"So have you ever been to a high school party?" Katie asks while opening up her milk carton, "I mean New York parties had to have been pretty lit." I let out a short laugh and nod, "I've been to a few, I mean I always have to come up with some lame lie to tell to my mom, she's a bit overprotective," I roll my eyes at the thought of my mother letting me go to a high school party. She barely even lets me sleep over at other people's houses if she doesn't know them.

"You could just tell her you're sleeping over at my house, I mean what could happen?" she shrugs before jugging her milk. Yeah, what could ever go wrong at a party with more liquor than a bar and hormonal teenagers dancing unsupervised? Rico and James hop in the seats next to us with large grins.
"We heard you guys talking about parties," James smirks, "Well guess who just scored the four of us a spot at Jake's party this Friday!" Katie's jaw drops as she cheers and Rico pats James on the back before James suddenly stands and takes a bow as they applaud him and I stare in confusion.

"Jake's parties are the best in all of South Dakota," Katie explains as she pushes her light hair out of her face.
"You down," Rico nudges me and smirks.
"Why the hell not?" I laugh feeling regret fall into the pit of my stomach the second the words fall from my mouth.

+++

The rest of the day breezes by with little homework and a surprisingly quiet dinner. It takes everything in me not to tell Chris what Jesse said to me and how he knows we're lying. Now that I think about it that's probably the only reason he's friends with him, he caught someone in a lie and now wants to find out what it is we're trying so hard to hide. He has no idea what he's in for.

Thursday goes by the same as Wednesday and before I know it it's Friday and I'm standing in triumph as I just convinced my mom to let me go and sleepover at Katie's. I guess chronic lying comes in handy sometimes.

The bag over my shoulder seems to weigh me down as I stand at the end of the driveway waiting for Katie to come and pick me up. I didn't want to take the chance of my mother changing her mind so I told her I left 15 minutes ago when in reality I just took a 20-foot walk to the end of our driveway.

Katie's white Jeep comes into view and soon she zooms in front of me and goes to a screeching halt.
"You ready city girl?" she shouts over three more girls who I've seen sit at our table. I just smile and throw my bag in the car that'll probably stay in the car all night. I crawl over one girl and then wedge myself in the middle seat as Katie recklessly drives away from my house and to what will probably be my ultimate destruction.

"Oh, Kira this is Ruth, Vicky, and Macey!" Katie chirps from the driver's seat motioning to the other girls around me all equally gorgeous. Ruth has short blonde hair that frames her face perfectly and a small nose making her appear to be almost a cartoon, Vicky has flaming red hair and freckles sprawled across her flawless light skin, then Macey has deep brown hair and tan skin probably Hispanic.
"Oh yeah I'm Rico's sister by the way," Macey states with the same accent as her brother.

I give them all my best smile feeling a little nervous about this party, it never occurred to me how little friends I currently have. I mean this is the end of my first week and Katie's a great friend but she's so social I'm afraid she'll leave me and I'll look like a loser.

Teens are scattered across Jake's lawn playing games and chasing each other in a game of cat and mouse. Boys toss balls back and forth and tackle each other, some already half drunk and girls cheer them on and gawk at them. One guy, however, catches my attention, Chris.

I stare for a moment at the supposed goody-two-shoes and feel a sarcastic smile grow on my face as we park and leap out of the car.
"I'll be right back," I call to the girls and they all nod and give me a small smile as they see where I'm headed.

"Hey, Chris," my voice booms from behind my brother who whips around in a millisecond at the sound of my voice.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Chris hisses when he sees me.
"I could ask you the same thing," I sneer back at him and look at the beer in his hand. He purses his lips and simply rolls his eyes.
"Kira I'm older than you I can do what I want," he brushes me off.
"And I can't?" I question.

"No, you're only 16, Kira! You should be a Sophmore for crying out loud!" I roll my eyes as he scolds me like I'm some little girl.
"Sixteen eh?" oh my gosh does this guy always appear at the worst times? Chris and I both turn to a very well dressed Jesse. He doesn't hold a beer in his hand but instead a water bottle, probably with vodka in it or something.
"Yeah what's it to you?" I sneer and Chris sighs in annoyance from behind me.

"Kira go away," he retorts and I roll my eyes.
"You don't have to ask me twice," and just like that, I slide away from my fuming brother and back to my friends. Katie and the other girls sit around a table playing cards with a very flirtatious group of boys. I notice all of them have liquor in front of them but Macey so I slide in next to her.

"No beer?" I question with a raised eyebrow.
"No," she shakes her head with a smile, "I promised my parents I wouldn't drink until 21." My eyebrows raise at her honesty and sincerity.
"Nice," I smile and then she nods at me.
"And you? Where's your liquor?" she asks while playing some cards down. I just shrug, "Not a fan of all of it," I laugh and I find myself connecting with Macey more than anyone else I've met here.

After a few rounds of the card game, I finally join in to find out its BS. People come and go and before I know it over half of the people here are drunk and in the living room dancing the night away with the lights flashing.
"Two hours," Macey laughs over the music.
"Two hours of what?" I shout over Break Up Every Night by Chainsmokers.
"Two hours we've been playing BS!" with that we burst into a fit of laughter as a drunk stumbles into the kitchen we're in.

I quickly notice the drunk to be no one other than Katie, lip-locked with... my brother?
"Chris?" I scream and the two stumble away from each other, "What are two doing?" I gasp as they both look lazily in my direction but neither sober enough to actually find me.
"Kira what are you doing at a party!?" Chris shouts clearly forgetting our earlier conversation. Right when my brother turns towards me he lets go of Katie and she passes out on the floor causing Macey to leap up to her aid.

"Kira!" Chris shouts and charges towards me. My jaw drops as he harshly shoves me into a wall pinning me there, "You shouldn't be here you could get hurt!" he screams in my face. My lungs seem to dry out and I'm completely breathless as sweat drips down his forehead and he glowers at me, completely pissed and completely drunk.

"Chris get off of me!" I shout in his face and make an attempt to shove him off me.
"What if he found you huh?" he shouts at me and once more my jaw drops at his words. Did he just say what I think he said?
"He could be here you know! Mom thinks he's already found us but she won't tell you that! Not since you got the text," he speaks lowly now as if he finally just realized that he's screaming our family secrets at a school party.

"Chris you're drunk," I whisper staring up at his fuming figure that has angry and most likely scared tears running down it.
"We're gonna die, Kira, he's going to kill us," he whimpers and right as he says those words two hands yank him off me.
"Alright alright let's get you cleaned up," the guy drags him away and I watch as a tall man with golden hair drags my brother away. Jesse. How much did he hear?

+++

Katie and Vicky are beyond passed out as we drive the white jeep to Macey's house, Macey driving and me in the passenger's seat.
"So where's Rico staying tonight?" I turn to Macey who just shrugs.
"Unlike me, he didn't exactly follow in on his promise to our parents, he'll probably be passed out drunk at Jake's till morning," she explains and I nod.

"So you know why I don't drink but why don't you, I mean obviously your brother does, so did you have an alcoholic parent or something?" she asks turning into a new road.
"No neither of my parents were alcoholics," I shrug and bite my lip.
"Were?" she questions. Dang, this girl is sharp.
"Are, neither of my parents are alcoholics," I correct with a tight smile and she nods.

"And by the way, my parents might both be up. I mean they're cool with me bringing my drunk friends home as long as I'm not one of them," she explains. In about a minute we pull into her driveway and sure enough, the lights are on in four different rooms of her large house.

"Up and at 'em girls!" Macey cheers to the two passed out girls before dumping the rest of her water bottle on them causing both of them to jerk up gasping for air as if they just woke from the dead.
"C'mon c'mon," Macey coos them as we help them into the large house.

"Macey!" I hear a woman's strong voice shout from across the house and then in comes a larger Hispanic woman with an apron tied tightly around her.
"Hey Mama, can you help me with these girls they had a little too much..." she trails off.
"No further explanation, we can take them to the guest bedrooms," Macey's mom instructs.

"And you!" she points at me and looks me up and down, "You look even soberer than Macey!" a large smile suddenly appears on her lips.
"Oh, Mama this is Kira she's one of my new friends!" Macey explains while dragging a half-conscious Katie up the stairs.
"Oh! Well, any friend of Macey's is welcome in my home!" she then extends her arms and gives me a bear hug and kisses me on the cheek quickly with a large grin.

"You can call me Ana, no need to be formal," Ana smiles and I find myself becoming incredibly fond of this women.
"Ana who's here?" a man's voice shouts from upstairs.
"Some of Macey's friends! Two are passed out and one is actually sober!" Ana shouts back up to what I'm assuming to be her husband.
"Really?" he shouts back sounding surprised.

The husband and wife shout back and forth a few more times before a little girl, maybe around the age of 6 peaks her head around the corner of the stairs.
"Mama I'm trying to sleep!" the little girl complains.
"Yes, yes, yes, Maria go back to bed!" Ana shouts up the stairs.
"Can you tuck me in?" Maria pouts and Ana huffs before turning to me.

"I'll have Macey show you a room you can stay in tonight," she says softer before trudging up the stairs to Maria just as Macey comes running down the stairs after dragging Vicky up them.
"Alright I have one more room you can stay in," Macey smiles and nods for me to follow her up the stairs. Macey's house is probably the most beautiful Hispanic house I've ever seen, Hispanic paintings cover the walls and everything is squeaky clean.

Macey leads me into a room with a giant painting of wild mustangs on the wall and the bed has an antique quilt on it reminding me of home.
"Thank you, Macey," I smile and she flashes me her perfect teeth.
"Mi casa es tu casa," she smiles one more time before leaving the room.

Hopping on the bed I pull the quilt over me still in my clothes from tonight and too tired to change, that's when my phone rings.

How was the party?