Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Prologue

The moment I'd received my college acceptance letter, I'd known that my friends wouldn't make my last night at home easy on me.

It wasn't a real first day unless I turned up with a hangover; they said.

Apparently, legal drinking ages didn't apply when you had something to celebrate.

It was summer, and the heat was blistering. It beat down on our bare shoulders as we shrieked and splashed each other in the pool, our voices barely audible over the heavy bass thudding across the yard from the speakers we'd set up on the patio. I didn't know half the kids who'd shown up. That was the problem with arranging anything in the time of social media. All it took was one person running their mouth about some party over the weekend and, before you knew it, about fifty people had invited themselves to join in.

Normally, I'd panic about how my dad would react to a bunch of half-naked strangers climbing in and out of his pool, but he was home at the time and had made it clear that anyone who did anything he didn't approve of would be thrown out on their ass.

That he didn't stipulate what he may or may not approve of had made the guests conscious of their behavior. Besides, none of them wanted to get on his bad side. He was a tenured professor at the local college and would oversee some of their grades when the new semester started. No one wanted to flunk their classes before they'd begun, not even a bunch of idiot teens who had access to coolers of beer and more novelty pool floaties than they could shake a stick at.

I'd been in the pool so long that my fingers and toes had wrinkled. I swam to the edge and heaved myself onto the sun-warmed tiles. My body felt leaden without the support of the water, and I took a moment to sit and get my breath back, my legs swaying idly in the water. A girl dropped beside me and flicked her red hair back over her shoulder. It slapped loudly against her bare skin, and I jumped.

"Wow, skittish much, Chaise?" Jenny asked. "Relax. It's a party."

I rocked to the side and bumped her shoulder with mine. "Big day tomorrow, remember?"

"Yeah, the banners kinda gave it away." Jenny's gaze was drawn to the one my dad had strung across the balcony. A garish reminder that this was meant to be my party and not a free-for-all for all the teens in our grade to get wasted and screw around in one of the nicest yards in the neighborhood. "But that's tomorrow. Loosen up and enjoy your last day before you're – I don't know – locked in a library or something. Isn't that what college is?"

A smile tugged at the corner of my lips. "I'm starting to think you had the right idea."

Jenny shrugged. "Gotta travel while you're young enough to do it. In Europe, they call it a gap year."

"What are you calling it?"

"Freedom."

I couldn't deny that I liked the sound of that better than jumping straight into more studying. The summer break should've been a respite from all the stresses of school. Instead, I'd spent my time packing up my room, researching the best places to hang out in my new city, and finalizing all the arrangements for my new living situation. It wasn't even worth mentioning all the money I'd had to drop on textbooks and the reading I was supposed to do before my classes started. I felt like I was at college already and I wasn't even on the campus yet.

"I'm gonna grab a water. You want anything?" I pushed myself up onto my feet and stretched my arms above my head.

"Not unless it's carbonated and alcoholic, I don't," Jenny replied with her trademark wicked grin. "And you shouldn't either."

"I promise I'll be totally drunk and irresponsible before the night is out, but if you want me to stay awake, I gotta hydrate."

"Ugh, fine." Jenny slipped back into the pool. "You're so responsible. It's gross."