“Waylon?” asks Tucker, shouting into the receiver over the sound of a jackhammer in the background.

No turning back now.

“Hey,” I say, unable to help myself from shouting back. Neither of us have even so much as texted since last night.

“Is everything okay? You’ve never called me before.” He continues to yell, even after the noise behind him quiets.

“I can hear you,” I tell him.

“Oh, sorry.”

“And I’m fine.” He’s right, though. I’ve never heard his voice on the phone, and now that I have, it might be something I need to hear again. “What time do you get off work tonight?” I ask.

“I’m putting in overtime right now, so I guess whenever I want.”

“How do you feel about a party?” I ask. “And how quickly can you help me get half the school here?”

“I feel like watching Netflix and eating cold pizza, but I could be persuaded. As for half the school, I’ve got a few group texts going that could fill a house in thirty minutes.”

In the forty-five minutes it takes for anyone else to arrive, Kyle stress-eats a whole pizza and then begs Alex to forgive him through a locked bathroom door while Hannah and Clem run out for a few extra bags of ice.

I hang out in the living room, nibbling on pizza while the strobe lights from Kyle’s karaoke machine dance around me.

When Hannah and Clem return, they’ve brought with them Willowdean, Ellen, her boyfriend Tim, Amanda, Callie, Mitch, Millie, and a boy holding Millie’s hand who I’ve seen around school with her.

“This is the party?” Callie asks when she sees me eating pizza solo by strobe light.

“I’ve never been to an unsupervised party like this before,” Millie says with a giggle.

The guy holding her hand, with thick black hair and a caramel-brown complexion, who also manages to make a sweater vest and loafers look cool, gives her a kiss on the cheek.

She wraps her arms around his waist. “Malik stole a box of wine from his parents’ stash,” she whispers.

“A box of wine to myself sounds like the kind of party I need right now,” says Willowdean.

Malik laughs. “I was thinking the box could be more of a communal situation. I don’t know much about box wine, but solo box wine sounds sort of depressing.”

Millie nods thoughtfully.

Ellen takes Willowdean’s hand and pulls her closer, whispering something to her.

Clem and Hannah emerge from behind them with bags of ice.

“There’s a freezer in the garage,” I tell them.

“Come in, come in,” says Kyle, sweeping down the stairs as he pulls Alex behind him, and Alex’s eyes are a little bit puffy and red. Drama in paradise! “There are refreshments in the kitchen and libations as well. Please leave your keys in the cookie jar to help me monitor drunk driving.”