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"Ugh. Why does he have to be here?" I grimaced, covering my hand over my eyes. Xander, Bethany, and Doug looked around and saw who had walked into the door. What did I do to deserve this? Having Maven here was bad enough. I regretted coming here to begin with. This night was going to end badly and I just knew it.

"Oh, you're not a big fan of Dakota I'm guessing." Doug said.

"Tell me one person who is," I huffed.

Ever since Monday, I had only said a few things directly toward Dakota. Each thing I said had a swear word attached to the end of it. I couldn't help myself but shine out hate and annoyance toward him when I was in the same location as Dakota.

Doug pointed at the small group of people Dakota was walking toward. They clapped their hands together and cheered when he arrived, patting him on the back and greeting him with big smiles. "Those people seem to like him."

"I don't recognize any of them," I said and glanced to Beth. "Do they go to our school?

She shook her head. "They go to Boulder Valley High. Dakota gets along better with them than the kids at Crescent High. Mainly because they probably don't know half the stuff he's done back in our town or about his family."

Doug huffed. "Or he only hangs out with them because none of the girls are scared of him."

"Yeah, I hear he's dating a girl that goes to Boulder Valley High."

My frown deepened, unknowingly. "He could just transfer to Boulder Valley High if he likes it there so damn much," I said, and everyone looked at me a little weird. Dakota was genuinely smiling with these Boulder Valley High students, joking and laughing with them. "They clearly like him a lot more than the kids at our school."

Beth scoffed, almost like I should know why he couldn't transfer schools. I gave her a curious look. "There's no way he could transfer schools. The parents have to sign off permission and go up to the school. And his mom-"

Xander nudged her, roughly.

As tempting as it was to ask what she was going to say, I knew right now wasn't the time to ask about Dakota. I wasn't intrigued enough to get any more answers out of her anyway. And even if I did, it wasn't like she would tell me with Xander sitting with us.

Doug got up out of his stool and offered to buy us a side of fries from the menu. When he left, Xander scowled at Beth. Frankly, I didn't like how he constantly threw negativity her way. Telling her what was acceptable and what was "cool." I wouldn't take advice from him anyway. No one should take advice from a person who dresses like a highlighter. It was cute in the 80s. It was just obnoxious now.

"You hardly talked to him all night." Xander reminded.

"The night just started." She explained. "Give me time to work up some courage."

"Go ask him to dance when he comes back."

I tilted my head. "Wait. Is this a date?" Beth remained silent, blushing. "Oh, my God. Beth why did you invite us to your date?"

"That's what I told her!" Xander yelped.

Now it made sense why she was persistent to bring Xander and I with her to the Smell. I had noticed the way Doug looked disappointed even before I got in the car. Xander and Beth had a close connection, being best friends attached at the hip, so I wouldn't be surprised if Beth forced Doug to sit in the backseat.

There was no way any guy could compete with Xander unless they were the infamous Pierson Redmond I'd heard about. I hadn't met him yet. I didn't see him in any of my classes and I was too busy glaring at Dakota from across the cafeteria to pay attention to the other people around me.

"You got Doug Lewis to ask you out on a date. That's like almost as amazing as getting a date with James Dean or something."

"By James Dean I hope you mean the 50s actor and not the Porn Star." Beth cringed.

"Are we going to ignore the fact that James Dean the actor is dead?" I inquired.

"That's not the point!" Xander burst, but quickly composed himself when he saw Doug coming our way. "He's walking back. Smile. Sit up, why are you slouching?"

"I'm slouching because my biggest dream is to be the hunchback of Notre Dame." She hunched even more forward, but it only annoyed Xander even more so she sat up quickly.

I leaned toward Beth and whispered. "I feel like this is more of a date to Xander than it is for you."

"You should've seen him earlier," she hushed back to me. "He's only acting this way because Doug is friends with the other athletes on campus."

"Oh, so he's using you as ladder to get higher up on the social food chain." I puffed. I was really not liking this Xander guy. I wasn't sure if there was ever a moment that I did like him since I met him. "That's a nice little tactic. He's too sweet."

She rolled her eyes and elbowed me. "It's not that nice when you're the one being practically forced into the dating world. Hey, since you think it's a 'nice little tactic' why don't you start going after one of the athletes? Two girls going after the same goal is a hell of a lot better than one."

"Hunting for an athlete to date is like the first step towards becoming a lonely trophy wife. I have better things to do than walk into school on Monday, trying to find a brainless jock worth speaking to. Let alone worth dating." Xander was so obsessed with being popular it was almost laughable at his failed attempts. I recalled him telling Beth that the party at her house that it was for popularity reasons as well. Everyone there thought it was Ollie's party though, and constantly referred to it being his. Not his sister's. "We'll be graduating in a few months. I don't know why popularity still seems so important at this point."

Xander, having heard that small tidbit, began glaring daggers at me. "Did you really just say that? What could be better than being popular?"

I threw my head back, roaring with laughter. "Don't get me started. I could write a well-structured essay, paired with a PowerPoint and an oral speech, breaking down what's better than striving for popularity. Use your brain power on something that'll last longer than a school year. Maybe if you were running for class president, then sure, I'd support you. But all you want to do is get invited to lame parties and chill with people who won't remember your name in a half a decade."

Beth and Doug chuckled, and Xander awkwardly matched her mood. A strained look linger behind his eyes, appearing hurt more than humored by my words.

There were fewer kids from our school here than I'd expected. Facing Beth, I asked her why that was, and she said, "After last year, fewer and fewer Crescent students started showing up here. I almost never see kids from our school anymore. I mean, other than the occasional sighting of Dakota and Maven. For the most part, it's Boulder Valley kids. It's kind of their turf now, if you know catch my drift."

"They don't mind if a few of us are here." Doug went on. "The only reason a large amount of students from our school would come here all at once is to start up some trouble with the Boulder Valley varsity football team or lacrosse team."

"There's an issue with their sports team?"

Doug chuckled. "There's more than an issue."

"Boulder Valley is literally the closest high school to us. It's only natural they are our rivals when it comes to sports related things." Beth said.

"It's a lot deeper than that, Beth." Doug announced. "Sure it started off as a friendly sports related rivalry, but it got a lot more serious back when my dad and mom went there. Because of the class of 1988, things have only gotten worse between Boulder Valley and Crescent High kids. That was the real start of the rivalry."

I counted back, thinking of how old his parents must be now. I came up with the number forty-six. The same age my father was. Was this any way connected to what my father did to Dakota's family? I couldn't stop from letting my mind expand on the idea. Because deep down, I knew there was more to the hate than a court case my father handled.

I began to ask Doug another question, hoping that he'd tell me some more about this rivalry, but the loud noise of the doors swinging open silenced the entire room. The music cut off as a fleet of Crescent High students stormed into the room. Maven walked up to the group and stood beside them, but far away from his own brother.

Hunter stood at the side from an ungodly tall student who led the entire group, standing right in the middle. His dirty blonde hair fell over his forehead, curling over his bright green eyes. Anger boiled behind his narrowed gaze, growing deeper the longer he stood there, glaring at us all as if we were the cause of his pissed off mood.

Beth gasped loudly when she saw him. "Pierson?" I guessed, and she nodded. I completely understood now why she had a huge crush on him. He was undoubtedly handsome in his Letterman jacket and emerald shirt, making his eyes look even greener. He seemed angrier than she had described him to be.

Pierson scoped the area from left to right. A few Boulder Valley students stood up, standing their ground in front Pierson and the guys he had around him. There were at least fifteen students with Pierson that I had seen at school. I spotted Ollie, Beth's brother, standing to the left of Hunter. They were clearly outnumbered, but that didn't seem to frighten Pierson or the guys he'd brought with him.

"Heath." Pierson barked.

A guy who was at Dakota's table stood up, pushing past the standing Boulder Valley kids. It had to be Heath. A cool look radiated off his face, pulling out the toothpick in his mouth. Dakota grabbed his arm, whispering something in his ear. They shared a few words and two other guys, including Dakota, followed Heath to where Pierson and his guys were at the front of the Smell.

"I told you not to come back since last time," Heath cooed, pushing the toothpick back into his mouth. "You Crescent idiots don't know what's good for you. We had a deal."

"Deals off, Heath. You broke the one rule." Ollie growled. Pierson lifted his hand and pushed Ollie back in check before he jumped right at Heath.

"Handle your dogs, Pierson." Dakota warned. "Or I will."

"You couldn't even keep a hold of your sister, Ridgewood." Maven smiled wickedly, stepping closer to Heath and his friends. "And look where she ended up. Do you want to join her six feet under? 'Cause I can gladly get that arranged."

Dakota was a blur of anger as he lifted off the floor and crashed into Maven, tackling him down to the tiled floor. He sailed punch after punch into an unresponsive Maven, helpless and lifeless on the ground. That was all it took. A war was raging within the Smell. Both sides raced at each other, swinging punches and kicking their way into the crowd. Someone even went right for Doug, who was sitting calmly in his chair. They put him in a choke-hold, dragging him out of his seat.

I was right, like I had previously predicted. This night was going to end badly, but it wouldn't end in the way I thought it would.

__ _ _ _ _ _ -

Song: Jump into the Fog by the Wombats

Lyrics:

❝I want to twist the structure of my average day.

We feel nothing, so jump into the fog.

And know that we hit the ground upright.

We feel nothing, so jump into the fog.

I just hope it's your bones that shatter not mine.❞

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