Chapter One
Shake Your Groove Thing
Friday, September 16
Mandy Pennington took a deep breath and surveyed the dimly lit room full of entwined couples sprawled across couches and groping each other in dark corners. Music pounded so loudly that her plastic cup vibrated in her hand. Drunken parties weren’t her usual scene, but when Gus had casually asked her after school if she wanted to go with him, of course she’d said yes.
Even though it was her birthday and she’d had plans with her best friends to go dancing at an all-ages club.
Even though the party was at Kay’s house, the den of her archenemy.
Even though her annoying stoner brother had warned her it wasn’t her type of party.
Whatever. Gus had asked her and that was what mattered, because she and Gus were destined for each other, even if Gus didn’t realize it yet. But maybe tonight was the night he’d finally—
“Yo, Mandy. Wassup?”
She blinked, focusing on the guy standing in front of her. She couldn’t remember his name, but she knew he was on the lacrosse team with Gus, so she gave him her best “I totally should be Gus’s girlfriend, right?” smile.
“Not much,” she said. “How are you?”
His eyes were glazed, but they focused in on her chest. “I’d be better if you’d let me do a body shot from your—”
“As if.” Mandy took a step back. She’d heard the lacrosse guys were horndogs, but seriously? She glanced behind him, looking for Gus to come to her rescue, because he totally would. He was awesome like that.
A prince among frogs.
The guy shrugged, looking bored rather than disappointed. “Whatever. Shoulda known you were too chicken.”
Mandy suddenly wished she were with her best friends J.T. and Cammie practicing disco moves at the dance club. That’s where she should be, not at this low-life party with jerks like this guy who was still staring at her chest.
She rolled her eyes and turned away, determined to find Gus so they could kick her birthday celebration into second gear. She fired off a quick text, asking him where he was.
Pushing through the crowd, she scanned the room for signs of Gus’s curly brown hair and blue hoodie, but it was hard to make out actual faces in the semidarkness.
She kept moving, knowing he had to be around somewhere, but after she’d done a full circuit of the room and even been brave enough to peek into the dark bedrooms, she still hadn’t found him.
Crud.
She took a deep breath and recited one of her go-to mantras in her mind: The universe doesn’t give us more than we can handle. It was kind of a cliché, but she still believed it.
She took another breath, headed upstairs, pushed through the crowded kitchen where all the Jell-O shots were happening, then finally escaped through the sliding door onto the dark patio. The rush of cold air felt good for a few seconds, until she started shivering. She rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms. Maybe her retro minidress hadn’t been such a great idea.
Beckoned by the faraway sound of laughter, she leaned over the deck railing, straining to see if Gus might be one of the people standing around the fire pit in the far corner of the vast backyard.
“Great. Just great,” she muttered aloud. Why had Gus abandoned her so quickly? She’d assumed they’d hang out together. Maybe dance. Maybe…more.
“Lose someone?”
Startled, she whirled around, coming face-to-face with a shadowed figure leaning against the far edge of the deck railing. She heard the unmistakable click of a lighter, and a tiny orange glow illuminated his face.
Caleb Torrs.
Suddenly she wasn’t cold anymore because Caleb was…well…not the kind of guy she felt cold around. He was the exact opposite in fact, the kind of guy who stirred up an internal bonfire with just one glance.
Not that he ever noticed her. He was into bad girls, which made sense because he was totally a bad boy. Black leather jacket and motorcycle boots. Black jeans with the knees ripped out. Tangled dark hair and a stony face. Dark eyes watched her in the glow of the flame from his lighter.
She cleared her throat nervously and glanced toward the fire pit again. “Um, maybe…I don’t…know.”
He doused the lighter, shrouding himself in darkness again. “Maybe I’ve seen him.” His disembodied voice curled around her like smoke. “Who are you looking for?”
“Why do you think it’s a him?” The words tumbled out before she could stop them.
His responding laugh was low, sending a tingle up her spine.
She bit her lip, trying to make out his features, but all she saw was the faint glint of light from his eyes and the curve of his mouth, curled in a smirk.
She might as well ask him since she’d looked everywhere else. “Gus. Lacrosse guy?”
The lighter flicked and she noticed his smirk morph into a grimace. Then he doused the flame, shrouding them in darkness again.
“What are you, a pyro or something?”
“Maybe.” He shifted against the railing, running a hand through his tangled hair. His hair was the stuff of legends and fantasies at Sky Ridge High. Maybe even a few of her fantasies, but that was pointless because a) he had a girlfriend and b) Mandy was in love with Gus.
“Whatever.” She stepped toward the door, frustrated with his bad-boy act and the way she was distracted by his rock star hair. “I don’t have time for games. Have fun torching Kay’s house.” She wanted to get out of here. This definitely wasn’t how her birthday was supposed to turn out.
Caleb stepped away from the railing, moving into the light spilling from the kitchen onto the deck. God he was…
She took a breath. Whatever. Yeah, he was hot, but he was also a jerk, based on all the rumors she’d heard, and she didn’t have time for that. Guys like Caleb were the reason she liked Gus—sweet, adorable Gus who definitely didn’t own a lighter.
“I saw him,” Caleb said, taking another step toward her. His hair shadowed his face, but she still felt the heat of his gaze. “He and Kay headed for the fire pit a while ago.”
Gus and…Kay? He was with the most evil girl in school? Mandy swallowed, telling herself Caleb had to be mistaken.
He glanced toward the dark yard. “Not sure if they’re still out there.”
Now what? Should she try to find Gus to ask him to take her home? But what if he really was with Kay doing…whatever. She definitely didn’t want to interrupt that.
But he wouldn’t. Not with Kay.
It was her he was supposed to be with tonight. She was the one he was supposed to be dragging away to the bonfire, not Kay.
Trust the signs, she told herself, though she wasn’t sure exactly what the signs were, other than badass Caleb flicking his lighter and telling her something she didn’t want to hear.
She glanced at her mood ring. Brown, for confused and restless.
“Well, thanks, I guess,” she said, turning toward the deck steps. She’d head out to the fire pit and see if Gus was there. He still hadn’t replied to her text, and she didn’t want to think too hard about what that might mean.
As she reached the first step the wind kicked up, lifting the skirt of her dress. She tugged it down, and the sudden flick of Caleb’s lighter made her flinch. She swore she could feel his eyes boring into her back as she clattered down the deck, hugging herself and wishing for a coat.
…
Caleb watched Mandy stumble down the steps, her crazy red hair swirling in the wind.
This party sucked, and his brief interchange with the queen of school spirit had the potential to entertain him, but she was obviously too focused on Gus to stick around and make his night more interesting.
Too bad, because even though she was everything he hated about high school wrapped up in one sparkly package, she was still…intriguing.
He flicked his lighter again, watching the flame dance in the wind. It was an old Zippo, etched with a skull and crossbones. He smirked as he thought of Mandy calling him a pyro. Hardly; he didn’t even smoke. But he’d had this lighter for years, ever since he’d found it in his brother Mike’s room after he left for college. Caleb held on to it as a weird sort of memento since he didn’t see much of Mike these days.
Caleb sighed and shoved the lighter back in his jacket pocket, his fingers brushing against a worn notebook. He watched Mandy pick her way across the grass toward the clumps of laughing people gathered around the fire pit.
Gus wasn’t there. He had been, briefly, before Kay had dragged him into the dark bushes. Caleb could only imagine what was going down right now…or who.
He tensed as he imagined Mandy stumbling onto the scene. She was obviously into the guy, but she was about to get a rude awakening. Gus might have shown up with Mandy, but he definitely wasn’t leaving with her.
Why was he wasting time thinking about this? Why was he even here? This party was a waste of time and energy. He still wasn’t sure why he’d come. Maybe because his dad was home and he’d needed to escape.
Sighing, he turned away from the fire pit and the crazy redhead who looked as out of place at this stupid party as he felt.
He didn’t have time for her, or anyone else.
…
Mandy approached the edge of the fire pit, stomach twisting with anxiety. She searched the crowd for Gus but didn’t see him…until she did.
He leaned against a tree, Kay wrapped around him like a second skin, her mouth locked on his, his hands…everywhere.
Stunned, Mandy stumbled back from the fire pit.
No. This couldn’t be happening. But it was happening, right in front of her eyes, and she couldn’t un-see it.
Heart pounding against her ribs, she stumbled across the grass, up the deck steps, through the kitchen and living room, and out the front door. Feeling like she might throw up, she stood in the driveway, wondering what to do.
How would she get home? Her brother was out with his stoner friends. Her dad was on the road, hauling Walmart junk in his semi, so he couldn’t come get her. She fumbled with her phone to text J.T. and Cammie, hoping they’d come to her rescue, even though she sort of didn’t deserve it after abandoning them tonight.
She fired off the text and waited, shivering, as the wind kicked up and light snowflakes glittered in the streetlight.
Times like this, there was only one way to cope. She fished her earbuds out of her leather fringed bag, crammed them in her ears, and cranked up her Seventies Greatest Hits playlist. Closing her eyes, she took a deep, meditative breath and let the music wash over her.