dangerous

• Two

I couldn't wait for Friday to come. I was so ready to get back to my old routine of partying Friday night and lying to my dad about it.

Good times.

By the time the last bell rang on Friday, Ava and I had our plan all set up. I had told my dad I was spending the night at her house to study for a test Monday, and we would order a pizza and eat that while we got ready. Then her boyfriend would send a cab to pick us up, and we would spend the rest of the night partying and living it up.

Ava met me at my locker, practically bouncing out of her shoes. "The whole school is talking about this party. And I'm dating the host, so I've gotta look damn good. And so do you, so you can find a hottie of your own." She winked at me, waiting for me to get my stuff out of my locker.

We walked to her car, a very small yellow thing. "Ella, meet Sally. She doesn't look like much but she's very dependable. Get in!"

During the ride to her house, we blasted music and rolled the windows down, our hair flying everywhere. A half hour later, we pulled into the driveway of a large white house with a perfectly manicured lawn.

"Mi casa es tu casa." She said, ushering me into the house. "My parents are on vacation in Italy, so they aren't home. However, my little brother, Oliver, is home. He will try to hit on you, but just ignore him."

Laughing, I followed her up the stairs and down the hallway to her bedroom. Ava collapsed on the bed, sighing loudly. "I hate school."

"Me too," I said, sitting next to her. "It was worse back home than here, though."

She sat up, leaning on her elbows. "That's because I'm here,"

I laughed, running a hand through my brown hair. Truth was, as much as I loved my old friends back home, that's just it. They were my old friends from elementary school, and I felt like we had started to grow up and apart from each other. I loved them, but they were all getting kind of annoying. Ava was more like me, and I loved being her friend. She had introduced me to a few more people she knew, all of whom I had immediately gotten along with.

It was fun here, and I actually kind of liked it. However, that didn't mean that I would be nice to dad and let him know I liked it. He still made me uproot my life and everything at home to move here.

Just then, a small, scrawny boy with blonde hair similar to his sister's, came in the room. "Hey Ava what's for—" he cut off when he looked up from his phone and saw me. A smirk came onto his lips and he gave me the once-over. "Hey, sexy lady. Maybe I can have you for dinner?"

I rolled my eyes. "Beat it, kid. You're too young and scrawny for my taste."

"Oh, but I'll grow baby," he gave me a wink.

"Check back in ten years, little dude." I said.

He winked again. "Count on it,"

I looked over at Ava when he left, fake gagging. "How old is he? Ten?"

She laughed. "Thirteen. At the height of his puberty-filled testosterone boost. Sorry about him."

"It's all good," I laughed. "Let's order pizza!"

• • •

An hour later, Ava's bedroom floor was littered with heels and skimpy clothes, and we had finished off almost two pizzas.

"Ooooh, what about this one?" Ava came out of her huge closet, a sparkly black crop top and a leather skirt in hand. "And those red heels."

I looked up from my pizza slice, squinting my eyes. "Yes, but with the black stilletoes."