5

Chapter Song: Fix Me- Froy

I parked a decent amount away from Riley's just to risk my car not getting hit. It happened to Liam's this summer, and I was not taking my chances. Plus he'd never let me live it down. I strolled up the driveway and took note of how many cars were here.

By the look of it, I'd say there's a pretty good turn out. I decided to take my time and walk a little slower. It was a nice early fall night. The air had the slightest chill that made everything feel fresher. I could sit out here all night if I really wanted.

Riley's house was huge and there's even a barn in the back that her parents turned into a dance studio for her to practice in. I used to pretend I was going to a castle when we were younger.

Each of our houses was in a different kingdom and we were long lost, sisters. One of us was kidnapped and the other had to free her. It usually depended on whose house we went to each time. I smiled at the distant memory wishing I could go back to those days instead.

I snuck in through the side kitchen door instead of the front knowing that she would leave it unlocked for me. She always did. For some reason, I loved that they had an entrance door to the kitchen. It was probably my favorite part of her house, as weird as it sounded. I always wished our house had one. I even tried to beg our dad to get one at one point but it would have never worked out.

As soon as I closed the door shut I felt arms wrap around me except they weren't as big and muscular as I'd hoped. Instead, they were thin and wiry. I turned to face Riley. She looked a little wobbly but still, gravity seemed to agree with her. How?

"You came." She cooed as she bopped my nose.

"Of course I came, why wouldn't I?" I said to her while waving to a few people from my trigonometry class.

I took her drink away and quickly found a water bottle to replace it. Even though it was her house I still didn't want her to get too trashed especially in front of Lucas. I knew that if something were to happen she'd get upset about it and wouldn't let it go. Ever. She was really hard on herself. It was something we both had in common, extreme self-discipline.

"You need to hydrate." I scolded her as she poked out her bottom lip.

"Of course you would say that you're part mermaid." She rolled her eyes at me but took the cup from me anyway. She took a few sips trying not to giggle along the way. I couldn't help but laugh at her.

"What about Lucas?" I tried to reason with her but kept my tone light.

Her attitude completely shifted and that spark in her eyes ignited with excitement. She quickly slurped the water to delay her response which quickly made me roll my eyes. So dramatic.

"Oh." She took another sip. "I'm going to bang him tonight." She bit her tongue to keep from screaming.

"You're what?" I yelled feeling my eyes practically pop out of my head.

I looked around the party to see if anyone noticed our conversation. There was a group in the kitchen making drinks I noticed a few lacrosse guys, but no one in particular. There was a group of people in the living room playing beer pong. I was pretty sure some of the swim team and lacrosse boys were in the dining room playing kings cup. Maybe that's where Cal was.

Oh my god please stop thinking about him.

"Yeah," she eagerly nodded "I mean I don't see why not."

"You're not wrong, just drink more water so you can calm down first you'll want to remember it." I smiled fluffing her hair.

It's true, if she wanted to have sex with Lucas then she had every right to. She lost her virginity over the summer to a foreign exchange student. She always said she wanted to get it out of the way, plus the two got along really well. It was sort of her going away present to him. She's way more experienced than I was.

I wanted things to have meaning, not saying she didn't but it was just different. I never judged her for it though, in fact, I applauded it. Sometimes I wished I could be more like her in that way.

"I'm gonna go make my rounds," I whispered straightening my back out. "Come find me later okay we can't let anyone take our beer bong crowns." I kissed her on the cheek and began to walk towards the dining room.

"No one can take our dragons!" I heard her scream in the background.

I forced the laughter into my hand. That girl was something else, but god I loved her. I walked into the dining room and my eyes scanned the room for familiar faces.

"KP!" Someone yelled.

I turned to see Liam motioning for me to come steal the empty seat next to him. I knew he would be saving it for me because we were always a team at kings cup. Everyone that came to these parties knew how I was but still were okay with someone drinking for me. Mainly it was because they can get someone else drunk faster, it became a game within itself.

"Kennedy your outfit is so cute." Hailey, a girl from my relay team smiled at me.

"Thank you." I beamed at her.

Then quickly asked how she gets her hair to look cute but effortlessly messy. It was up in a half bun with the rest down. I never realized how long her jet black hair was. I guess that kind of happened when you had a swim cap on all the time.

"Oh, it's nothing really." She tossed her hair over her shoulders. "It's a dry shampoo that's the magic." She laughed. Dry shampoo was magic.

A senior, Jordan came to the table and quickly joined our conversation on which boys were candidates for State. Liam added his two cents obviously supporting Tyler, but also started asking about which girls on the team were single.

I shoved him out of the way because we meant business. We were joking and laughing making fun of one another until I glanced up from the table and caught a pair of eyes staring at me from the corner. Actually four eyes.

Tyler and Cal were leaning against the wall in the corner of the room in what appeared to be a hushed but intense conversation with the occasional look towards me. I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable and fidgety in the seat.

As much as I wanted to get up and go find Riley, I knew I couldn't. I cleared my throat pulling myself together while grabbing the deck of cards to shuffle before centering them around the cup.

"Okay, Jo you're up." I winked at Jordan.

She pulled and eight, so she got to pick someone to be her drinking partner. She picked this guy named, Oscar. He seemed nice, quiet but nice. Liam was up next and picked a four so all the girls took a drink. I took a sip of my latte that was now almost empty.

I forgot about Tyler and Cal's conversation in the corner after the first round. Next time I looked up there were gone. I just dismissed it. We played two more rounds before Riley paraded through the room to say it was our turn for Beer Pong. As we entered the kitchen I grabbed a bottle of water real quick to drink while we played.

"Who are we playing?" I asked Riley just as Tyler and Cal walked to the opposite side of the table. Of course.

Of course, it would be them. I could see both of their smirks growing to size us up while we set up the cups. They stood there with their chests raised, arms crossed eyeing us. I knew they were trying to play the tuff guy role. That just meant Riley and I were going to play a game of our own. And we were way better at it than them.

"Scared McCormick?" I raised an eyebrow at Cal while I  crossed my own arms.

"You wish Parker," Cal smirked but gave me a playful wink. I don't know why his wink gave me the smallest of butterflies in my stomach.

"Why don't we make this interesting?" Riley asked as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Oh yeah? How would you like to do that?" Tyler nodded in her direction. I knew he had a thing for Riley. She probably knew too, but I don't think she'd ever admit that. Not with her new obsession with Cal and I.

"Hmm." I hummed as I lined up the last cup. "We'll let you know once we win."

"Doubtful." Cal sighed landing the first ping pong ball in one of our cups.

We played an intense game where we were neck and neck. Riley and I got a few more points so we were finally ahead. We were all too competitive. It was almost as if this was a school sport. It sucked because they were actually good. Probably better than us, but I would never say those words out loud.

"Oh come on KP you really won't make this shot." Tyler taunted me wiggling his eyebrows.

I rolled my eyes at him and blocked him out just like I did with everything around me during a race. I took a deep breath and released the ball closing my eyes. It was slow motion, the ball rolled around the rim before finally landing in the cup. I let out a small sigh of relief as Riley filled the room with a victorious screech.

She jumped into my arms knocking me a little off balance. We hugged and danced around celebrating our victory. I finally pulled away to fire back at Ty for his comment.

"What was that Ty?" I challenged coking my head to the side. Riley joined my side putting her hand on her hip clicking her tongue.

He then tried to argue about how my elbow was over the line or whatever but while Riley argued to Cal and Tyler I made my escape. They both loved to argue and would probably be there all night. Plus it was getting hot inside and I needed some air.

I walked off grabbing a bowl of popcorn from the counter to head outside. I was tired of being around so many people, it was exhausting. Shutting the door behind me, I took residence on their white porch bench overlooking the yard covered in a blanket of midnight blue.

It was weird, Cal didn't even look at me the entire time we played. He said a few words to me at the beginning but other than that silence. He didn't even acknowledge my existence besides tossing my ping pong ball at me once in a while. Maybe he was just trying to focus on the game.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea to agree to meet him here. Was I even supposed to talk to him at this point? Usually, we would all hang out together when I wasn't with the swim team. Liam was in there somewhere with Mason maybe playing Kings Cup still. They'd meet up with Ty if he wasn't still arguing with Riley. I started to laugh at the thought shoving some popcorn in my mouth.

With the bass of the music drowned out by the walls hearing just the slight hum, I looked up at the sky and noticed all the specks twinkling as if they are speaking to each other. The moon was just a sliver of a light glow like a smile. It was always my favorite phase of the moon. The sky's secret beauty that was hidden away. But nothing that beautiful and mystical could stay hidden.

"How long are you going to continue to stare at me?" I tossed some popcorn in my mouth never looking up from the sky.

"Shit how'd you know I was here?" Cal laughed crossing his way to stand in front of me now blocking my view. His body began to cover any light I had on me leaving me a shadow.

I noticed him about two minutes ago. He didn't walk up sneakily his footsteps were pretty heavy. Not to mention I could smell his cologne. I wasn't going to complain about that.

"You aren't a silent breather." I teased throwing a handful of popcorn at him.

----------

* If you have made it this far, thank you! Seriously thank you! I hope you're enjoying it. There is so much more to come! I'm so excited. I hope you're liking the characters :)

How do we like Cal? Is he crushing on Kennedy? What do we think? :)