Greenridge Academy

Prologue

My hands are sweating, it's hot and there's over a thousand people at this party. A party that I didn't even want to come to in the first place. I look at my best friend, she's in the pool on some guys shoulders playing chicken with a bunch of drunk idiots. My heart starts erratically beating flashbacks from freshmen year come swarming back as I close my eyes. I'm no longer at this party... and I'm fourteen again. Well, fifteen in a couple of weeks.
  The first week of school I got invited to a party by a senior. My mom begged me not to come, and said that older boys only have one thing on their mind... but she doesn't know Joey. Joey is sweet and kind, he wouldn't do anything bad to me. He would never hurt me. I got a few beers pushed toward me, I tried one. It tasted like what I imagine piss to taste like. Joey realized and got me a mixed drink... it's not mixed well but it's better than beer. It honestly tastes like rubbing alcohol mixed with cranberry juice. I don't know how many cups he's handed me... but this one tastes different; salty and more bitter... if that's possible. They must have ran out of what I was drinking before, but how sweet of him to keep a drink in my hand. He's playing beer pong, and yet every time he sees me finish my drink he refills it. He's such a generous person and must really like me. I'm the only freshmen here. Joey said I'm mature for my age and must have an old soul. Every time I'm around him I get a tingling feeling in my belly, and my hands start shaking. I look around the stuffy basement, and realize my head is beginning to fog, so I set my drink down on the closest surface I can find. A pair of hands wrap around my midsection and I tense. "Want to go swimming?" I instantly relax. It's just my Joey. Joey would never hurt me. He's probably over a foot taller than me. I haven't grown since seventh grade, me standing at four foot nine, him standing at six foot one. "Is anyone else out there?" I look around and the same amount of people are down here from when I got here. "Well, if we're lucky no. Chase has also told everyone it's off limits so no one puke's in the pool this time." He says. I'm still nervous to say yes, I've never been alone with a boy before. I also don't think it's a good idea to be in a pool while I'm feeling foggy. He must sense my hesitation. He loosens his grip and says, "It's cool. If you don't want to, I'm sure I can find someone else who will." He starts looking around at all the girls around us. Which I just noticed... there's a lot of them. "No, I want to go. I don't have a swimsuit though." Joey swings his head down to mine and kisses my cheek softly. Once he pulls away he is smirking out of the side of his mouth, the smile that I love the most. I take his outstretched hand and follow him up the creaking carpeted stairs. My vision flashes from the party I'm currently at to the one from almost three years ago. Steaming water, taking my clothes off... standing only in my Walmart bought bra and panties. Haley pushing a brunette down into the water and cheering with victory. Joey grabbing me by the hips and lowering me into the water. Miles and Lachlan talking to a group of girls on the far end of the pool.
  I blink a couple of times and start snapping my rubberband on my wrist to keep the flashbacks from coming again. I can't be out here anymore, I need to get away from what's causing the memories. Or at least that's what my therapist used to always tell me. I swing my hand above my head to get Haley's attention and motion to her that I'm going inside. Normal people have to go outside to get air... but in this case I need to be as far as I can from it to be able to breathe again. I turn on my heels and make my way inside, and I bump right into the man of the hour. Lachlan Richards. His party, his ginormous house – his rich daddy's house. He looks down at me, and I instantly look down and mumble as many apologies as I can while getting as far as I can away from him. Those are the rules now: Don't bring attention to yourself, don't wear anything revealing, never give a boy anything to look at, don't speak up, don't wear makeup, keep your existence to a minimum, and the most important... never drink. I don't stop walking until I reach the kitchen, it's huge. The ceiling has to be at least twenty feet high, and one side is a complete skylight. You can see almost every star in the sky from it, I'm sure it brings in amazing light in the mornings. On the far wall there's an entire wall of fridge/freezers that are matte black. The remaining wall that you can see around the entire kitchen is a soft white making the matte black appliances stand out. The island in the middle of the room matches the walls but has some black in the marbling. The sink is just one big tub instead of being divided down the middle, which is also matte black. It's the most beautiful kitchen I've ever seen. I hope they know how lucky they are to cook in a kitchen this nice and big... who am I kidding? They probably don't cook in it, of course they have a chef or something to do peasant things like cooking.
  I continue to look through the house, there's expensive art hung on the walls. Little to no family pictures... if I didn't come here for Lachlan and Libbiann's party I wouldn't know whose house this was. Looking around there's people everywhere, hanging out in the living room and on the stairs. I take the hall that has less people and open the first door. In-home theater. Of course, why wouldn't they have that? I close the door without walking in, nothing I haven't seen before. The next room is all the way down the hall across from the staircase. I turn the golden knob and push inward, and my jaw falls to the floor. If I thought the art throughout the house was expensive... these must be priceless. I take a few steps into the room in complete awestruck...there are portraits, sculptures, abstract, realism, digital, renaissance. "Wait—" I hear a soft voice say. I look around the room but there's no one here. I spook myself and leave the priceless art without looking closely at any of them. I probably wasn't supposed to be in there anyway. I look toward the steps that are directly across from me, then back down the hall to the party. I hear shuffling from the stairs but the smell of books hit my nose. I mean... What's the worst thing that can happen? If I walk into something, I'll just look down and leave; if no one is up there... and it's a library I can sit and read something until Haley is ready to leave. I debate with myself for a few minutes before I just walk up the stairs. Once at the top all I can see are shelves and shelves filled with books. The shelves are so high I don't know how anyone reaches the ones on the top, maybe it's all for show anyway. Turning in all directions I decide to go right, the lighting is dimmed around the room, but I can tell the center of the room is more lit. If I do find a book, I'll go there to read it. This is amazing. They must have thousands of books in here, and a lot of first editions too... rich fucks.
  I hear a soft whimper and my head whips around in all directions, I definitely heard someone in here. I turn on my heels to leave when I hear a soft voice, "no... wait." The words come slow, and sound groggy. I take more steps toward the voice... If someone is in trouble I have to help. Even if I put myself in the spotlight. I don't hear anything while I walk closer to the center, I almost convince myself that I'm going crazy when the big fluffy couch comes into view. There's a girl with platinum blonde hair and lowlights laid out, she has a red plastic cup in her hand. There's a boy on top of her, I can't tell who either of them are. He's running his hands over her thighs pushing her skirt up higher. I freeze where I am, completely unable to move. Maybe this is consensual, I should just leave. My feet start moving before I can do something stupid when I hear something hit the floor. My body shifts to look, the drink she was holding is spilling out onto the floor... and the boy laughs. Laughs. I have to do something, she's knocked out cold. What should I do? What should I do? I look around and the only weapon I have near me is a thousand page hardback book. No, that would mean I would have to be in close proximity to make contact. I pull my phone out of my pocket, my hands and knees shaking to the same beat. No, I can't do this right now, I have to help her. I dial nine one one, and walk until I'm not covered by the book shelves. The boy's hands have made it to the inside of her shirt, a few more buttons are undone. Now or never right? "If you touch her one more time, I'm calling the cops." My voice comes out steady like I'm not freaking out. The boy's head whips toward me and I hold my phone out so he can see I already have the number dialed. I only have to press one button and it's over. My jaw is on the floor, it must be a new thing for me tonight. Miles Davidson is looking back at me... he can have any girl he wants with a snap of his fingers. Why would he force an innocent girl? The girl's head is turned toward the couch so I still can't see her face. He doesn't move, "It's not what it looks like. She was asking for–" he says while sliding his hand up her skirt again. He must not think I'm serious. This fucking guy. I hit the call button and put it on speaker, "Nine one one, what's your emergency?" The operator speaks. Miles' head snaps back to mine with his eyes wide. He definitely didn't think I was actually going to call. "Hello, I'm at a party at The Richard's. I just walked in on—" Miles gets to his feet and runs. Stopping before he reaches the door. "If this gets out... you're dead." Then retreats out the door.
  "Hello? Are you still there?" I nod my head and continue. "I just walked in on someone trying to rape an unconscious girl." "Okay, thank you for calling. Did you see who the boy was? Do you know his name?" "I – no. I didn't see who it was. He was tall, had kinda long dark hair. I have to go." I hang up and run to the girl. I turn her head and move her hair out of her face. No shit. Libbiann Richards, Lachlan's twin sister. I tried to gently wake her, but whatever he gave her must have been strong. Mixed with alcohol, I'm going to have to do something else. There's a half empty water bottle stuck in between the couch cushions, this will have to do. I take a few steps back and pour the water over her head, making sure I don't pour it over her nose and mouth. She stirs but doesn't wake, so I try the last trick I have up my sleeve. I slap her as hard as I can. "What the fuck." She slurs. "Hey, where's your room?" I say softly. "Wha–" She closes her eyes again. Fuck, this is going to be difficult. I try to get her up, with a few tries I finally get her standing holding the majority of her weight. "Libbiann. Where's your room?" "Up – the – stair." She says each word with each breath she takes. You've got to be kidding me. Of course it's upstairs. I half carry half drag her to the door I saw Miles leave out of. There's a room right across from us. The door is ajar, and I can see a faint line of light seeping out. We hobble over to it, and I push the door further open. The room is huge, there's a small soft grey couch and coffee table closest to me. One wall is completely made out of windows, from ceiling to floor. The walls are painted a light grey with a matte black accent wall. There's a bed on the furthest wall, the biggest I've ever seen. The comforter looks soft and fluffy, probably costing more than my car. We hobble over to the bed and I see that the white comforter has little sailboats sewn into it. I drop Libbiann down as softly as I can on the bed. There's a few posters on the wall in the closet across from the bed. I say closet loosely, it's the size of my bedroom. On the other side of the bed is an in suite bathroom, I run to it and look around until I find a paper cup in a cabinet. I fill it with water and set it on the side table closest to Libbiann. She's already asleep again, but at least she's safe. She'll have one hell of a headache in the morning, but she'll be safe.
  I make my way back down to the living room and I see Haley looking frantically around the room. I walk to her quickly and wrap my fingers around hers and walk out a side door. She keeps talking, asking questions but I don't stop until we reach my car. Which is two streets over, I've never been more glad to be parked far away. Once we're both sitting inside and Haley is looking at me like I'm crazy I speak. "Your house... or mine?"