Isabel Mendoza, the HBIC of our school newspaper, was more well-known for her social status in Alpha Chi Omega than her editor-in-chief title. Maybe it was a failure of society, but that didn't make it any less real. And although I wasn't in the mood to speak to her after she turned my personal business into a story to sell, I had to get my mind off of Corey somehow. Locking myself in a communications building to work on my articles wasn't exactly conducive to making friends, so my options were limited.

I wasn't exactly the type to enjoy a party under normal circumstances. It all seemed great in theory, but what was fun about hanging around strangers who didn't care about me and getting so drunk that I didn't even remember what happened when the next morning rolled around?

As I walked up the pathway to the house, decorated for Christmas even though it was only early December, the door opened before I even had the chance to step onto the front porch. Isabel stood there and waited for a moment for me to get closer. There was enough of a chilly breeze and loud Christmas music that I wouldn't have been able to hear her from too far away.

"Layla Gaudreau," Isabel said. "I thought you hated me after our conversation earlier this week."

I shook my head. "It's not your fault that you put my misery on the front page for everyone to see."

It was a little bit her fault, but she knew that.

"And he sucks, Layla," someone shouted from somewhere inside.

I peeked inside to see who it was. The house was packed full of people, none of whom were Ryan upon first glance, all dressed in Christmas outfits from ugly sweaters to complete Santa suits and the slutty feminine equivalent. I looked down at my jeans and non-festive maroon sweater.

"I wouldn't say that. He just didn't think the whole thing through—" I began, but the same girl interrupted again.

"He sucks and you don't need him, Layla."

A small smile found its way onto my face as Isabel stepped aside to let me in. I certainly knew I didn't need him, but I liked having him around usually. But as my fleeting smile disappeared, I bit my cheek. I really let the emotions of an unnecessary surprise get to me, didn't I?

"Would you just let her forget about it, Courtney? The only reason I even care about it is because it's putting stories from the Badger Herald onto people's screens," Isabel said as she shut the door behind me. It stopped the cold air from flowing inside, but a shiver went down my back anyway as I took off my coat. Loneliness was much colder than a Wisconsin December.

Courtney, who chose to go in the turnt up Christmas route with her outfit, shifted on the couch and patted the seat next to her, and I took her up on her offer and sat down next to her. One of the other offensive linemen on the football team handed her a festive red drink, and when he saw me, he turned around and walked the other way.

I assumed it was for bro code reasons and was nothing personal. He only knew me through Corey, anyway.

Courtney didn't take it personally either and turned back to me. "You're insanely pretty."

I put my hands in my lap and looked toward the door. Where was the guy who insisted that I come to the party anyway? "Thank you. You're pretty too."

I glanced over at her for a moment to make sure I wasn't lying to her. With her platinum blonde hair, petite frame, and bright eyes and smile, she was, in fact, very pretty.

She leaned in a little closer and took the ends of my straightened light brown hair in between her fingers. "Is this your natural color? It doesn't even look real."

I wasn't entirely sure that was a compliment, but I took it as one anyway. "Well, I appreciate that, but it's definitely public information that I'm going through a breakup right now, and I really just want to—"

Before I could continue, the door opened, and the only person I was interested in seeing walked through the door. Or, at least, I assumed. His scarf was pretty much covering his entire face.

I watched as he took his time to take off his excessive winter wear, and Ryan's face lit up when his eyes met mine. "I didn't think you'd actually come."

"I assumed you'd tell me that this was a Christmas-themed party," I said.

He shrugged as he took the seat next to me, which Courtney had left behind. I missed her friendliness already. "I didn't think you'd be interested in looking like Regina George during the Winter Talent Show."

"Maybe I am. Courtney seemed to be enjoying herself, which I believe is the whole point of being here," I said.

"Who's Courtney?"

"A very friendly girl who thinks I'm pretty, so we're best friends now."

He laughed. "Well, I'm glad you're taking this opportunity to make some new friends. You had too much of your social life tied to you-know-who."

I let out a breath, even if it was a little bit true that Corey was one of the only people I cared to talk to most of the time. "You can say his name, and I'm very lucky that you know exactly how I should live my life, aren't I?"

He nodded with a smile.

Of course, he didn't mean it, but he didn't even have half of the story to make his judgments, especially since we were nothing more than the best photographer-writer duo at the Badger Herald, but it sure was nice to have his expert opinion. It certainly cured the problem that my know-it-all sister, with all the wisdom that came with thirteen years on Earth, also had the puzzle known as my life figured out.

A long minute of silence lingered between us, but with Mariah Carey going off in the background, it certainly wasn't quiet at the party. There were plenty of football players that I recognized and had chatted with in the past, but fortunately for me, none of them were Corey. I wouldn't have even known what to say to him besides, "give me my stuff back."

It sure was funny how fast two people could become nothing.

"Well, since your new best friend left you, you should probably find a new distraction," Ryan finally said.

I nodded. "I probably should, but I've never been great with people. I don't even know where to start."

"Oh, starting is the easy part. All you have to do is smile at someone and introduce yourself. The problem is not saying anything too weird during the beginning stages of talking to someone new."

I smiled. "I'm fairly sure that's a bigger problem for you than the average person."

"Probably," he said and turned around to see if there was anyone interesting for me to strike up a conversation with. I wasn't sure what I had in common with anyone, and although finding out was supposed to be the fun part, it seemed much more painstaking than an adventure.

But before I could pick out a person in the group who seemed reasonably okay, a loud thump rattled the ceiling.

I sat up at the sound as Ryan snapped his head back toward me.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

I looked around the room, but no one else seemed to notice or respond to the noise upstairs. "That certainly wasn't a normal party sound."

Maybe it was the natural investigator in me, but before I could convince myself it was nothing, I stood up and waved for Ryan to follow me. "Come on. Let's just make sure nothing happened."

The two of us pushed our way through a group of people crowded at the bottom of the stairs and made our way to the top of the steps.

A girl, one that had been filled with an off-putting gregariousness that I had only known for a minute or two, was on the bathroom floor with the door still open, her skin a dull pale color that looked like she was the ghost of herself just a few moments before. Her pretty blonde hair was matted to her face, and the rest was trapped under her shoulders in a way that looked like it would pull and hurt if she were awake.

My heart sank into my stomach, and I imagined that my face had blanched to match hers. How long had it been since she left her seat beside me on the couch? Ten, fifteen minutes?

"Well, Ryan, this is my new best friend Courtney." I ran my shaky hands through my hair. "What happened to her? She really didn't seem drunk enough for alcohol poisoning when I was talking to her not that long ago."

"It doesn't matter right now. It could be a shit ton of things. Just call for help," Ryan said.

I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed 911 as I thought about how I probably didn't need to keep complaining about my own life. Some people had it much, much worse.

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Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your patience with this chapter. I know it's been a minute, but I'm doing my very best with balancing my life and my other WIP. I promise you that.

I always love getting feedback fairly early in the story so I know if I'm on the right track with my readers, so if you have any opinions, I'd love to hear them! Or any grammar things too. The weather has been a mess here in Ohio for weeks now, and it's starting to really get to my brain.

And for today's question, what is your favorite compliment that you've ever received?

For me, I've been told by a few people that they trust me. And I'm not entirely sure why that one means a lot to me (maybe because I do want people to feel comfortable around me, despite what some have described as my harsh exterior), but it makes me feel like I'm doing something right. So yeah. That's my favorite.