GENTRY

10

Luis runs through the crowd, desperately trying to find Kai. Poppy, who has been trying to keep tabs on everyone, watches the panicked, curly-haired boy push through.

She grabs him by the shoulders and cups his face. "Luis, Luis look at me."

Luis is panting, looking around and then looking at her. "I'm not calm. I'm not going to calm down."

"What's going on?" Poppy says.

"We need to call an ambulance but we can't find the landline, and-"

"What's going on?" Poppy repeats herself.

"We need to get the girls out of here. Briar's been roofied."

Poppy steps back. Trouble only seems to follow them, with or without The Divide. "Do you know the guy who did it? Describe him to me."

"Blonde, white," Luis thinks back, but he was thinking about Briar, not the guy. He feels so stupid.

"Shit," Poppy mutters it so quietly that Luis isn't sure he heard her say the word. "Gather our friends, I'll find a landline."

Luis listens, making his way through the crowd. He makes sure to take a glance at all the women's faces to make sure they aren't losing their grip on reality.

They all meet us outside, with a taxi rolling up. Luis hasn't had time to explain what is going on. Luis and Poppy load Briar into the back of the cab.

"I've called my doctor," Poppy says. "Ellie, you coming?"

Ellie looks around at the others. She wants to protest, but she worries that there isn't a lot of time. Consequently, she and Poppy load up Briar into the car and they are off.

"What happened?" Kai asks, looking around. He's pretty drunk, but the cold October air is thin, passing through his lips and chilling his otherwise warm body.

The sounds of the party continue in the distance. Their breaths are louder than the music.

"She got roofied," Luis manages.

Evelyn would gasp if she were more herself. Her teeth are chattering, and she keeps looking at the porch light despite the ache it causes her head. She wants to groove to the music; she wants everyone else to just relax. She feels great. She feels spectacular.

She's high, to say the least of her.

Vieira closes her mouth tightly. She's lucky she had Tom with her, that she didn't dance with any strangers, that she didn't accept anyone's offers of drinks. It's never a woman's fault when this happens. Vieira knows it's selfish, but she can't help but worry that it was so close to being her tonight.

"How... that stuff doesn't happen at Hawkwood," Kai says. "Right?"

"Obviously, it did," Luis says.

Ez rolls his eyes, "that kind of mentality is what allows those kinds of things to happen."

"Well, who could it have been?" Kai says, ignoring Ez's slight. "Surely not a rugby boy."

"If it was anyone, it was probably a rugby boy," Jetta jumps in, glaring him up and down. "K?"

"We should call the police," Roman says. "Worse that happens we get busted for underage drinking."

"And drugs," Kai says. "Do you want to commit mass social suicide?"

Roman isn't believing what they are hearing. They rub their arms over the sleeves of their thick sweater. Rather than answer, they shake their head.