Jennifer Scott has spent all of her sixteen years on earth battling night terrors. Between the intense nightmares and her overprotective parents, Jennifer feels like her teenage years are going down the drain.
That all changes on the eve of her sop...
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Jen finally came to a stop.
Well past the Ferris wheel and the stage where a band performed, they'd left out the vans and trucks where they'd later pack the machinery. Gwen had long ago ceased to follow her, so she kept walking to the edge of the parking, where Brookland Park met the river.
She followed the light sounds of rushing water until she met the narrow riverbed. With a heavy sigh, she relaxed her shoulders.
A beep startled Jen enough to make her squeak. When she calmed down enough to remember what phones were, she pulled hers out of her purse and read a text from Nora.
"Where'd you go? Send location ASAP."
As Jen pressed send on her location, someone asked, "Rough night?"
She jumped and looked over her shoulder. Seated on a wooden crate, a blonde boy placed a blunt in between his lips and waved her over.
He seemed weird, but then Jen recognized the boy sitting next to her.
Wide receiver for the Brookland High Knights, playboy extraordinaire, and—most importantly—her crushes' best friend. Ben Stevens leaned against a school bus and stared at Jen.
Ben blew out smoke as he asked, "I know you from somewhere, don't I?" He brushed perfectly wavy strands of brown hair out of his eyes before squinting at her.
"Uh, yeah." Jen ealked their way, keeping her eyes peeled for another boy, but it didn't seem he was around. "We go to Brookland High together."
"Right," Ben agreed. "You're . . ." It looked like he tried—really, really tried—to remember her name, but she knew he couldn't possibly know it. Last semester, Jen was a freshman who mostly kept to herself, and he'd been a junior. The only reason Jen knew him was because she was admittedly infatuated with his best friend.
"Jen," she introduced herself as she sat atop a wooden crate.
"I'm Emmett," the blonde introduced himself, then pointed at his tan companion. "That's Ben."
She shivered, regretting the pink tube top Nora had chosen for her. It wasn't that she was particularly cold, but a warm sweater could've really worked wonders to ease the goosebumps on her skin. She looked at her arms to see that most of the irritation had gone away, but it was still a bit red from where Gwen grabbed her.
"The craziest thing just happened to me." Her hands rubbed at her arms. She wouldn't usually confide in strangers, but she had to tell someone! She felt like she was going to explode if she didn't.
Emmett chuckled, his tone not one bit earnest as he said, "Do tell."
"Those freaky fortune-tellers," she explained. "I swear they're actual witches."
"Don't read too much into that stuff," Ben said. "They're performers."
"I went yesterday," Emmett added, "Did they do the candle thing?"
