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There was one last drop of chocolate milkshake in my cup, but no matter how I moved my straw, I just couldn't reach it. I was pretty certain that the people sitting in the booth next to us were watching me with raised eyebrows, but that didn't matter to me. What mattered was that I had just chugged the best milkshake of my entire life.
"Should we order you another one?" George asked.
I tossed my straw onto the table in defeat. "No, thanks. I'm good."
"I told you the food here was delicious," Rachel said, scooping up another bite of baked salmon onto her fork.
Holden Grill was perched on stilts that stretched out over the beach, high enough from the sand so that people could walk below it. It was very bougie, by my standards.
"How long will you be in Holden, Waverly?" Chloe asked.
"Two months," I told her.
"All summer, huh?"
"George, honey, don't speak with your mouth full," Chloe scolded.
He rolled his eyes, swallowed, and turned to Rachel.
"Aren't you busy with that project down in Marlin Bay? The mural at the hospital?"
"Yes. We should be done with it by the end of August, though."
"So what is Waverly going to do on her own?"
Great question.
"She might try to find a summer job," Rachel offered helpfully.
"Oh! Blake has one of those," Chloe said, flipping her platinum blonde hair over her shoulder and stabbing a scallop with her fork. "He's a lifeguard."
Not an option for me.
"Maybe he could show her around the beaches?"
If I had been drinking water, I would have spat it out.
Really? Rachel wanted me to hang out with him?
"Oh, don't be silly," Chloe told Rachel. "I'm sure Waverly will make her own friends soon enough. AndBlake's been so busy recently with his girlfriend—I swear, he's never home!"
My hand twitched in my lap.
It wasn't because I was scared to make friends with these Holden kids. Which I totally was. They all knew each other, and they had inside jokes together. I, on the other hand, was the outsider. And to make matters worse, I was from Alaska. I was bound to make a polar bear joke. No one would get it.
"Is Blake still with her?" George asked, still on the subject of his son's girlfriend. "I thought they broke up."
"Oh no, sweetie. That was last week. They're back together now," Chloe informed him.
So Blake and his girlfriend were one of those couples. You know, the ones that break up and get back together an average of five times a day. Noted.
"Well, I'm stuffed," George declared, placing his napkin on the table and leaning back in the booth, allowing his stomach to bulge out. "I think it's about time to head home."
"Agreed," Rachel said with a nod.
"We'll pick up the check," Chloe offered, reaching for her purse.
After she'd paid, the four of us gathered ourselves and slid out of the booth, groaning as we stood up and realized we had all eaten way too much food. At this rate, I was going to have to buy a bigger parka before I returned to Alaska.
When we stepped outside into the humid air again, it was sunset. The sky was purple, the ocean below it painted orange in the glow. I managed to spot a few surfers out in the waves who looked like they weren't going to leave the beach until it was too dark for them to see their own feet.
"Isn't it gorgeous?" Rachel asked, nudging me with her elbow.
"Yeah," I replied, unable to tear my eyes off the water.
Then I spotted something. Off in the distance, from somewhere further down the beach, there were lights out on the sand. I turned towards Rachel, George, and Chloe to see if any of them had seen it, too.
"Is it that late already?" Chloe frowned. "I thought those kids wouldn't start the beach bash until after dark."
"Beach bash?" I repeated.
"The kids in town like to have them during the summer," Chloe explained. "Oh, Waverly, you should go!"
"Um."
"You absolutely should, Waverly," Rachel agreed. "It's a Holden rite of passage."
Me. At a party.
Did she not understand that I knew no one in this town?
"Maybe Blake could take you," Chloe offered, like she'd read my mind.
My stomach twisted at the mere thought of spending time with Blake. If I had thought he looked like he wanted to kill me before, what was he going to do when his parents made him drag me, the weird new girl, along with him to a party? Before I could even try to compose myself enough to put up an argument, Rachel looped her skinny, tan arm over my shoulder and pulled me towards her.
"She'd love to!" she spoke for me.
"Great!" Chloe said, "I'll send Blake over to pick you up when we get home."
With that, Chloe and George slipped into their sedan and pulled out of the parking lot, speeding off before I could ever comprehend what I'd just been talked into.
"Come on, Waverly!"
I marched to Rachel's car like a prisoner towards an electric chair.
The ride home was silent. I kept imagining a million different scenarios, all in which I ended up embarrassing myself in front of every kid in Holden. By the time we pulled back into the driveway in front of Rachel's house, I felt sick to my stomach. How would I manage at a party where the only person I knew even in the slightest clearly didn't like me?
Rachel cut the motor on the car and sighed.
"What do I wear?" I blurted, glancing down at Rachel's jean shorts. They really were huge on me. "I mean, is what I'm wearing okay?"
"You look fine," Rachel assured me. "It's just a casual thing."
I opened my mouth to ask her if I should bring anything with me to the party, but was interrupted as the front door of the Hamiltons' pale green house flew open.
Blake Hamilton stepped outside.
He wore a plain white T-shirt, a pair of dark shorts, and a scowl. I shrunk down into the passenger's seat, hoping he wouldn't notice me. But I'd forgotten that the vehicle I was sitting in was neon green, and therefore the first thing Blake noticed was me, hiding badly.
His eyebrows pinched.
"Look, there's Blake!" Rachel said.
I let out a little noise from the back of my throat that sounded like I was being strangled.
"Why don't you go out and say hello!" Rachel reached across me and pushed open my car door. I remained frozen in my seat. "You kids should head down to the beach. I think the party's starting."
My feet acting against my will. Before I knew it, I was standing upright on the driveway, facing Blake Hamilton. He hadn't moved even an inch from his spot on the porch, but had folded his arms over his chest and looked about as happy to see me as I was to see him.
Neither of us spoke.
"Hi Blake!" Rachel greeted.
"Hey, Ms. Lyons." Then, to me, he said, "You ready to go?"
"Um, sure?"
Blake bounded down the front steps of the porch.
With him standing on the same ground as me, I could finally tell how tall he was. And even though I was pretty tall for a girl, Blake towered over me. It was intimidating. But as if the sheer size of the boy wasn't scary enough, he was still glaring at me.
"Have fun, kids!" Rachel called.
I spun around to see that she had already climbed up the front stairs of her house and was opening the front door. I felt like calling out after her, begging her not to make me go to this party, but I couldn't force any sound to come out of my mouth. So I watched, silent and helpless, as Rachel disappeared into the house, closing the front door behind her. Everything was very still and very quiet for a moment. Then I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat and turned to face Blake Hamilton.
"Hey?" I said it like it was a question.
Blake didn't reply.
He turned on his heels and marched to his parents' sedan. I hurried after him, struggling to keep up with his long strides.
What was this kid? A professional speed walker?
"Are we driving?" I asked him.
Blake remained painfully silent as he pulled out a ring of keys from his pocket and clicked a button to unlock the car. The taillights flashed once, and Blake threw open the driver's side door and hopped inside. He slammed it closed behind him, making it clear that he had no intention of opening the passenger's side door for me.
I hurried to the other side of the car and opened my own door. Before I'd even buckled myself in, Blake hit the gas and sent the car flying backwards so fast I nearly smacked my forehead against the dashboard.
Douche.
As we barreled down the street, the lights on the beach grew closer. My stomach started to churn again. I glanced over at Blake out of the corner of my eye. His mouth was set into a thin, tight line.
I asked, "So, uh, how was babysitting?"
I'm not sure why I felt the need to speak at all. But the question tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop it. Blake didn't say anything in response, but I knew he heard me ask the question because his fingers clenched around the steering wheel a little bit tighter.
"Yeah, I don't like babysitting, either," I powered on. "I always end up covered in washable marker and oatmeal residue."
This was bad. This was very bad.
I couldn't stop talking.
Blake kept his eyes locked on the road, completely ignoring me. Usually, I would have been scared into silence by his hostile attitude, but for some reason, Blake's silence only made me talk more.
"Your little sister seems easy to watch, though. She can't be too much trouble."
Blake mumbled something under his breath. I didn't catch it.
We pulled into a small but crowded parking lot by the side of the beach. A dark cloud of smoke was directly overhead, looming like an ominous shadow. Blake cut the motor of the car and stepped outside, slamming the door behind him and leaving me sitting alone in the silence. For a moment I thought he was going to let me stay there, safe and out of the way of any social interaction.
But then Blake turned back towards the car, his arms folded over his chest impatiently. I fumbled to open my door. As I emerged into the warm air, I was hit by a wall of sound. Voices, laughing and gossiping, mixed in with the rumble of the waves on the beach and some very loud pop music that was blasting out of someone's speakers. My stomach started to do flips again as I realized that this party, just a little further down the beach, was very crowded.
And I didn't know anyone.
"I'm serious about your sister," I told Blake, hurrying after him through the parking lot. Somehow, jabbering on to him made the knots in my stomach looser. "She seems well-behaved. This one time, I babysat these twins that lived down the street from me. They set my hair on fire. It took me three years to grow it back. Luckily, I was only in middle school. My hair's all grown back now, see?" I lifted up a clump of my tangled brown hair.
Blake glanced down at me.
He frowned at the clump of hair in my hand.
"I know," I sighed, "I have terrible split ends. I need one of those special shampoos—"
"Do you always talk this much?"
I was so surprised by the sound of Blake's voice that I stepped down awkwardly on the edge of the parking lot, where the concrete met the soft sand, and tripped forwards. I managed to keep my balance by flailing my arms wildly, and avoided face-planting.
Blake snorted anyways.
"Graceful," he muttered, not bothering to stop walking.
In the distance, further down the beach, a bonfire was glowing orange. I fell into step alongside Blake. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glance down at me. Oh boy. Here's the part where he realizes how much of a loser he'll seem like if he walks into this party with me at his side.
"Blake!"
Never before had a heard a female voice reach such a high octave.
A petite girl with tan skin and long, shimmering black hair broke away from the crowd and bounded across the beach, kicking up sand behind her. In the faint glow of the bonfire, I could tell that she was tan and dressed in a black bikini top and a pair of tiny white shorts.
I glanced up at Blake to gauge his reaction to the girl.
He was... smiling.
Never thought I'd see that happen.
"Alissa!" he shouted back, stepping forward to throw his arms around the girl's tiny waist as she reached him. He picked her up and twirled her around, inciting a round of high-pitched giggles from the dark-haired girl.
Oh, gosh. Please don't let them start making out.
"Who's this, babe?" the girl, Alissa, asked as she noticed me over Blake's shoulder. Blake dropped her back into the sand and turned to face me, his arms still wrapped around her torso. I caught the faint grimace on his face before he could compose his features.
"She's my neighbor's niece."
"Oh?" Alissa asked, one of her thin, dark eyebrows shooting up. Her eyes ran up and down my body once before a small smile formed on her lips. "Nice to meet you, I'm Alissa."
She stuck out her tiny, tan hand towards me.
"I'm Waverly," I told her, taking her hand and shaking it.
Alissa looked down at my outstretched arm and laughed.
"God, you're pale!"
Blake laughed, too, and I pulled my hand back.
"I'm from Alaska," I explained in a nervous mumble.
"Cool," Alissa said, but she didn't sound like she meant it.
I mean, come on. Nobody thought Alaska was cool unless they were drastically underestimating our winter climate.
"I'm gonna go grab something to drink," Blake said suddenly, looking down at his girlfriend to make it clear that he wasn't addressing me. "You want anything, Lissa?"
"Get me a White Claw, babe."
Blake nodded and, without even sparing me a glance, disappeared into the crowd and was greeted by people calling his name and hugging him. I knew it. He was popular. And from the looks of it, he was at the very top of the social ladder in Holden.
"So, Alaska, huh?"
I turned back towards Alissa. She was scrutinizing me.
"Yep."
"It's, like, really cold there, yeah?"
"Yep."
"So, what are you doing in Holden?"
No one had asked me that yet. Why I was in Holden, I mean. I had been hoping nobody would, because I didn't want to tell anyone that my parents were divorced, and that the reason I was stuck in Holden was because my parents hated each other so much that they refused to speak, and therefore they hadn't decided which one of them I would stay with for the summer.
"Just visiting my aunt," I replied.
Alissa nodded.
"Want to come get a drink?" she offered, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder towards the bonfire. I'dnever had a sip of alcohol before, but she didn't need to know that.
"Sure! Yeah, totally."
Alissa and I walked side by side towards the bonfire. As we grew closer, I could make out all the horrific details of the party. There was pop music blasting out of a few large speakers that were attached to orange extension cords that ran up to a shack on the edge of the sand. A group of boys hanging around one of the speakers stacked up red plastic cups into a pyramid, then poured beer over the structure, letting it waterfall. Everyone looked like they'd come straight from a Sports Illustrated photoshoot, or a two-for-one sale on self-tanner and teeth whitening strips. It was like I'd wandered onto the set of terribly clichéd teen movie.
I pushed my way through the crowd and followed Alissa to one of the many kegs sitting around the party. She filled up a red plastic cup and handed it to me, then stood on her tiptoes and surveyed the party, most likely searching for Blake.
"Hey Lissa!"
Alissa and I turned at the same time to see a girl making her way towards us. She had a mass of curly blonde hair on her head and freckles dotting every visible inch of her body. Despite her thin frame, she was strong. I could tell because she elbowed her way through the crowd with ease.
"Oh my God, Lena," Alissa grabbed the girl's hand, "have you seen Ethan?"
I had no clue who Ethan was.
"Yeah, he was talking with Jesse by the speakers," Lena said.
I had no clue who Jesse was.
"Puh-lease tell me that he isn't with that whore," Alissa seethed.
And I had no clue who this whore was, but I didn't feel like finding out. So instead, I looked down into the red plastic cup in my hands. The beer was flat; not even a single bubble marked the surface.
"Oh, right. Waverly, this is Lena Fletcher. Lena, this is Waverly."
I hadn't expected Alissa to introduce me to anyone, so I was a little surprised when I heard her say my name.
"Hi Waverly!" Lena greeted. "I haven't seen you around before, are you new?"
I nodded, "Just got here today."
"From where?" she asked.
Here we go. "Alaska."
"Isn't she pale, Lena?" Alissa asked, grabbing my arm and holding it up in front of Lena's face so she could witness my abnormality.
My cheeks burned.
Lena just laughed and said, "Well, at least you don't have a ton of freckles!" She held up her own arm next to mine.
"You gonna drink that?" Alissa asked me suddenly, her dark green eyes locked on the red plastic cup in my hands. I grimaced.
"No. Do you want it?"
Before I'd even finished the question, Alissa snatched the cup out of my hand, threw back her head, and downed the drink. She then slammed the empty cup down into the sand and marched away, her eyes locked on a group of boys standing beside the speakers.
Lena sighed. "You'll have to excuse her."
"What's she doing?" I asked, watching Alissa stomp right up to a short, muscular boy in a tank top and board shorts. The two of them snapped at each other for a moment before the boy grabbed Alissa's hand and started pulling her off towards the parking lot. Alissa trailed along willingly.
"Probably hooking up with Ethan," Lena said.
"I thought she was with Blake?"
"Lissa isn't exactly the most loyal of girlfriends."
"Oh."
I had been at this party for five minutes, and I already felt like I was on an episode of some reality television show. Soon enough, there'd probably be some sort of hair-pulling fight, a drunk confession, and a sloppy make-out session.
None of which I wanted to be a participant in.
"It's not always this crazy," Lena assured me, as if she had read my horrified expression and knew what I was thinking. "It's just that Alissa's been having this identity crisis recently, and she feels like she's torn between two guys, or whatever. I don't know. It's so obnoxious. I didn't even want to come to this thing tonight."
My eyes went wide at Lena's confession.
"I didn't want to come to this thing, either," I admitted, feeling bold. "I don't know anyone. My aunt said it's a Holden right of passage, or something."
"I just came along to be designated driver," Lena said, leaning back against the table beside the keg, where packages of red plastic cups sat waiting to be opened. "Alissa's a little self-destructive, sometimes, but she's my best friend. I can deal with the boy drama, but the last thing I need is her getting herself in serious trouble, you know?"
I nodded, even though I didn't know.
I'd never had a best friend, really. I didn't know what the responsibilities and requirements were.
"Oh, shit," Lena said suddenly, her eyes locked on something over my shoulder.
I spun around. It wasn't difficult to tell what she was staring at. Everyone was staring, from the boys crowded around the speakers to the girls gathered around the keg. Even the sloppy make-out sessions in the darker corners of the party had ended, because across the beach, Alissa stood between Blake Hamilton and the guy in board shorts she'd run off with, one hand on either boy's chest.
I'd never been to a party before, but I knew—instinctively—that this one was over.