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Chapter Five

        Jay hasn't left me alone for over an hour. Over nineteen people have come up to him to try and pry him away, and to be honest I hope they succeeded, but he has stayed by me the entire time. Nicole has merged into the crowd, but every once in a while I catch a glimpse of her dancing or drinking punch, or flirting with cute guys. She's a natural.

        "Want to sit with us tomorrow? Dimitri, Alex, Chloe, Rachelle, Lanni or anybody wouldn't mind. Can you please sit with us?"

        "I don't know, I was gonna hang out with Nicole and Danny, but I guess that wouldn't be a problem." I shrug and bite my lip. My shyness is making it hard for me to act normal around a bunch of people. I'm not actually shy all the time, just in giant group gatherings of a ton of strangers. I can feel people's eyes burning into me. Jealousy radiates from a few girls in high quantity; their faces are red and they are whispering about something.

        "That's great," Jay says, beaming. "Do you want to dance?" He doesn't wait for my answer, just takes my hand and pulls me to the dance floor.

        "I'm not much of a dancer, let alone a good dancer." The song changes suddenly to a slower song and I roll my eyes. I put my hands on Jay's shoulders and watch my feet carefully. Finally, I have the rhythm of the song down, so I dance with Jay a little bit steadier. He is cute, but I don't know exactly how I feel about him. I've known him for a total of 24 hours.

        "You're doing great," he tells me after a moment. I blush and look at my feet again. The song ends and we stop dancing. I curtsy exaggeratedly and Jay laughs. I'm feeling easier about this whole talk-to-complete-strangers thing. After another hour and a half, I am getting tired and I still need to finish my homework.

        "I have to find Nicole. We still need to finish our homework. Thanks for inviting us," I tell Jay. I walk away and find Nicole in less than twenty seconds. She is talking to a guy with curly brown hair and deep blue eyes. He is probably a year older than us. She notices me and waves goodbye to the guy. Her hair is still perfect as we walk from the James Dashner dorms.

        "That was so much fun!" Nicole exclaims when we are out of earshot of the dorms. She is glowing and I feel like she might have a crush on somebody.

        "What's his name?" I ask. Nicole blushes and I laugh.

        "His name is Cody. He's a year older than us. Is it really that noticeable?" She makes a sound and covers her face, half laughing half growling. We talk about the night and when we reach our room, we switch the conversation to homework. I hear something slosh above us and I shove Nicole roughly forward into Lanni's bed.

        Lanni squeals when Nicole lands on her and then suddenly I'm covered in sticky slush. The bucket comes down just after and hits my head painfully. I see stars for a moment, and when that clears I begin to cry. The bucket was heavy and I can feel something warm on my neck now. Lanni and the other girl, Georgia, are laughing hysterically.

        Swaying on my feet, I lean against the door frame, holding my head. Somebody gasps and then I hear one of the girls cry out. Nicole begins yelling things at them, and I hear a few dull thuds and crying. Nicole chooses a few colorful words, and I want to cheer her on, but I can't.

        "Nicole," I breathe. She is immediately by my side and guiding me into the bathroom. She helps me clean off enough to get the slush off of me. Nicole darts from the room and I hear whimpering from the other girls. I am handed some new clothes.

        Peeling the dress off, I change into the sweats, t-shirt, and tennis shoes. When I am done, Nicole sits me down on the toilet and parts my hair so the cut is visible.