Do you ever go online and watch those reels of someone doing something stupid and it just plays on repeat over and over and over again? That's what my brain was doing the rest of the afternoon. Only instead of replaying a girl tripping over a bucket and falling face first into a pie, it was replaying my interaction with Taylor and Clarissa.

"I was so awkward," I explained to Lana. We were in my room, getting ready for the party. I had already helped Lana choose her outfit—a pair of tight skinny jeans and a black shirt with the shoulders cut out—and we were now standing in front of my full-length mirror, trying to get the last few things in place. Lana was crouched low, drawing on winged eyeliner, while I was trying to wrangle my hair into something presentable and failing miserably. "It was like I forgot how to speak or something."

"But why was it so awkward?" Lana asked.

I shrugged, glancing over Lana's shoulder as I attempted a high bun. It looked awful, so I pulled my hair out of the knot and tried again. "I don't know. Everything felt off. Like... I guess I just didn't expect Clarissa to be there. Taylor said she wanted to debrief, but how could we do that with her date next to her?"

"But isn't that a good thing? Like, the fact she brought Clarissa with her must mean she had an awesome date and didn't want it to end."

"I guess... But don't you think it's a little fast? Like she just met the girl for the first time in person this morning. And then she brought her to the lacrosse game, and then they went to see a movie, and now she's coming to this party. Taylor told me she was gay like three days ago, and it was this huge secret, and now she's flaunting this girl around without a care in the world."

"Love can make you do crazy things."

I rolled my eyes. "This isn't love. This is infatuation."

Lana dug through her makeup bag, swapping the eyeliner out for mascara. "You sound jealous."

Her statement made me pause in disbelief. "What?"

"Hey, it's understandable," Lana said. "It's like everyone around you suddenly caught the love bug. Me, Taylor... even Peter Thatcher, for Devil's sake." She waggled the mascara brush at me. "Love is blossoming all around you. You're allowed to be jealous."

"Isn't jealousy one of the seven deadly sins?" I said.

"Technically it's envy," Lana explained. "And don't look at me like it's my fault you're feeling jealous. Sins are human-made, not the work of the Devil, despite what they say in church." She stood up. "That said, all jealousy isn't bad. Maybe this is the kick start you need to join all the love fun!" She paused suddenly and tilted her head. "Your hair is a mess."

"I know," I groaned.

She gestured for the hair tie. I handed it to her, she had me sit on the bed, and she started to work.

"When I first met you," she said, fingers deftly weaving through my hair, "you told me you didn't like anyone in town. That you were in no rush to find a boyfriend. Were you telling the truth?"

"Yeah," I said, rubbing my arm. "To be honest, I've never even really had a crush. Like, on anyone."

I couldn't see Lana, but from the stunned silence that followed, I had a feeling her eyes were jumping out of her head. "Never? Even with all those annoying human hormones flooding your bloodstream?"

"Never. And thank you for reminding me what a weirdo I am."

Lana's hands fell away from my hair and she came around the side of the bed and looked me in the eye. "You're not a weirdo. Believe me, I've met a lot of humans. And there are plenty weirder than you."

I laughed, sliding off the bed and peering in the mirror. Lana had arranged my hair into a half up, half down style, and it looked surprisingly good. "Thanks for doing my hair," I said, trying to change the subject.

It didn't work. Lana looked pensive for a moment before asking, "So why do you think you don't get crushes?"

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe everyone here is too familiar? Arlington is so small. I've known these guys forever and... I don't know. They don't interest me."

"Maybe you need your sex hormones stirred up a little," Lana said. Her eyes flashed mischievously and she fluttered her fingers like a witch about to cast a spell. "I could use my powers if you want, make you feel a little more... sexy?"

"No thank you," I said. "I thought we agreed not to use your magic anymore?"

"On Billy," Lana clarified.

"Well, please don't use it on me either. I don't want to mess up this deal just so I can feel what it's like to be horny."

"Fine," Lana said with a sigh. "No magic. But maybe you need to keep your eyes open a little more. Or your heart. Or whatever dumb expression you humans like to use."

I sent her a look.

She held up her hands in defense. "I said dumb expression, not dumb humans."

I was trying my best to stop her from bashing humans at every turn, but it was a losing battle. "Come on. Finish your makeup. We can't be too late."

"You could be asexual," Lana mused, switching to a lipstick. "It's a thing, you know."

"Yes, I know it's a thing... now can we please stop talking about this?"

"Sorry," she said, finishing with her lips. "Didn't mean to get you all riled up." She then clasped her hands together. "All righty. I am ready! Let's do this."

We said goodbye to my parents and Mallory as we passed through the living room. Alex Mason lived just a few blocks away, so my mom was okay with us walking—although she did remind us, as any good mother did, that if for some reason we wanted to leave early and didn't feel safe walking home, she'd be happy to pick us up.

"Thanks Mom!" I said, waving as we walked out in the crisp nighttime air.

For all of Lana's bravado in my bedroom, it didn't last very long; her confidence seemed to slowly drain out as we made the 10-minute trek, trickling out like sand in an hourglass.

"I'm nervous," Lana admitting, fiddling with her purse. Well, my purse actually. Of all the things she owned on Earth, a bag apparently wasn't one of them.

"You'll be fine," I said, rubbing her arm. "Just be yourself."

She shot me a look. "Being myself won't exactly cut it. You know that."

"Why are you so nervous? You were fine talking to him the other day after school."

"I know. But after today, after accidentally using my magic, I just realized that I can't mess up," Lana said. "Because if I do, I can't fix it with magic. I'll just have to... let it be."

"You know," I said, "humans don't have magic. If we mess up, we have to fix it the old-fashioned way."

"Well, being human sucks," Lana grumbled, digging into her purse and pulling out her phone. She plugged a pair of headphones into the phone jack, popped the earbuds into place, and pressed play.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Listening to some music. Trying to settle my nerves."

Her response intrigued me; I hadn't realized the Devil listened to music. Without thinking, I asked, "What's on your playlist?"

She passed me the phone wordlessly and I scrolled through. The song currently playing was Dance, Dance by Fall Out Boy, an oldie but a goodie. But as I skimmed the list, I realized that Lana's music taste hadn't progressed beyond 2006. I guess the Underworld doesn't have great radio reception.

I handed her the phone back, deciding it was best not to comment on her music taste. If mid-2000s emo music is what she needed to calm down, I wasn't going to be the one to take that away from her.

When we rang the doorbell to Alex's house—after Lana had tucked away her phone and taken a few gulps of October air for courage—the door was opened by his mother.

Most people wouldn't expect a high schooler to host a party with their parents around, but Alex always did. Taylor had told me that it was because Alex was the youngest of four kids. It seemed that by the time Alex was born, most of their parental anxiety had evaporated. They were okay with him hosting large parties in their home—the only rule was that there was no alcohol allowed in the house. Taylor said some people skirted the rule by pre-gaming before or smuggling in nips of alcohol in their bags. But the good thing about this was that there was never any pressure to get drunk at his parties—and I needed all my brain cells to work on this match.

"Jessa and Lana!" Mrs. Mason said, pulling the door open wider. As she did, her many small braids, each ended with beads, tinkled against each other like little bells. "Come in. It's cold out there."

"How's your night going, Mrs. Mason?" Lana asked as we stepped over the threshold. It was astounding how easily she could fix her face, hiding the nerves that had scuttled around its surface just seconds before.

Mrs. Mason chuckled and led us down the hall. "Well, Marshall and I have been trying to watch a movie upstairs. But it's a little hard with all the commotion going on down here." I now could hear music reverberating from somewhere within the house along with the sounds of our classmates chatting and joking with each other.

Mrs. Mason stopped halfway down the hall and pointed. "It seems like there are a good mix of people in the kitchen and in the basement. So head on in. And let me know if you need anything!"

"Thanks!" I said, and she disappeared up the flight of stairs.

I looked at Lana. "Ready?"

She ran her fingers through her hair and nodded. "Let's do this."

Alex's kitchen was pretty small, yet there were about twenty kids from my class crammed into the room. Most of them were milling around the table, which had been transformed into a giant game of water Pong. Alex and Reed made up one team, and Christina and Valerie were on the other side, trying to throw Ping-Pong balls into the Red Solo cups.

Alex's eyes fell on Lana and me just as his shot fell short of one of the cups. "Hey! Look who's here! What's up guys? Didn't know you guys were coming!" He stepped away from the table for a moment and wrapped us both in hugs.

I was honestly surprised Alex hugged us; although we shared several classes together, I didn't talk to him much. I could feel his hard, muscular arms through his sweater, and could smell the faintest hint of a musky cologne.

"We went to the game earlier today," I explained as he let go. "Nice job out there."

Alex laughed, heading back to the table for his next shot. "I sucked today, but whatever." He pointed to the counter. "Help yourself to some soda or water."

"Thanks," I said.

As I poured us some Pepsi, Lana's eyes swept across the room, clearly looking for Billy.

"He might be downstairs," I said, passing her the cup.

"Let's check it out, then," she said, walking to the basement door.

The basement was unfinished. The floors were made of concrete and the walls were lined with two-by-fours and exposed pink insulation. But none of that mattered because Alex had rigged up a killer light system with flickering purple lights that pulsed in beat with the music.

No one was dancing yet. But there were a few people down here, sipping drinks in the purple mist.

"There he is!" Lana said, squeezing my arm.

It took me a moment to find him, but Billy was in the opposite corner of the room, fiddling with an iPhone hooked up to the speaker system.

I nudged Lana. "Go talk to him," I said.

"About what?" she said, looking nervous.

"Music maybe?" I suggested. "I bet you he's making the playlist for tonight."

Lana bit her lip; I could almost see the cogs in her head whirring. "Okay... I think I can do that." She took a deep breath, gave my arm a squeeze, and then crossed the floor.

I kid you not when I say that the first words out of her mouth were, "Is there any Fall Out Boy on that mix?"

I nearly smacked myself in the face. Maybe I should have told her that her music taste is out of date, I thought.

But Billy's response surprised me; apparently he did have one of their newer songs on the playlist. And just like that, they fell into the easy rhythm of a conversation.

I stood in my own little corner, sipping my Pepsi and watching them for a minute, before I decided to head back upstairs. Deal or no deal, there were some things that Lana was going to have to do on her own.

As I emerged from the basement, a cheer erupted around the Pong table. It was clear from Alex's defeated head shake that Christina and Valerie had just won the game. "Who's on deck?" Valerie asked, slapping the table with a grin.

As the next pair of Pong players lined up on the opposite side of the table, Christina turned to her and said, "I need to take a break. I'm gonna go downstairs."

"Ahh no! We're winning." Valerie pouted, but Christina wasn't deterred, and ended up leaving the table.

As Valerie scanned the crowd looking for a partner, her eyes eventually found mine. "Jessa!" she cried, reaching over to grab my arm. "Be my partner?"

"Uhh... I've never played before."

"It's fine. It's easy. Come on!"

And that was how I eventually found myself playing my first ever game of water Pong.

I didn't know Valerie all that well. We only had US gov together, but she sat on the opposite side of the room and did her best not to talk unless she was forced to because she had admitted (quite vocally at the beginning of the school year) that she didn't really care about the government or politics and thought the whole class was pretty useless. But what she lacked in academic prowess, she made up in competitive spirit and an ability to sink shot after shot—which was surprising considering it was very clear she was one of those people who had skirted the Mason family rule and had mixed her Pepsi with vodka. Although her shots were straight, her voice was high-pitched and sloping, trilling into drunk-land like a child sliding on a sled.

But I didn't care, because within minutes, I found myself engrossed in this silly game. My first few shots were awful, but once I got into my groove and sunk a few cups, my confidence grew—and so did my ego. Valerie's drunken enthusiasm was contagious, and as we were going for the last few cups, I felt similarly to how I had felt at the lacrosse game that afternoon: alive in a way I didn't know I could feel.

Valerie made the last shot, securing our win, and we wrapped each other in sloppy hugs. A few guys on the lacrosse team slapped our backs in congratulations as our opponents fell away into the crowd. Valerie excused herself to grab another drink, and as she wobbled away, I saw Taylor walking in from down the hall.

She had put on some lipstick since I'd seen her last, a dark vampy color that was equally frightening and sexy. And at her side, hand wrapped in hers, was Clarissa, as dainty and as beautiful as when I had met her earlier. I waved at Taylor, caught her attention, and then she slowly made her way to me with Clarissa in tow.

"I can't believe you're at a party," said Taylor, squeezing my arm. "And playing Pong!"

"I know," I said. "Valerie and I just won. Wanna play us? No one's on deck."

Taylor's eyes lit up; although she was just as uninterested in sports as me, she had a competitive edge for things like this. She turned to Clarissa. "Wanna be my partner?"

Clarissa's face contorted slightly at the suggestion, and she slipped a piece of red hair behind her ear. "I'm not a big fan of drinking games."

"There's no alcohol," I said, showing her my cup. "Just Pepsi in here. And they put water in the cups on the table."

"Drinking games just feel a little silly to me," Clarissa said. "I mean, if you want to drink, just drink. I don't really get why people need to play a game to get drunk." She then turned to Taylor. "But if you want to play with someone else...?"

"No, it's fine," Taylor said, squeezing her hand. "Why don't we go explore?" She looked back at me, mouthed the word Sorry, and then out loud said, "We'll see you later, Jessa." And then the two were off.

I could feel a small current of something burning under my skin. I had made up my mind: I did not like this Clarissa girl for Taylor, not one bit.

Valerie returned to the table a second later, a newly refilled cup in hand. She took a sip and looked at me, staring at my face. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, although the words didn't ring true. I looked down at her drink and asked, "You put vodka in there?"

She nodded, reached into her bra, and pulled out a small bottle. "Want some?"

I nodded and held out my cup, letting her add the poison to the mix. And then I took a big swig.

- - -

Happy Monday everyone! This is still one of my favorite chapters in the book--and I've expanded it, so it has even more fun and more drama. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks for all the support! <3 Bdicocco