Odd One Out

Body Party

CHAPTER 1

Bailey
Friday, September 29

Before the day was over, every Senior knew about Daniel Patrick's party, and the ones who did not know yet were bound to find out through an Instagram or Twitter post eventually. Even at the track and field practice after school, while our feet beat the crimson-red strip around the football field, my teammates seemed to hold this as their only topic of conversation, using it as a short-term distraction from the sun who also probably knew about the party by now.

Daniel Patrick was notorious for having huge, over-the-top parties that left everyone with nothing less than a hangover. I never went to any of them, but even just the topic of them frustrated me.

Daniel was an egocentric asshole, and everyone talking about him now was definitely not making his head any smaller.

"Are you going to Daniel's party?" a familiar voice rang out behind me.

Not him again.

"Don't know," I quickly responded to Cisco, who had been overly friendly to me these past few weeks. It was his gig; everyone at Roosevelt High School knew that if Francisco Salazar was trying to get close to you, it was because someone paid him to do it.

This week alone he had exposed three new cases to the school by outing the poor Steven Hemming and forcing him to confess he was gay, catching Ana Markey on tape cheating on her boyfriend, and posting a thread of messages that Claire McCoy had sent to one of the players on the soccer team — messages that showed more than just her love for soccer.

"Always so responsive," he joked, catching up to me as I neared the end of my final lap. "I hear it'll be the best one yet. You should go, you know? Have fun. You're always working out, it's actually exhausting me."

I don't care.

"Sorry to disappoint," I breathed out instead, finally finishing my routine as I reached our coach.

"We're about to graduate Bailey, and what better time to enjoy the little pleasures of high school than now, during our Senior year?"

Please shut up.

"On time as always, Miss Phillips," Coach Brooklyn stated in a very bored tone. She checked something off on her clipboard before giving Cisco — who still had many laps to go — an odd look.

"May I help you?"

"I'll see you at the party," he told me, completely ignoring our coach and running off. But not before saying, "Trust me Bailey, it'll be the break you need."

It really wouldn't be. I had better things to focus on, but the day became increasingly more difficult as I kept hearing news about the stupid party.

Even at home, away from the chaos of school, I sighed as I scrolled through my social media just to see that most of the posts were about him.

Just then, my phone received a message and I immediately tapped the notification banner to open it.

Kaitlyn: Are you going to the party tomorrow?

Me: No. Francisco's going

Kaitlyn: You can't use that as an excuse to miss every party, B

Actually, I wanted to say, I can.

I contemplated my answer for a few seconds before typing in a quick We'll see and locking my phone, ignoring the text that came through.

It wasn't like I was antisocial or loathed social gatherings or something, but there was just something about Francisco Salazar that made my gut wrench in both annoyance and fear. His overtly careless way of being just ticked me off, and I really tried to not let it bother me but I could not risk him snooping around in my past.