A/N - - Welcome to my new novel. I thought of it a while ago, but was too chicken to put it up.

Side note: This is not ROMANCE. If you think she's gonna fall in love with this guy, you thought wrong. ;)

Anyways, on with the show.

ps. Please comment, or review, or whatever. :D

<3 Dani.

Chapter One

“So, tell me again why we're doing this?” Leah Emmett asked, holding the short, denim skirt up to her waist.

Beside her, Kamryn, her best friend, fiddled with her hair, peering in the small mirror that was once on Leah's dresser, but was now in Kamryn's lap.

“Because,” Kam started. “You need a man, and wallowing up in your house just isn't going to get you there.”

Leah rolled her eyes, throwing the skirt on a pile of “no”s. She looked at her three piles of clothes. One was for the “probably”s, another for the “no”s, and the last for the “maybe”s.

“But I don't want a man, Kam,” Leah started, picking a small black dress off the probably pile. It was short, but very cute. “And plus, all people do at parties is make-out and get wasted. Why would I want to waste my time searching for a guy who would most likely just want to have sex with me?”

Kamryn laughed, playing with her hair some more before she opened her makeup bag and pulled out her thick eyeliner.

“What's wrong with that?” She asked, opening her eyes wide and slowly scraping the edge of her pencil across her bottom lid. She promptly followed with her top lid.

“Well, I don't want to have sex with just some random guy, Kamryn!” Leah groaned, frustrated. Kam just didn't understand her.

“Well, then don't. It's not like they're going to force you.” She explained, now applying lip gloss to her already brilliantly red lips.

“I know,” Leah started, sighing. She slipped on the dress, loving the feel of the soft cotton against her sensitive skin. “Well,” She looked at herself in the mirror. “better late than never.”

Kamryn smiled, standing up. She pushed the hair out of Leah's face and began applying eyeliner and mascara.

“Kam, it's good.” But her friend didn't stop until she was finished.

“There,” Kamryn said, beaming. “Now you are beautiful.”

“Thanks.” Leah muttered, sarcastically.

Outside of the room a horn honked, startling the two girls. They gathered their things. Leah threw her cellphone into her small black purse, and strapped on a pair of silver stilletoes. She flew down the stairs, followed closely by her friend, and stopped in the living room to say goodbye to her parents.

“Have fun, honey.” Her dad said. “No snogging!” She rolled her eyes as she marched out the door and toward the waiting Vespa.

“Oh, guys!” Jill cried from the driver's seat of the car. “You guys look amazing!” Leah took the passenger seat, and Kam sat in the back, in the middle so she could talk to us both.

“Thanks, hun.” Kamryn said, placing her elbows on either seat. “You too.” Jill's long blonde hair was curled tightly and fell down to her waist. Her brilliant blue eyes sparkled with excitement and she was wearing a small black skirt with a sparkly silver top.

Kamryn also had blonde hair, and it was not as exquisite as Jillian's, but her beautiful green eyes made up for the difference. She was wearing long white jeans, with strappy black sandals, and a dark blue halter.

Leah, feeling out of place amidst all the blondes with her night black hair, had violet eyes, naturally. They were the color of Amethyst crystals, her mom had said. Her hair fell almost exactly like Jill's except, her curls were natural and loose, where Jill's were tight and she'd used a curling iron.

“So, how exactly do I get there?” Jill asked, getting onto the freeway.

“Turn left on Redwood,” Leah explained, pointing to a sign up ahead. When they turned she continued. “Then it's your third right,” She could see Jill counting as they passed each turn. Finally, she found the third turn. “And then it's the fourth house on the left—no, right!”

Jill stopped at the right house. It would have been hard to miss.

It was about two stories high, with bright white-washed walls. In the front, were two enormous windows. She could see the lush, white interior. There were so many people inside, and she was sure there'd be many more in the back.

Leah had never actually been to Logan Dantes' house before, but she presumed it was like any other highschool party she'd heard of.

Heard of. She'd never actually attended one.

“Oh, i'm so excited!” Kam squealed, opening her door quickly. Jill laughed as well as she stepped out of the vehicle. Leah stared at the house. There were so many unfamiliar people.

Her door opened.

“What? Are you scared?” Kam asked, grinning. She held out her hand. Leah took it, stepping out of the vehicle.

She breathed deeply as she walked up to the front steps of the house. They opened the dark mahogany door.

They walked into the stuffy house, crowded by so many bodies. The music pounded against their ears.

“Hey!” Damien, Kamryn's boytoy pushed through the crowd, and wrapped his arms around her.

“Took you long enough.” He said, grinning. Leah looked away. They were in love. She could tell. She was happy for her friend, but she wished that for herself.

“Come on,” Jill said, pulling Leah's hand towards the living room. “Let's go look around.” Leah followed dilligently.

As they walked, Jillian stopped to talk to some friends, so Leah just continued on through the house. She had no clue where she was going.

Finally, she found a door, that led outside, onto a padio. There were more people, some playing beer-pong, and others just hanging out on the padio set. There were steps that led down to another padio, which then led to the beach. There was a dock that went off the beach, and led to two family-sized boats.

A scream pierced the air. Leah's gaze fell on a girl who was being thrown into the lake by three football players. She laughed and screamed as they lifted her above them and threw her into the cold water.

The sun was just beginning to set.

They laughed as she stormed out of the water, looking much like a pissed-off cat, and swatted vainly at one of the guys, who was probably her boyfriend.

“Hey,” Someone said beside her. He was tall, probably around 6'2''. He had short blonde hair, and dark brown eyes.

“Hey,” Leah said to the guy.

“Name's Duke.” He smiled down at her. Sometimes she hated her height.

“Leah.” Leah smiled back at him, fakely.

“Well, Leah,” Duke started. He handed her a mug of something. “Want a drink?” He asked.

What? Did he think she was stupid?

“No thanks, Duke.” She replied, shaking her head. “I'm off liquor for a while.”

He nodded, realizing, from her words, that she was probably an alcoholic, trying to recover.

He smiled nervously once more, and then walked away to another group of people.

“Hey! Derek! Yeah, you! I heard you were beakin' me, man.”

Leah turned away from the swiftly growing crowd.

Somebody else came next to her.She could hear the fight starting.

“Hey,” The host of this party, Logan, said. “Can you watch this guy?” He pointed to a guy that was sitting in a chair, his head slumped over. “I've gotta deal with this fight, but I need someone to watch him.” Leah nodded once.

He smiled at her, and then left to break up the fight. By now, the crowd of people around the two drunk guys had moved up onto the padio and then into the house. She was alone, finally.

She went and sat on a beach chair next to the guy she was supposed to watch.

“Hey,” She said, trying to make idle conversation.

He looked up at her. He didn't look so drunk.

His eyes were completely glazed over though.

They were beautiful. They were even brighter than Jillian's blue eyes, and his hair was as dark as Leah's.

“What's your name?” Leah asked.

“Everybody calls me Sawyer.”

Oh. This was the Sawyer. The elusive bachelor of Alexander High.

“I'm Leah. Logan told me to watch you for a bit, okay?” He frowned, his eyes narrowing.

“I'm not that drunk.” He replied, his voice slurring a little. Leah smiled at him.

No. He was wasted.

He reached towards her, his hand rested gently on her leg.

“Okay, Sawyer,” She pushed his hand off, and backed her chair away a little.

“What's wrong, sweetie?” He asked, standing up. He walked towards her, tripping slightly on a twig. “Fucking tree.” He muttered, pushing forward. He shook his head, clearing it a little. He took in some air, and looked back up at her.

Something was seriously wrong.

“Come on,” He said, his vision already clearing. “Just a kiss.”

She got out of her chair, putting it between them.

“Uh, Sawyer,” He took the chair and threw it out of the way.

She backed up even further, almost tripping over her own feet. She felt the sand disappear under sandals and turn into hard dirt. He filled the few steps in between them and grabbed her wrists roughly, pulling her toward him.

“Sawyer.” She warned, pushing at his chest.

“Oh, come on, Leah.” He said, trying to hold her down. “You don't come to a party dressed like that unless you want to get fucked.”

Tears rolled down her eyes as she tried to push him off.

“No, Nathaniel!” She said, using his first name. “I—I didn't want this.” He played with the hem of her dress, inching it up her leg.

“Well, you're going to get it, Leah.”

He couldn't be that drunk if he still remembered her name.

She lifted her knee, kicking him in the groin.

He grunted, and fell to his knees. She took off, heading towards the forest. The trees whipped at her skin as she ran. Her heels dug into the hard ground, slowing her down. She checked behind her. She was sure, if he was drunk, he wouldn't follow her. But what if he was just an extremely angry person?

She couldn't see him behind her, but she kept running, not really knowing where she was going. Finally, she saw an opening. She headed for it, smiling as it opened into a large valley. It would be so much easier to run in this. She stopped. Surely, he wouldn't be able to find her now.

She placed her hands over her head, easing the cramping a little.

Suddenly, she was thrown to the ground, a heavy weight on top of her.

“You think you can fucking just kick me and get away?” He hissed in her ear. Her face was pushed into the ground, and her arms pushed at it, trying to lift him off of her.

He grabbed her shoulders roughly, and flipped her around, so that she was facing him.

“Stop.” She cried, as he pulled at the top of her dress. She screamed as he pulled it down, scraping her with his fingernails. She cried as she felt the burning feeling of a new cut. He pulled the thin dress in half. The cold air whipped painfully at her skin. Again, she tried to push him off, her hands scraping against his chest. He'd already taken his shirt off.

“Oh, come on,” He groaned, grabbing her wrists and pinning them above her. “Don't tell me you're a virgin,”

Tears ran down her face.

He laughed at that. “Wow, I never would have thought.” He brought his face closer to hers.

“Have you ever kissed a guy before?” He asked, his breath smelled like alcohol.

She squeezed her eyes closed, trying to make this all go away.

His lips met hers, roughly. He pried open her mouth, shoving his tongue inside. She bit down hard, trying once again to push him off.

“Shit!” He said, cupping a hand over his mouth. He sat up, glaring down at her, and then, with the same hand, he back-handed her across the mouth.

“Hey!” Some unknown voice called from the distance. Bright light shone in her eyes, and she looked at Sawyer only to see a startled, and then angry look on his face.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Someone asked, running up to them. Leah's head was still spinning. She couldn't see what was happening.

She heard more than one voice.

“We were just having some fun,” Sawyer growled.

“Well, get the fuck off her!” She still couldn't recognize the speaker.

Her vision began to blur, the darkness slowly creeping in on her.

Her eyes fluttered closed as her breathing became shallow. And then she lost consciousness.