Chapter 3 3

Lily

The party was at Beckett Anderson’s house, a place high on a bluff overlooking the entire town. The area was as exclusive as you could get in Hade Harbor, and considering how wealthy the little Maine town was, that was saying something. Beckett’s father was a billionaire, and he let his son throw as many parties as he wanted while he traveled abroad on business. It seemed like Beckett’s father traveled more than he was in Hade Harbor, considering how many ragers had taken place this year at the big mansion at the edge of the ocean.

Tonight, the road leading to Beckett’s house was already packed with cars. Partygoers drifted up the road toward the building at the top, which shone like a beacon through the drizzly night. I parked where I could find a spot, at least a five-minute walk from the house.

“Damn, my hair is going to get wet,” Eve worried. She had waist-length, black tumbling curls that, wet or not, always looked perfect.

“I have an umbrella. You take it,” I offered, pulling it out from the backseat.

“Let’s share.”

We got out of the car, and I immediately felt ridiculous in my skin-tight outfit. I never dressed like this. I barely glanced in the mirror when I was getting in the shower. The dress showed way more of me than I was even familiar with. I was not a sexy person. It was something I’d slowly come to terms with. Other girls, my best friend included, had filled out in all the right places and become more and more magnetic to look at, while I felt like I’d gone the other way. I was awkward, with knobby elbows and continually scraped knees. I was all freckled limbs and red hair that had never darkened to auburn, and a smile that showed too many teeth. I’d made my peace with that as much as any seventeen-year-old girl, about to turn eighteen, could.

Still, I’d come this far, and I’d promised Eve. I gritted my teeth against the cool night air and the rain hitting my legs and wrapped my thin jacket around me. It was only a little wet from my fall earlier, and it was better than nothing. Nothing was going to save my hair, already working itself into red, limp strands snaking over my shoulders.

Eve looped her arm through mine and positioned the umbrella over our heads, making sure that we were both getting at most one shoulder wet. Together, we started up the road to the house. As we drew closer, music thumped in the still night air.

“Ah, I can’t believe we’re really here!” Eve grinned.

Nerves were growing thicker in my belly as we approached. “Remind me again who invited us?”

“Winter DeLaurie.”

“Winter? The cheerleader? Why would she invite us?”

Eve shrugged. “She’s nicer than she seems.”

“She seems like the anti-Christ, so that’s comforting to know.”

We walked through huge metal gates. They’d been left open so the crowd could drift through with ease. There was an enormous courtyard in front of the mansion. I craned my neck to look up at the house that Beckett Anderson called home. It seemed impossible that a student at my school lived in such luxury. Not only that, but he was also an Ice God. The Ice Gods were three of the best players for the Hade Harbor Hellions, the hockey team my father coached. Not only did they rule the team, but they ruled the school, too. They were beautiful and terrible. Callous, arrogant, and, at times, even cruel. No one wanted to get on their bad side. I seemed to have a pass, probably thanks to being the coach’s daughter. Eve also had a pass, since her brother was an Ice God.

“Okay, are you ready to do this?” Eve asked once we climbed the shiny white stone steps to the massive front doors.

“If I said no, could we go home?”

“Hilarious.” Eve pushed her shoulders back and smiled. “How do I look?”

“Perfect,” I murmured.

She really did. Eve and Asher had won the genetic lottery. They were dark and stunning, with caramel skin and black hair. Eve was easily the most beautiful girl in school, though she never acted like it. She’d have been popular for her appearance alone, if not for her overprotective brother warning everyone away from her and the stain that her address brought. While Asher was exempt from judgement, being an Ice God, Eve wasn’t so lucky. Hade Harbor students were snobby as hell, and my father’s attitude toward my friendship with Eve was a perfect example.

She’s a nice girl, but her family… I don’t want you hanging around that part of town with those kinds of people.

It infuriated me every time. I didn’t care what anyone said. Eve was my best friend, and I’d never let anyone keep me away from her. The pretentiousness of the student body and their wealthy parents drove me insane. It was so out of touch and ridiculous, yet I couldn’t see it changing anytime soon. My family wasn’t exactly wealthy, but my father’s position as coach put us in a special bracket.

Eve shook the umbrella and propped it beside the door to dry. She took my stiff hand in hers and gave me an excited smile. “Ready?”

“Not even remotely,” I muttered.

She laughed and tugged me into the house.

Inside was packed already. It was warm, with that steamy atmosphere that came from hundreds of damp, hormone-ridden bodies pressed too closely together.

“Let’s get a drink first. I want to have a couple before Asher gets here,” Eve yelled in my ear.

The music was loud as hell. Some rap song I didn’t know was blasting loud enough to vibrate the floor. Eve grabbed my hand and pushed through the crowd. No one moved as we shoved our way through. Voices were raised, excited or drunk, I couldn’t tell. Maybe it was a little of both. I’d already decided that I wouldn’t be drinking, seeing as I needed to drive us home in an hour.

It’s only an hour, Lillian. Calm down.

We made it through the entrance hall, an area nearly as big as the entire ground floor of my house. A huge staircase branched off in two directions, and students hung out on the upper floors, leaning on the railings and looking down at the mass assembled below. There had to be two hundred students here. It was crazy.

“I think it’s this way!” Eve shouted in my ear and took a left, heading through a corridor with black-and-white floor tiles and dark red walls.

Framed photographs dotted the wall, and I stared at them as we passed. Beckett and his father. I didn’t know the richest boy in school at all, but I couldn’t deny he was nice to look at.

We walked down the quieter hall, and then, right back into the din. The kitchen. It was huge, with high ceilings and marble counters. A wall of windows stared out at the dark night and the faraway lights of Hade Harbor. So, this was the side of the house that peered out over the bluff. I’d bet the view from here in the daylight was stunning, not that I’d have any reason to be at the Anderson house during the day.

“How do you know your way around so well?” I wondered as we pushed through the groups of people gathered in front of the counter, where the drinks seemed to be.

“My mom. She’s worked here for years. Sometimes, I have to come with her,” Eve said, her voice dimming.

Right. Eve and Asher’s mom was a cleaner, and she had a bunch of clients in town. I wondered how weird it was for Asher that his mom cleaned his best friend’s house.

We got to the counter, and I blinked at the array of bottles there. No expense had been spared, it seemed, for Beckett’s guests. There was all the liquor you could drink, punch, sodas and then, to top it off, at the very end of the counter, a bartender dressed in black, mixing cocktails with a theatrical flair.

“A bartender for a high school party? That’s crazy.”

Eve laughed. “They’re called mixologists these days, and relax. If Beckett freaking Anderson wants to waste his money, who cares?”

She was right, of course. I hated the judgmental voice that was always chirping in my head. The voice sounded like my parents. I could hear their words in my head without them even needing to speak them. I didn’t need my mother to see the opulent spread in the kitchen to hear her derision.

“Come on, have one drink and relax,” Eve was saying, grabbing a bottle of beer.

“No, none for me. I’m driving, remember?” I checked my watch. “In approximately fifty minutes from now.”

“Stop! You’re stressing me out,” Eve complained. “We’re here now. Let’s have a little fun.”

I sighed when she pouted at me. Goddamn it. I could never tell her no.

“Whatever. As soon as it gets too boring to stand or your brother makes a fuss, we’re out of here.” I grabbed a can of Coke and popped it opened.

Eve grinned victoriously and pulled me close for a hug. “Thank you, you’re amazing. Now, shall we go and explore more, or mingle or something?”

“Who would we mingle with?”

“I don’t know.” Eve chewed her lip for a moment. “Let’s just walk around a bit and see who’s here.”

That sounded terrible, but I nodded. It was bright in the kitchen, and I wanted to disappear into a crowd. A couple of hockey players had already looked in my direction. I could only hope they wouldn’t tell my dad that they’d seen me here. He’d be disappointed. That was always the worst outcome. I could take anger, raging, grounding, all of it. Anything but his disappointment.

We left the kitchen and headed deeper into the house.

“Let’s go out to the pool house. There’s a pool table and arcade games out there,” Eve said.

“Wow, you really do know your way around here.” It was kind of strange that she’d never mentioned it before, but I didn’t have time to think about it before we were stepping back out into the rain.

We ran toward the pool house, past the huge aqua pool on the way. Rain rippled the surface, and I could only imagine how freezing it was.

We got to the pool house just as the door opened. I fought a groan when I saw who was leaving.

Winter and her best friend Selena. Selena was queen bitch around Hade Harbor High and also head cheerleader for the football team. A tall, willowy bleached blonde, Selena was supremely confident in her power. Selena looked us both over before her catty smile clicked into place.

“Wow, Eve, I didn’t know you were coming,” she said with a fake friendly voice.

“Yeah, Winter mentioned it, so I just thought I’d come,” Eve said.

I knew how talking to Selena hurt her. She’d tried out for the cheerleading team a few years in a row and always been miles above everyone else, but she never got a spot. She’d finally asked Selena why she was never picked.

“Sweetie, it costs a lot to take care of our football players and travel to their games. I didn’t want you to feel stressed about it. It’s best this way.”