CRIMINAL.

CHAPTER 1

I knew I shouldn't have had a third drink. Already my vision is getting blurry, the room spinning and becoming fuzzy.

I plop down on a couch, watching people walk back and forth and dance. Smoke from cigarettes made a haze form in the living room, making it look as if people ware underwater. Music pounds from two large speakers next to the flat screen TV and shadowy couples sit together, whispering and giggling.

I wish I didn't come here. It was just another party one of the students at my college threw. But my friends dragged me here, saying that I needed to get out of my dorm since it's Friday night and it's also the first day of summer break. Some friends they are. As soon as we stepped in here, they left me standing at the front door like an idiot.

I look down at my plastic cup, swirling the vodka in it around.

I wanted out.

Right now.

I didn't want to be here.

I stands up, dusting my purple dress off before I bend down to put my cup on the floor. Someone else will find it.

When I get home, I'll just text my friends that I went home. I don't feel like finding them in this haze.

I put my leather jacket on and head for the door. I'll just go back to my dorm and finish up my work. I'll probably give Mom a call too since I didn't call yesterday. She's been texting or calling me ever since I left for college. She broke down in tears when I packed up my things and put them in the trunk of my car. I'm glad she decided to put down her pen and papers for a second to actually see me go. I didn't want to leave. I was going to miss Mom and Kristen who was growing up so fast. She's twelve now. I'm glad I'll be able to see them this summer.

I push the door open and let the warm air caress my face. I take off my jacket as I feel the heat of the night creep through the thick leather. I grab onto the railing as I wobble down the stairs. Damn these high heels. I never did like shoes like this. I think they're ridiculous along with mini dresses that show off your ass or breasts. I look like a prostitute.

I can't believe I let me friends talk me into this. Hannah, Michelle, Victoria, and Jennette are their names. They all have perfect hair, perfect hips, perfect eyes, perfect butts, perfect lips, perfect boobs. Everything about them is just perfect, perfect, perfect. I'm not perfect. My hair is light brown, but also streaked with blonde. I have plain brown eyes and a cleft in my chin. My hips aren't wide, my breasts aren't very big, and I have an ass as flat as a pancake. But Mom tells me I have a "dancer's body" since I have curves and long legs. But I've never danced before in my whole life. Except for at parties or in my room. I've never danced at prom since I didn't have a date and my friends back in high school already had their dates. I've never played "Spin The Bottle", I've never had a boyfriend, and I've never smoked. I drink beer, but only at parties. I'm so lame. Sometimes, I swear that I'm turning into my mom who was too busy writing down a book report to enjoy a Friday night off.

I dodge cracks and broken beer bottles in the road until I see a traffic cone blocking me. I look up to see traffic cones lining the street. The sidewalk is turned up with cracks and dirt and men in hard hats are working around it. They're doing construction work on the sidewalk I walk on to get home? I swear under my breath. Now I'll have to find some other way to get home. Why didn't I bring my phone with me? I could've called a taxi. Now I'll have to walk home in these stupid heels, in this ridiculous heat.

After a long moment of thinking contemplating, I finally decide to take the alley way home since it'll get me to my dorm faster.

I never did like alley ways. The darkness of it gives me Goosebumps and the fact that anything could happen, such as getting kidnapped or raped or robbed, frightens me even more. When the word, "robbed" pop into my mind, I gulp and feel suddenly feel dizzy. This isn't just the first day of summer vacation. This is also the third anniversary of the robbery at my neighborhood bank three years ago.