I don't know. Museum stuff?

They had s.e.x, Charity.

OMG!!!.

It goes on like that for about fifteen minutes. Finally I've had enough, say bye-bye to Charity and start pacing my room. I need to make up my mind about my admissions letters. I'm either going to buckle down and go where she wants or make a stand and go where I want.

I'm starting to lean towards going my own way. I could get a job on the side to support myself while I work, and I'd come through it debt free. I'll do the same if I go Mom's way, but then I'll have surrendered and solidly become her pet or her means to live vicariously or something.

After quite a while brooding, I hear a door swing shut and, curious, poke my head out into the hallway. That's when my mother walks past my room wearing a c.o.c.ktail dress. I'd hesitate to call it s.l.u.tty, I mean it's still her, but for her it's pretty risque, with a skirt that only comes down to her knees, bare shoulders, and a tight bodice. She's gone the whole nine yards, lipstick, earrings, a string of pearls, and she did up her hair, smoothing it against her head.

She actually looks pretty good. Younger, too.

"Yes?"

"Uh, nothing," I squeak. "Are you going out with that guy again?"

"Yes. We're going to Philadelphia for dinner and a movie."

"What movie?"

"The Sixth Seal. Ingmar Bergman. It's showing at- "Euuugh," I choke out. "Fine, fine. Have fun."

She tilts her chin back a little. "What are you going to do this evening?"

"Nothing," I shrug.

"I've heard Lucas is throwing a party."

"Mom, you're supposed to be talking me out of going to the jock's house party. You know his parents are down the sh.o.r.e."

She waves her hand. "You'll be fine. Besides, Lucas wouldn't hurt you. He adores you."

I'm pretty sure half the things Lucas pictures doing with me would hurt, actually.

"No, not interested."

She shrugs. "I see. Fine, then. Enjoy sitting around doing nothing."

G.o.d, my mother can be such a teenager sometimes. She grabs a clutch purse (that I've also never seen before) and heads downstairs.

Around seven thirty, I get bored. The Honda is still in the garage. Charity will have night shift tonight, until the store closes, anyway. I can go hang out with her.

Main Street is pretty dead when I park at the end, feed the meter and walk down to Hermitage's. I'm a little surprised when there is no Charity in evidence, and her uncle is manning the counter. I'm doubly surprised that the guy from yesterday is back, sipping coffee from a styrofoam cup and nodding patiently as the old man tells one of his stories.

"So then Dave pulls down her top and starts yelling, and everybody at the swimming hole turns around to look. These two wads of tissues go floating down..."

"Where's Charity?" I break in.

I'm getting a little annoyed. My world is melting around me and my best friend is missing in action.

The old man waves his hand. "She asked for the night off. First time in three years, I figured I'd give it to her. Her and some boy were going to the party at that little s.h.i.thead's house. What's his name, Luke or something?"

"Lucas. She's going to Lucas' party. You're sure?"

He nods. "Reasonably so. I was just talking to this young man here about-"

"Whatever, I need to go get her."

"Hey." Apollo says, and sips his coffee.

My knees buckle a little. Good G.o.d he's hot. He makes jeans and a t-shirt look good. I mean, model good. The cotton molds to his body with impossible precision, even lining those muscle channel things that dip into his belt. Charity came up with an obscene name for those, but I think the technical term is adonis belt.

Anyway.

"Hi. I've got to run."

"Where are you off to?"

"I need to find my friend. I can't let her go to Lucas' party."

I have no idea why I would divulge that information to this guy.

"Why?"

"Because he's bad news. There will be drinking and drugs."

"Sounds like fun," he smirks.

His smirk makes something flutter in my chest, but I can't let myself be distracted.

"I'm going to go find her."

I turn on my heels and head for the door.

"Alone?"

I stop and turn back, one eyebrow quirked up. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

"If it's dangerous, why don't you let me go with you?"

The old man nods, as if it sounds like a profoundly good idea. Apollo shrugs, that smirk widening a little until it threatens a grin.

"Why?"

"Why not? I wanted to see a bit of the town. I just moved here with my father."

That should ring a bell, but why doesn't it?

It doesn't matter. This is crazy. A complete stranger is offering to go rescue Charity from Lucas' den of sc.u.m and villainy, and I'm thinking about taking him up on it. I'm thinking about quite a lot of things. Like his lips. He has very kissable lips. I spend so much time thinking about schoolwork and colleges and My Future I sometimes forget that boys exist. Now I'm looking at a boy and forgetting that Charity exists. Lucas would put one of his jacka.s.s friends up to asking her out and lead her into some kind of vile prank to humiliate her or something. Or worse.

I'm wasting time here.

"I'm wasting time here," I announce, and turn on my heels.

Apollo follows me out the door. He downs his coffee with a wince and drops it one of the big wrought iron garbage cans that line the street.

"What are you doing?"

"Following you."

"Why?"

He shrugs. "I like the view."

I stumble a little. "Excuse me?"

"You going to go get your friend, or what?"

"Yeah. In my car. By myself."

He continues to follow me.

"Look, this may seem a little forward of me, but I know the guy you're talking about. From yesterday, right?"

"Yeah," I sigh.

"I'm not just going to let you go confront this person by yourself."

I blink a few times. "Uh, why?"

"Because I'm suave and debonair, and when you're as hot as I am you can be chivalrous without it coming across as creepy."

It takes every ounce of my willpower not to laugh at that.

"Fine. Follow me or something."

"I'm on foot. Can I catch a ride?"

"If you insist."

It feels a little cramped in the Honda with him in the front seat next to me. He has long legs, and puts the seat all the way back.

"You really think she's in some kind of trouble?"

"If she's not, she will be. Charity can't handle her liquor and half the town will be at this stupid party. Lucas knows people at the academy, but he knows people at both of the high schools, too. When the party hit Facebook I'll bet every teenager in town swarmed his place. His parents are at Cape May for the weekend."

He nods, and folds his arms across his chest. Wow, he's got big arms. It makes it look like he's doubled in size. I have to force myself to keep my eyes on the road. I see a hint of some tattoos where his shirt tightens against his skin. I'm almost curious to ask, and chew my lip. He glances over at me and shifts in the seat, visibly uncomfortable from the close quarters.

"How far?"

"Not very. We'll be there in a couple minutes."

Then I hear, as it were, a noise of thunder. It's the subwoofers and Lucas' house. Apollo rolls down his window and the sounds flood in, turning from a vague rumble to music and voices as we draw near.

"That's pretty loud."

"Yeah."

The closer we get, the stronger the smell grows. Tobacco and the sickly sweet tang of weed waft in the air, rising to near contact high levels as I park on the street, half a block down from Lucas' house. This is one of the new subdivisions and everything is fresh and clean, so much so that it's kind of disconcerting. It's odd for this area of the state not to have any freaking trees, and yet there are none in evidence. They were all cut down when the houses were built, and now the only replacements are saplings and a lot of gra.s.s and shrubs. I'm not really big on shrubs.

As I walk down the street, I feel like I should be putting on a helmet.

Apollo takes long strides to catch up with me and walks along with his hands in his pockets.

"How do you know this guy?"

"Cla.s.smate. Also he's a d.i.c.k. We've gone to school together since elementary school, all private schools. His parents are rich and let him do whatever he wants. You get the picture."

"Yeah, I get the picture."

There should be a velvet rope or something, but there's not. It's just a house, except for all the noise and lights coming from the back. I made the mistake of being talked into attending one of these once, so I know the drill. I walk up the lawn and around the back of the house, where there must be two hundred people crowded around the in-ground swimming pool. I don't know ninety percent of the people here. Lucas himself probably only knows them as acquaintances. So that's why somebody turns around and offers me a beer.

"Hey, want a beer?"

I wave off and thread through the crowd. Everybody is dancing, which amounts to drinking and getting high and bouncing up and down on wet concrete around a swimming pool, which is pretty high up there on the list of fantastic ideas. Finally, I spot somebody I know. Todd. He's been a mainstay in the audio-visual club, which meant he got a free period, basically, since the teacher who runs that doesn't give a s.h.i.t. I grab his arm and give a tug.

"Oh hey, Dee Dee."

"Dee Dee?" Apollo asks. Shouts, more like it. The deafening noise turns every conversation into a screaming match. I think Lucas actually hired a DJ, but one of his friends might have the equipment to do it all themselves. Half his friends think they're going to be rich and/or famous, and a lot of them will be right. Lucas himself already has a football scholarship lined up.

"Who's that?" Todd shouts, swinging the base of his beer at Apollo.

"No time to explain," I yell back. "Where's Charity? Is she here?"

"Yeah, she came with Leo. I think she's inside."

Inside. The smell of smoke is heavy. I find myself rooted to the spot, my feet like chunks of lead. Apollo edges closer, and somehow his voice, barely more than a whisper, carries to my ear.

"I've got your back."

I glance back at him. I really have no reason to trust this complete stranger, and yet I let him ride here with me and he's following me inside. He knows how to handle himself, though. That's a plus. I steel myself and forge ahead, like walking into a strong wind, until I pa.s.s through the open french doors. There's as many people inside as outside, it seems. The music is loudest in the living room, a huge expanse with a vaulted ceiling and leather couches currently decorated in the early underage drinking style, and if I take a deep breath, under the stink of pizza, chicken wings, and marijuana, I can smell a healthy eau de vomit. It's so enticing, I can't imagine why I stayed away. I glance back to make sure I haven't lost Apollo and head inside.

I could just scream 'Hey, anybody seen Charity' but one, no one would hear me, and two, n.o.body would know who Charity is anyway, and three, Lucas would be all over me. He can probably feel that I'm here.

"Any idea where she'd be?"

"Nope. I guess we look for Leo."