• Prologue

There it was, the crash, she sat up in bed.  The nightmare played back in her head every night she put her head on the pillow.  The voluminous bang of the cars colliding.  The ringing in her ears when she woke up in the hospital.  Thinking on the way home about what she did and how she was gone.  The last words they had were probably something stupid, they were both intoxicated and what they said and did specifically was a little fuzzy.

She knew he would never come back; he was already long gone, most likely wooing some other innocent girl.  She could never and probably would never get over the incident and the relationships she lost in the process.

By the time she had finished thinking about it she heard footsteps rushing up the stairs to her bedroom door.  She heard her mother knock on the door, she was learning to respect her privacy.  She would never lose the scars but at least they could heal a bit before she went into public.  Her mom understood, but her dad was still upset with the idea of what happened and

to her best friend, and she had no one to blame but herself.

3 Months earlier

She sat in class, thinking about how boring biology was.  She felt a tap on her shoulder, spinning around she almost hit her table partner with her long red hair.  A girl that she never talked to handed her an envelope.  She turned around quick, she didn’t want to be yelled at for talking in class.  She opened the envelope and pulled out a thick creamy colored piece of paper.  On it in cute curly letters she saw that it was an invitation.

~

You’re invited to the biggest bash of the semester.  All 11th graders are invited.  Hope to see you there.  

October 18 7:00 to whenever you feel like going home

There will be no adult supervision 😎

~

She heard about these kinds of parties from friends, teachers, parents and TV.  She knew that nothing good would

come from a party like that, but she was too curious.  She decided that if her friend Heather was going that she would too.  Bad choice, of course Heather was going, she was a party girl inside and out.  There was no way she would pass up the chance to go to a party, especially if there were boys.

Heather was the friend who would do anything for a good laugh or a funny story. Heather got into trouble and Bree got her out of it, that’s her name by the way.  Anyways, Bree was more calm and a bit more conscience of her actions, until the night of October 18 but let's not skip ahead.    

  Heather let Bree sleep over the Friday night before the party, well… kind of more like made her.  She was forced onto the bus that lead straight to Heather’s house and after that she was forced off it right onto Heather’s driveway.  

As they walked into the house Bree breathed in the familiar smell of the cinnamon candles that always stayed lit in the kitchen.  Heather’s house was huge compared to Bree’s.  Bree had an average home, two stories with small rooms and low ceilings.  But Heather was better off than her.  Her ceilings went up at least ten feet and Bree’s bedroom could fit in

Heather’s living room three times.    

They walked straight to her bedroom, like they always did, Bree threw her bags on the freshly waxed wood flooring and looked around at all of Heather’s stuff.  The large vanity with the blinking lights just like in the movies, the large queen sized bed that took up only a third of the room.    

Heather rushed into the room, not even remembering her leaving Bree looked at her hands which contained a basket full of perfumes, makeup, accessories, and hair styling devices.  Heather reached for the curling iron and plugged it into the

wall next to the vanity.

“What are you doing?” Bree asked.

“Well, I’m getting you ready for a party” She replied.    

“The party isn’t till tomorrow night, I think we have plenty of…”

“No.” Heather said, not giving Bree a chance to speak, “ We have to start tonight, you’ve never been to a party before so you’ve never found your look.  This could take a while so you may want to sit down.”

Bree sat upon the cushiony seat in front of the vanity and

watched in the mirror as Heather grabbed the dangerously hot curling wand.  She reached for Bree’s hair and skillfully wrapped it around the wand.  She felt the heat of the wand reach her head and a sticky feeling as Heather sprayed hairspray onto the twisted artificial curls.  She released the hair and let it fall onto her shoulder.  The step was repeated through her thick hair, loosely flowing below her mid back.

“Well that was easy,” Heather said with a sigh of relief, “now we have to do your makeup”

Heather was skilled when it came to makeup and found the

perfect shades of brown to bring out her dark brown eyes.  She made the browns into an ombre and finished it off with dark brown liner and dark black mascara.  She looked in the mirror of the bright vanity and it took her a while to recognize the face of girl she saw.  She didn’t look anything like the reflection she had previously seen, the makeup perfectly spread across her narrow face.  The locks of red, beach wave curls bouncing with every motion of her tall body.    

“What did you bring to wear” Heather asked.

“I was thinking I would just wear my jeans” Bree replied.

“Wow you never have been to a party before,” Heather said, “We’re about the same size, I think I have a dress that would pull your whole look together.”

Heather left into her walk in closet and stayed in there for a few minutes.  She had so much stuff in there Bree wondered if she would ever find the dress but she eventually came out.  With her she carried a short dark dress, it was simple and black.  She made Bree change into it, it reached her mid-thigh.  The plain fabric went up to the top of her bosom then continued with a black mesh up to her neck then wrapped

tightly down her arms shielding her slim wrists.  A little bit later Heather walked into the room with a pair of black heels.  She was already tall enough and didn’t understand why she needed an extra four inches added, but she trusted her friend.    

When they were done picking out everything Heather wrote down each and every part of Bree’s outfit, from head to feet and then took pictures of her makeup.  This wasn’t the first time Heather did this kind of thing Bree guessed.  She seemed like she knew what she was doing.    

She took off the makeup, the clothes, everything.  She put her hair into a top knot and threw on some of Heather’s pajamas.  She didn’t have any of her own clothes because she was never told to go to her house until school was done, that's when Heather dragged her in the opposite direction away from her bus, literally dragged her… Bree was being forcefully pulled across the ground to Heather’s bus on the other end of the line of buses.

They laid in the large, cushioned, heavily blanketed bed and watched some TV.  The last thing she remembered before

she fell asleep was the sounds of a dog yipping outside the locked front door.

~

Bree woke up to the sound of Heather rummaging through the closet.  Heather walked out of the closet with piles of dresses and a basket loaded with shoes.  This was always bound to happen, every time she went to Heather’s house Heather would bring out a stack of her new clothes.  They would each pick out their favorite outfits and blare music from the speakers in the closet.  They would strut through the room

rating each other, like children in their mother's heels and pearl necklaces.  Adult sized dresses too old and ugly to wear in public.    

They walked through Heather’s room with no shame in the fact that they had done the same thing since they were six.  Their scarves were whipped around their necks, hats thrown to each other from the “catwalk.”

They woke up too late though and breakfast was over and lunch was being prepared, twelve o’clock on the dot as usual.  Heather’s mom had a very bad case of OCD.  If things got out

of order she would freak, everything had its specific time and place and if something was out of order for too long she would start to have trouble breathing and tap her foot at a pace the speed of a hummingbird's wing.  She would need to use her inhaler.  It would take about twenty minutes for her to calm down.    

They quickly changed out of the clothes that they had been wearing previously and threw their pajamas back on.  They booked it out of the room and down the long hallway to the kitchen for lunch only to find the floor freshly mopped.  They

both fell with a thud, rolling with laughter.  Heather stood up first and walked the rest of the way to the table, Bree following carefully behind her.

They sat across from each other at the long table.  Heather’s mom walked into the room with two plates, the plates had grilled cheese and grapes on them.  None of the food was touching and each plate looked exactly the same.  Bree wanted to laugh, everything was exactly the same in their house.  Everything was perfect and in order.  Until that night, that's when everything changed.

The rest of the day was very uneventful.  At about five o’clock Heather and pulled her into the bedroom.

“We need to start getting ready.” Heather said.

Bree looked at her, confusion swept across her face, “but the party isn’t starting for another two hours.”

“We need to start now, if we don’t it will be too late and we’ll have to go in our day clothes.”    

Bree gave a sigh of defeat and instinctively sat at the vanity.  Product layered through her hair as Heather put her hair back up.  She had to put in more product than before, last

night was just a practice round so she didn’t need to put in so much stuff.  The clock was ticking, Heather pulled her short dark brown hair down, straightening it so it was as flat as a board.  They both threw on their dresses that had been neatly ironed and hung on the door.  They threw on their shoes and grabbed their bags.  Before they left Heather grabbed something and quickly shoved it into Bree’s hands.

“What is this?” Bree asked inquisitively.

“They’re a pair of fish net gloves, I didn’t know where they were and I just found them.” Heather said.

Bree quickly slipped the gloves onto her small hands.

Heather walked fast yet gracefully out the front door, her long white dress trailing behind her.  They ran out to the car and Heather jumped into the driver’s seat.  Bree knew how to drive but just wasn’t good at it, she had never went on the road before and was hesitant to do it without an adult with her.  She always drove with her mom and dad but she had never once gone off by herself or with a friend for that matter.    

They went out the driveway and headed for the party, it

was starting to get dark as they made their way there.  The sun had already set but its light still lingered over the horizon.  Pulling onto the street they noticed that every parking space that there was, was now packed.  Circling the block a few times they finally found a spot on the other side of the block.  They walked past the houses, each of which were empty.

As they reached the house a loud noise came from inside, well… more like noises.  There were tons of people there, it was like her whole class was there along with the 11th grades of 7 different schools, and that wasn’t it.  People poured in

through the door with every minute they stood there.  Heather knew what she was doing, unlike Bree.  She walked through the crowded hall toward a group of people that Bree recognized from her school.  They were the other group of people that Heather would hang out with at school.  The ones that she would talk to in the hall, they had there own inside jokes.  Ones they made at parties like this, but now she was here, they would have jokes that she would get.  Nicknames she would know about, stories that they told that she could help tell.    

  The night was uneventful, Bree got a few comments on her dress and then there was one guy who stuck out.  He came around 9:30.  He ran into her and she spilt her punch on the ground, missing her dress by inches.    

“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry.  Let me get you some more.” He said and then walked away.  She watched as he left the room and headed towards the kitchen, Heather then walked up to her.

“Does he like you?”

“What?  I don’t know he just ran into me and left.”

“Bree, he’s getting you new punch and look… he’s on his way back.  I have never met a guy at a late night party who would do something like that for me.  I think you found a keeper.”

“Oh just shut up.”

But before she could even finish her sentence he ran to handed her a fresh glass of punch and immediately fell to the ground, paper towel in hand and attempted to wipe up the puddle of juice.  The towel soaked up almost half of the juice so he stood up and ran back into the kitchen.  Heather quickly maneuvered back from the crowd she was with over to Bree.

“He’s cute…” Heather said in a mocking voice.

“Sure, I guess.  But I could never have a boyfriend.”

“I never said that, you thought about that on your own.”

Heather stood there and smiled, not her attractive smile but one where her face lit up and she stomped her feet like a little kid.  She always acted like that whenever she saw a cute couple or approved of a relationship.  But maybe she was right, maybe she did think of it on her own.  Had she hinted at the idea of it or did she think it up herself.    

She didn’t have anymore time left to think about because