"Is she dead?" A low voice whispers.
"I don't know. What should a corpse look like?"
"I think it's..."
"Shhhhhh, she's waking up."
I open my eyes slowly. My sight is blurred for a few seconds before they fully adjust to my surroundings. Simone and Lacey are sitting by my bedside, their faces bent down so that they are so close to mine, their eyes huge with wonder.
"Why are you guys so close to my face?"
"Do you remember us?" Lacey slowly asks, choosing her words carefully. "I'm Lacey." She points to Simone. "And this is Simone." She points to herself.
"I know who you guys are." With a hand, I push their faces away from me and sit upright on my bed, my blue bed sheets falling down to my waists as I notice I'm no longer in the clothes I wore last night.
"Who brought me here?" I ask.
"We don't know. We came in this morning and saw you looking like you were dead." Simone explains.
"The party, what happened...?"
I remember I fainted. I also remember why I did faint. What my brain can't reconnect is how I got to the room, wearing nothing but my pajamas.
"A fight broke out. One of the Kingston boys had a gun and now, Miss Renee is getting her ass fried for letting most of us sneak out to the concert."
"But it's not her fault. She didn't know we sneaked out," I say.
"That's not what the higher-ups think. She should've been more cautious about us."
"Do you guys realize we also went to that party? If she gets fired, it's on us."
Simone snorts. "Who cares is she gets fired? I'm totally fine with..." she coughs out the rest part when she catches my glare, forcing a sober look on her face. "Miss Renee dearest is about to get fired. That makes me awfully sad."
I pull the sheets away and climb off my bed. The hallway is quiet, which is very unusual as it's supposed to be bubbling with voices and chattering. Almost looks like everyone got grounded.
I use the elevator down to the first floor. The door dings open and I step out, coming eye to eye with the hotel's CEO and Miss Renee with her head hanging low.
The gruff man is staring at me so hard, almost making me want to run back in my room and stay there forever.
"I promise you, sir," Miss Renee says. "Not all of them sneaked out. I have a lot of them who stayed in last night."
"Really? And where was she yesterday by 8:25 pm?" He points to me, and I almost shrivel on the spot.
"I believe she was in her room while the concert was on. Weren't you, Brooke?" I know that look in her eyes, she's telling me to play along.
"Yes... I was. In my room. Powdering my cat." I hope he doesn't catch on to my horrible lying skills.
"Very well then. You keep your job. But this is your last warning." He eyes me down, sticking his nose up in the air before walking away.
"I know you went out last night," I hear Miss Renee tell me. "Watch your back next time, you little rebel."
She grins and ruffles my already ruffled hair, clicking her heels away. I resist the urge to peek in Noah's room and ask what went down last night, but instead, I head for the kitchen to make coffee.
My mood turns sour when I remember how the concert went for me. How some girl kept eating out Cory's face.
I am never going to understand the male species.
How did Cory turn so annoying overnight? And how did Noah become easier to talk to. It's like they switched bodies.
Would it be better if I remained friendly and casual, as if nothing had happened on that dance floor? As if he hadn't touched me, moved his hands all over me, as though he had a right to, as though it were the most natural thing in the world for him to turn my body in a quivering mess, as if I was pretty even when he says I'm not.
Now my mood shifts from sour to anger as I wrench open the refrigerator for milk. How the hell I'm I supposed to know how to behave now?
Cory's acting like an ass, and Noah...
I slap the milk carton down the counter, scowl out the window. It's Noah's bad luck that I happen to spot him sleeping on a hammock near the poolside just as my temper peeks.
He shouldn't be dozing so peacefully when his rapid change of character leaves me baffled and upset.
Fueled for battle, I slam out of the building and march towards him, giving the hammock one hard shove.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
"What?" He shoots rudely awake, gripping the sides of the hammock for balance. "You passed out last night. Are you okay?"
"Don't get smart with me." I give the hammock another shove as he struggles to sit up. "Taking me dancing, trying to seduce me on the dance floor, and then—"
"Okay." He rubs his eyes, finally managing to focus on my face bent over him. "What the hell are you talking about? I didn't try to seduce you, I—"
"Don't tell me that," I shoot back. "Sleeping out in the poolside like a freaking hobo."
"It's my hammock," he sounds irritated to have to point that out. "Look, sweetheart, I thought you liked it. You said you were having fun."
"Well I didn't, and don't call me sweetheart in that tone of voice."
"Now you don't like my tone." His eyes narrows dangerously, to sharp blue slits that threatens retaliation. "Well, let's try a brand new tone and see how you—" he ends with an oath when I jerk the hammock and flip him out on his face. He hits the ground with a thud, and I'm sure I heard his bones rattle.
My first reaction is shock, then an immediate urge to apologize. But I snap myself back, jerk my chin up in the air and march off. He's on his feet again quickly enough, limping a little, but fast enough to snag me before I disappear back into the building.
Noah yanks me around to face him. "What bug crawled up your—"
"You deserved it." The blood is roaring in my head, my heart pounding, but I'm not going to back down.
"What the hell for?"
"For...whatever."
"Well, that sure covers it."
"Just get out of my way. I'm going for a walk."
"No," He says precisely. "You're not."
"You can't tell me what to do."
His lips curves grimly. "Yes, I can. You're hysterical."
That snaps it. "I certainly I'm not hysterical. If I were hysterical, I'd scratch that nasty smile from your face, and..."
I yelp when he yanks me up on his shoulders, wiggling, sputtering, kicking a little, but he manages to drop me into the fucking pool.
How petty!
My body sinks down the water hard, pushing myself back up with full force, with so much temper.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?"
"You needed to cool down a bit."
"I hate you." I spit out.
"Fine, great, whoopee." He lets me fume while he picks up a bottled water and downs it through his throat. "God, what a way to start the day."
"What's going on here?" Cory approaches us, looking sweaty and so damn beautiful. Just the last person I wanted to see.
"He pushed me in." I sulk, watching how Cory's expression changes into a deep scowl.
Noah opens his mouth to say something before Cory gives him one hard shove into the water.
My eyes widen in shock. "That wasn't necessary!"
"He pushed you in. I wanted to know what it felt like." Cory shrugs. I could see he'd been exercising. His face is glowing and his forehead is slightly damp. He runs his hands over his forehead and into his hair and some of the wet bits stick up in funny directions.
I clench my fists. If he wasn't so good looking, I wouldn't be a hopeless mess right now. I want to be mad at him, I want to hate him and push him into the water too. But instead... I give him one lazy smile.
I run a hand through my damp hair and take a deep breath, noticing for the first time Noah has not come up from the water yet.
"Okay, Noah. Show's over. You can come out now," I call out.
For a few seconds, I wait for any sign of him but panic kicks in when he doesn't show up. I stare at Cory, seeing he has the same freaked out look on his face.
"Noah?" I call out again. No response.
Oh fuck.
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