"You owe me a new pair of shoes Makayla Joyce Martin," I told her the next day as I pulled books out of my locker.

"Shoes?" she asked quietly, wincing as the guy beside her slammed his locker shut.

Hangovers are a bitch. Served her right.

"You barfed all over my new shoes," I accused, slamming my own locker. "Then I had to haul your ass home."

Her eyes widened. "Your Mary Janes? Shit, CJ, I'm sorry."

"I will accept your apology in the form of a new pair of those same shoes."

"They clearanced those out at Target already!" she whined. "How am I supposed to find that exact pair?"

"You're a resourceful girl," I told her sweetly. "You'll figure it out."

She sighed. "How did you get us home anyway? I gave Jess my car."

"We walked with you puking every five minutes."

"What would I do without you?"

"God only knows," I muttered as I adjusted the jacket of my school uniform. It wasn't so bad as far as uniforms went. The colors were nice—red, black, and silver. We could even wear jeans as long as we either wore the school jacket or one of the shirts with the school's insignia, some sort of Celtic symbol. I knew it had something to do with our town's heritage, but I'd never really bothered to look into what it stood for. It just looked like interwoven lattice work to me.

Kay pulled books out of her own locker. "You know, CJ..." She stopped and gasped. Her shades came off and she gave me a once over. "Oh my God! Who is he?"

"Who?" I asked with feigned innocence.

"Don't who me, CJ! Your hair doesn't have a strand out of place, your makeup is perfect, and you're wearing your damn-my-ass-looks-fine skinny jeans. Spill! Who is he?"

I had taken a little extra time this morning with my appearance in hopes Mr. Melt In Your Mouth Gorgeous would be at school. I'd been scoping the halls since we got here, but no such luck.

"You didn't have to get all dressed up for me." Jeff Parker, his cornflower blue eyes sparkling with laughter, wrapped an arm around my shoulders and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek as he rolled up to us. I tried to shrug his arm off, but he held on with a death grip and a smile. The boy didn't know when to give up.

"Details, CJ, I want details." Kay wagged a finger at me.

No, she didn't. She'd die of embarrassment. I smiled wickedly at her. If I didn't love her, I'd so totally embarrass her right now after she'd ruined my shoes last night.

Her eyes widened at my smile. She knew something was up.

"So are you coming tonight?" Jeff saved me from being bombarded with more questions.

"Definitely not," I told him. Why was everyone suddenly so interested in my coming to the Hall? I got pestered a lot to come, but it had gotten worse in the last few weeks. It seemed like the entire town had asked me to come at one point or another in the last couple of days. Why couldn't everyone just respect my beliefs the way I did theirs?

"You totally should come," Kay smoothed her ebony hair. A freshman bumped into her and she glared her best Queen Bitch stare at the kid. Face pale and eyes wide, the poor girl mumbled something like an apology and ran for the nearest exit.

"You know I don't believe in any of that nonsense, Kay." I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wondered why she couldn't be nicer. That wasn't Kay, though. She was "The Shit" and she knew it.

"You never come," Jeff wheedled. "It'll be fun, CJ."

"You guys convince CJ to come tonight?" Billy Howe asked between bites of his Pop Tart as he came to a stop beside of us. Billy was Kay's most recent acquisition in a long and never ending line of boyfriends. His football physique and dark good looks made him drool worthy.

"Now why would I want to come? It's just another excuse for you guys to get drunk and partake in lewd and illicit acts."

"Lewd?" Jeff smirked, his curly brown hair falling into his eyes. "Have you been sneaking around spying on our little get-togethers, CJ? My bod looked totally hot, right?"

Shudder. Jeff's naked body. As if that would ever happen in this lifetime. Hell, in this universe in a thousand lifetimes.

"Seriously, CJ, you need to come. It's not what you think." Billy took Kay's books for her. Totally sweet. I glanced up at Jeff. Neighbor Boy had serious designs on becoming my boyfriend, but did he even think to offer to take my books? Uh, no. Sweet was not in his vocabulary. So very, very not fair.

"Sorry, no. I have stuff to do," I said and tried again to dislodge Jeff.

"You're not coming tonight?"

My eyes went round at the sound of that voice. It was the guy from last night. It had to be. I turned to the left and my suspicions were confirmed. He lounged against a locker looking sexier than anyone I'd ever met. He was dressed in a black school tee-shirt and sinfully tight jeans. His hair looked like a perfect mess again, as if he'd just crawled out of bed. It made him look even more delicious.

My heart sped up at the sight of him and I felt butterflies begin to flutter in my stomach. His eyes pinned me, darkening as his gaze raked over me from head to toe and caused me to fidget. I swallowed thickly.

Kay's "OH" nearly knocked her over. I snickered. Little did she know he'd seen her covered in puke.

A smile tugged at Ethan's very kissable lips. He knew exactly why I was laughing.

"Hey." My teeth snagged my bottom lip. Jeff's fingers tightened around my arm. His expression was not at all happy. Tough. Neighbor Boy was not my boyfriend.

"Ethan," Billy greeted him. "I thought you said you wouldn't be here until tomorrow."

He looked at me and grinned. "Changed my mind."

Kay looked ready to burst at the seams. She was shooting me looks that promised death if I didn't dish.

I could feel the blush start to creep up my neck and bloom onto my cheeks as Ethan continued to stare at me. His smile widened, showing a mouthful of even white teeth.

"This is Ethan Warren," Billy introduced him. "He just moved here from Virginia. His granddad is Andrew Warren."

Huh. I didn't know Old Man Warren had any living relatives. Wait, Ethan was going tonight? He believed in all that nonsense? And did he really sound like he was disappointed I wasn't going?

"CJ never goes," Jeff said with a note of irritation in his voice. "That's cool. She doesn't have to."

Ethan's eyes flickered to Jeff's arm strapped to me like a life vest and arched a brow. My blush deepened. If I tried to shrug Jeff off now, it would hurt his feelings, but I so did not want Ethan to think I had a thing for Jeff. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't do that to Jeff. He might not be boyfriend material, but he was my friend.

"Never?" Ethan asked.

"Never," I told him.

"That's a shame, Cassie Jayne Bishop," he grinned at me.

"There's the bell!" Kay groaned in relief and grabbed me. She dragged me down the hall toward our first period Physics class. "Where...how...and you told him your full name...spill it, CJ!"

"I met him last night," I told her. I rolled my eyes at her horror over the name thing. Even though I didn't buy into the nonsense, I usually didn't tell complete strangers my full name. I still couldn't figure out why I'd told him. Weird.

"He was at the party? Why didn't I see him?"

"Maybe because you were wasted?" I asked her dryly as we took our seats.

She rolled her eyes. "When did you meet him?"

I shifted in my seat, making a point to look down at my book and away from her face.

"Come on, CJ, you have to tell me," she lowered her voice to a whisper, catching sight of Mr. Mason coming through the door.

"Later."

"Now!"

I sighed. "He helped me get you home when you passed out."

Her eyes went as huge as mine did whenever I saw shoe sale at the mall and her expression become one of absolute horror. "NO!"

I winced. I knew it would upset her. I could feel the waves of horror coming off of her. It filled me up and I shuddered as the feelings washed through me. Kay and I shared some kind of weird connection. Sometimes, we could feel what the other felt. We'd decided a long time ago we were twins separated at birth.

"You said we walked, CJ." Blatant accusation filled her voice.

"We did. Ethan showed up when we got to Gallows Lane. You passed out and he carried you home."

"NO!" she wailed.

"Something you care to share with the rest of the class, Miss Martin?" Mr. Mason asked her.

"No, sir, Mr. Mason, sir." She buried her head in her book. She had to be remembering what she'd looked like this morning when she'd woken up covered in puke, her hair reeking of it. I'd die of embarrassment too.

Mr. Mason started his lecture on our newest unit and I tuned him out. Instead, I thought about Ethan. I reacted to him in a way I didn't other boys. He made me feel nervous, giddy, a little shy. No one had ever done that to me. Usually it was me who caused those reactions in a guy I was hunting. Mr. Melt In Your Mouth Gorgeous was an oddity, but a sinfully delightful one. I wanted him and I would have him.

Mr. Mason interrupted my silent musing by daring to ask me a question. I was forced to focus on the lecture. Sigh.

The rest of the day passed quickly and much to my dismay, I didn't see Ethan at all. I did, however, manage to somehow get trapped with Jeff at every turn. He latched on, and no matter how hard I shook, he stayed there. Dammit!

The only thing that made me hesitant was Ethan's question about my not going tonight. It's not like it was strange for him to go or anything. Most of the kids in New Salem would be there. Well, except for me.

Maybe Billy was right. Maybe I should go tonight. I could be wrong about everything, though I doubted it. Would it really hurt anything? It was a part of my family history after all and Ethan had hinted at going.

But I'd promised Emily.

What to do...