Page 44 of The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad

He shrugged but didn’t call me on my lie.

When we walked in, I took in the scene. Everyone was carrying one of those red Solo cups, several of which littered the floor and every available flat surface, so I was betting at least half of the party population was already tipsy. I saw a lot of people I recognized but no one I would really call a friend (which proved how much of an introverted social outcast I was, I guess). Girls and guys were talking, kissing and/or grinding on the dance floor. My eardrums were probably going to explode from how high they had the music playing.

Which was something George Trask from Sandy Grove would’ve said.

Dang, I had been born 80, I thought. Le sigh.

“What do you think?” Colton asked loudly.

“I think my eardrums might burst,” I said back.

“What?”

Instead of trying to yell over the music, I led him away from the living room (and the twerking) and into the kitchen (with the alcohol) which was somewhat quieter, but not by much. There was some kind of drinking game going on, and every time someone landed a ball in a cup a loud cheer would arise. I saw a girl with mint green streaks bounce two balls off the table, one after the other, so that they dropped perfectly into cups, which earned her wild applause. Had to admit it was pretty impressive. She laughed, telling another person to drink up.

“I said I think my eardrums might burst,” I repeated to Colton.

“Nah,” Colton said and lifted a strand of my hair. “All that hair would act as a buffer.”

“Ha ha,” I said, shaking my curls out of his reach. “Is this all there is? Twerking, drinking, making out and a slip n’ slide? Honestly, I feel disappointed.”

“Pretty much,” he said. “But hey, there’s probably someone upstairs smoking weed, and then there’s always the prank later. It’s usually pretty fun.”

That got my attention. “Prank?”

“Yeah,” Colton said, “Eric and some of the guys were talking about pulling a senior prank on Principal Wexler. You in, Sadie?”

“Heck yeah,” I said in excitement. That was #20 on my list! “I’ve always wanted to pull a prank on someone. What are they going to do?”

“They’re going to TP his house. No big deal.”

I frowned. “Won’t that take a long time to clean up? And who’d want to waste all that toilet paper?”

Colton stared. “Are you the toilet paper police?”

“No, but—”

“There’s nothing wrong with what we’re doing, Sadie. Calm down, okay? It happens every year. The principal knows about it, so there’s no need to be so uptight.”

I tilted my head. “Huh. Well, if he knows about it, I guess it’s alright then. Although I do feel bad about him having to clean up later.”

“You’re hopeless,” Colton sighed, but as another cheer rose from the drinking game he smiled. “Hey, there’s someone I want you to meet. Athena!”

At the sound of her name, the girl with mint green streaks looked our way and walked over to hug Colton. She embraced him smoothly, looking edgy and cool with her tattoos and nose piercing. Her makeup was perfection, too, eyeliner applied just right to give her a cat-eye look.

“Hey, Colton,” she said with a smile. “How’s it going?”

“Not too bad.” He gestured to me. “Athena, this is Sadie. She’s Kyle’s best friend and my…pupil. I’m teaching her how to be bad and brought her because she wanted to see what a real party is like.”

I did a mental eyeroll at his explanation, but Colton looked pleased with himself. Each of Athena’s fingers had a ring on it I noticed as she reached out to take my hand.

“Hi Sadie,” she said. “Good to meet you.”

“Hey, you, too,” I said, and unable to help myself, I nodded to her nose. “Did that hurt?”

“Only for a second—and a little after because it got infected. But not nearly as much as when I had my back or nipples pierced. Now, that shit hurt.”

I gulped, keeping my eyes firmly on her face, but she laughed as she released my hand.

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