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PROLOGUE

Saint

High school … Not the best years of my life

There’s a moment in every person’s life, a point in time that will alter the course they are on, the path they are traveling, forever The night of Ashley Maxwell’s birthday party h school was mine

I wasn’t the type of teenager that went to wild parties I didn’t drink and didn’t s and boys, so really there was no point in ht, and aard in ly breakouts and flushed bright red whenever anyone tried to engage h school were torture for a girl like h it mostly unscathed because I knehen to keep hts on friends or boys that were out of ue At least I did until senior year, when ht next to Nash Donovan’s

For the first feeeks of school, I kept to nored him, just like I did with all the popular kids and beautiful people If I didn’t engage, then he couldn’tout of the spectacular purple eyes that glowed out of his handsome face It worked until the day I dropped a calculus book on his foot and he picked it up to hand it to et the way I actually felt the wayin the next second when those spectacular eyes glea quite like it

Nash s my poor, lonely heart turn over He walked aith a wink … and I had a crush A consu crush that built day after day, because after that e incident Nash went out of his way to say hello ere by our lockers, and he alalked aith a smile or a nod Each day I became more entranced, fell a little harder, and built the fantasy that ereacquaintances into sorandiose and romantic

I was a sirl, so I knew , and it made me warm on the inside that he never teased ht or looks like so ular basis Our sithe halls that swooned over hi friends I had even worked up enough courage after ainto flames I didn’t stammer or claed to eke out a return smile I was pretty proud of oing to Ashley Maxwell’s party, I had been equal parts stunned and thrilled A shiver of anticipation shookheadfirst into a daydrea e of pleasantries in the hallway It was all I could do to keep fro er fanatic

It wasand likable that I replied that I would try to be there I didn’t want to sound overeager When he s out, I couldn’t stop the feeling that attending a sloppy, unsupervised high school party see I had ever done in my short life

My older sister, Faith, pretty and popular, fit in seae social circle She questioned roup, cautioned me that kids ere mean and unfriendly on a normal basis could be cruel and hateful when social status and alcohol were involved—but I decided not to listen I figured the worst thing that could happen was that I would show up, not see Nash, or he wouldn’t see me and I could just turn around and come back home and curl up with a book like I dida blind eye to what I kneas the truth, butnore common sense and my own honed sense of self-protection

I let Faith fuss over ine-red hair until it was curly and styled pretty and feminine I let her pick an outfit that would never make me look like a size-four cheerleader but was fashionable and cute, and I even allowed her to slime a bunch of junk on my face that I kneould ultimately make my skin break out even worse The end results were actually pretty nice I looked ht I could just blend into the crowd, and really that was fine as long as those pretty purple eyes found me I feltbefore

Faith told me not to arrive to the party until after eleven, so I waited anxiously, fiddled with ination could think of Maybe he would ask ive me my first kiss Maybe he would tell s that lurked beneath the surface and he wanted ht, of course, none of that was going to happen and I really didn’t know the kind of guy Nash really was, but still a crush is a crush and it can run away from you pretty fast

And so I showed up at Ashley Maxwell’s blowout party, appropriately late, ar heart filled with anticipation

As I walked into the house I was hit with a blast of music, and the optinized fro place in the living room I couldn’t find a safe place to restthat , but I felt the telltale heat creeping up h the sea of bodies It was disturbing and I was beginning to think a new hairdo and soh to make me fit in, in a place like this

The kitchen looked a little less crowded, so Imy eyes peeled for Nash I was certain that if I could find hiain as I thought about linting and crinkling at the sides like they did when he smiled, and I pictured myself suddenly at ease by his side as the rest of the chaos faded away He wouldunder my skin disappear

As I rounded a corner so sticky, red liquid all down the front of asped in surprise and the jerkand officially freaking out on the inside It was all too clear that I didn’t belong here, no matter how cute Nash Donovan was My hands started to shake and it took every ounce of self-control I had to keep tears at bay

Turned out, the kitchen was just as bad as the front of the party Worse really, because the booze was apparently kept there and the crowd in that roo across a et to the sink to try and clean up I heard a few snickers, saw a few blurry looks cast o home This place and these people were not for me and I knew better