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Keeping my eyes forward on my target, I stumbled to the beat of the song till I was halfway across the living room—past the swinging, sweaty bodies that were too drunk to notice me moving behind them.

The nameless boy was locking eyes with me the whole time, not missing a beat. I saw him lift off the wall he was leaning on and move into the large group of dancing people with a mischievous grin quirked on his full lips.

"Silvia," a voice cooed in my ear. The person sidestepped and got in my way, blocking my view at the mysterious boy. I looked up at the person and only found myself groaning in disappointment. It was one of the football players Beth had introduced me to. I'd taken note of the way he was looking down my shirt the whole time and attempting to flirt with me. Emphasis on attempting to—and failing at it.

"Hey," I grumbled. What was his name again? Fred? Finn? Fugly? I just couldn't remember which one it was. Dang-it. "I'm kind of busy right now."

"Yeah, you're busy dancing with me," he grinned. "That's why I walked over here. You wanna dance?"

If I say no, will you promise to disappear into oblivion?

"I don't really dance."

"Oh, it's not that hard." He wrapped his hand around my waist and rushed his body into mine, roughly. This guy really wasn't planning on winning the 'nice guy award' this year. He was a little too aggressive and a little too fast. For God sakes, I met the guy less than thirty minutes ago. The song was pretty slow this time around, and this guy took full advantage of the opportunity by pressing his body alarming close to mine. And just as the song was nearing the second verse, he slipped his hand lower and lower till it eventually cupped around my ass.

I pushed him against the chest. "Hey. That's not okay."

He pulled me in close to him again. "I'm just messing around. I won't do it again." His grin told me otherwise.

"How about instead you move aside, Franklin?" A second voice demanded.

Ah, it was Franklin. I was close.

Franklin turned his head and laughed after he saw who had spoken to him. I craned my neck around and spotted the nameless boy from moments ago.

"Get out of here, Ridgewood before you regret it." Franklin chuckled, totally not taking this guy serious. I wondered why. Franklin knowing his name did clear one thing up though. He wasn't a new kid like me.

"Make me." He didn't move from his stance. "She clearly doesn't want to dance with you."

"Just get out of here, man. We were fine without you buttin' in."

I pushed against his chest, making Franklin stumble a few steps back and let go of me. "I really don't want to dance."...with you.

"All right, fine. Be a bitch, I was doing you a favor," he snarled and stomped off.

...

We decided dancing wasn't our thing and walked out into the backyard. I thanked the boy for getting me out of a very awkward situation. He said he wished he could've stepped in sooner, given how uncomfortable Franklin made me. I'd quickly discovered that his name in fact wasn't Ridgewood, like Franklin had called him. It was his last name. His first name was Dakota.

Dakota Ridgewood, I thought of the name over and over again in my head. It had a nice ring to it.

I saw a lot of confused looks sent our way as Dakota and I went off to the backyard. There were a few whispered shared and nods in our direction. I refrained from giving them the bird.

"Don't bother with them," he waved off.

"Why are they staring at us?"

"Not us. Me. They're staring at me."

That would be the first of many lies Dakota would tell me. That night, people were staring at the both of us. And it wasn't out of pure amazement.

I laughed a little. "Oh, and why is that? Are you like some reality TV star that I don't know about?"

He grinned. "I wish."

He left it at that, not saying anything more and I didn't press him to say anything else. I had no right to pick and pry into anyone's past. Especially given the kinds of demons I had running loose in my life.

"So you know my name."

"I do." I nodded.

"Which means it's only natural to have you give me your name in return."

"Hmm, I don't think so." I scrunched up my nose. "I want to give a mysterious kind of allure. Or at least until Monday when school starts."

"It's a small town. Trust me, I can learn your name faster than that. Crescent Heights has a population of one thousand people. You can't hide that long within that small of a bunch for very long. So I'd advise you to enjoy the mysterious allure for the next twenty-four hours."

I blinked. "One thousand people." I was still hung up on the small amount of townspeople. That was insane. "I doubt any of you guys can keep many secrets for long."

"Oh, yeah secrets don't stay secrets here very long at all. It's like every small thing you do is being watched by forty other people, breathing down your neck."

"That must get obnoxious."

"Very obnoxious," he sighed. "It's like I can't do anything without the entire street knowing, too."

I was about to say something else, but my phone beeping caught my attention instead. It was a new text message...from Hunter.

I didn't reply back after that. I was only left even more confused than I was before. What did that mean? From what had happened, Dakota seemed like the only guy I actually quite liked here. He wasn't rude. He hadn't forced himself on me.

What did Hunter mean by 'if he knew who you were.....' though? My thoughts seemed to ask for the tenth time. I'd dived into a new conversation with Dakota, blabbering about the last movie either of us had seen...but still, but my mind was stuck on the last words Hunter had texted me.

I felt a tug at my shoulder. Dakota eased away from me, groaning at whoever it was. I looked over my shoulder and found a wide-eyed Beth and Xander behind me.

"Uh...Silvia, we want to tell you something," Beth said painfully slow. "Over there. All the way over there in a different part of this house."

Smooth. Real smooth.

Dakota obviously was another one of the walk-ins Xander didn't want, but I didn't see him rush to scold him or try and kick him out. He was frozen in fear, with eyes as big as dinner plates and skin as pale as snow.

"I guess that's my curtain call." Dakota said, combing his fingers through his silky locks. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Silvia. I hope next time I see you I can get your last name."

"It's Ellington," Xander blurted.

Dakota frowned. "That's not funny."

"No. No, really. Her name is Silvia Ellington and she's from Maine. Her step-brother is Hunter Price...You know the Price twins, I'm sure." Xander spewed out all of this in one breathe. I definitely hated him. It was a fact now. I was sure he'd give away my social security number to Dakota if he knew that, too.

Dakota's brows farrowed down on me, jaw set and hands balled up in fists. He scoffed. "Told you it's a small town."

I reached out to grab him as he walked passed us, but he flinched away from my touch and growled in response. What had I done? Why was my last name such a turn off to him?

He was long gone before I could stop him. People split apart to let him get through, trying to not get in his way.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" Beth's question snapped my eyes away from Dakota. She inspected my arm and face in search of ...I wasn't sure. Scratches? "Did he hurt you?"

"What?" I huffed. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you were talking to Dakota. Dakota Ridgewood."

"Yeah, so I've been told," I spat. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that he's a walking ticking time bomb. He was sent to a juvenile delinquency hall like four times since middle school." Xander informed.

"Why did you have to go out and tell him my last name? What was that all about? I really didn't appreciate it."

"I'm sorry." He bit down on his lip. "I had to. He wouldn't leave if I didn't."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I nearly screamed.

"You don't know?" They both said at once.

"No. If I did, I wouldn't be asking now would I?" I snapped.

Beth sighed. "The Ridgewood family kind of...somewhat...don't like your family."

"That is a nice way of putting it," Xander scoffed. "Your dad ruined their lives. They hate your family."

"What did he do?"

"He's the reason Dakota's dad is serving a life sentence in prison. He was the lawyer that helped to make that happen."

"Dakota's dad got locked up for lighting his house on fire," Xander said. "With his wife and her sister still inside. Dakota's aunt never made it out."

"Sounds like my dad was doing his job if — " I was cut off by Beth.

"That's the thing, though," Beth shook her head, "a lot of people in town think he was framed." 

______

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. . . . . . . . .

Song: Diet Mountain Dew by Lana Del Rey.

Lyrics:

❝You're no good for me.

Baby, you're no good for me.

You're no good for me.

But baby I want you, I want.

....

Do you think we'll be in love forever?

Do you think we'll be in love?❞

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