"Do you go to school around here?"
His gaze flickered over to me, and he nodded.
"Yeah, Folkwood. You must go to Harford, right? I'm Sam."
He stuck his hand out, and I shook it, noticing it was firm yet warm. He nodded at the house.
"Annabelle."
"Shall we give it a go then, Annabelle? If it's that bad, we walk straight back out."
I smiled then, the thought of walking in with anyone better than walking in alone. He tilted his head as he smiled at me, and I nodded.
"It'll probably be full of jocks and cheerleaders, yawn. I'm only here because my cousin begged me to come. He's desperate to be a social butterfly." He rolled his eyes, and he threw his cigarette to the ground.
"So what group are you in? Clearly not the jocks or cheerleaders." I smiled, and he laughed, running a hand through his blonde hair.
"I'm not sure. Stoners, maybe?" He shrugged, and I decided I liked him, despite having only known him three minutes.
"Let's go, Stoner."
He raised his eyebrows at me and coughed in disbelief. "I'm not really a stoner."
"Whatever, be whoever you want to be, Sam."
We reached the house and moved through the crowd easily, heading for the kitchen. My eyes scanned the crowd for Bailey, but I couldn't see him. My stomach was knotted with anxiety when a girl ran over to Sam.
"Sam! Where have you been? The guys are looking for you. I've told them all about your—" She stopped and looked at me.
"Oh, hey! I didn't realize Sam was bringing anyone." She gushed, her eyes widening with suspicion.
I shook my head and began to correct her as Sam swiftly moved in. "This is Annabelle. She's a stoner."
A smile played on his lips as she blinked.
"Oh.. that's great. I'm Macy."
I was about to tell her I wasn't a stoner when I suddenly felt someone staring at me from across the room, and my eyes locked with the deep blue ones I had sought out earlier. Bailey moved effortlessly through the crowd, his eyes never breaking from mine. He reached us quickly, and I noticed his presence demanded attention from Macy and Sam, who looked at him in surprise.
"Annabelle."
Bailey spoke quietly, yet my skin tingled at the sound of his voice. He held a hand to me, and I took it, a feeling of electricity shooting up my arm from his touch.
"You look insane," he whispered to me, his lips grazing my neck before turning his gaze to Sam, who stared at us in surprise.
"This is Sam and Macy."
I gestured to them both as Bailey nodded.
"I know," he said dismissively, and I saw an unreadable expression on Sam's face as he smiled at me.
"Look after yourself, Annabelle. Good to meet you."
He pushed past Bailey as the two of them glared at each other with pure hatred, and Macy put her hand on my arm.
"Boys, right? Come find me if you get bored." She giggled and looked at Bailey appreciatively, tossing her red curls over her shoulder as she walked away.
I smiled as she left and turned my gaze to Bailey, who was staring at me, his jaw clenched in anger.
