Chapter One

"Hello there, sexy!" Sabrina coos as I march myself down my front porchsteps.

Her and Megan are sitting in her bright golden Ford Focus (properly named "Goldie"), eager looks plastered onto their faces. It's the day we've been waiting for for the past three years-even longer for Megan and I. Half a month after graduation, all three of us are finally eighteen, which means that it's time.

We're going on our first vacation together without our parents.

I'm so excited, that I don't stop to do my usual spin. It's only 9:30 in the morning, but I'm still slightly paranoid that my work will call me at the last minute, asking if I can come in. If and when that happens, I want to be able to say that I'm over two hundred miles away with no ride and so, therefor, can't.

Her trunk is already popped, so I fling it open and throw my duffle bag in before rushing toward the door, barely remembering to close it in my haste.

"You have everything?" Megan asks as Sabrina's hand hovers impatiently over the gear. "Lactaid? Pads? Pain meds?"

I nod. "I went over my list three times last night and one more time this morning. Trust me. I have everything we're going to need."

"Good." Sabrina wastes no time in shifting into drive and peeling away from the curb. As she does so, I spare one last glance back at my house. I won't be seeing it again for another four days and through my excitement, I find that I'm a little bit afraid.

"Can you believe it's finally the day?" I gasp, digging out my phone. "I'm so fucking excited!"

"I know!" Megan does the closest thing to a squeal that, as the tough girl she likes to portray she is, she can. "Think about it, four hours from now we'll be chilling in our beautiful hotel room."

With long curly black hair, tanned skin, and coal colored eyes-not to mention Amazonian height-she's almost the exact opposite of my short choppy, straight as a board, blonde hair, blue eyes, pale as a ghost skin, and light blue eyes (along with my completely average five-foot-six). Luckily, the summer between Freshman and Sophomore year, we found Sabrina who fell perfectly between us with wavy brown hair and green eyes. Funnily enough, personality-wise, it's Bri who's my exact opposite. Where as I'm a more of a chill-at-home, never leave the couch type personality, she's the outgoing one who always wants to go partying or to parks, and Megan is the one who lands right in the middle.

"Well, actually, that won't be for another seven hours." I remind her, "Check in isn't until 4."

She rolls her eyes, before shooting Sabrina a pointed look. "Hey, Bri. She isn't wearing her seatbelt."

A gasp is barely able to escape my throat before I'm suddenly being thrown against the window as Sabrina yanks the wheel to the left. I scream and lash out, clinging to the back of the seat as she jerks it back to the right and I go sliding back.

"Stop it!" I screach, not able to help the burst of giggles that escape from my throat.

Finally, after a few more jerks, she stops, allowing me to reposition myself.

"As I was saying," Megan clears her throat. "In four hours we will be wandering the beautiful thing that is called the Mall of America."

"And more importantly," Sabrina adds, "We won't have any worries, or parents telling us what to do."

"Most importantly, do you know who Jared says lives up there?" Megan shoots a smirk back at me, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Oh, grow up." I grab my phone, which I had dropped during my flinging around, and continued with what I had been planning to do.

"Maybe we'll run into him at the mall," she begins to tease. "He'll see you all hot and sexy, out of those icky school clothes, and fall madly in love with you."

I roll my eyes and shake my head, "Yeah, sure. Because I'm capable of looking hot and sexy." the sarcasm in my voice is not contained in the slightest.

Sabrina and Megan are here. I text my younger brother. I had woken him up before leaving, but from his gargled response, somehow I doubt he'll remember later. I'm leaving now. Mom will be home at 12:30.

"Oh yes, I can see it-" Sabrina cuts off with a gasp. "Meg! Text Jared and have him ask Dom if he can 'show us around'!"

My eyes grow wide, and my head shoots up. There's no way in hell I just heard that right. "What?!"

"Ohmigod!" Megan is already digging out her phone. "This will be perfect! From what I hear, he knows all the best drug dealers in town! That means parties galore!"

That does not sound good for many reasons. I'm not very comfortable around people I don't know, so I had been hoping that this vacation would just be the three of us for the most part. The last thing I need is some boy-even if he has been my crush for the last seven months-ruin that. Parties and drugs were not on the list a bit.

I push down my worries. There's no way that will happen. Dom and I have barely said five words to each other. There's no way he'd agree to this completely stupid plan even if it's Jared-his best friend-asking him.

A couple minutes later, my phone begins buzzing. Perfect. Just fucking perfect. Despite my haste, someone from work has managed to get a hold of me before I even left city limits.

However, it isn't a coworker's name that flashes across my screen when I pick up. Instead, it's Jarred's.

"Bruh," I say when I pick up.

"Bruh," he answers. "So, I called Dom, and he's all down for it. I'm texting you his number now, so you can call him when you want to be 'shown around'."

Oh, how pretty.

I think I can see my hopes for this trip flying out the window.