The Unconditional Pledge

2 Hannah

By the time we pull up to the driveway of the Mathers's mansion, Ava's already cringing with every move she makes — "These shoes are cutting off my circulation" — and Courtney has turned the radio to Taylor Swift and won't switch it off no matter how much we plead with her.

"Yeah, we're happy, free, confused and lonely in the best way!" Courtney wails into the night as we idle to a stop, gravel crunching beneath us. The lights in Josh's house glow bright in the dark, radiating with music in a row of silent houses. I check my watch. 10 PM, on the dot.

"Smell that, ladies?" Courtney says, stepping out of the car and standing before the house, spreading her arms as though in welcome. She inhales deeply. "It's the smell of a soon-to-be-hookup."

As she closes her door, Ava says, "I just smell booze and perfume."

Courtney strides ahead nonetheless, not even quaking a bit in her heels. We follow her less certainly — I'm still focusing on not falling on my face. Courtney makes it to the porch first. "Hey, Ash," she says, as Ashton Lee is setting down a pack of beer on the steps. He grins and stands up as Courtney begins batting her eyelashes so fast it's like she's trying to propel herself into flight.

"Nice, you guys made it," an enthusiastic, boyish voice says from ahead before Ashton can respond.

Josh Mathers himself ambles out of the front door and claps a hand on Ashton's shoulder. He runs a hand through his hair while looking at all of us appreciatively, and then seems to realize who I am exactly. "Oh, Hannah," he says in surprise. "Nick's going to be happy you decided to come."

A shriek nearby saves me from having to reply. Paige Atkinson and Juliby Singh giggle at something in the foyer. The rest of the football team are yelling and laughing inside already, shoving each other over the couch.

"And so it begins," Ava mutters behind me as I watch Devon Johnson tumble off the couch and land on his butt.

"Glad you came too, Ava." Josh is smiling widely at her, either ignoring or oblivious to her attitude. With his wavy blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and very little knowledge of anything school-related, Josh is like catnip to the girls in our school, and the rumor that he's bisexual only seems to propel them further into his fanbase. In any other school, one or two of him would be normal. In our school, the entire sports teams consist of boys of equal cuteness with equally low IQ.

Ava's cheeks rapidly grow pink in the dark. I feel my mouth twist into a grin. Before she can be given the punishment of deciding how to respond, though, someone yanks at Josh's arm and he turns away again. Courtney and I burst out laughing immediately. "You know you're blushing," Courtney says. "Is this a new crush, Ava?"

Ava pretends to gag. "I would never date a boy who won't even let girls watch football," she informs us. The warm night air is making her straight hair frizz at the ends. I burst out laughing again at her bewildered expression.

We all turn to see a crowd of boys racing past each other from the foyer, shoving and shouting on the way, followed by a group of girls who watch them like they're entertaining five-year-olds. Courtney shouts, "What the hell?" over the laughter as we're pushed in the general direction of nowhere. "Going to the barnhouse!" someone shouts back to her.

The smell of Kheil's cologne is overwhelming all of a sudden, falling around us like a heavy, damp blanket. As we're pushed forward, I look at the space behind the mansion. There's at least five acres of land that the Mathers own in Fieldbrook, but in our town, that's considered normal. Fieldbrook is all about roomy mansions, mothers wearing Chanel No. 5 perfume and pushing designer baby strollers, teens that look too tan and good to be real. It's a place I've grown to hate.

As soon as we're inside the big wooden doors, cold, dry air conditioning hits me in the face. There's a long table by the floor-to-ceiling windows with bowls of chips, packs of beer, and at least a dozen vodka and tequila bottles already laid out. There's at least twenty people around us — all people from school, but none I'm particularly close to or want to be close to. Among them I recognize Paige Atkinson, volleyball captain, with three other cheerleaders giggling by the pool table. Jay Kaden, notoriously known throughout our school for coming out last year, lounges on one of the leather sofas, explaining something into his phone.

"Everybody grab a drink!"

Everyone cheers to Nick Sawyer's proclamation. I exchange a look with Ava — Courtney's already gone over to the football players, and hell will freeze over before I join them — so we both walk over to one of the empty sofas. As soon as my butt hits the seat, my feet, which have been straining in heels for what feels like an eternity, relax. From somewhere in the back, the stereos turns on, the bass reverberating in my ears. I try to say, "This isn't that bad," but my voice is drowned out by the noise. The lights dim so that I can barely see Ava getting up to go to the beer table and coming back with two cups.

"What is this?" I ask, wrinkling my nose as I sniff it. It reeks of alcohol, but it's definitely not beer or anything I know. I take a cautious sip and feel it tear down my throat like a lit match.

"Hell if I know." Ava shrugs, then downs the rest of the cup.

An arm comes out of nowhere and slings itself across my shoulders. Suddenly I'm surrounded by a cloud of cologne, and I know exactly who it is. I twist around and my hunch is confirmed. "Oh. It's you."

"Aw, come on." Nick presses the underside of his chin to the top of my head, but I duck out, standing quickly. I consider splashing my drink on him, but that'd probably get me kicked out. Not that it'd be the worst thing. "Hannah banana," he sing-songs, slurring a little. He dodges my fist, chuckling, and I watch as Nick saunters off, joining the group of giggling volleyball players in the corner.

Ava rolls her eyes. "He likes you, idiot."

"I have such kind and considerate friends." I sit back down. The seat's still warm from where Nick had been a moment ago, and I shift uncomfortably. Nick laughs from across the room, and for a second I watch as he rolls up a joint with Josh. His dark, untidy hair and dimples have stayed the same since middle school. Here, though, I suddenly seem to realize how cute he's gotten. I shake my head, thoughts interrupted as Jacob Miller tumbles off the windowsill, laughing hysterically. It's got to be the alcohol messing with me.

"Who wants to play some games?"

I feel my stomach drop as everyone else cheers at Jay's announcement. I hate Jay's games — which is to say, Fieldbrook Height's games — because they're always taken so seriously. I remember once a sophomore didn't complete her pledge out of sheer embarrassment, and her friends never talked to her again. The more games you succeed in, the better your reputation. That's the way it works here, which makes the popular kids in our school only more revered. I've been to a few parties before, but I've always steered clear of the games. I've heard of most of them: the Kissing Oath, the Touch-and-Go Vow, and most notorious of all, the Unconditional Pledge. With my luck, we'd end up with something like that tonight.

Soon I see that everyone is forming a circle on the floor. Ava and I are squished together next to the coffee table. I look up to see a figure plop down on the other side of me, the familiar cloud of cologne encircling me once again. Nick shoots me a crooked smile before pressing his side against mine to make room for another girl to sit next to him.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Jay begins solemnly as everybody falls silent. I remember years ago when Jay looked just like Josh and Nick, but that was before he'd come out of the closet. Now his hair is dyed pitch black and he no longer bothers to work out, but those might be the only differences on him. "We're gathered here today to play a game."

Katie Hershey, a girl from my English class, yells, "Get to the point, Kaden," and more people laugh. Jay smiles. "Fine. I believe that the man of the hour should do the honor," he says, and throws a baseball cap across the room to Josh, where it lands at his feet. It's filled with scraps of paper with every name of the games in there.

Suddenly the room's quiet again. Josh reaches into the cap and roots around, before plucking out a single scrap of paper. Juliby Singh makes a small whimpering noise. Ashton Lee sucks in his lower lip, fidgeting with his shoelaces. Ava's hands drum against her thigh. Courtney's eyes are bright with anticipation.

Josh looks down at the paper, and a smile spreads across his face. "The Unconditional Pledge."