The one time Mia paid any attention to them, Serena’s gamer guy had his back to her. He was gesticulating wildly, slicing down with some imaginary sword, probably demonstrating his winning move in some computer game, and Serena was nodding and laughing along with him. Mia supposed he looked nice enough. Someone grabbed her arm, whirled her around to dance, and after that she never stopped dancing. With friends, with strangers, with anyone who wanted to. She danced until her legs ached, but she didn’t care. She drank, she laughed, she forgot about Rod the Loser. Then she nearly fell and realized she’d fall on her face if she didn’t stop. She slipped to the side, looking for Serena, but didn’t see her. A guy’s arm came around Mia, moved to her breasts, and without thought, she threw the rest of her drink in his face. He laughed like a hyena as he tried to use her arm to wipe off his face.

She was wondering if she should try to find Serena and head back to the dorm when she heard a scream from across the room, then heard someone shout FIRE! For a moment, she didn’t understand. She was drunk, yes, very drunk, but the yells and screams got through to her vodka-soaked brain, and suddenly everyone was shoving toward the front doors. Smoke was gushing out of the kitchen into the common room, getting thicker. Mia automatically pulled her shirt over her nose, looked frantically around for Serena. Where was she? They’d danced together not more than a half an hour ago. Or was it longer? Mia couldn’t remember, her brain wasn’t on reality time. She’d been laughing at a joke she couldn’t remember.

Mia yelled, “Serena!” but she didn’t see Serena. She was being pushed forward toward the front of the frat house in the middle of a stampede. She stumbled, and an arm grabbed her and half dragged her outside, out of the chaos. She was dizzy, the world upside down or maybe sideways, and her stomach revolted. She leaned over and threw up into a bush until she was light-headed. She clutched her stomach, closed her eyes, and let herself fall over onto her side. She heard sirens, heard students shouting, felt the fear heavy in the very air around her. She staggered to her feet and leaned against an oak tree, coughing, trying to get her head on straight. She saw firefighters pour off fire trucks, train their hoses on the frat house. She saw cop cars, from the town and from campus security, heard more shouts, a high-pitched scream. It was like a fantastical movie. She saw Judy Harkins, one of her study partners, stumble by and Mia caught her. “Judy, have you seen Serena?”

“Serena?” Judy was so drunk she crumpled to the ground, pulling Mia back down with her.