“What’s the address?” My dad writes down what Vince recites to him. Mary and I watch as my dad sticks it on the fridge and turns to the boys. “Vince and Emery, I expect you both to use common sense” Both the boys nod nervously and my dad smiles. “Be back by one.”

The boys nod again before shuffling out the back door without as much as a glance my way. My dad heads into the living room and my head drops to the table.

“What are we going to do?” I sigh, feeling extremely jealous that the boys went to a party and didn’t invite me.

“Well, just because the guys are going out and having fun doesn’t mean we can’t.” I lift my head slightly to see her grinning.

“And how exactly are we going to have fun?” I ask, leaning back in my chair. “It’s night, too late to go into town, and there’s nothing to do around here.”

“That’s where I’ve drawn a blank,” she mutters, rising from her chair. She grabs my hand and yanks me out of mine before she drags my upstairs. “However, I have an awesome idea.” I roll my eyes as I fall back onto my bed, lying with my feet sitting flat on the floor. Mary shuts the bedroom door and copies me, only laying the opposite way. “So tell me about your boy troubles.”

I exhale noisily and smack her arm, gaining myself a smack back. “What troubles?” I ask her. “It’s not like I’m dating Emery or Vince.” I move my head to see Mary’s face just as her eyes grow wide.

“You’re not?”

My eyes narrow. “No. I don’t want to pick one of them and deal with them constantly fighting with each other, so I decided that I choose neither.”

“You didn’t!”

“I did,” I nod, keeping my voice monotone unlike Mary’s shocked squeals.

“Why the heck would you do that?” She flips onto her stomach and smacks me across the top of my head. “Are you stupid?” I glare at her while I brush my hair out of my eyes.

“Gee, thanks Mary,” I mutter, copying her and turning onto my stomach so we can face each other.

“You know I’m not being serious,” she says, rolling her eyes. “I just mean why did you even think you had to decide between either of them? Who you pick is obvious!”

I raise my eyebrows. “It is?”

“Take a wild guess, River.”

“Vince?” Mary smacks the top of my head again, throwing my hair into my face for the second time. She begins to lecture me while I remove the strands out of the way of my eyes.

“No! It’s Emery!” She grabs a stray hair for me and puts it back in place. “How on earth did you think it was creepy Vince?”

“He’s not that creepy,” I mutter, not meeting her eyes. “And besides, Emery hurt me. You know that.” I ended up spilling everything to her once we were able to start hanging out again and ever since neither of us has brought up much about the topic.

“You have to give him some credit for being semi-bearable now.” I give her a look and she shrugs. “Look at it from his perspective.” She rises from her stomach and crosses her legs. Can she not just sit still? Once I’m sitting the same way in front of her she continues. “If you killed my dad, even though he was going to kill me, I’d probably be pissed too.”

I resist the urge to push her off the bed. “And you’re the daughter of a preacher?” I mutter, folding my arms across my chest.

“River,” Mary sighs, resting her hand on my shoulder. “I don’t mean to make you upset. Just try to see what Emery sees. If he killed your dad to save your life, would you be angry?” She looks at me with hopeful eyes and it takes me a minute to nod.

“Yeah,” I groan. “I guess I would be.”

“See?” She smiles sadly. “You and Emery are meant to be together.” Her expression grows serious and her hands drop into her lap. “I have a bad feeling about Vince, River,” she mumbles, avoiding my eyes.

“What do you mean?”

Mary continues to avoid my gaze as her hands fidget nervously. “I don’t know. I just don’t trust him.”

I fall onto my back on the bed. “First Emery, now you? What’s wrong with Vince?”

Mary’s eyes snap to mine and before I know it she’s yanking me back into a sitting position. “Emery said something about Vince?” She says quickly, eyes full of worry. “What did he say?” I briefly explain the phone call and Emery telling me to stay away for him and for the first time in my life Mary stays quiet until I’m finished. “So Vince and Emery went out together,” she says quietly. “When they hate each other and Emery doesn’t trust Vince.”

“Yeah. Emery was hard to convince but Vince wasn’t so bad,” I tell her, gazing out the window at the cloudy sky.

“Does Vince being pretty much okay with it not strike you as suspicious?” Mary asks nervously and I glare at her.

“You’re being so overdramatic, Mary,” I snap. “What is with you tonight?”

Mary’s stare drops into her lap. “I just have a bad feeling,” she mumbles shyly.

I exhale noisily and take her hand. “What can we do to make you feel better?” I ask, just wanting my best friend to be back to normal. She raises her eyes to mine however she doesn’t smile.

“I think we need to go get Emery.” I drop my hand and try my best to hold in my aggravation.

“And why is that going to help?”

“Because,” Mary tells me, climbing off the bed and standing up. “I don’t think he should be alone with Vince.”

“But they’re not alone,” I mutter and Mary glares at me. I guess in the truck they would be alone.

“Oh and there’s another reason,” Mary says quickly, heading for my door. “I think you need to fix things with Emery.”

I groan but Mary’s already down the stairs before I can protest. Rambling to myself, I grab my truck keys off my dresser and head down the stairs after her. I grab the address from the fridge and head for the back exit. We’re both almost out the door when my dad walks into the room and my heart skips a beat.

“Where are you two going?” He asks suspiciously and I bite my tongue before I can tell the truth. There’s no way he’s going to let Mary and I go to a party at a house we’ve never been to before.

“My house,” Mary says casually, smiling at my dad. “I forgot my pajamas.” Before my dad can ask why she can’t wear mine, Mary and I are running into the night. We’re halfway to the party when I realize something.

“If we’re crashing a party,” I mumble nervously, keeping my eyes on the road. “Don’t we need some sort of reason for being there, or plan?”

Mary’s cheeks go red. “I don’t know. I’ve never crashed a party before.”

“Neither have I.”

“Well,” Mary says, staring out the window at the night. “If anyone asks, we can just say we’re picking up a friend.”

I remember her words about talking to Emery and a million questions rush into my head. However, I only ask one. “What am I going to talk to Emery about?”

Mary looks over at me before rolling her eyes. “You tell him you’re glad he’s back, sorry for not being more understanding, and tell him that you choose him.”

My hands grip the steering wheel tightly. “What if he doesn’t want to leave to talk to me? I mean, Emery can be pretty unpredictable.”

Mary rolls her eyes again and I smack her arm. “He’s obviously so in love with you, River. Besides, whether you believe it or not he came back for you. Of course he’s going to agree to leave and talk to you.”

As far as I know, Emery came back because his father’s friends found him. However, after seeing the scar on the back of his neck, I don’t think he’s telling the whole truth.

“Mary,” I mumble distractedly. “How long does it take for a wound to scar over?” I avoid Mary’s curious glance as she shrugs.

“How should I know? Why?”

I shake my head and tell her no reason as we pull onto the road where the party is. It will take at least another five minutes before we can there, but we can still see the lights from this far away.

Images of Emery flash through my mind and almost every single one is pin-pointing a scar on him. They cover his face, his arms, his legs and probably other places I haven’t seen yet. I feel like I’m putting together a puzzle with too many missing pieces as I try to figure out what’s going on.

“We’re here!” Mary squeals excitedly, although I can tell that she’s also nervous, just like I am. We park down the road because there are too many cars to get closer to the house. “It’s cold,” mumbles Mary as we hug our sides heading towards the house full of people.

“We’re almost there,” I tell her and before I realize it, she’s jogging towards the house. She throws open the door and jumps inside, clearly overcoming her nerves to be warm. I quickly catch up and open the door, walking into the busy house.

Trance music instantly fills my ears while I search the front room for Mary. She’s nowhere to be found, but then again it’s not exactly easy for short little me to see over the crowds of people. I smell alcohol as I push through people to my right, desperately trying not to get drinks spilt on me.

Then I see him. He’s standing by himself, holding a red plastic cup. Emery’s eyes meet mine and I smile happily, despite the anger I feel towards him. Time feels like it slows down as I push through people to get to him. He grins back and I’ve almost made it home free when everything goes from exceptionally good to horribly bad.

Emery’s grin fades before a second can pass. His eyes that meet mine suddenly grow distant. They’re still looking at me, but as his pupils grow bigger, it’s like he can’t see what’s in front of him. I watch as his fingers unclasp from the hold of the red plastic cup and it falls onto the tile floor, spilling everywhere.

“Emery!” I scream, as I watch his legs give out. I desperately try to push through people but I’m not match for the sea of bodies. All I can do is struggle as Emery falls onto the floor, people watching but no one trying to catch him. His head smacks on the tile, making a sickening crack as I finally break through the people.

By the time I reach him, he’s no longer breathing.