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"Don't worry about him. Honestly," Evelyn assured me with a forced smile. A fake smile. Its insincerity could be spotted from a mile away. She grabbed my hand, wrapping my fingers with hers. "He's not serious."

"I'll go talk to him," my dad offered to calm down the spawn of Satan and not comfort his daughter. He made his way up the stairs. "I can handle this."

"That's really not necessary, love." Evelyn shook her head. "He'll be fine. Are you?"

She was asking this question to me, squeezing my fingers a little too hard.

"I'm fine." I lied for the second time today.

Dad went down beside me, holding my shoulder. It felt like lead. This was a bad choice in coming here. It hadn't even been two hours since I arrived and I already regretted it. "Are you sure you're fine, Silvia?"

"Yeah," I replied unconvincingly. "I really am."

Evelyn's face brightened up. There was a completely different look in her eyes than before. I was worried instantly at the sight of that. "Hunter," she called out. He had moved over to the living room, lounging on the couch the spawn of Satan (a.k.a. Maven) had sat on only moments ago.

His head bobbed up. "Yeah, what is it?"

"What are your plans for tonight?"

Oh God.

"Why do you ask?" he inquired, puzzled.

No. Please.

I already knew what she was going to say and I feared that my predictions were right.

"How about you take Silvia over to the Giller's place for the party? I think she needs a pick-me-up."

"I thought you just said the boys shouldn't go," my dad said, matching the muddled look Hunter and I were giving to her wild suggestion. This woman confused me so much. She was going against her last order. Why would she want me to go to a party she wouldn't let her kids go to?

"I know, I know. But that was before." She huffed. "I think it would be a good idea actually. She can meet new people. And like I said, it would be a nice pick-me-up for her. Meet some of their friends, have a little fun."

I'd rather drink bleach than hang out with the people they call "friends."

I had observed the two boys a million times ever since they walked into the house. The spawn of Satan had on a heavy platinum watch with shimmering gems that could probably feed all the hungry kids in the world.

His brother, Hunter, wasn't any better. If I was ignorant to designer names I might've confused his assemble of clothing as nothing but casual wear. But everything he had on was well over five hundred dollars. A jacket from Gucci and faded designer jeans, falling loose on his hips was only two of the few things I could pin-point from my spot on the stairs. Whereas I was wearing everything from Old Navy and Ross.

"Dress for less 'cause you have no one to impress," was what my mother would say after we walked out of one of those stores. She was too kind. She really was.

Evelyn and my dad bickering pulled me out of my thoughts and back in the living room.

"I don't want to go." I spoke up. I quickly supplied, "I'm not even done packing."

"You do want to go," my dad said, assuring.

"Maven said it won't be that big of a party." Evelyn stated. "It's a small gathering of friends."

If the spawn of Satan said there wasn't a lot of people showing up and that it wasn't a "big party" to his mother, then that meant it was a freakin' HUGE party with nearly the entire county coming. And how dumb could Evelyn be? Every parent I knew (including my own mother) knew that "a small gathering of friends" was a lie.

"It's settled then," Evelyn announced before I could come up with a rebuttal. "Hunter, you're taking Silvia."

"Oh...kay," Hunter said and pulled out his phone, brushing his thumb against the screen. "I was already going to go anyway. I don't mind dropping her off."

"And picking her up," my dad added with a strained voice. "Before midnight." Evelyn cleared her throat. "Preferably."

Hunter sighed, not looking up from his latest iPhone. "Preferably, I'd like to leave the party by two am and leave this house by nine pm."

My dad grumbled under his breath and shared a look with his wife. They had a silent conversation made entirely out of facial expressions. In the end, he groaned and nodded his head. I guess she had won. Dad was such a pushover lately from the looks of it.

...

It was a little over nine o'clock when I saw Hunter go up to his room, saying he would start getting ready. Promptly ten minutes later, he was wearing a different shirt that was identical to the last one, only a slightly different shade. Same pants, and nothing new was done to his hair. Oh, wait. He did push it back a little. He looked nicer with his hair pushed back like that. He still looked like the spawn of Satan--his brother--so it wasn't that much of an improvement.

He bounced his car keys back and forth in his hands. "We can go now."

It was almost a whisper. I had to crane my neck forward to catch the words out of his mouth. I shot up to my feet and clapped my hands together. "Okay." I said a little too loud. "Can't wait."

He glanced at me over his shoulder, gray eyes peering right into my soul....Or whatever was left of it. I was pretty sure I'd sold it back in the fourth grade for some light up sneakers. Or better parents. Either one really. Whichever one came first.

"I thought you said you didn't want to go?"

"I thought you wanted to leave at nine." I countered.

He peeked at the phone in his hands. "It's nine twenty-five. Close enough." He opened the front door wide and let me exit first. We headed to his car. It was a gorgeous Lexus, unsurprisingly. "Besides, it's not like we're missing anything. It's the same old people going to the same old house, doing the same old bullshit. I'll see the same kind of fights. It's just a different day, with people screwing different people."

"Why do you want to go then? You sound pretty tired of the whole routine."

He unlocked the car. The headlights blinked as he did so. "I am tired of it, but there's nothing else to do here. The only interesting thing we've got going for us are those routine parties, even if I have to deal with the same old bullshit and annoying ass people." He chuckled to himself while opening the car door. "Sorry for swearing so much. It's a bad habit."

I shrugged. "No worries."

I swear all the time. I just keep it to myself.

We piled into the car and started our way to the Giller's place. It wasn't that long of a drive, probably ten minutes if we'd driven like maniacs. Hunter's beauty of a car swerved into a busy street. Cars were lined up, bumper to bumper, for a good couple of blocks around this booming house. It was like an entirely different world in the house and I could already tell by where I was. I would be an outsider, hoping for acceptance.

People poured out, laughing and singing along to the song blaring. There was a good couple of acres around the house. It was very out of the way and apart from the rest of the town of Crescent Heights.

I went to open the door handle, but Hunter's voice stopped me.

"Hey, uh."

I darted my eyes at him. "Yeah?"

"I know this is weird...coming from someone you don't know, but make sure you don't take any drinks from anyone."

"I never do. I've been making wise decisions since 1997."

He chortled. "It's just that...some of these guys are pretty bad news and I don't want anything to happen to you that I could've prevented if I didn't tell you." He brought out his phone and handed it to me. It was open to the section where you add new contacts. "Just in case you feel dizzy or anything. Call. Or text--if you can."

I couldn't help but fight back my grin. Was that weird? I didn't know for sure. I managed to shield it enough. I didn't understand why he'd care about my safety though. It was nowhere near similar to how his brother had reacted about my arrival.

He probably doesn't want to get in trouble with your dad if something happens to you.

That was a plausible choice, but something in me told me it was more than that.

After putting in my number, he texted me and I quickly saved it to my contacts. I whispered a soft thank you and ducked out of the car, having a hard time hiding the second smile I could feel coming on. And I wasn't smiling in the hopes of something tragic happening to me. I was smiling at this person I didn't even know caring enough about my safety--something I'd never seen. Ever.

Sad yet true. Also the story of my life.

. . . .

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Song: Crystallized by Young the Giants

Lyrics:

❝What's your world like?❞

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