Searching for Sweetness

Chapter Seven - After Midnight

Paige quirked an eyebrow at me. "Well? What did I tell you?" Her amused grin wasn't lost on me. I only rolled my eyes in her direction. She had it in her head that I didn't know how to have fun, which was totally a lie, because I was plenty fun before we met.

        "It was okay, I guess. But sneaking into the country club after midnight just to go swimming isn't what I'd consider fun," I said, just the slightest bit of snide in my voice. Now it was Paige's turn to roll her eyes.

        "Okay, but you wouldn't know fun if it hit you in the face." She paused then, thinking. "There's a party Friday night. We should go." Her expression was pleading with me as her eyes danced with enthusiasm.

        I sighed. "No, we shouldn't. We have a geometry test on Monday, and neither of us know how the hell to write a proof." Paige waved my worries away.

        "We'll wing it. It's what we always do."

        "No," I reminded her, "it's what you always do. I at least try to study."

        "Come on, Maddie," Paige begged, "please. We never go out on the weekends. People are going to start to question why we're popular in the first place. You barely talk to anyone other than me. You need to socialize." She grabbed my shoulders, shaking them none too roughly.

        "Fine," I finally relented, "but only if we study for the test on Saturday."

        "Whatever. God, Mads, you're such a dork, but I love you."

~~~

I woke with a start, the journal sprawled across my stomach. I looked at the entry that was open. April 26. That was the night of the party that went to hell. It seemed almost fitting that it was the first entry I read, what with the way my doomed love-life was going. I already knew there was no way I'd be going to school today. There was no way I was ready to face Adam or even Hayden yet. Today, all I wanted to do was be with Paige. But it wasn't Adam and Hayden themselves that had me so unnerved. It was the journal entry. It was the day I met Adam.

~~~

"Do you think we'll get busted?" Even though Paige's question seemed to worry about how this would end for us, there was no denying the exhilaration in her voice. I shot a glance at her from my spot on the hood of her car.

        "Do you even care?" I queried. I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it for myself. Paige snorted.

        "Of course not."

        I sighed, pushing myself off the car. "I don't know why I agreed to this. I'm not the party type." I shook my head at her.

        "And you think I am? I hate large crowds, but I love the attention. We'll be all anyone's looking at because we rarely appear at parties. God, it's so perfect; I couldn't have planned it better myself. You let them wonder what you're doing long enough to start speculation, and then, BAM! You're in the center of their circle, but only for a little while, because you're still a mystery to everyone in this washed up town." She grinned at me coyly. "Are you sure you didn't have this plan floating around in that big brain of yours? Because it's fantastically genius. And, let's face it, between the two of us, you're the smart one." I shook my head, denying her praise.