“Ashley, now.” I hear the panic in her voice, and my stomach drops.

I glance at Shane, noticing he’s getting up, too.

“Go,” he says to me as he follows.

As soon as I walk into the house, I can tell the air is filled with tension. The music is still blaring, but it’s a much different vibe than when Shane and I left.

Todd is in Casey’s face, and Ryan is trying to hold him back. Brian has Casey pulled back with his arms behind his back. I step between them both without even thinking.

“What is going on?”

“Ask him!” Todd shouts, lunging forward and almost causing Ryan to lose his grip on him.

“I just came over to play a friendly game of ping-pong,” Casey says innocently.

Brian tightens his grip, and I see Casey flinch. He’s slurring his words, revealing how drunk he is. I have never really seen Casey like this before; he’s usually so in control.

“It’s true,” the girl from earlier—Viv, I think—speaks up. I can already tell I don’t like her. I know Todd, and I know that wouldn’t set him off like this.

Sure enough, at her words, he lunges again.

“Yeah, right,” Todd spits out. “Figures you’d hang out with liars,” Todd shouts to Casey, but there is no mistake it’s directed at his girlfriend or whatever she is. “Why are you even here, Casey? This isn’t your school; these aren’t your friends. You need to leave.”

Mark Conner steps in next to me. He walks up to Todd and rests his elbows on Todd’s shoulders so their foreheads are almost touching. “I invited him, but do you want him gone?”

Ryan is still holding tight. He knows as well as I do that if he lets go of Todd right now, Casey is in trouble.

“I want him gone. He won’t leave Ash alone. He’s an asshole, and he’s nothing but trouble.”

As some of Casey’s friends step forward, I squeeze my eyes shut. I know Todd has a lot of friends here, but Casey’s friends are making it known they are ready for a fight.

Mark turns to Casey. “What the fuck, Case? You said you’d back off and be cool.”

How does Mark even know Casey? Stupid sports again? Worse still, how could Mark know about me? Does he know what happened at the game?

Casey tries to break free. “I swear, Mark. It’s cool; we’re cool. We’re all cool.”

Mark looks back at Todd, and I can tell he’s never seen this side of him; most people haven’t. Then his eyes land back on Casey and his group of friends, who are still tense but have already visibly backed down.

“I think it’s best if you leave,” Mark says with a calm and authoritative tone.

“That’s bullshit, MC!” Casey shouts back.

I catch the exchange as Brian looks to Ryan to get the go-ahead to release Casey, and when Brian gets the signal, he loosens his grip on Casey. Casey is finally able to break free, but he’s still lunging forward with his full force, so he stumbles and almost falls.

“Sorry about that,” Brian says, but nothing in his tone is apologetic.

Todd is still struggling to break free, and Ryan has to tighten his grip.

“Go.” Mark pushes Casey square in the chest.

“This is bullshit!” Casey screams in Mark’s face. Then he gets in Todd’s face. “You’re an asshole, and you don’t deserve her.” He points to me, and I feel my cheeks flush red.

They are fighting about me? Still? Why?

I don’t even see it coming, but either Todd broke free, or Ryan let go. Either way, Todd slams his fist into Casey’s face.

Casey gets in a good hit or two, and I can see Todd is bleeding.

I start screaming, “Stop!”

Before I know it, Casey is on the ground, and Todd is on top of him, throwing and landing punch after punch.

“Stop him, Ryan!” I scream at my brother, but he just calmly smiles at me.

“In a minute. He needs this, and Casey deserves it.”

“Ryan! Please,” I plead.

All of Casey’s friends have stunned looks on their faces as they back away, even Viv. So much for being good friends. It’s as if it’s unspoken that this is just between the two of them, and no one gets involved.

My stomach is in knots. I don’t want either of them to get hurt, and now they both are.

Ryan gives Brian and Mark a glance, and then they all go over.

“All right, that’s enough!” Ryan shouts in Todd’s ear as they pull him off Casey.

Casey is a bloody mess as his friends come over to help him up while Ryan, Brian, and Mark surround Todd. I can see he has a pretty big gash above his eye.

“Oh great, just great.” I feel Sid’s hand on my shoulder.

Everything happening around me is in slow motion. It’s as though I’m watching a movie, and none of it is really happening to me.

“My dad is going to kill him.” Sid shakes her head as if this is a regular occurrence, which I guess it kind of is becoming one. I can’t think about that now, though.

I run up to him.

The boys are still holding him back, but his eyes lock with mine, and his bloody hand comes up to my cheek to wipe a tear away. I didn’t even realize I was crying. His touch is so gentle, which is crazy after seeing his fist slam into Casey’s face.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I couldn’t help it.”

“I know,” is all I can say.

“Ash, not now. You should go.” I hear Ryan’s voice and feel Blythe and Sid’s hands pull me back. Regardless, I want to be with him. He’s bleeding and he needs me.

“Come on, Ash. He’s fine. Let the guys take care of him,” Blythe says as she continues to guide me away from the commotion. “There’s nothing to see here, people,” she shouts out to the crowd that’s gathered, trying to clear the area.

“That’s right, people. Move it.” Shane takes one look at me and jumps right in to distract everyone. He signals to the guy who is DJ’ing to turn the music up.

I can’t believe I’m crying. I don’t know why exactly, but I can’t seem to stop.

I glance over to see Casey’s friends surrounding him. He is holding his head back and someone gave him a sweatshirt to use to stop the bleeding.

I don’t know exactly what happened with them, but I want to scream at him I’m so angry. Why did he come here tonight? Why can’t he just let it go?

I’m already dreading our next swim practice. Maybe Todd has been right all along. I don’t know anymore.

Still, a small part of me feels bad for Casey. He has shown me he’s good person, and I know he doesn’t have anyone else. Even though he’s surrounded by friends, I know he’s alone.

“He’s definitely going to have a black eye tomorrow for the dance,” Sid says. That’s the last thing on my mind, but once she says it, I can’t help laughing through my tears.

“Well, it should make for interesting pictures,” Blythe chimes in.

I’m not sure if it’s stress or nerves, but we all start laughing hysterically. I know I look insane because I’m laughing and crying at the same time. Not to mention, laughing probably isn’t something a sane person would do right after two boys almost killed each other because of her, but, oh well. I can’t help it. It’s the only way I can deal with everything at the moment so I just keep laughing.

Chapter 8: The Day After

TODD

As soon as I open my eyes, everything from last night comes pouring back in. Then I run my hands over my face, and the searing pain is another instant reminder. My eye feels like I got hit with a sledgehammer, and my hand is killing me.

I look at my hand to see it’s scabbed and bloody. Shit.

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

The room is spinning, and my stomach joins in. I know I need to move quickly because whatever I ate last night is coming back up, but I can’t. I try, but my body only knows one speed right now—slow motion.

One step at a time, I repeat to myself then smile because it makes me think of Ash.

I make it to my trashcan just in time. Man, I’m in bad shape.