·Cassandra·

I smile gratefully and turn to take her to the dancing section which is somewhere between the living room and the kitchen.

We dance together—Well, I dance. She just moves shyly while I let my hair fly all around me looking like this crazy person who has never in her life danced to"Shut up and dance with me." 

When the song changes again, I take a deep breath and steal a glance at where Tobias is. Only the boys from the team are surrounding him now. Maybe I can look for him later. Right now I'm feeling lighter, and that seldom happens.

Little by little, drink after drink, Katie starts loosening up. The riff of 'We're never ever getting back together'  by Taylor Swift starts playing and Katie goes wild—finally. We both sing at the top of our lungs, while the crowd carelessly dances around us.

I think she's one of those people who can get drunk after a few drinks, whereas I have developed an immunity to getting drunk. I drink and drink, but I never lose awareness of my actions. That can be a blessing but also a curse. It sucks not to be able to forget from time to time.

Besides, I have a mission that does not involve getting drunk. So, tonight we'll call it a blessing.

Casually moving to the beat of the music, I keep dragging Katie until we start dancing behind Tobias' coach.

"This's so much fun!" she shouts over the music.

I nod, replying to her. A random guy approaches me, stepping between Katie and me. Well, about time. His broad shoulders and bulky structure tower over me, but I don't let him intimidate me. I do a small twirl, pretending to be absorbed by the rhythm of the music. When I finally see his face again, I take a few steps back—he's closer than I expected him to be. He's so close that his breath reeks against my face. He smiles at me, displaying his crooked teeth. My nose crinkles as I get used to the proximity. I only need to do this for a bit more. 

Trying to forget about his presence, I keep dancing. My hands go up in the air while I slowly swing my hips to the rhythm of the song. Soon, his heavy hands land on either side of my high waist, and they start sliding down.

I walk backward, disgusted by all of his actions, but he's strong and to be honest, I'm not giving him that much of a fight. That is until his lips unexpectedly crush against my neck arch, and I punch him hard with my fist—I wasn't expecting him to do that just yet.

"You do not touch me without my damn consent, you perverted, disgusting piece of sh*t!"

The crowd around us comes to a halt but no one intervenes. Katie stares at me, her eyes big in shock.

"Hey, what's going on?" Tobias asks, concerned.

Mission accomplished, you guys.

"Nothing. Forget about it. I'm sure you're just like him. And your friends here as well." I gesture at the guys around him. They all share worried looks—I wasn't being serious, boys. I know nothing about them, but they all look guilty as hell.

"Are you okay?" Katie's arm goes around my shoulder.

"Katherine? Is that you?" Confusion washes over Tobias' face.

The guy looks pleadingly at Tobias. "We're just dancing. I swear." His hands go up in the air in defense.

"Go away, Christian," Tobias growls. Immediately, he scurries away through the crowd.

"We're leaving," Katie states.

"Please." I look down, sniffling just to make it look more real.

Once we distance ourselves for a bit, I look behind me.

"Are you okay, Cassie?" Katie asks, concern tinting her tone.

"Oh, yes, don't worry. I was just trying to catch Tobias' attention."

"What?" She stops walking.

"Ahh! He's following us. Oh, my Gosh!" I hiss, making a slight gesture with my head to show her where he is. "Just please, play it cool." 

"Excuse me," Tobias calls for us from behind. "Let me just walk you to your house."

Katie looks at me flabbergasted, but then she quickly recovers. Good. She's joining the game.

Once we're standing under the canopy entrance roof. Katie's turning her duffel bag upside down, looking for the keys while Tobias lingers nervously in front of us, his hands shoved deep in his pockets.

"I'm...I'm so sorry about that." His thumb points at his house.

I shrug my left shoulder. "I just hope this isn't something that regularly happens at your parties. A guy looking like you shouldn't be surrounded by such jerks."

"Agreed. And a girl looking like you shouldn't be dancing with them."

"It was really not my choice. I thought I made that clear to everyone." I smile politely.

"My apologies..."

"Cassandra is my name."

"Cassie-"

"Cassandra," I repeat.

"Cassandra, I'm sorry that a jerk danced with you without your consent-"

Katie chuckles lowly as if Tobias' comment would have been ironic. Is Tobias someone who doesn't care about consent? Who would say 'NO' to a guy looking like him?

"Next time, you should show up with your boyfriend so that he takes care of you," he states, smirking.

I swear my panties almost drop to the floor.

Smirking back, I reply, "I don't have one, and I don't need one but thank you for your consideration."

He laughs beautifully.

"Tobie!" Someone screams from his house. Seconds later, Quinn strides toward us. "Where were you?" She asks, pecking him on the lips.

"Right here," he whispers, embarrassed.

"Oh, you met the Spanish girl."

"Argentinian," Katie corrects her—her kindness for me never ceases to amaze me.

"Yeah, we just met..." He throws me a sideways look, while Quinn looks at me pointedly, her blonde eyebrows arching.

She beams at us while sneaking her arm around Tobias' back. Then, she starts speaking in a very weird way. "Well, I am very glad you met my boyfriend. Tobias is my boyfriend," she repeats in slow motion to me, and Katie cups her mouth to muffle her laughter.

Tobias frowns deeply at her, and now I cover my mouth.

"Ok, we'll go before they tear apart my house," he declares, frowning at Quinn.

"Thank you." Katie waves her hand awkwardly at him.

"Adios!" Quinn farewells me—still thinking I only speak Spanish.

As soon as they are far enough, Katie and I burst out laughing. I grab my stomach, bending because my laughter is making my belly hurt. And Katie cries tears of comic relief as we enjoy Quinn's complete unawareness of my true language skills.

Our laughter goes mute the minute someone opens the door.

"Where the hell were you?" Ulysses towers over us.

"She was with me," I reply, my arms akimbo.

He throws a look toward Tobias' house, his eyes widening. "Katherine, tell me you were not at that party."

"I took her," I confess.

Katie instead of replying to him continues laughing, which only makes me laugh more. Ulysses ushers us inside the house.

"Katherine. Are you insane? What did I tell you about-"

"Stop talking to her as if you were her dad or something. We just had some fun," I explain to him as we take the stairs. Katie trails behind us.

The scowl on his face couldn't be any more prominent. "She has an important exam tomorrow. How could you do this to her?"

A loud thud is heard behind us, and when we look back, Katie is laying face-front against the wooden steps. Ulysses rushes to help her, worried she might be hurt. I follow his actions, but then I stop when Katie pulls her chin up and continues to cackle.

"This is unbelievable," he utters in frustration.

"Oh, come on, let us live while we can," I say as we pull Katie up, one arm draped around each of our shoulders.

"To live would be an awfully big adventure," he states and I freeze.

"You read Peter Pan?"

"Well, I'm kind of English, Bambi," he declares.

I mean to reply something smart like 'I'm kind of Argentinian and I haven't read Borges, so what?' or just tell him off for calling me that nickname which is one of the weakest Disney characters that has ever existed, but his eyes hold mine in a way that...magnetize mine. And this right here is happening without my permission—whatsoever. 

I do not like Ulysses. 

Tobias Richmond is my crush.  

Okay? Am I clear?

Katie bursts out laughing breaking our trance. "I'm sorry I just remembered Quinn speaking as if you were deaf or something. I just can't-"

My stomach aches again from so much laughing. Ulysses keeps sighing and shaking his head and that makes it worse—our unrestrained laughter infuriates him even more. I don't get why he's escorting us to the room. We aren't that wasted.

Once inside our room, Katie walks to the bunk bed and whines dramatically. "I can't sleep in that bed tonight. I'm pretty sure I will throw up from up there."

"But you don't sleep in that bed." Ulysses points his finger at the upper bed.

I pass by Ulysses, bumping his shoulder in the process. I let my back crash against the dreamy mattress of my bottom bed. Ugh, the way these heels hurt. I grind my ankles to let my shoes fall to the floor. 

The frame of the bunk bed keeps shifting while Katie struggles to climb it.  The screen of my phone lights and I smile happily when I see the notification: Tobias's now following me on IG and TikTok. My eyes look up for a second, and Ulysses' death glare is set on me. 

"What's wrong, Green Eyes?"

"You really are the worst person I have ever met in my entire life."

I sit up, ready to curse him, but he is gone. The door shuts loudly behind him, and the words die in my mouth before I could even defend myself.

"What did I even to this guy?" I wonder out loud. I scoff, and collapse against my bed again.

Silence blankets the room, and Ulysses' words are still loud in my mind.

"Cassie?" Katie calls.

"Mhm?"

"I'm afraid of heights," she declares. "And I've forced myself to forget about what happened to me at the last party I went to, so I don't really know what happened. I just have this feeling I should keep Tobias and his gang at bay."

My phone lands on my chest as I process everything she just said to me. I can't help thinking of how similar Katie's words are to what Jazmin once told me—and I completely ignored her. Then...then, I run out of chances to listen to her. After death, one cannot say sorry. I tried saying sorry to her tomb, but I didn't feel forgiven. Maybe healing needs actions, and not just words.

"Katie?" I breathe.

"Yeah?"

"You wanna sleep here with me?"

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