Page 18 of Seven Letters

Shocko followed Riley’s eyes and saw Zach kiss Zoë. He turned back to Riley. ‘He was always a dickhead.’

‘Yeah, but he was my dickhead. Mine, not hers. Look at her, she’s pathetic. Peroxide toothpick.’ Riley roughly wiped a tear away.

Shocko put his arm around his best friend. ‘Dude, he’s not worth it. Don’t let him get to you. You’re in a different stratosphere from Zoë. If he can’t see that, he’s a fool.’

Riley grabbed another cup and filled it with vodka. ‘He told me I rocked his world.’

Shocko poured water into a cup and handed it to Riley. ‘I think you should drink this.’

Riley pushed his hand away. ‘I need to get really drunk and block this out.’

‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea. Besides, you’re pretty smashed already.’

‘Not smashed enough.’

Riley blinked. God, the lights were so bright. She went to sit up but fell back onto the pillow. Her head ached. She looked around. Where the hell …

‘You’re awake,’ Shocko’s voice said.

Riley turned to see her friend sitting in a chair beside her. ‘Jesus, Shocko, where am I?’

‘A and E.’

‘What?’

‘Yep. Let’s just say the vodka had a negative influence on your balance. You fell and cut your head.’

‘OMG, did anyone see?’

‘Pretty much everyone at the party, yeah.’

‘Don’t sugar-coat it.’

‘I thought we swore to always be honest with each other,’ he said.

Riley bit her thumbnail. ‘Did Zach see?’ she asked, looking down at her hands.

‘Kinda hard for him to miss it. You were throwing a drink over him when you tripped.’

Riley covered her face with her hands. ‘Oh, God, did I?’

‘Yep. Most of it went over Zoë, though.’

Riley smiled. That was something. ‘How did I hit my head?’

‘You were throwing the drink and, like, shouting a lot and then you sort of just lost your balance and fell over and whacked it on the coffee-table. It was pretty dramatic – people thought you were like dead and stuff. Because there was a lot of blood.’

‘Did Zach think that?’

‘Yeah, he looked pretty freaked out, but when he bent down to check on you, you told him he was a scumbag, so he knew you were alive.’

Why did she have such a big mouth and why did she get so drunk and why was she such an idiot? Now everyone in school would be talking about what a loser she was. Not only had Zach publicly humiliated her with Zoë, she’d humiliated herself by making a scene.

Riley’s head throbbed. ‘How did I end up here?’

‘Someone, who thought you were like dead or dying, called an ambulance. I came with you.’

‘You didn’t call my parents, did you?’

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