Sparks of fury flew out of my eyes. "Oh, my fucking God! You slept with another girl? Just inches away from me while I was blacked out drunk?"

"Well, I didn't wanna just leave you on the bathroom floor next to Aleah's toilet. It seemed unsanitary."

I was ready to explode. Red was the only color I could see at this point. I lunged on top of him and shrieked, "Unsanitary? I'll show you unsanitary, you disgusting piece of sh—"

Zac caught my wrists and flipped us over. Just like that, I was trapped between his arms and staring up at his handsome face in shock. I had been ready to knee the bastard between the legs when he said in sobering tones, "I was kidding, Cate. I didn't fuck anyone last night."

I faltered. "You... didn't?"

"No, I didn't."

Uncertainly, I asked, "Then, what happened to Lily?"

"I fed her some lame excuse about needing to wake up early this morning. I don't think she saw me carry you out, but I'm not entirely sure she believed me, either."

I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave it a nudge. He backed away at a snail's pace, maintaining eye contact until I rolled out from under him. I didn't look at him when I said, "Sounds like you'll need to step up your game, Mazur. How are you gonna make it up to your girl?"

The subtext of my comment read: Are you two dating? If so, how serious is it?

"Dunno. I'll probably just wing it," Zac replied noncommittally.

His maddening response neither confirmed nor denied their status as boyfriend and girlfriend, but there was obviously something going on between them. To distract myself from boarding a self-destructive train that would lead to nowhere, I started looking around again.

This was where Zac was living, huh?

Upon closer inspection, I noticed cracks along the ceiling and chipped paint on the walls. Sections of the hardwood floors were warped and appeared discolored from water damage. His home was not at all what I'd been expecting.

"Why did you bring me here?" I inquired.

Most kids at Ashton Wellesley wouldn't be caught dead in an apartment like this. I mulled over why Zac chose to live in such a small, dingy place when his family could probably afford better. I also wondered why he was allowing me, of all people, to see it. Zac seemed to miss where I was coming from, though, and ended up answering something else that I'd been curious about as well.

"I know I probably should've taken you to your place, but I couldn't find Amari or Nat to ask for directions. I definitely wasn't gonna let you leave with that guy in the state you were in. And I didn't trust your sister to keep an eye on you all night to make sure you wouldn't go into cardiac arrest or choke on vomit and, you know, die."

Shit, Zac was actually looking out for me?

My face grew warm. "You wanted to make sure that I wouldn't overdose?"

"Pretty much."

Partly teasing, I mocked, "What did you do? Just laid there and stared at me all night, you creeper?"

He suddenly looked uncomfortable. Like I had caught him doing something he didn't want to admit.

"Kinda, yeah. I didn't know if I'd have to take you to the hospital. You drank way too much last night, dumbass. Don't ever do that again."

I winced in embarrassment. He was right. I had been a dumbass.

I got real fucking lucky this time, but who knew what might've happened if Zac hadn't found me?

The mountainous grudge in my heart shrank a little. Zac might be a player, but, at least, he wasn't a bad guy. There were dark circles under his eyes and a light stubble on his chin. He looked pretty beat.

We sat there in silence for a while. I didn't know what else to say. I was grateful that he hadn't left me as an unconscious lump in Aleah's bathroom, but, now, it also seemed clear to me that Lily had been the one he was really interested in. Not me. It made my heart hurt.

Zac was the first to break our lull. "You, um... said some interesting things to me on the car ride over."

My posture stiffened slightly. The last thing I remembered was hugging onto a toilet for dear life as I expelled all the poison from my body.

I mumbled, "Really? Sorry, I don't remember much from last night."

"Actually, 'screamed' is probably a better word to describe the way you were communicating with me."

"What... did I say exactly?" I asked with trepidation.

"Well, first, you called me a 'fuckboy' in Italian, Latin, and French and then proceeded to list all the ways you were going to help 'Red,' who I can only assume was Lily, reevaluate her shitty taste in boys."

Mortfication burned my face. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry about that, I mean, I'm not sorry I said those things because they're probably true, but I shouldn't have yelled at you right after you left the party over my drunk ass."

His eyes glinted roguishly. "Nah, girl, don't worry about it. I enjoyed seeing you lose your shit over me. Here I was thinking that you were hot before, but now I know you're straight-up fire when you're jealous."

I glared at him. "You take that back right now! I wasn't jealous! It's your own goddamn fault for saying shit to me that you should only be saying to Lily. I was just mad about being on the receiving end of your fuckboy-isms, that's all. You should stop flirting with other girls if Lily is the one you want."

Zac went quiet for a minute. He looked like he was deep in thought. "About that. You're right, Cate. I owe you an apology. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you when I was trying to get closer to Lily. I'll stop with the flirting."

As his apology settled over me, my heart sank even though I already knew how he felt about that Lily chick.

He continued, "Just promise me one thing, Cate. Stay away from Lily."

My eyes rolled heavenward. "Relax, Mazur! I was drunk when I said I was going to help Lily reevaluate her taste in men. I'm not gonna sabotage your chances with her."

"No, that's not what I meant," Zac insisted with more urgency than I thought necessary. "She's not like other girls. You need to be careful around her."

I gave him a funny look. "She's not like other girls? Does the bitch have eleven fingers and seven toes or something?"

Zac sighed deeply. Ignoring my snark, he murmured in long-suffering tones, "Before, I thought it might be better not to tell you anything. It didn't seem necessary since you acted as though you could care less about me or what I was doing, but now that I know you're, like, half in love with me I'm worried you won't be able to help yourself from getting involved."

I couldn't tell if he was being serious or messing with me again. Enunciating my words as though speaking to a slow, stupid child, I ground out, "Speak for yourself, loser, you're probably the one that's half in love with me! I swear, I'm 100% in dislike with you, and I'll be sure to distance myself from you and your new girlfriend from now on."

"She's not my girlfriend, and you're still not getting it, Cate," he muttered in frustration, "I'm not worried about you going after Lily's ass. I'm worried about her coming after yours."

I tried to process this strange new turn. "Uh..."

"Let me ask you this. Do you remember seeing Lily at Ashton Wellesley last year?"

She wasn't his girlfriend?

My stupid heart gave a happy flip. Then, my brain processed the second half of what Zac said to me. "Dude, you're not making any fucking sense."

His gaze turned to steel. "Just answer the question, Cate."

"Okay, jeez! No, I don't think Lily was at Ashton Wellesley last year. I've known almost everyone since middle school, but I didn't recognize her at all. That's why I nicknamed her 'Red.' Pretty sure she's new on campus."

"Okay, good. Here's what you need to know about her. Lily is a junior in high school. Like us. But do you know how old she is right now?"

Was this some kind of trick question?

I blanked. "Uh... sixteen? Seventeen?"

"No, she's eighteen. About to turn nineteen."

Eighteen?

Damn, shit was starting to get interesting. "Why isn't she a senior, then?"

"Because she kept getting expelled and held back and transferred to other schools."

"What is she? A psychopath or something?" I joked darkly.

"I dunno, I'm not her therapist, but there was a kid from my school in Queens who killed himself because she wouldn't leave him alone," he said this with a sad, faraway look in his eyes. "His name was Tariq."

"What did she do to him? She couldn't be worse than Trick!"

"She's just like Trick. But much smarter."