Page 3 (2/2)

"No, that’s OK I’hosts are"

"Sure…" she said uncertainly Then she s OK, Perry I real y aain one day"

I nodded absently as she gave ers and left o down the stairs and shut the front door behind her Then the car started up noisily and seconds later, Rebecca was gone and out of ain Perhaps forever

I sank tothe corners of my eyes

I didn’t kno I felt, but I felt…alone

"You need a friend?" Ada asked I looked up She was standing at the doorway, looking down at me with pity, or maybe it was affection "And not a forced friend either"

I sround beside

CHAPTER TWO

"Death! Death! It’s all about death! Satan inside, ripping out of er for thislike that

I was standing in the far back of a gritty, ja the band perform It was the first act of the lineup and if it was any indication of the talent that was to fol ow, I needed to drink a lotthe out his hand for h Ash had handsome features and was tal , lanky and carried himself with an air of maturity, he was stil only 20 and wasn’t all owed to buy any booze So he pilfered ood to me so far

"Sure," I said, and handed hi around the dark venue to see if any narcs atching all I saere headbanging bald guys in deni sip, relishing it with a smile Draft beer in plastic cups tasted a lot better when you were underage

He handed it back to ht with a nauys would be hel of a lot better They are pretty gnarly"

"Gnarly as in good?"

"Gnarly as in terrible Sorry for dragging you out here"

I shrugged "Don’t worry about it Thanks for inviting ht the rest of the creould have showed up"

The lead singer went into a piercing wail, giving Jim Gil ette a run for his money I puttonight," Ash shouted over the noise, which was soh to stay away You’re real y my only friend who likes this type of music!"

I snorted "I don’t like thi s type of ood e as the guitarist blasted out a generic solo

"What did you do today, anyway?" he asked conversational y, eyingI took a sip and handed it to hi Then ran into someone I didn’t want to see"

"Ooooh," he said ag of his eyebrows

"She’s a girl"

"Ooooooooh"

"No, she has a girlfriend"

"Triple ooooh!"

I laughed and punched Ash in his arhed and punched Ash in his ar the beer to spil out sideways and onto his skate shoes He looked doith acute disappointment, probably uess that’s a sign to get another one," I said, and turned to make my way to the bar

His face lit up "Get two this time!"

"Yeah, yeah" I waved at him and walked over to the bar near the side With the concrete floors and the bar, which consisted of fold-up tables and drinks kept in ca coolers, the whole venue had this "let’s throw a party in my parents’ basement" kind of vibe

Of course, when the er There were five people in front ofslow I tappedirl in front of ave me the eye

"Nice shirt," she said I couldn’t tel if she was being sarcastic or not Her voice was very low, almost manly Her eyes were red

Not because she’d been crying but her actual irises were red

She earing vibrant red contacts with streaks of gold in the and sent a shiver down the back ofslightly I was suddenly very afraid and I didn’t knohy They were contacts, right?

She s slowly, until I saw all of her teeth

Her very er-like teeth

Aside frorin of a shark

My eyes widened A stabbing feeling erupted fro A whiff of that foul, rotten sued the Port-Town bathroo a wave of nausea throughout my body

Then she took her eyes off of ain A tal , beefy ram shirt walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulder

"Hey babe," he said "Stil wating?"

She nodded and they both turned around so I was staring at the back of their heads as they chatted to each other about how crappy the band was