During the whole ride to the party, Ryder hadn't uttered a word. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on the road with his jaw clenched and his knuckles turning white due to his tight grip on the steering wheel, while the boys were busy chatting away in the back seat.

I didn't say anything to him. I was too scared to. I was scared that if I even sighed he would throw me a glare so cold, it would freeze lava. Instead, I stayed in a stiff position in the front seat until we arrived at the party.

When we got there, I was the first one to get out of the car, eager to get out of the tense atmosphere in the car.

As I stepped out, a cold breeze instantly slapped my skin.

I instantly began to regret wearing a dress that barely covered half my body.

Maybe I really should have listened to Ryder and changed.

Came up to stand beside me as I looked at the big white house standing in front of me with it's flashing lights and loud music coming from inside it.

I could see people on the lawn doing all sorts of things, like kissing, drinking, smoking, and there was also this guy on the roof peeing and letting it fall on the ground near some of his friends who were surprisingly laughing at the sight.

I instantly looked up at Kruz, disgust evident on my face. He looked down at me, his eyes filled with amusement as he let out a short laugh.

"I know. It's crazy right?" He asked grinning at me.

I scrunched up my nose in disgust. How can he find something so disgusting funny?

"I think crazy is an understatement" I mumbled.

"Yea, well this is how all high school parties are. You're just not used to it"

"Damn right I'm not" I mumbled under my breath.

"Hey are you guys coming or what?" Dennis shouted over to us. Him, Micah and Ryder had started walking ahead so they were a few feet in front of us.

We nodded our heads and began walking towards them. Then a sudden thought appeared in my mind that caused me to freeze in my tracks. The boys noticed this and turned around to look at me with questioning expressions.

"What is it?" Micah asked, his eyes shining with concern. "Is something wrong? Are you hurt?"

I shook my head and looked up at them. "Why if they kick me out?" I asked a bit fearful.

The boys turned to look at each other. "No one's going to kick you ou-" Dennis was interrupted by me.

"How do you know that?" I snapped. "I'm not one of their favorite person right now. And I wasn't exactly invited, remember?"

Dennis sighed and walked over to me and took my hand in his giving it a reassuring squeeze. "I promise you, no one is going to kick you out. Not when we're right by your side."

"Yea. We're not gonna leave your side for the whole night if that makes you feel any better" Kruz said.

"And if anyone even looks at you the wrong way, you just say the word and they'll be on the ground before you can say cheese" Micah promised.

I let out a small laugh at the three boys standing in front of me. "Ok. Let's go" I said.

We began to walk towards the house once more and it was then that I noticed the Ryder was lagging behind. He hadn't said anything in a while, not even when the boys were reassuring me that I would be ok at the party.

He can't still be upset about me not changing right?

No. It had to me more than that. It had to be something else. But just for reassurance, I slowed my steps so that I was walking beside him. He didn't even turn to look at me when I did. He just held his head straight and kept walking.

Well then.

"Hey umm..." I began awkwardly scratching the back of my neck. "So, about that changing things, back at the house, umm... Y-y-y-you're not still upset....are you?"

He didn't answer for a moment as he stared ahead of him. Finally, he spoke up.

"No"

No? No?! That's all he could say?! No?!!

"Then... Why are you like this?"

"Like what?" He asked nonchalantly shrugging.

"Like this. Reserved. Before now, you haven't said a word since we left the house. Plus when you were driving, your jaw was clenched and you were practically suffocating the steering wheel. You just looked... Angry. And don't tell me that that's normal when you drive"

"That's normal when I drive" he said sarcastically with a blank expression.

I glared at him and he chuckled. "Your cute when you try to be angry. You're like a little kitten. Completely and totally harmless but yet they act as if they could fight off a lion" he let out another chuckle while I folded my arms like a spoiled child  and pouted and mumbled, "I'm not a kitten"

I loud laugh filled my ears. "Really? That pout on your cute face is really making me think otherwise" he smirked. The asshole smirked.

My eyes suddenly widened in realization.

"Did you just call me cute?"

"Yea I did"

Butterflies erupted in my stomach and my heart melted at his words. He thinks I'm cute.

Then I shook my head. I wasn't cute. Or pretty. Or anything good. The scars all over my body made sure of that. I was a walking human mess that had no real purpose in life except to feel pain.

"I am alot of things but I am most definitely not cute" I said to him.

His smile fell from his face as he turned serious.

"Why would you say that?" He asked seriously.

I shook my head not wanting to continue the conversation knowing where it was heading.
"It's nothing. Forget it. Let's just go to the party" I said then turned to walk away but he grabbed my arm and pulled me into him.

"Answer me" he said in a voice that strangely made me want to obey him.

I looked down at the ground hoping that he would get the message that I really didn't want to talk about it but instead, he placed two fingers under my chin and raised my head up so that my eyes stared into his. His eyes softened, melting his once icy pools of blue.

I sighed knowing that I wasn't going to get out of this anytime soon.

"I'm a mess Ryder" I said with another sigh. "I'm a big, ugly, disgusting mess. That's why"

He shook his head. "How can you believe that? You're amazing"

I let out a dry chuckle. "That's one more thing I'm not"

"Why would you believe that?"

"I guess when people keep saying the same things to you over and over, no matter how much you try to deny it, you start to believe them eventually and the thought sort of sticks with you I guess" I explained.

It was true. My father always told me that I was ugly, a mess, and a good for nothing human being. He would even go as far as to point out features on my body that made me ugly, like my hair, my eyes, my big nose and my ridiculously ugly fingers.

That thought made me curl my hands into fists in an attempt to hide my fingers.

Ryder's thumb on my cheek snapped me out of my reverie.

It was then i felt the wetness on my cheeks. I had been crying and I didn't even realize it. Ryder's thumb carefully brushed them away which surprised me.

I looked up at him to see him softly gazing down at me.

He cupped my cheeks in his hands as he looked at me with sad eyes.

He began to lean closer to me and my mouth parted as a gasp escaped my lips.

Then suddenly, his jaw clenched and his eyes harden as he backed away from me.

"Come on, let's go" he said in a gruff voice.

I was frozen and my feet refused to take a step. I was surprised at the sudden change in his mood.

What did I do wrong?

"Are you coming or not?" He said in a slight irritated voice when he noticed my lack of movement.

I snapped out of my shocked state and began walking towards him.

Pretty soon, we caught up with the boys and were at the door to the house. The music was really loud now and I found feel the floor vibrating because of it.

We opened the door, ignoring the bouncer that shot curious looks at us, and stepped inside.

What I saw made me freeze up.

There were teenagers. Alot of teenagers.

And they were sweaty.

And they were dancing.

Some weren't even dancing. They were grinding and groping each other.

The place reeked of alcohol, sweat and, well....hormonal teens.

I looked up at Kruz to see him grinning at the sight that disgusted me.

How can someone in their right mind like this?

Oh, that's right. Kruz isn't in his right mind.

He looked down at me, that same, stupid grin still plastered on his stupidly handsome face. "Welcome to the party"