It took me a little while to remember where I was when I woke up this morning. I turned to my side and saw a peaceful Noah, still fast asleep. I'd be lying if I said I didn't remember what happened last night. But I really wish I didn't.

I sat up slowly and yawned, groaning low as I slipped out of the bed. I flinched at the touch of the ray of sunlight that came in from the window. Putting on my shoes and the rest of my clothes, I stood up and walked out of the room. I felt around my skirt pockets for a minute before grabbing my phone. The battery was dead. Shit, Trip must be so worried right now.

I quickly grab my backpack from off the floor and tip toe my way to the door. Trying to escape before Noah wakes up and we're forced to have an awkward conversation.

"Where are you going?", Noah asks from the bed. His British accent coming out a-bit thicker than usual

I gulp as my body swiftly turns around to face him. "This was a mistake Noah. Everything that happened between us is wrong and disgusting and....a mistake."

He furrows his brows and sits up. "Okay? But you did not answer my question"

"What?"

"I had asked you a question before you started to rant. Where are you going?"

I exhale in frustration. "To the love of my life"

"Does he know that you spent the night here? With me?", he smirks devilishly, "does the love of your life know that?"

"Bye Noah", I say aggressively and leave the house.

The walk back to the motel takes almost an hour and the entire time, I mentally practice just exactly what I plan on saying to Trip. When I finally get to the motel I see Trip standing by his car. When he notices that I'm here his face grows sour and I can almost feel how pissed off he is.

"Hey", I try nervously and he completely ignores me and asks a question of his own, "Where were you last night?"

"I uh... I ran into Kiara and she asked me to go over and talk", I try to lie, "I ended up losing track of time and I fell asleep"

"You didn't think to call me?"

"....my phone's dead"

"Promise me you didn't do anything stupid"

Oh no.

"I promise"

***

I know what you're thinking. I'm a bad person for lying to my boyfriend. I know that. Maybe I shouldn't have? Maybe I should call him right now and tell him the truth?

The truth is, I have no idea why I slept with Noah. Until last night, I never cared for him. Quite frankly, I was kind of disgusted by him. Whatever came over me was just a one time thing. I can assure you.

I finally arrive at my house and it's empty. I let out a loud groan and I hear my voice bounce of the walls of the empty house. I decide to take a shower and so I hurry up to my room to pick out my clothes. When I open the door, I'm startled to see Sophia Leon seated on my bed, looking through an old photo album. She looks effortlessly beautiful in her black jumpsuit and matching black sneakers. Her blonde hair is tied sleekly into a ponytail and her lips are a bright pink color, enhanced by the clear lipgloss she's wearing.

"Sophia?"

"Kelsie Burklin", she smiles, "Hi"

"How did you get in here?"

"I was friends with Kylie for over seven years. I have a key" she dangles her key in the air and walks up to me. "Have you been cheating on your boyfriend for a while or is this a new thing?"

"What?", I almost choke, "what makes you thing I'm cheating on my boyfriend?"

"You smell like Kylie did when she would wear Noah's hoodie. Also, your neck is kinda red. Like someone's been choking you", she says and I gulp nervously, "Kylie said Noah was a choker"

I let out a sigh. "Let's go out", Sophia smiles

"Wha? A second ago you were interrogating me and now you wanna go out?"

"You seem stressed out and It's my duty as a team captain to make sure you're okay. Besides, I was just about to go to the mall"

"I don't really feel like being at the mall right now Sophia"

"Well then, it's a good thing I don't care", she says and stands by the door, "get changed and meet me downstairs"

***

I absolutely dread the mall. It's always the same temperature inside no matter what the season is. The light is the same, the scent, the polished floor, the annoyingly catchy music, the half naked teenagers. Only the piped music and the fashions change. People aren't people in here, they're consumers. They see one another as obstacles, both to walk around and wait behind for a turn to reach the tills.

Sophia insists that we go looking for outfits for the pep rally that's coming up next week. I remind her calmly that I'd rather not go but, of course she couldn't care less and insists that I try on a few things. I end up buying a plaid mini skirt with a matching jacket and some golden earrings. Sophia says they make me look just like Kylie. I like that.

We spend the entire day going to different stores and trying on different things while Sophia flirts with every eligible college student in the mall until finally, it starts to get dark.

"Hey, have you ever been to the teen club down by main boulevard?", Sophia asks me as she starts her car and we drive out of the malls parking lot

"No. I'm not the clubbing type"

"Well, we're going. Mason and a bunch of my other friends are there", she says, "it'd be unacceptable of me not to go"

"Sophia. I really would rather not"

"C'mon. Weren't you the one trying to get closer to Kylie or some weird thing like that?", she asks me sarcastically, "Kylie loved going out with us"

Ugh. It's moments like these that I forget why I listen to Miss Nadia.

"Okay. Fine"

We drive to the club and the entire time my mind is somewhere else. I still need to get my hands on my mom's software and I still need to talk to Ryder after all this time and I still need to figure out this whole situation with Trip. The last thing I should be doing right now is bumping and grinding in the club.

The bouncer at the front door gave Sophia one look and immediately pulled open the door. She sent him a wink and we were on our way. The nightclub was rainbow lights and the sort of beats that revved up the soul. It was like a heartbeat on loudspeaker. A bunch of people melted away on the dance floor while others sat at the bar enjoying mock-tails and taking pictures that they would probably put on their Snapchat's and end up deleting the day later, when they realize how trashy they looked.

"There's the guys", Sophia said. I followed her like a lost puppy as she walked in the direction of Mason and his friends.

A few hours had gone by, maybe two or three and with each hour I started to loosen up more and more and just enjoy the night. Soon, Mason and two of his friends decided they wanted to enter Becca Krasinsky's house without permission and steal her diary. The diary she writes in every single day at school. And of course, Sophia insisted that we join. Typically, I'd be against this idea but, there's something about peer pressure.

Before I knew it, we were all standing in the front lawn of Becca's house. The entire neighborhood was silent. All the doors were locked and all the lights were turned off. You'd barely even know that there's any human settlement here if you hadn't been here at 10 in the morning.

"Let's go to the back yard. She never locks the doors. She told me so when I came over for a tutoring session last week", Jace McClain says and the guys start to run to the back

I rolled my eyes. "Nope. No. No way. You said no breaking and entering."

"This isn't breaking and entering. It's just entering, because there's an unlocked door", Sophia scoffs, "Theoretically, the cops could charge us with entering, but they could not charge us with breaking and entering. So I've kept my promise."

"Sophia. I'm serious"

She groans. I can tell that she's disappointed. "Fine. I'll take you home. Come on"

I nod in appreciation and Sophia drives me home. We get to my house but before I can get out of the car, Sophia tells me something.

"You're not going to tell Trip are you?", she asks

"I don't know", I answer honestly, "Should I?"

"Do you plan on doing it again?"

"No. Not at all. It was an accident I swear"

"Then don't ruin something good over a stupid mistake you don't plan on making again", she said, "Sometimes relationships just get so hard and overwhelming that at the time, it's easier to just picture yourself leaving the situation entirely without even trying to fix things. And when you act on that...well, you know the story goes. Don't make Kylie's mistakes. Learn from them"

"Thanks Sophia"

She smiles at me and I leave the car.

When I enter the house, I turn on the lights and I hear a noise coming from the living room.

What the hell is going on?

I tiptoe to the living room with 911 already dialed on my keypad. "Hello?" I whisper

"Kelsie? It's me", I hear my dad. How is everyone entering my damn house?!

"Kevin? What're you doing here"

"I'm here to take you to Echo Creek"

☔︎︎☔︎︎☔︎︎☔︎︎