I shot her a grin. "Could you be anymore whiney about that? And besides, he values you. He couldn't use you in that way."

She sniffled. "He does?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know he does. Stop the pity party. We're supposed to be having fun."

"So says you. You don't have the Academy SnubTeam breathing down their noses on you. They'd love if I curled in a ball and vanished into thin air. And Cassandra keeps throwing those snooty looks over here."

I sighed and rested against the couch we'd both procured long ago. It was set in a back corner of a side deck and gave us privacy where no one could hear us or see us, but we had a grand view of all the action around us. When the couch had emptied, Becky and I made a mad dash for it and had been drinking ever since.

She'd been sore over Adam, but as I reached for my drink, I couldn't stop from glancing at the deck above ours. Mason sat in a back corner with Marissa on one side, Nate on her other side, and Logan with Tanya over his lap across from them. There were a few others, but everyone knew that was the top tier of the social scene. When Mason grazed the top of Marissa's knees, my hand clenched around my drink and I threw it all back. It should've burned my throat, but I had ceased feeling awhile ago.

It had seemed like a good idea then.

"Sam." Becky waved a hand in front of my face.

"What?" I snapped to attention.

She looked annoyed. "What are we going to do about Adam?"

What was I going to do about Mason?

"Huh?"

I caught myself. Had I said those words out loud? But I shook my head. "Why is Cassandra so mean to you?"

"I know!" She lifted her arms up and down. She pushed out her bottom lip in a pout. "I haven't done anything to her. I've always been nice to her and who am I to them anyway? Besides being good friends with Adam…and now you…and you're close with the Kades…" Her face brightened. "Do you think I'm a threat to her? Because of you and Adam, you know… No, that doesn't make sense. I'm the same boring Becky like always."

I patted her leg. I'd been doing that for the last hour. "It'll all work out. I know it. I think you and Adam will get together."

"You think so?"

I swung my arm wide in a grand gesture. Some of my drink spilled over, but neither of us cared. "Yes, I do. It might not be in high school."

Her face fell.

"But I think it'll happen. Adam's too caught up in social stuff. He can't appreciate you now because he's not mature enough."

Becky nodded. "For being drunk, we're very clear headed right now."

I nodded too. "I know and I'm talking very articulate."

"More than you usually do. You don't usually talk at all; well you do, but not really."

My face clouded. "Maybe I should shut up?"

"No." Her hand grabbed onto mine. "You need to talk more. You have very good points for me to hear. I never thought of Adam as being immature, but I can see why you think that."

She hiccupped, so did I, and we both fell back giggling again.

Then we became aware of someone who had come onto our deck. I gasped and Becky cooed.

Mason frowned down at us for a moment before he spoke. Then he tossed his phone on my lap. "Call your mom. She's going crazy. She thinks we kidnapped you."

Becky peeled her head back in laughter and I struggled to keep from joining her.

He shook his head at us. "Are you drunk?"

More laughter peeled from beside me and I nodded as I bit my lip.

"Hell, you're probably having more fun than most of us." He sank down next to me and ran a hand through his hair.

I watched the movement and wanted to do the same. A wave of need rushed over me, but I breathed out and remembered we were in public. I tried fanning myself.

When Becky had stopped giggling so much, she sat up with glazed eyes and squinted at him. "Who's your girlfriend?"

I jumped next to him.

She frowned at me.

Mason sat stiffly beside me. He didn't look at her.

"Hello!" She reached over me and waved a hand in front of his face.

He looked away and took a breath. I felt the movement when his arm brushed against mine.

She fell back and heaved a sigh. "I can't believe it. I'm your best friend, he's going to be your brother, and he ignores me too. Everyone ignores me. I'm more beneath people than I realized."

I looked at her. "You're not beneath me."

She gave me a tight smile, but spoke to Mason, "I know you can hear me and I know you're not being cruel to me because of Sam, but who's the girlfriend? I've never seen her before. She seems nice."

Mason jerked his gaze to mine. "Can you call your mom? Find me later to give me my phone."

He tore out of there and Becky shook her head as she watched him leave. "I must be really drunk because I know I shouldn't have talked to him like that, but I don't really care right now."

I shrugged and dialed my mom's number. "He's an jerk. You can talk to him however you want to."

Becky gave me a blinding smile. "Thanks, Sam."

I gave her one back. "Anytime." And then my mom's hysterical voice sounded in my ear and I cursed when I pulled it away. That was going to hurt. As I rubbed my ear, I moved away. Music, laughter, and the general shrieking sounds of a party were going to make this phone call last longer than I wanted.

When I found a semi-quiet corner, I lifted the phone again. "Hi, mom."

"Samantha!" She heaved out. "You're okay. I've been so worried. You have no idea. I thought about calling the cops."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because of what they did to me. I can't believe you didn't help me, but then I thought maybe you couldn't. Maybe you were too scared of them."

Alarms went off in my head and I sat back on my heels. "Are you kidding me right now?"

She got quiet. "Samantha, you were there. You saw what they did to me."

I sighed into the phone. "Mom, are you drunk again?"

A shadow moved over me and I spun around, my heart stopped for a second, but my shoulders dropped when I recognized Mason. He grinned and moved forward to curve a hand around my waist. As he bent close to listen in, he brushed against me and his breath caressed my cheek.