CHAPTER 1
Bailey
Thirsty U sureloved its parties.
Two-story houses spilled light and music onto the sidewalk—along with drunk college students—as Seb and I walked along fraternity row.
“This is gonna be awesome,” he said, rubbing his hands together. “I’m going to meet the girl of my dreams tonight, man. I can feel it.”
I rolled my eyes. “So, the girl of your dreams is a drunk sorority girl?”
He laughed. “Yeah, man. How else would I get her to notice me? I’ll wow her with my mad drinking game skills.”
I shook my head. “It’s not too late to head over to the rec hall instead. Play a couple games of pool andnotwake up with a terrible hangover.”
“Dude, I’m not playing pool with you ever again. You robbed me blind.”
“I tried to warn you.”
He snorted. “Sure, but unlike everyone else here, you weren’t just posturing like a jackass. How was I supposed to know that?”
“I don’t posture.”
“Well, I know thatnow,” Seb said with a laugh, slinging his arm around my neck. “But you owe me, man. So we’re going to this party, whether you like it or not.”
I didn’t owe him anything. I’d taken twenty bucks off him, and that was a lot in broke college kid funds, but I’d also bought him coffee twice. But Sebastian insisted that his pride had taken a lot more damage than his wallet. And my roommate was nothing if not dramatic. He was going to make me pay as long as he could.
“I don’t know, Seb. It’s not really my scene.”
“Nothing is your scene but pool tables and cars,” he said dismissively. “There’s more to college than that.”
“You mean, like class? Good idea. I should go study.”
He laughed. “Don’t bullshit me. You hate studying as much as I do.”
Well, that was true. I could never stand to read the textbook. Give me a hands-on project, no matter how hard, and I’d focus in and get that shit done. But reading dry, boring explanations? Couldn’t do it.
I was making it through my classes with the help of YouTube demonstrations that could put my lessons into a different context for me. But it wasn’t foolproof.
“Come on, Bailey,” Seb said. “I can’t go in there without a wingman. You know what happened last time.”
Last time, he’d hit on a girl with a huge-ass frat boyfriend who’d tossed him bodily out of the house. He’d thrown up all over himself and had to limp home on a twisted ankle.
“You really don’t know how to hold your liquor,” I said.
“That’s why I need you,” he insisted. “We’re roommates, man. If you don’t come in, who knows what will happen? You’ll have to pick up the pieces again. Do you want that?”
I wrinkled my nose, remembering how he’d woken me with the smell of vomit and desperation. “Yeah, no, we can’t have that.”
He grinned. “Then come on. It’ll be fun!”
I already knew as we started up the walkway, weaving around clusters of students sucking on vape pens, talking shit, and in one case, sloppily making out, that it was going to be anything but fun.
It’d taken only one party for me to realize that the people at Thurston University really weren’tmypeople. Their biggest worries in the world seemed to be where to find the next beer and who they were going to hook up with. Classes and grades were an afterthought compared to the dating drama.
I’d tried to talk to a few people, but I couldn’t relate to their complaints about the allowances their parents were giving them, or the fact they couldn’t buy the new pair of designer jeans they wanted.
We were all the same age, more or less, but they were so childish. Had I ever in my life been so oblivious to the world around me? It’s like they didn’t even understand that not everyone was as fortunate as they were.
