What Really Goes Down at Wallace Lake Prep

Chapter 4

My phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out and look at the screen.

FROM: Holliberries

TO: Grlgotwheels:

W R U? Alls here.

I fire back:

FROM: Grlgotwheels

TO: Holliberries:

In woods w/ B. J=dumb.

I put my phone back in my pocket and untangle my hair from the tree branch above me.

"Finally," I hear Bethany mutter to herself ahead of me. We've reached the trail that leads to the Shack. I glance at my watch. No wonder Holly's freaking out. It's already 11:30 and we were supposed to meet at 11. Oh, well, they must've gone ahead seeing as how she said everyone's there already.

"I can't believe how long it took her to fall asleep!" Bethany ranted, "A 45 minute shower, then she meditates and then finally she sleeps! Ugh!"

"I know. She's so annoying. You would've thought Amee and Hattie would've had some sort of initiation for her tonight. But no." I huffed.

"And the party's gonna be like half over when we finally get there!"

"Whatevs. We're gonna make the most of it," I say, "Look, we're here already." Sure enough, through the trees ahead I could see the flickers of the bonfire and hear laughter.

Bethany and I enter the clearing and the first thing I notice are the groups everyone's split into. Bethany walked over to Kira, Anna, and Ross immediately; then over in the corner by the shack itself are Parker, Jonah, Freddy, and Holly; and closest to the fire pit in the center of the clearing are Muligan, Tiffney (so he is still w/ her), and who I can only assume is Ryder.

Man! I caught my breath. To say that the boy was gorgeous would be a gross understatement. He even took the glow away from Muligan. Longish straw colored hair reminiscent of a surf god from California, tan but defs not fake-baked and a chiseled, well-sculpted face in the style of Channing Tatum. Wow, and I could see his arm muscles through the fleece he had on under a red vest.

"Nice of you to finally show up, Alaaine." I tear my eyes away from what I imagine Adonis looked like, to look at Muligan.

"Yeah, well, if you had an obnoxious Brit princess who thinks she's Amee's heir apparent as a roommate, you'd have issues getting out of your room too. Not to mention we had to shimmy down the drain pipe because the fire escape was too icy," I say back, then wave to Parker and Holly and head into the shack to grab some pop. As far as the administration knows, the shack is a rundown piece of junk, but the student body keeps it maintained on the DL and the mini-fridge is always stocked.

I come out with my root beer and head over to warm my hands by the fire. Tiffney, the slut, I can't help but think, is holding onto Muligan's right hand like she'll be blown away if she let's go. Tall, blonde, willowy, looks like she'd break if you poked her to hard, not that bright, in other words, exactly what Muligan normally goes for...though I aim to change that.

I stop in between Muligan and the angel come down from heaven; I turn to said angel saying, "You must be Ryder, Muligan said you were gonna come down with him and Ross and Jonah. I'm Alaaine." As I spoke, a breeze came through and tousled his hair. I almost lost track of what I was saying, he looked so cute. Even better up close where you could see the deep sea green eyes.