The Endgame ✔

Chapter One

Everyone was starting their Senior Year with a huge celebration. One last mischievous year with your friends. One last time spending endless hours together before everyone headed off in different directions and started a new life in college.

You could be enjoying one last year with your best friends, creating lasting memories. Or you could be celebrating that the torturous years of high school were soon coming to an end.

I sure was starting my Senior Year at a party, sitting on a couch, all by myself, and wanting to cry my eyes out. Literally.

Which fantastic, right?

It'd only been a week since classes started, and my heart had already been broken into small pieces. I was so miserable that no drunk person at this party wanted to talk, get near, or cross stares with me.

Basically, I had the plague. The broken-hearted, when-life-gives-you-lemons-you-turn-bitter, the-sun-will-rise-again-but-I-won't plague.

I got them. No one wanted to suck my sad energy, much less during a celebratory party. Frankly, I didn't want to be down either. I wanted to fall asleep for the entire year and hopefully wake up recovered. Or erase this day from my mind. Whatever worked best and faster.

Not even my friend Melissa felt pitiful enough to hang out with me on the miserable sofa.

The second we stepped into the house party, she grabbed a red cup—from mysterious and therefore, dubious precedence—and shoved it in my hand. Then, she yelled into my ear to relax, get drunk, and find someone to hook up with. And finally, she disappeared to do God knew what.

Whatever one did at parties when one wasn't miserable and with contagious plague.

Even though I eyed and judged the red cup for a total of five minutes, I started to feel lonely enough that I decided to give Melissa's tip a shot. Not the last part, of course. I wasn't looking for any hookups.

I could relax. I could lose myself in the alcohol and forget everything about this regretful day. I could totally do that. Sleeping didn't seem to be in the plans tonight anyway, so erasing this terrible day from my mind was it.

I tried the red cup and found out it was water.

Destiny (and most likely God) didn't want me drinking, so forgetting about the awful day wasn't in my plans either. Drowning in heartache was it then.

I sat down with a sad face, scowling at the dancing people and praying for the night to end. It was a matter of time until Melissa was ready to head back home.

She wasn't planning on staying here all night, right? Mrs. Hale wouldn't allow it, I was sure. Besides, Melissa reassured me we would only stay for a while.

For a fraction of a second though, I was terrified that Melissa found out this was the best party of her life and decided to stick until sunrise.

This night was turning into a nightmare.

At that moment, I promised myself I would never again drive to a party with Melissa. She tended to disappear while I was stuck in the place until she was ready to leave. Usually, that moment arrived only after she chunked a few shots down and was done with the guy of the night.

She'd better not be drinking tonight though, she was our DD.

I exhaled and eyed my cup of water.

Seriously? What was I thinking when I agreed to come to this party? Of course, I wasn't given much of a choice or vote.

Nothing was going according to plan.

I should be crying at home, in bed with a nice book or a romantic movie. Hopefully, Pride and Prejudice. I was fancying some old settings and amazing accents. I was craving to eat my weight in white chocolate too.