at a middle school, and I knew there was some kind of activity going on there today. I wondered what happened but knew she'd tell me later.

After showering and studying for a bit, I made a quick dinner and sat down in front of the TV. I flipped the channel for a bit until I came across some cop show that seemed pretty entertaining.

I was hoping that this party wouldn't be too crazy, but also, I was kidding myself for even thinking that. I was also completely terrified of Ginny Andrews. I wasn't sure what she'd do if she saw me in her house. I shuddered at the thought.

I placed my dirty dishes in the sink and went upstairs to my bedroom, laying out the new clothes I'd gotten. I took off all the price tags and changed into them, making sure they looked okay before I started on my hair and makeup. Satisfied, I went to my bathroom to finish the look.

My hair was pretty straight and I liked to keep it parted down the middle. I found some pearl clips to pin the front pieces of my hair away and did just that, making sure they were even on both sides.

Next I moved to my makeup. I didn't like to use foundation, so some concealer on the key areas of my face along with a light bronzer, mascara, and some nude eyeshadow, usually did the trick. The final touch was my lipgloss and setting spray.

I looked at myself for a quick moment before rushing back to my room, grabbing my white shoes and pulling them on quickly as I saw my phone buzzing repeatedly with Monica's name flashing across the screen.

"Ow!" I grumbled as I fell over while hopping to get other shoe on, scrambling back to my feet and grabbing my phone off of the desk.

I rushed down the steps and grabbed my jacket hanging on the coatrack, racing out the door and making sure to lock it behind me. Monica blared her horn and I glared at her. She just laughed. It wasn't all that funny when all your neighbors were all over the age of 60 and crabby.

"Finnley James McGowan," she gasped as I got into the car, buckling myself in.

"What?" I pulled the flap above me and opened the mirror, fixing my hair that had gotten disheveled while running.

"You look good," she replied and turned up the music.

I shut the mirror and put the flap back up, turning to her. "So do you."

"I know," she said matter-of-factly and all I could do was roll my eyes at that.

Monica played most of her favorite songs, jamming to the music the whole way there while I just listened to her. She wasn't the greatest singer, but she still had some pipes on her.

"Okay, okay, so..." She gave a quick glance towards me and I cocked an eyebrow, suspicious of what came next.

"If Jamie's there, you're gonna talk to him, right?" Monica stopped at a red light, turing her head fully now. Her eyes seemed almost insistent.

"I don't know, maybe," I mumbled, the light turning green.

I didn't know if I wanted to talk to Jamie, and I hadn't even told Monica that I told Jamie off. It wasn't my proudest moment, but I'm sure he wouldn't even want to talk to me anyway. Besides, he was probably going to be with Ginny the whole time, and she was something I for sure wanted to
avoid.

"If I talk with Collins, you have to talk with Jamie. No exceptions."

"Then I guess no Collins," I singsonged and Monica furrowed her eyebrows at that, giving me a quick glare.

When the car came to an abrupt stop in front of the biggest house I had ever seen, I noticed that we had arrived; and I instantly regretted coming.

There were people everywhere.

There were kids all over the front lawn and the back gate was wide open, revealing even more over there. I was sure the house was packed too. That stomach muscles tightened and I wasn't so sure about this anymore.

"Ready?" Monica whispered and I nodded my head, lying. We both opened our doors and stepped out onto the gravel pathway, slowly making our way to glass front door.

Boys whistled at us and some girls passed us, laughing and stumbling all over the ground. I bit the inside of my cheek as we walked up the front steps, reaching out to pull open the door and scared out of my mind that somehow I'd shatter the glass.

But the door opened on its own. Bewildered, I looked up, and there was Ginny Andrews in a black dress so short I wondered how you couldn't even see her underwear.

"Welcome!" She flashed us a smile and Monica dipped inside. I followed, but as I passed, Ginny whispered something to me.

I stopped and stared at her for a while with a blank expression, her green eyes gutting into me. I couldn't pull my eyes away from her until Monica grabbed my hand, dragging me into the ginormous house and the biggest mistake of my life.

He's mine, Finnley James, mine.