Willow turned to me. “That’s what he said when he first held me in his arms. That he was going to make me a star.”
“It’s true,” he said. “I knew as soon as I laid eyes on her that she had star quality.”
“Must have been the dramatic way I cried when I came out of the womb.”
“And, if I remember correctly, you couldn’t get out of there fast enough.”
I laughed and grabbed my glass of wine before she pulled me upstairs. We were going to make ourselves beautiful for the party. She would do my makeup and hair, and I would help her with hers. Then we would do our nails. I couldn’t pretend to know beauty, despite my mother being a hairstylist. I was a simple girl that boys thought attractive enough. Straight brown hair worn in a plain style, usually a ponytail. Strong white teeth with a subtle overbite. Slender body with small breasts and a boyish butt. Attractive in an average sort of way. The complete and utter opposite of my best friend, Willow.
I don’t recall everything that happened at that party. Whether it was because I drank too much or because someone slipped one of those pills into my drink, pills that I had secured.
Bits and pieces come back to me now. I remember sitting next to Dakota, his arm around me. He tried to kiss me, and I let him, but that was as far as I would allow him to go. I remember later that night, while I lay sprawled, semiconscious, on the couch, hearing Julian and Dakota argue about something, their voices echoing throughout the house. I lifted myself up and listened to them and realized that they were going on about Willow. Dakota, drunk and with tears running down his cheeks, turned and saw me sitting up and staring at the two of them. Julian then shoved him and told him to chill out.
“Come with me, Katie. Let’s get out of here,” Dakota said.
I shook my head and glanced at my watch. It was 5:37 in the morning. As much as I liked Dakota, I didn’t want to leave with him. More than anything, I wanted to go home and be with my family. The intensity of his sobbing troubled me. Why was he crying? It made me want to go home and cuddle up in my own bed and wake up and have a hearty breakfast with my mother and brother. No more drama or conflict.
Before I could process everything, Willow’s father appeared in his bathrobe and stood between the two boys, his arms keeping them apart. Without his beaded glasses on, he appeared older, more pedestrian and plain looking. His gray hair stood up in every direction. He put his arm around Dakota’s shoulder and pulled him off to the side, and the two of them exchanged heated words. I didn’t want to know what they were talking about. I fell back on the couch and pretended to be asleep, not wanting them to see me. All I could hear was their muted conversation mixed in with Dakota’s unintelligible sobs.
I lay on the couch until nearly seven that morning. Outside, it started to snow. Big spring flakes fell over the churning ocean. A girl staggered toward the door with a set of keys in hand. I remembered seeing her talking to Willow last night. She had ear and nose piercings and a crazy haircut: buzzed on one side and long and pink on the other. I glanced toward the ocean, realizing that I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I ran up to her before she left.
“Can you please give me a ride home?”
“Where do you live?” the girl asked.
Her eyebrows rose when I told her, but to my relief, she agreed. Concerned that she might leave without me, I followed her outside, not bothering to collect my things. Whatever personal items I’d left in this house, I would either retrieve later or write off as gone. I sat in the passenger seat of her SUV, my arms wrapped around my shivering body until the heat kicked in.
“That was some wild party last night, huh,” she said as she drove.
“Yeah,” I said, staring mindlessly at the passing landscape.
“That X was crazy.”
“I guess.”
“You don’t go to Chance Academy, do you?”
“No. I’m a friend of Willow’s.”
“That’s cool,” she said, her eyes on the road. “Wanna stop somewhere and get breakfast?”