Heartlines ▹ Elena Gilbert [1]

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
BONFIRES AND GHOST SHENANIGANS

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

     "Are you sure we're allowed here?" Rebekah asked later that night as they made their way across the dark football field. Everyone usually parked in the high school parking lot, and then walked on foot to the forest surrounding the school, where the bonfire was always held. Some students—mostly the freshmen, who had never been to the bonfire before—went completely around, going out of their way to hide their rides and their arrivals, but Rowan knew that the adults looked the other way for the bonfire. There were some officers waiting on backroads just to make sure there wasn't any drunk driving, but other than that, it was one of the few parties with underage drinking that everyone allowed. Now Rowan was leading Rebekah into the heart of it, their arms linked together as Rebekah looked around at the chaos. "You said it's a party, but don't parties require invitations?"

"Um, sometimes," Rowan said, offering Rebekah a comforting smile. She was really starting to notice just how out of her element Rebekah actually was. "Not this one, though. It's kinda an unspoken rule that everyone's invited, but honestly? It's mostly just the popular kids." As if on cue, a guy flew by them on a four-wheeler, screaming to the sky with a bottle of beer held up in the air. He was wearing a football jersey. Rowan grinned at the familiar sight, laughter bubbling up in her throat. "Case in point. It can get pretty wild." Rebekah nodded, but she still looked like a deer caught in headlights, her hand tight around Rowan's arm. Rowan slowed once they reached the woods, walking more slowly so the two of them could talk. "Have you never been to a party in the woods before?"

"Not for a long time," Rebekah admitted, "and nothing ever like this. I've been stuck in a coffin for ninety years. It's all a bit overwhelming, if I'm honest." Rebekah blinked and pinned Rowan with a warning look. "Tell no one I said that." Rowan smiled, but freed her arm from Rebekah's just so she could raise her hands in an innocent gesture. Rebekah started to smile at her, amused, but then she jumped when a scream shot through the air. They heard the roaring of a fire a moment later. Rowan could only assume someone poured alcohol or gasoline on the bonfire—or one of them, at least. There was usually ten or so small fires all around the party. The last time they had made a huge one, the fire department had been called to put it out.

"What were your bonfires like?" Rowan asked curiously as she tugged Rebekah forward. Rebekah seemed to shake off her nerves and wariness over the party as soon as light hit her face. Her face smoothed out and her back straightened. It was a little admirable.

"Festivals," Rebekah muttered as she followed Rowan through the students littered through the woods. Almost everyone was carrying a red cup, and Rowan could smell the alcohol. There was a huge bonfire nearby, and as she passed it, she saw a football player tilt a bottle of vodka upside down over it. The fire roared up, and the students surrounding the fire screamed and stumbled back, and then everyone was laughing. Rowan shook her head and kept going, looking for the alcohol in question. "Celebrations. Holidays. I get the sense this isn't any sort of holiday?" Someone threw a firecracker into a fire, and Rowan jumped when it popped, and then she rolled her eyes.