CHAPTER 1

Evelyn's Pov

It was finally my 18th birthday and honestly, I could barely focus on anything else because tonight, Tommy was officially and said he was my boyfriend.

Tommy and I had secretly been seeing each other for a whole year, but he'd made me promise to keep it on the down-low. Honestly, I didn't get it. I wanted the world to know right away! I mean, he was insanely good-looking, crazy popular and a member of the hockey team. But no, he said we had to ‘wait for the right time.’ Ugh, typical Tommy.

“I want to save announcing our relationship for a special night, babe,” he had told me. I had been asking when he would make our relationship public for a while, but maybe he was right; it was best to wait until a special time. That meant that he really loved me, right?

As I stood in front of the mirror and admired myself, I felt confident that Tommy would announce our relationship tonight. I picked out special lingerie, which I wore under my outfit now, because I was certain that we would finally have sex for the first time. I was ready to lose my virginity.

Aside from the lingerie, which was a sexy white set that I picked out at the mall a couple days before the party, I was wearing tight denim shorts that showed off my thighs, a white crop top, and heels. I wore red lipstick and black eyeliner, too. I felt a bit awkward wearing an outfit like this, as I usually dressed in jeans and hoodies; but my best friend and roommates, Daya and Seraphina, insisted that I dress up for the party.

The only thing that I kept the same about myself tonight was my hair, which was long, brown and curly. I always wore my hair in a scarf and never liked it any other way. Some people said it was boring, but I thought it was cute and practical.

“You look so hot, Evie!” Seraphina said as I came out of the room. “The boys are gonna be all over you!”

I didn’t say anything about Tommy. Even my own roommates didn’t know about our relationship.

Daya looked at her phone and took another sip of her strawberry milkshake. “Everyone should be here any minute,” she said in her low, sultry voice. Daya was the “tech geek” on campus, which was a stark contrast from Seraphina’s Barbie-like nature and my studious attitude. Somehow, though, we were all best friends.

Just then, the door burst open with the first guests arriving. The group of guys and girls flooded in carrying cases of beers and whooping and hollering, excited for the party. With a grin, Seraphina cranked up the music and started greeting people while I stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Daya walked over to the couch and sat down, scrolling on her phone; she was uninterested in parties as I was except when I'm the one throwing it which is only usually on my birthday.

Soon enough, the suite was full of people. The drinks were endless, music was non-stop and the guests were vibing. It looked like the party of the year. Boys, especially those on the hockey team, gathered around the beer pong table, hooting and howling as they competed with each other. A few girls hung out in the seating area with their boyfriends and cliques, discussing God-knows-what.

A while into the party, Tommy finally arrived. Instead of coming over to meet me like I thought he would, he made a beeline for the beer pong table and joined the game.

During a lull in the game, I shot Tommy a text: “Babe, since you're here, aren't you gonna announce it?”

I watched from the corner as he pulled out his phone, searching for my gaze across the room. When he did, he gave a careless shrug then pocketed his phone. My jaws nearly dropped as he returned to his game like I hadn't just texted him. My phone wobbled in my grip and so did my heart in my chest. Why was he doing this? Had he changed his mind? And why now?

A familiar whoop made me flinch and I turned to see Seraphina dancing her way towards me.

“Who's the party girl? You are!” she said with a sly grin plastered on her face. When I didn't reply to her quip, her brows pinched. “What's wrong? Are you okay?”

“I'm fine. Just not the party type of gal.” I lied. I was far from fine and parties weren't actually my scene. Bookclubs and Comic cons were.

Seraphina pursed her lips and handed me the beer she was holding. “That means you need a little liquid courage.”

At first, I hesitated. It's true that after today, I'd become a legal adult and all but I wasn't a fan of alcohol. However, Seraphina was right. I needed all the liquid courage I could get right now but beer wasn't going to cut it, not with how Tommy was treating me tonight.

“How about vodka?” I said.

Seraphina’s eyes lit up and she turned around to face the group, cupping her hands around her mouth to shout.

“Hey everyone!” she shouted. “The birthday girl wants shots!”

Whoops exploded in the air and I smiled awkwardly. This is going to be fun. I hope so.

Vodka had a fiery taste at the back of my tongue and left a weird aftertaste but by my third shot, it got better. By my seventh shot, however, my body felt too light. It became worse when bile rose all the way to my throat. I got off Seraphina and stumbled down the hall to the bathroom. I made it to the toilet just in time.

When I was done throwing up, I stood up and made my way over to the sink, where I splashed some cold water on my face and took some deep breaths to sober myself up. I looked nothing like the way I arrived.

My makeup was smudged, my scarf was gone and my hair looked bedraggled. If Tommy were here, he'd say I looked awful. Tommy…. I tried not to cry as I remembered him. Why was he treating me like this? Just a few days ago, he kissed me behind the hockey arena and told me he loved me. Now, he was acting like he didn’t even know me. Was he just nervous about announcing our relationship, or was it something else?

Taking another deep breath and wiping the tears off of my face, I straightened up and decided to go talk to Tommy.

When I left the bathroom, however, he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“Hey, have you seen Tommy?” I asked a redhead smoking a cigarette. She just shrugged her shoulders and pointed toward my bedroom. Maybe he just went inside to be alone for a minute, which would give us some time to talk.

I made my way over to my room, practically stumbling through the crowd.

When I opened the door, my blood froze.

Tommy was in my bed, but he wasn’t alone. He was with another girl. I recognized her immediately from her long platinum-blonde hair and athletic body — it was Marsei Kingston, the cheerleading captain. They were tangled together in my bed, Tommy’s pants pulled down and Marsei’s panties on the floor as they had sex in my bed.

“What the fuck!” I screamed.

The party went silent, aside from the music, which someone quickly shut off.

Tommy and Marsei sat up in my bed; Tommy looked even more drunk and high than before, but immediately jumped up when he saw me and yanked his pants up.

“Fuck! Evie, it’s not what it looks like,” he said, stumbling toward me while Marsei simply stood up with a smirk and pulled her panties on, smoothing down her skirt. She strutted out of the room and bumped me with her shoulder on the way out as I continued to stare at Tommy in shock and disbelief.

Tommy stammered as he tried to explain himself. “I’m so sorry, I-”

“Tommy…” I interrupted, my voice shaking. “We. Are. Done.”

Without another word, I turned away and stormed out of the suite with Seraphina and Daya calling after me.

I walked out of the dorms into the cool spring air, turning this way and that for a bit before deciding to make my way toward town. I walked for a while, fuming the entire time and muttering to myself, until I finally made it to a boutique bar on campus.

I nodded gratefully as the bartender poured me a glass of water, and I sipped it miserably while he disappeared into the kitchen.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to see that I had several missed calls and “Where are you?!?” texts from Seraphina and Daya, but I ignored them and tossed my phone down on the bar, taking a big swig of my drink and cursing to myself.

“Yeah, I hate my phone, too,” a male voice said from beside me. I looked over to see a guy pulling up a barstool a couple seats down. He was wearing a black leather jacket and had curly black hair, and a sharp jawline. He was muscular, too.

“I hate everything right now,” I said, swirling my fizzy water around in my glass with my straw.

“How come?”

The boy looked at me, and just then, I came to a shocking realization: this was David, Tommy’s hockey captain, the star of the school and every girl’s dream boy.

And he was sitting next to me, in this quiet dive bar, talking to me.