My life turned upside down

I look down at my nails and wince. Amelia and I got back from our nail appointment less than a half hour ago and my cuticles are already bleeding again. I’m a little high strung about the party at Elijah’s tonight. Grayson is supposed to be there and last time I spoke to him, he told me he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. 

I think back to how things were about a month ago and sigh. Amelia and Elijah. Me and Grayson. We were living the dream of nearly every highschooler! Two best friends dating two other best friends? That is as good as it gets. 

Elijah and Amelia insisted that I go tonight, and if it weren’t Elijah’s 18th birthday, I wouldn’t be caught dead there. Not after what happened with Grayson and I. 

“Hellooo, Dom, did you hear me?” Says Amelia. 

“Sorry, what?” I respond, feeling bad about how preoccupied I’ve been since we started getting ready. 

Amelia rolls her eyes and laughs. She knows how nervous I am about tonight, even though it’s Elijah’s night. She holds up two shirts. The first is a light blue halter top, the second, a long sleeve black turtleneck. She looks at both of the shirts and raises a brow. “Which one?” she asks, “The black is classic but the blue will match Elijah’s eyes,” she says while blushing. 

I look at the shirts and can tell that she would rather match Elijah’s eyes than stay warm tonight. Even though the temperature is only 30 degrees out. I miss that feeling of comfort with someone I love, but I am happy that Elijah and her are so happy together. 

“The blue one is nice,” I respond, smiling. 

She grins and puts the top on. Her dark hair stands out against the blue.

“So cute,” she says while looking in the mirror. 

I stare at myself in the mirror and wonder what Grayson will say when he sees me. Will he say anything at all? 

Amelia senses my nervousness and tells me to come over to her closet. Since I came over right after school I didn’t bring any clothes for the party tonight. I know that she is trying to help ease my nerves and I walk over to her closet and put aside any thoughts about Grayson. Amelia always has the cutest clothes, thank gosh we are the same size!

“Here, I’ve never worn this but it would be cute on you!” She says as she hands me a black cloth mini skirt. 

I do as she says and try the skirt on and… it is the perfect fit! I smile as I look at myself in the mirror. “Thanks Mimi,” I say. Then we begin looking through her tops. I pick out a bubble gum pink top, to match my nails. I try it on and the pink top with the black mini skirt show off my toned body from dance. I grin at Amelia. 

“Let’s go get Aly and Liv. We’re gonna be late if we wait any longer!” Says Amelia. 

I nod my head in agreement and we start leaving her room. Taking one last look in the mirror, I look at my caramel brown eyes and brown hair.  You look so beautiful. Who cares what Grayson has to say tonight anyways! I think to myself and smile. Nothing a good outfit and your best friend can’t fix. 

I hop in the passenger seat of Amelia’s jeep and plug my phone into the aux. We blast the music the whole way there and sing at the top of our lungs until we get to Liv’s house. Liv’s long, dirty blonde hair is in waves and she is wearing flowy pants and a purple tube top. She smiles and yells, “This is going to be the best night ever!” We all woop at that and a moment later Aly runs down the driveway. She looks striking with her curly black hair and tanned skin against the white of her top. 

“Hi, guys!” she says with a smile as she hops in the back of the jeep. I play another song and when we arrive at Elijah's, Aly takes a bottle out of her big purse and shows it to us. Tequila. Oh, God. We all look at each other and start laughing. 

I watch Liv and Aly both take a shot, straight from the bottle and wince. I am not much of a drinker but at this point I will do whatever to maintain the level of confidence I had when we left Amelia’s house. I take the bottle and smell it. Why does anybody drink this? I think to myself and gag at the smell. 

“If you plug your nose you won’t taste it,” Liv says with a shrug. 

I sigh, plug my nose and take a huge gulp of the Tequila. Immediately I feel the warmth in my belly. The girls all laugh and cheer me on. Once all of us have had two shots of the Tequila, we start walking inside. I’m feeling a lot more relaxed. I’m not big on drinking, so I usually opt out of events like this, so I can tell tonight will be interesting.

We step into the party and I see half of the senior class there. Wow. I hide my nerves and follow Amelia in. She heads to the kitchen and we find Elijah. He scoops Amelia into a big hug and kisses her on the forehead. “My Mimi, I’m so glad that you’re here,” he says with a huge smile on his face. They are so sweet together. Elijah says hello to Liv, Aly and I and we wish him a happy birthday.  

Elijah looks at me and says, “Sorry Grayson couldn’t make it tonight, Dom.” I try to hide my surprise. Grayson didn’t tell you we aren’t together anymore? I say to myself. I am also shocked to hear that he isn't coming to his best friend’s birthday party. Maybe he's avoiding me that much.

I look up at Elijah and although I want to move on from the topic, I have to know more. 

“Grayson and I aren’t together anymore, Elijah,” I say regretfully.

 Elijah’s brows furrow and he shakes his head, “What?” he says loudly, over the music. “Why didn’t he tell me? When did this happen?” he adds. 

I shrug, “About a week ago he told me he couldn’t be with me… he didn’t want to tell me why though, so I just let him be.” 

Elijah still looks shocked. He whips out his phone, “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. What’s going on with him?” he mutters. He begins pounding his thumbs on the screen of his phone, sending a long text to Grayson. 

“What are you saying!?” I ask with a hint of panic in my normally calm voice. 

“Don’t worry about it. Go enjoy the party! I’m glad you could make it tonight Dom,” He says casually. 

I can tell the conversation is over and I head to the living room to find Amelia, Aly and Liv. They are all sitting on the couch singing and I smile and dance over to them lightly. I sit in between Aly and Amelia. Aly offers me a mixed drink. I was already feeling tipsy, but I say yes anyways because I don’t want to think about Grayson anymore. I want to have fun and dance all night with my girls. 

I stand back up and pull Aly up with me with a grin. She starts laughing and we start dancing to the beat of the music. I don’t recognize the song, which surprises me, since I am always listening to music. We sway back and forth and Amelia and Liv stand up and join us. I’m spinning around and smiling when I hear my song come on. 

Not just any song, but my competition solo dance. I am glowing with happiness. I don’t know if it’s the Tequila or the adrenaline, but I don’t care. I start doing my hip hop solo to the song blasting and soon a crowd forms around me. I’m smiling so hard and Amelia grabs my hand and tells me to get up on the coffee table. I’m so in my element, dancing, that I blindly listen and start dancing on the table. The energy around me is so bright and fun that I almost forget about Grayson. I open my eyes and look across the room and see… Grayson. Leaning up against the wall with a big smile planted across his face. 

I feel my heart beat faster and I pause in the middle of my choreography. He looks especially handsome tonight. His black shirt shows off his muscles and his dark brown hair looks full and healthy. I never really see it since he is usually wearing a baseball cap. His dark brown eyes look into mine and he knows he is all I’m thinking about. I can feel myself blushing and I look down at Aly. She sees the stress in my eyes that was not there a moment ago and she helps me down immediately. 

I try to brush off the image of Grayson, but how can I? He ended things with me without explanation. And now, he knows how much I still care by the way I was just staring at him. 

I hold myself together for a moment and let Aly know I’m going to the bathroom. She can tell that I’m frazzled, so she says, “me too,” and follows me down the hall. 

We get to the bathroom and I lock the door behind us. 

“What happened up there?” Aly asks, looking concerned. 

I breathe heavily for a moment, sure that I’ve had too much to drink. “Grayson,” I mutter and glance at Aly. 

Aly looks sympathetic for a moment, and then says, “Do not let that boy ruin your night. Everyone was loving you up there! I’ll give you a minute. Meet us in the kitchen when you are done.” She smiles sweetly at me and I tear up. Determined not to shed a tear, I look away and nod. “Thanks Aly,” I manage to say. She nods and leaves the bathroom. 

I lock the door again and look at myself in the mirror, breathing loudly. Why in the world would he come here? I think to myself. I wonder if he only came here to ensure that I still care for him. By the way we were staring at each other I am certain he knows. 

Thoughts of Grayson  keep bouncing around my mind as I fix my makeup. I check myself out again in the mirror, thankful that I look nice tonight. 

Suddenly, someone unlocks the door and barges into the bathroom. 

I react impulsively, yelling for them to get out when I look up to see that it is Grayson. 

“What are you doing in here?” I ask, demanding an answer. 

He does not look affected by my outburst, “I had Elijah give me a key. I saw you come in here with Aly and had to talk to you,” he replies calmly. His height is overwhelming, looking over me in a pleading manner. 

I look at him in his concerned, big brown eyes. “There is nothing to talk about,” I say stubbornly. I try to walk past him and he grabs my arm. 

“Grayson, I mean it,” I say. 

“So did I, we need to talk,” he says, “about us.”

I can tell I will not be leaving this room if I don’t let him say what he needs to, so I nod my head and wait for him to begin. 

Grayson takes a deep breath and releases his grip on my arm. “Dom,” he begins, “I need you to listen to me.” My eyebrows furrow and I know he means what he said. “What is it?” I ask. 

“I need you to know that I ended our relationship because I had to. For your protection,” he looks down for a moment and continues, “There are a lot of things you do not know about me, but you need to trust me. Aly isn’t who you think she is.” 

I scoff, “Seriously? Why are you bringing Aly into this? She has been a good friend to me since I moved here three years ago. I trust her more than you.” We both know that I trust Grayson more than anything, but he cannot think he can just love me and leave. I stand stubbornly and wait for him to respond. 

“Oh yeah? Then why is it that she has been shoving alcohol down your throat all night?” he asks.

I shrug, “I didn’t think it was a big deal,” I admit. 

He pulls out a picture on his phone of Aly pouring something into the drink she made me, from a black vile… I gasp and look at him. “What is this?” I ask urgently. 

“This is what our agency uses to track people. It will make you feel overly intoxicated for the first hour, but it will stay in your body for 24 hours if you don’t throw it up,” he says matter of factly. I stare at him in confusion. His big eyes pleading with me and his hands reach out to hold mine. 

“Agency?” I ask. 

“Dom, I don’t have time to explain, but Aly must be a double agent. You know the SSO club at school? That is for Student Spy Organization. There are many students in it who work for the agency and those students all have parents in the agency. Your parents used to be a part of it too… before they passed away.

“They were loyal spies for SSO for many years and when your family moved here three years ago, they intended to introduce you to SSO. None of this is coincidental and I need you to throw up and get that serum out of your system so they can’t track you. We need to get out of here before Aly comes back,” he says urgently. 

I feel disoriented but I trust Grayson with my life. I look at him with big eyes, on the verge of tears but I know I need to listen to him. I mumble, “Okay Gray,” as I lower myself to the toilet and force myself to vomit. 

As soon as I’m done, Grayson hands me a cup of water and starts speaking again. “We need to leave through the window. Now,” he commands. 

“But what about Amelia,” I start to ask. “Amelia, Elijah and Liv already know our situation and they are stalling Aly right now. We need to leave now,” he states. 

I gulp and nod my head. I look at the round window above the toilet and thank gosh that we are on the first floor. I take off my heels and step on the toilet. I open the window and crawl out feet first. I look at the grass beneath me and pray that it is a soft landing as I release my grip on the windowsill. 

I hit the ground with a soft thud and quickly move out of the way for Grayson. He is very quick and agile. He hangs onto the windowsill with his fingertips as his legs dangle. His tall body is nearly touching the ground as he releases the windowsill. Much more graceful than my landing. I think to myself. 

We look at each other and grin for a moment. Our moment is interrupted by a noise coming from the bathroom. We look up and see dark curls through the window. My eyes widen, Aly. Grayson grabs my hand and pulls me down next to a bush. 

Aly walks up to the window and looks out. I cover my mouth, I don’t want to make a sound. 

“She’s gone I looked everywhere for her. Vanished into thin air. Is her tracker online yet?” She asks with an annoyed tone. 

I look at Grayson, who puts a finger over his mouth, urging me to stay quiet. We cannot hear the voice on the other line, but after a moment we hear Aly speak again. 

“Okay thank you. Give me a call as soon as the tracker is up,” she commands, “No, Grayson doesn’t know anything. Him and Dominique are not even speaking so there is no chance he will get involved,” pause, “Right. Okay. Be in touch.”

I wait until I hear the bathroom door close and I look at Grayson with wide eyes. “We need to run,” he whispers. I nod and we run hand in hand to his truck that is parked down the street. 

He lifts me up and sets me in the passenger seat, then runs around to the drivers side. As soon as he starts his truck we start driving. 

He looks at me with concern and asks, “You okay?”

I breathe hard and look back at him, “Do I look okay?” I say with an attitude. 

“No, not really, that’s why I asked,” he says with a smile. I find myself grinning even though I’m still upset with him. 

I try not to think about how my life was just turned completely upside down. I try not to think about one of my best friends betraying me. I try not to think about this agency and what they want to do with me. 

Grayson can practically read my mind. He grabs my hand and kisses the back of it. “You are safe, Dom,” he says to me in a comforting tone. I have no choice but to believe him.