I woke up in Jake's bed, mostly naked, looking at Jake, still asleep, rolling over to face the other direction. I looked down at the sheet covering my body, pushing it aside and sitting up. I bit my lip, smiling a small smile, grabbing my bra and starting to put it on. 

Jake was awake, looking back at me. "What are you doing?" 

"Trying to sneak out before you wake up," I answered, looking back at him.

"Oh, really?" Jake asked. "I'd figured you'd at least stick around for a while." 

I stood up, reaching for my jeans. "You're dreaming. And I'm living a nightmare." 

Jake pushed the sheets aside, sitting up. "Hey, you're the one that took forever coming over here last night." 

"You called me," I replied, pulling my jeans on. "And I took forever knowing it would piss you off." 

"You knew exactly what for." 

"Nope. Not at all. Thought you did something stupid and needed my help, just like old times." 

Jake stood, turning to face me. "So you came over here late last night to piss me off thinking I needed your help?" 

"Uh-huh," i said. 

"Well, excuse me if I find that hard to believe," Jake told me, holding my shirt. 

I walked closer to him, tilting my head. "And why is that?" 

"Because of the real Patricia Hartley, the Tricia that pretends to be careless, is actually starting to care again," Jake said.

I pulled my shirt out of his hands. "You're delusional." 

"Oh, so I went from dreaming to delusional," Jake said. "Anything else you'd like to add to the list." 

"Maybe," I answered. 

"And what is that?" Jake asked, his eyes trailing over me. 

I smirked, dropping my shirt on his bed and walking closer slowly. 

He kissed me first, pulling me closer. Kissing along my neck, then returning to kissing me. I wrapped my arms around his neck to pull him closer. He lifted me off the floor, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. He walked around his bed, putting me there, pulling back with a smile as he laid over me. My head tilted to the side, gripping the pillow as he kissed along my neck, my eyes closed.

I didn't realize how much I actually missed this. 

Jake seemed to think so too.

*

Finally at school, I walked toward  Faye and Melissa at Melissa's locker, noticing all the pink and red hearts all around us, designs, and a couple was kissing next to them. Obviously, it was Valentine's Day. "Oh, I completely forgot it's anti-Independence Day." 

"Or as I like to call it, the loneliest holiday of the year," Melissa said. 

Faye looked at the kissing couple. "Just be thankful you're not one of these needy, pathetic delusionals." She looked at me. "What's going on? There's extra sparkle in your bitchiness today, and  you're running late." 

"You're not gonna like the answer," I told her.

"Try me," Faye said.

"Fine." I leaned against the locker next to me. "I stayed at Jake's last night." 

"No," Melissa said, looking at me. "You fell off the Jake wagon?" 

"Technically, he fell off my wagon," I said. 

"This is where it starts," Faye said. 

"No," I said. "I won. And in my defense, I was a little messed up last night." 

"So, he was playing wounded, and you reached out and made everything better?" Faye asked. "Or were you wounded and he reached out and made it all better? Or is it both ways?" 

"Jealous, much?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm so not jealous," Faye said. 

"Right," I said sarcastically.

Melissa looked at me. "So, what are you guys doing for Valentine's Day?" 

I scoffed. "Please. School holidays suck. How about a  slumber party at my place? No boys allowed, and we throw a horror movie marathon where we watch people actually rip hearts out of people's bodies?" 

"Oh, I'm so in," Faye said.

Melissa shut her locker, looking at us. "Me, too." She looked behind Faye to Diana and Cassie walking toward us. "Hey, guys, we're having a 'Screw Valentine's Day' slumber party at Tricia's tonight. You guys wanna come?" 

Faye pushed away from the lockers, looking at Diana and Cassie. "Uh-uh. No way. No lame boy talk. Especially Adam talk." 

"I promise," Diana said.

"Faye, come on," Melissa said.

Faye sighed, looking from Melissa and me to Diana and Cassie. "Fine." 

Faye walked away.

The bell rang. 

"Oh, I forgot my book," Cassie told us. "I'll meet you guys in class." 

"Sure, whatever," I said, leading the way down the hall. Diana and Melissa followed me.

Cassie turned around and went the opposite direction.

*

At my house, Diana, Melissa and Faye were already here. 

Diana opened her pink and brown suit case, taking out a pair of bunny slippers. She tossed them to Melissa. "Aren't those cute?" 

Melissa smiled.

"Aren't," I said.

"It's a slumber party," Faye said. "How many wardobe changes are you planning?" 

"Maybe I did kinda overpack," Diana said, closing the suit case and backing into Faye. Faye fell back into my ottoman, breaking a creepy looking stick thing next to her stuff. "Oh, I'm so sorry." 

"Diana!" Faye yelled. 

"What is that?" I asked. 

"Broken is what it is," Faye said. She picked it up, standing, walking around us, putting it on my window seat. "I knew I should've brought that." 

Faye walked out of my room.

Diana looked at me. "This is a bad idea. Faye doesn't want me here to begin with." 

"Well, I do," Melissa said. She looked from Diana to me. "And who's house is this? Who's slumber party is this? Not Faye's. Tricia's." She looked at me. "Do you want Diana here?" I opened my mouth. She pointed at me. "Don't answer that." She looked at Diana. "Deep down, Faye and Tricia do, as well. They're just too preoccupied with stuff to realize it." She smileed and pointed at both of us, backing away. "I think I may have something to loosen things up."

She walked to her bag, opening it, pulling out a bag of Devil Spirit. 

I stood. "Are you serious? Devil Spirit? Don't you think you've had enough of that?" 

"No, not really," Melissa answered. "I've been taking it easy, don't worry about me." She looked at Diana. "It's herbal and totally mellow and it will just take the edge off." 

"Yeah, I promised myself I was moving on tonight, but I'm not really sure that's what I meant," Diana said. 

"Well, it's just rules and now is the perfect time to try something different," Melissa told her. "Hmm?" 

She licked her finger, putting it inside the bag to get the powder to stick, then putting it in her mouth to suck it off. 

"Okay, hurry, before I change my mind," Diana told her. 

Diana did the same. 

Melissa looked at me. "Come on, Tricia. You even said earlier you were messed up on this stuff when you were with Jake." 

"Yeah, and that's when I realized that I didn't want that to make my decisions for me," I told her. 

"Oh, come on, just one more time, just one more tonight," Melissa told me, begging. "For your anti-Valentine's Day party." 

I exhaled.

"Yeah, come on, Tric," Diana told me. "If I'm doing this, you're doing this." 

Diana held out the bag of Devil Spirit toward me. 

I looked from Diana to Melissa before giving in.

*

Diana and Melissa were mumbling incoherently, messed up. 

Faye turned the music up just a little bit, drinking from a bottle of wine. 

"Where's Cassie?" Diana asked.

"i don't know," I told her. I looked toward her phone. "Go text her." 

Diana stood up, walking over to her phone.

"Wait, tell her to hurry," Melissa told her.

Diana nodded, grabbing it, texting Cassie, reading aloud. "'Bitch, hurry.'"

Melissa fell back onto my mushroom chair. 

I looked up. "Pizza's ordered. Be here in 20." 

"Oh, God, I'm hungry," Diana said, smiling, her hands covering her face before she lowered them. "We should order pizza." 

Melissa giggled, standing up. "Wait, check it out. When the pizza guy gets here, let's do a spell to get him to give it to us for free." 

"Yes!" Diana cheered. 

"Seriously?" Faye asked. "I can do that by undoing two buttons." 

"No, no, no, I got it," Diana said. "Before the pizza guy gets here, we're gonna do a spell to make him hot!" 

I laughed.

Faye pointed at Diana. "Okay, that could be the least boring idea you've ever had." 

"And when he gets here . . . " Diana trailed off, leaning against the back of the couch. "I'm gonna make out with him." 

"Yeah, okay," I said sarcastically.

Diana stood up, her arms raised in a shrug. "Watch me!" 

Faye smiled.

"Okay, circle up," Melissa told us, waving her arms. We made a circle, holding hands. "So how do we do this?" 

"By making fire," Faye told us. "Except we picture the hottest guy imaginable." 

I nodded, all of us closing our eyes, concentrating, picturing the hottest guy imaginable. 

The doorbell rang. 

I opened my eyes, smiling, looking at the others. "That was fast." 

"I got it," Diana said, running toward the door. 

"She's gonna . . ." Melissa trailed off.

Faye, Melissa and I laughed, running after Diana, running upstairs.

If she was really gonna make out with a guy she'd never met before, we had to see it. 

Upstairs, Diana opened the door to reveal Lee, kissing him. 

I laughed. "Oh, my God." 

Faye pulled Diana away from Lee. "Doesn't the fact that he doesn't have any pizzas tell you that he's not the pizza guy?" 

"I was too busy kissing him," Diana said. 

I looked at Lee. "What the hell are you doing here? You stalking us now?" 

"I called him, relax," Faye told me.

"You invited him?" Melissa asked. 

Faye looked at Diana. "Just to fix what she ruined." 

"Faye, the deal was no boys," I said. 

"That was a bad deal," Diana said, pointing at me.

Melissa sighed, pulling Diana away, out of the foyer. Diana waved bye. 

Lee looked at me. "I didn't know this was your house or that you had company." 

"And I didn't know Faye called you," I replied. I looked at Faye. She shrugged innocently. I looked back at Lee. "Slumber party, actually." 

Faye nodded. "Glad I called?" 

"We'll see," Lee said. 

Faye used her thumb to point to my bedroom. "Right this way." 

Lee walked in, past us. Faye started to follow. 

I closed the door, my gaze following them. "No sex in my bedroom!" 

*

When the doorbell rang again, Melissa, Diana and I ran toward the door, looking through the small square windows to see a blonde boy with a pizza box. 

I opened the door, looking at the hot pizza guy. "It worked." 

"You did order a pizza, right?" the pizza guy asked.

"Actually, we ordered you," Diana told him.

Diana pulled him closer, kissing him. I took the two pizza boxes so he wouldn't drop them. Melissa and I exchanged a look, laughing. We looked back at Diana and the pizza guy, still kissing. 

Melissa cleared her throat, pulling Diana away from him. 

I held out the twenty dollar bill toward him. He smiled, taking it. "Keep the change." 

He looked at Diana. Diana smiled, waving.

I shut the door. 

"Oh, my God!" Diana said.

Melissa squealed, laughing. 

"He wanted to stay," I said, all of us walking toward the kitchen. 

The doorbell rang again. 

"I got it," I said.

"No, I got it," Diana said, running for the door and opening it, thinking it was the pizza guy, but it was Cassie. "Want another tip?" 

"Were you just kissing the delivery guy?" Cassie asked. 

Melissa laughed. Diana giggled, covering her mouth. 

"We did a spell to make him hot so we would get to kiss him," I told her. 

"Okay, maybe I should go," Cassie said. "I'm not really in the party mood." 

"Don't you dare leave," Diana told her innocently, pulling her inside. "It's girls' night!" 

Cassie walked further inside. Diana and I followed her. Melissa stayed behind, shutting the door and doing something else. 

Obviously, Melissa and Diana were more messed up than me, but i was still a little over the limit. Not nearly as much, though.

*

We were in the living room now, hitting pizza. Cassie told us about the ghosts of a coven of witches stalking her through the medallion.

Faye walked in. "Lee fixed the thing. " 

"You ddin't have sex in my bedroom, did you?" I asked.

Melissa laughed.

"No, Tricia, we did not have sex in your bedroom," Faye told me, sitting down in between Diana and me.

"Mm, something freaky happened to Cassie!" Diana said. 

"Yeah, of course it did," Faye said. "Otherwise, how else can this night be all about her?" 

"I saw a ghost," Cassie told us. "In the basement of the abandoned house." 

"Mm?" Diana hummed, looking at Faye. 

"And then the medallion moved on its own," Cassie told us. 

"You actually saw a ghost?" Faye asked. 

"Yes, and I think it was trying to tell me something," Cassie told us. "And I got so scared when I first saw it, but when I came back, it was gone. I . . . I looked through the Book of Shadows, but there's nothing about contacting ghosts." 

"You want to speak to the dead, I think I have just the thing," I told them. 

I got up, going to get the ouija board. 

Diana tilted her head back and forth as she took another bite of pizza. Both her and Melissa giggled. Cassie looked between them in confusion before looking at Faye. Faye shook her head, taking a sip of wine. 

*

Now, the five of us sat around the ouija board, each of us having two fingers on the pointer, making a pentagram. Three candles were lit on each corner of the table. 

Melissa sighed. "Nothing's happening." 

"This is so lame," Diana complained. 

"We're witches, it should work," I said, tilting my head. 

"Apparently not," Faye said in her famous bitchy tone. 

Cassie looked up with realization. "But . . . " She took off the medallion, holding it up for us to see. "Maybe this will." 

I took the pointer away. Cassie put the medallion on the ouija board. 

"You think that's a good idea?" Melissa asked.

"Let's find out," I said. 

Diana smiled, all of us putting two fingers on the medallion, closing our eyes.

"I'm trying to contact the spirit that's been following me," Cassie said. "Are you there?" 

Diana and Melissa giggled. 

Faye looked between them, then looked at Cassie and me. Cassie shook her head. I tilted my head with an expressive shrug. 

"Okay," Melissa said, gesturing for us to go on.

"I'm sorry," Diana whispered, still smiling.

Cassie closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath. "What are you trying to tell me?" 

The medallion started to move. 

I took my hand away. "I'm not doing that." 

"Me neither," Melissa said, taking her hand away. 

Faye, Diana and Cassie took their hands away.

The medallion was still moving. 

"What?" Cassie asked.

"What the hell?" Faye asked.

The medallion stopped over the S. 

"'S,'" I said.  The medallion slid across the board to the A.  "'A.'" 

"Oh, my God," Diana said.

The medallion slid over two letters to the C. 

"'C,'" I said. It slid across the board to the R. "'R.'" It slid across the board to the E. "'E.'" It slid over one letter to the D. "'D.'"

"Sacred," Cassie said. "What's sacred?" 

"What does that mean?" Diana asked. 

"Maybe that the witch was sacred or buried on sacred ground," I said. 

"Really?" Melissa asked.

"Or that your father is sacred," Faye told Cassie. 

Diana looked at Cassie. "You are the most sacred witch in all the land." 

Melissa and Diana bursted into laughter. 

"You two are acting like idiots," Faye told them. 

"Guys, this is serious," Cassie told them. "Come on." 

Melissa stood on her knees. "Group hug."  Diana stood on her knees, both of them gesturing for us to come in. "Come on." 

"On that note, I'm out," I said, standing up, backing away.

"Me too," Faye said, standing, walking away upstairs.

"Okay, since the medallion doesn't want to talk anymore . . ." Melissa trailed off. Diana laughed. "How about we just party?" 

I rolled my eyes, walking upstairs. The buzz had already worn off for me. 

"I want pizza," Diana said, standing up, starting to follow me.

"Pizza!" Melissa said, follwoing us. 

Melissa went back downstairs.

*

The doorbell rang again.

I walked toward the door. "Did you sluts order anothe hot pizza guy?" I opened the door to see Jake. "Hi, sexy slumber party, no boys allowed." 

I started to close the door. 

Jake put a hand out to stop me. "I need to talk to Cassie. I've been trying to call her." 

Melissa jumped out into the hall next to me, expecting to see another hot pizza guy, but when she saw Jake, she was immediately disappointed. "You're not a hot pizza guy. Cassie just left."

"So have fun," I said.

"Hm," Melissa hummed, starting to close the door. 

Jake caught the door again. "Where did she go?" 

"Uh . . ." Melissa trailed off. 

"It's important, Melissa," Jake told her. 

"Oh," Melissa said, chuckling. "To Adam's." 

I tilted my head, shutting the door in his face, both of us walking away. 

He still cared about Cassie.

*

In the kitchen, I could hear Diana and Faye talking about being replaced by Cassie or being replaced as a friendship with Melissa, about how Diana ditched Faye the second she had gotten serious with Adam back in junior high.

I rolled my eyes, walking away.

I walked into my room to see Melissa laying on the floor, shaking, unconscious. "Oh, my God. Faye! Diana!"

I ran to Melissa's side, kneeling next to her. Faye and Diana ran to the door, stopping for a second in shock, running to our sides. 

"What happened?" Faye asked.

"What's wrong?" Diana asked. "What happened?" 

"I don't know," I told them. I looked down at Melissa. "Talk to me. Melissa." 

"Hey, hey, hey," Faye said, helping her sit up.

"Talk to me, Melissa, wake up," I told her. 

"Wake up," Diana told her. "Wake up." 

I saw the empty bag of Devil Spirit, staring in shock as I picked it up, looking at Melissa. "Did you take the rest of this?" 

"Come on, we've got to get her to the bathroom," Diana told us. "Come on. Quick." 

Faye, Diana and I carried Melissa toward the bathroom.

*

Melissa was gagging and vomiting the Devil Spirit out of her system and into the toilet. Diana was kneeling next to her, holding her hair back. Faye was standing next to the sink with a towel in hand. I was leaning against the wall next to the door, looking at her worriedly.

"You're okay," Diana told her. "You're gonna be okay." 

Faye looked from Diana to me. "I can't believe you two did those drugs with her." 

"I can't believe you introduced it to both of us," I replied. 

"God, I'm sorry," Melissa told us.

"No, no, it's okay," Diana told her. 

Faye walked closer, holding her hand out to Melissa. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up." 

Melissa looked at Faye's hand, but ignored it, turning to Diana for assisstance. Diana helped her up, leading her past Faye and past me, out of the bathroom. 

I looked at Faye as I turned toward the door, both of us looking after Diana and Melissa. 

*

I was in my room, sighing, laying on my bed. 

Diana stood at the open door, knocking. "Melissa's feeling better. Faye's with her. So I'm gonna go. Just let me grab my stuff." 

I stood up. "You should stay. Not that I care one way or the other, but Melissa obviously needed your help, and it would piss off Faye if you stayed, which is a double plus." Diana smiled. "So, stay." 

Diana let go of her suit case, standing in front of me. "You heard me and Faye talking earlier, didn't you?" I nodded. "I screwed up back in junior high. But I am never gonna leave Melissa as a friend again. No matter what." 

"I know you won't," I told her. "Because Faye will make sure of it." I slid my finger across my neck. 

Diana smiled. "Got it." She started to back away, then stopped, looking back at me. "And honestly, no offense, but you don't have that many friends, especially in the Circle. You push everyone away to never allow that to happen, other than Nick." I looked down. "And I get it, Tricia. I know why you do that. It's because you don't wanna lose anyone else. But I can tell you this. It doesn't matter what happens, but we will never leave you alone." 

I smiled a little, tilting my head, looking away. After a second, I looked back at her. "Don't make promises you can't keep." 

Diana smiled, turning around and leaving the room. I smiled a little, then let the smile fade. I walked over to my desk, looking down at the picture of Nick, Jake and me, all of us smiling. I smiled a little. 

I missed it.

*

Diana, Melissa, Faye and I were out in the living room now, sitting on the couch, pillows all around us. The lights were out as we watched a horror movie. 

"Worst Valentine's Day ever," Melissa said. 

"Yep," Faye said.

"We have to quit that stuff," I said.  I looked at them. "All of us." 

"Lee says its really dangerous," Faye agreed. 

"Well, that guy likes you," Melissa told her. "Guess he's not as bad as we thought." 

Faye shook her head. "Mm-mm. I am done with guys." I laughed. Diana and Melissa smiled. Faye looked from me to Diana and Melissa. "For now." 

"Well, too bad," Diana said. "He's a really good kisser." 

Melissa and I laughed. 

Faye stood on her knees above the couch, taking her pillow and hitting Diana. 

"Really?" Diana laughed.

"Guys, no, no, no," Melissa told us. 

Diana laughed, hitting Faye with her pillow, making feathers fly everywhere. Diana and Faye hit each other with the pillows. Melissa raised hers as a shield. Faye swung hers back to hit me. I laughed, raising mine to hit her. All of us were laughing as we had our very own pillow fight. 

Diana fell back onto the couch. I hit Melissa from behind Faye, falling back onto the couch.

Even though it was extremely childish, it was also what kept us sane tonight.