I groan as I sit up in bed, my head pounding, the light pouring in through the curtains, causing me to squint. I lay back and rest my hands on my face, my eyes closed, trying to recollect the events of the night before.

Not even the night before, now that I think about it, the party finished literally a couple of hours prior.

Judging by the brightness of the sky outside, I guess it's around 10 or 11 in the morning. I slowly shift to my side, the movement causing sharp pains to shoot through my head.

I jump slightly as I peek over the edge of the bed and notice a body sprawled out on the floor, passed out directly beside the bedframe. I'm guessing he didn't have the energy to make it any further.

I sigh groggily and lay back down, blinking at the ceiling. The memories of the night before have started to flow back, Cook and Effy kissing, Freddie getting pissed at me, me getting pissed at Cook, Cook and Freddie arguing, god knows what else.

Oh, and I'm presuming Effy and Cook shagged. I remember seeing her leading him up the stairs and although I was heavily gone by then, I still remember that moment vividly as it hurt me to witness.

It doesn't take a fool to figure out what they got up to, especially since we're dealing with Cook here, and Effy.

I jump out of my thoughts as the door suddenly bursts open. It's Effy, speak of the devil, and she looks a wreck.

To be fair, I probably do too.

Her dark eye makeup is even more smudged than it was before, and her hair is wild looking. Yet there's still that sparkle in her eyes, she can still pull it off so well.

"Have you seen Cook?" Effy asks, her eyes darting around the room as if he'd be hiding in a corner somewhere.

I shake my head, wincing at the pain I caused by doing so. "Why?"

Effy shrugs. "He said he'd nick me a morning after, he's been gone ages."

I blink at her. "O-Ok," I stammer, taken aback. "Are you not on the pill?"

"I am," she stares at me. "Puked it up."

I mouth an "oh" in response, and break eye contact with her.

Guess that confirms what Cook and Effy got up to last night.

"No condom, no?" I murmur, staring out the window so I don't have to look at her.

"We were fucked, Eve," Effy says, emotionless. "It was the last thing on our minds."

"Right," I respond, narrowing my eyes.

I hear Effy tapping on the doorframe with her fingernails.

"So, haven't seen him, no?"

I shake my head again, enduring the pain this time. "Like I said, no sign."

She sighs and half-smiles at me, before shutting the door behind her.

I look at her as she leaves, my mind a whirl.

Where is he, then?

EFFY

I kick my feet up onto Naomi's kitchen table, cigarette in my left hand, my right hand fiddling with a napkin. My mind is empty, the only thing I'm feeling right now is the nicotine bang.

I look up as Pandora enters the room, Freddie following closely behind her. He hesitates for a moment when he spots me, and simply just blinks at me, before plonking himself down on the chair across from me, now avoiding eye contact.

"Hiya, Eff!" Panda chirps, rummaging through Naomi's cupboards for a bit of breakfast, I'm assuming.

I look at Freddie, dragging on my cigarette, before acknowledging Pandora. "Hi, Panda."

She slumps down beside me, huffing. "Nothing to eat in this house," she grumbles. "Do you think that's where Cookie's gone? To the shops? For breakfast?"

Freddie snorts in response across from me. "Fat chance," he mutters. "He's probably off on another bender."

"Nothing wrong with that," I respond, tapping the burnt butt of my cigarette into the ash tray on the table.

Freddie simply just looks away, choosing to ignore me. I continue to stare at him, while Panda natters on.

"So, Eff," she turns to me so her body is directly facing me. "How was your night? Did you enjoy it? I think I did, though I was bloody tired, thought my head was gonna fall off at one stage! Then Cookie told me to get some rest, so I did."

I glance at her from the corner of my eye. "So when Cook tells you to do something, you jump to it, right?"

She blinks at me, visibly confused. "What are you on about?"

I shake my head, smiling. "Nothing," I raise my eyebrows at her, and put out my fag.

She frowns, then smiles uncertainly. "Okay," she grins. "So anyways, get up to anything exciting, Eff? You always do, that's why I love going to these big massive shindigs, you always have such stories to tell afterwards!"

I smile at her, standing up. "Tell you later," I mutter, glancing at Freddie, who's staring at me. I pick up my jacket that I left draping on the remaining empty chair, and walk out of the room, heading toward the front door.

"Where you going, Eff?" Pandora calls from the kitchen. "If you're going home, I am too. Mum's meant to be picking me up and she thinks we had a super girly night sleepover at your house, remember?"

I choose not to answer. I go to open the door, when I suddenly jump back as it's flung open to reveal the one and only Cook.

His eyes light up when he sees me, and he pulls me in with one arm for a rough side hug. "Alright babe, rough night?" He laughs, closing the door behind him in the process. "Were you just about to do a runner on me? I got your shit."

He pulls out a bag plan b, a pack of Benson and Hedges and a small naggin of vodka out of an Asda plastic shopping bag. I smile up at him.

"Gentleman," I giggle, and he kisses the top of my head.

"Breakfast is served, babe," he calls over his shoulder, heading toward the kitchen. "Don't go too mad. I also picked up one of those bread roll thingies for you, might soak up all that shit you're chugging."

I smile at him as I watch him entering the kitchen where Freddie and Pandora, then realise. Shit. Freddie and Cook.

I know Freddie has something for me. It's obvious. I know that's why Freddie was so pissed at Cook. I heard it all, the shouting.

Freddie doesn't really have a right to be so pissed, does he? I think Freddie is cool, but he can be so uptight at times. Cook is more, me. He's not exactly the brightest, he does lack common sense at times, but he's fun. I like how real he is. It's refreshing.

Cook's acting fairly real now, staring Freddie dead in the eyes as I enter the kitchen, stopping beside him in the doorway. They don't break eye contact as Cook puts his arm around me, his grip tight.

I stand awkwardly as we all wallow in the tension for a moment. It's so thick you could cut it with a knife. Cook breaks eye contact with Freddie to look down at me, dropping his arm off my shoulder.

He nods at the bag in my hand. "You gonna take your tablet shit or what?"

I nod as he struts over to the chair I was previously sitting on, and flops down into it, his legs spread and his elbow resting on the table. He leans over and shakes Pandora's arm.

"You alright?" He grins at her.

She smiles at him. "Hi, Cookie."

I look around at everybody and decide to just add to the tension. I head over to where Cook is sitting, plonking the plastic bag down on the tabletop, the glass bottle inside making a dull clunking noise. I sit myself on Cook's lap, and he smirks at me, pulling me closer by my hip and resting his hand there.

Freddie huffs and stands up in a sudden movement. "Unbelievable," he spits, glancing between the two of us, before stalking out of the room.

Cook simply just laughs bitterly and rummages through the bag I left on the table. He pulls out the cigarette box and opens it, placing one in his mouth and offering me one. I smile and take it from him, as he offers Pandora one.

"No thanks," she mumbles. "Don't want all that stink on me."

Cook nods at her and closes the lid of the box, leaving it on the table. "Fair enough."

He points at the morning after pill packet that's sitting at the bottom of the bag, as he holds his lighter up to his cigarette, then lighting mine. "You gonna take that or what?" He mumbles through the fag. "Don't want any mini Cookies running round the place, you get me?"

"I get you," I mutter, sarcastically, reaching for the packet. I can feel Pandora gawking at me.

I sigh. "Yes Pandora, we surf and turfed."

"You're mad, Effy!" She exclaims, her eyes round. "You can get preggers if you're not careful!"

Cook sniggers. "Good thing we have that morning after so," he unscrews the lid off the naggin of vodka for me, as he watches me open up the packaging. "Alcohol doesn't fuck with the whole effect, does it?"

I shake my head, popping the tablet in my mouth and taking a swig of vodka to wash it down. Pandora is still watching me in awe.

"Can't wait till I finally get to surf and turf," she mutters. "If it even happens."

Cook nudges her leg with his foot. "Your time will come, Pandapops," he laughs. "Don't worry, girl."

Pandora beams at him. "I'd sure hope so!"

I push myself up out of Cook's lap, holding my hand out to Pandora. "Come on," I nod my head toward the door. "Time to go home before your mum goes mental."

Panda nods vigorously, taking my hand and lifting herself out of the chair. She waves at Cook.

"See you at college," she says. "Happy late birthday."

"Cheers, love," he smiles at her in response, his eyes on me. "I'm seeing you again though, before college, yeah?"

I simply look away, heading out the kitchen and toward the front door. "Happy late birthday," I echo Panda, a small smile on my face as I open the latch, hearing Cook protest lightly in the background.

And with that, me and Pandora make our way down Naomi's path, arms interlinked with each other, giggling lightly over nothing.