I turned off the engine, the laughter and shouted greetings from outside threatening to intrude on my isolated world. I glanced over at Vincent and found him watching me, a grin still curving his mouth.

“Ready?” he said.

I nodded. “Ready.”

Manson and Lucas were leaning against the Mustang and passing a cigarette between each other when we joined them. Lucas looked so serious you’d think he was there for a funeral instead of a party.

“Damn, boys, turn down the smiles,” Vincent said. Even when he was sober, Vincent was chill. A by-product of having so much experience being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He slung his arm around my shoulders and held up his THC vape, offering me a hit. I inhaled slowly, held it for a moment, and blew away the vapor into the night sky.

“You got the beer?” Lucas said.

“Yes, sir.” I moved to the back of the car and popped the hatch. My car was sitting pretty, slammed low and wide as hell with that Rocket Bunny kit I’d finished installing last weekend. I still had a few weeks before my next competition, so I couldn’t resist the opportunity to show it off tonight.

Besides, it was good advertising for Manson and Lucas, considering they’d helped build the engine. Any business we could bring in was good for all of us.

“Let’s get it started then, boys,” Manson said, holding up a twelve pack of IPAs from his trunk. The box of cheap beer I’d brought was to share, but Manson had the good stuff.

“Why do we come to this shit?” Lucas muttered, puffing at his cigarette as he scanned the faces spread among the trees. “I fucking hate half the people here.”

“What about the other half?” Manson said, tossing a beer to me before opening one for himself.

Lucas shook his head. “Don’t like them either.”

Manson snorted. “Right. Let’s get some alcohol in you before you start shit.”

“I don’t start shit,” Lucas grumbled. He was about to pop the top on his can, but the cigarette suddenly went slack in his mouth as he stared toward the bonfire. “Holy fuck. I’ve just seen a ghost.”

We all turned; Vincent a little too quickly because he was probably anticipating an actual paranormal incident. But there was only one ghost who would make Lucas look simultaneously furious and confused. I knew who it was even before I saw her.

Jessica sat on the other side of the fire, her oversized hoodie unzipped and a tight cropped shirt hugging her cleavage. Her long blonde hair was swept over her shoulder, her legs crossed, seated in her folding chair with all the confidence of a queen.

My perfect mental calm instantly shattered.

I’d tried to keep her out of my head, tried to forget the fantasies that Vincent took such pleasure in forcing out of me. Sometimes it disgusted me that I thought about her at all. The woman who used to demand I do her homework for her, who cheated off my tests, and taunted me for everything from my clothes, to my soft voice, to my ears. She shouldn’t have come anywhere near my fantasies.