“How about one of those for me?” he asked. She made a face, but poured him a drink. Trip took the cup and pulled himself up to sit next to Maddie on the kitchen counter. He casually draped an arm over her shoulders, and she let him. They hung out with Trip mainly because he was Will’s brother, and because he held a sort of elder-statesman position among the high school crew. But at twenty-one, his act was getting less cute, and a string of arrests for drunk driving and pot possession meant that he wasn’t going to be working anywhere but his parents’ farm anytime soon. The girls put up with him, but they weren’t going to date him.

The door opened again and Hunter Finch walked in. June slid off the counter and kissed him, while Trip clapped and whistled. Rosie blushed and looked away. Hunter and June had been going out for almost a year, although Hunter didn’t attend the local high school like the rest of them. His father, a real estate developer, had serious money and sent Hunter to Collegiate Prep, a private school in New Jersey. If high schoolers could be a power couple, then they were it: she was smart and he was rich, and they seemed to make sense, even if they didn’t get to see each other all that often.

Will O’Connor slapped Hunter on the back. The Finch estate shared a property line with Will’s family’s farm, and the boys had grown up together, playing in the fields between their homes. They’d stayed friends despite going to different schools, and that fall they would be together again—at Princeton. Will had worked hard for it, and he had a merit scholarship from a local foundation that would pay the tuition his family was expected to cover, even with the generous financial aid. He could still hardly believe it was happening. Hunter was a shoo-in, despite his shaky academic record. His father was an alumnus and a generous donor.

“How’s the other half living, man?” Will teased.

“They’re doing it right,” Hunter replied, pulling from his pocket a ziplock bag filled with a dozen white pills. “Should we get this party started?”

“Hell yes.” June stuck out her tongue, and Hunter put a tab of ecstasy on it. Rosie followed suit, and Hunter popped two.

Maddie met Will’s eye. They were going out, although they hadn’t put a label on it. Will smiled and shrugged. “I’m cool,” he said. “Early practice tomorrow.” Maddie hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head. “No thanks,” she said.

“C’mon, Maddie,” Hunter said. “I thought you wanted to try it.” He held the pill out to her. “Just because Will doesn’t know how to have a good time doesn’t mean you can’t.”

“Don’t let me stop you,” Will said, holding up his hands.