Sex. Having unbelievably hot sex with her ex best friend was all Kali Davis could think about.

She hadn't seen him in almost two years, but the connection between them after all this time? Hot, like they had never stopped being friends, or whatever you would call the incredibly messy relationship between Kali and Grayson Morales.

It was always so complicated, one day they were having sex and actually caring about each other, and the next? The next, Grayson was gone.

Grayson Morales hopped on a plane almost two years ago without any explanation to Kali and planned to never come back. Except he did just days later, and it wasn't for a sweet visit, or to reunite with his best friend, or to confess his undying love to her, for better or for worse. It was for his twin sister, not her engagement, or her wedding day, or a baby announcement, but for her funeral. Her life was ripped away from her before it had even fully started.

Gabriella Morales's body was found nearly unrecognizable washed up on the dirty river bank. Gabriella's death turned her lovable brother into a vengeful machine, continuing school to do one thing: find out who did this to her and avenge her death, no matter how much she would have advised against it if she was still alive.

Alive... While Gabriella was six feet under, Kali had never felt more alive. Sure she was alone, and on the verge of a mental breakdown, but she was alive. She smashed all the windows at the abandoned house that she used to hang out with Grayson in, and screamed at the top of her lungs. She didn't realize how much attention she would bring towards herself, not until it was too late.

Kali never knew that Gabriella died, she never knew that Grayson was in town, and she never knew why he left, because on the same day as Gabriella's death she was dealing with a traumatic event of her own: the misunderstanding.

It would haunt her for the rest of her life, yet if it never happened she would have never seen Grayson again.

And she would have never had the same thoughts she had two years ago again. Except this time he was different and so was she.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him after a few drinks, finally gaining the liquid courage she needed to approach him after staring at him from far away with wanting looks. The party was wild, body to body, sweaty and euphoric. It was just her setting, and nothing like his.

The air was thick, his eyes were glistening with thirst. Seeing her after all this time was just as intoxicating to him as it was to her, much more so than the expensive whiskey poured in his glass.

"Drinking?" He said, already frustrated by the moments leading up to this one. He didn't mean for it to come out so harsh. But it did. To no surprise after following another lead about his sister it led to more dead ends.

"I thought you hated drinking." She remembered him from the past, that version of him was the only thing she could see, his smile, the freckles on his back, the things he used to whisper only for her to hear.

"I did, but a lot has changed." He paused and looked around, as if someone was watching him. "And, what are you even doing here?" He said so quickly, that it came out as rude, and maybe that's how he meant it. Or maybe she was just an easy target for him to take out his frustration on.

"I just transferred."

"Why?" He asked as if he had the right to know.

"Godolkin is the best university in the country. I had to atleast try to get in." She said, very obviously a lie.

"right so, you're not following me?" He knew she wasn't, he didn't know why he said it.

"If I was following you I would have found you much sooner than now." She looked to the side. Unbelievable. How could he just have the nerve to ask her that when he left her alone? "And why should I have to tell you why I'm here? You kind of lost that right when you left without telling me."

"I didn't have a choice. You knew where I was going it's all my parents talked about." He knew deep down that he would never really be happy at Godolkin.

"But we talked about never being like our parents."

"Parents? You've never even met yours." He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth.
And just like that, any ounce of sexual tension between them disappeared.

It was the complete truth. Kali had been raised by her aunt and uncle since the day her mother left her on their front porch with nothing but her bassinet, a blanket, the clothes on her, and a huge box of nearly a hundred letters for all sorts of occasions: birthdays, holidays, when she was sad, or wanted to find out more about her history when she turned eighteen.

"This is the first time I've seen you in years and you're already treating me like I meant nothing to you? This is bullshit."

His eyes softened. He realized what he said was wrong but it was too late, she was already almost halfway across the room. And in this thick crowd, there was very little chance he'd see her again.

If you are ever invited to one of Emmaline Lin's gala after parties, just know you've made it. Only the elite students, or the students at Godolkin University that have something to offer to the party are welcome. It usually ends up being a large crowd, but that just shows the privilege of getting into Godolkin.

And whatever happens at the after party stays at the after party, unless you're the new girl advertising a new market of drugs.

Luckily, thats exactly what Kali wanted to happen.

School hadn't even started. Yet here she was making money to help with her aunt's hospital bills. And she was making a lot of it.

Practically everyone important bought from her at the party and continued to in the future. Jordan Li was always one for Molly and as much as they tried to get their best friend, Jay Jeong to try it, he would never budge, he always stuck to weed and weed only.

Luke Riordan stuck to shrooms, and Julianna  Richardson always went for weed as well. The girl, afraid of practically everything started smoking to calm her nerves. It was a new shared love between her and Grayson, something that temporarily got rid of all their problems. Julianna was the one person Grayson could tell anything, and it made for an amazing friendship.

There was only one person well known that didn't buy from her, Talia Wells, who one hated drugs and alcohol, and who two was in charge of making sure her brother got back to his dorm safely.

"I'm just trying to make sure you guys don't get your selves hurt." She said, speaking to him, in a loving way.

"I know you hate this scene. You really didn't have to come. We'll be fine." Adrian Wells spoke, a talented yet trouble making supe.

"I did it for you and Emmy, Adrian. You know I'd do anything for you two." She said all sentimental. Though the two siblings are complete opposites they're both each others best friend. And have been since she was born, only three years after him.

"Yea well just sit tight in the corner and you'll be fine."

"She can go upstairs to my room." Someone said from a short distance, just a few feet away from them.

"I thought upstairs was off limits." Adrian walked over to his girlfriend with a smile on his face and took her into his arms, wrapping her in them. She stumbled in her heels but steadied herself against him with a smile now on her face too.

They were in love, not some fake love that you only read about in books or watch in movies. It was different. Real.

"Not for her. You know that." She kissed him, before turning to his younger sister, the girl she viewed as a sister herself. "You go ahead upstairs we'll meet you up there in three hours."

"What if you're not up there?" Talia said. She's a chronic overthinker, one who doesn't do so well with parties. The overwhelming amount of people sets her over the edge already, and she doesn't always get jokes. So the words that came next were immediately regretted.

"We're dead."

"Em, why would you say that?" He sort of laughed, knowing she wished she had never said it because it was to Talia.

"Kidding sorry. That was an awful joke. I shouldn't have said that. I promise we'll see you then."

"Okay. Don't forget." She went upstairs to be by herself, and to text her roomate Dani, who refused to come to any parties whatsoever about groceries they needed. Mostly all she did was stay in their room, as a very quiet and closed off person. She, like Talia hates large crowds, but unlike her had no reason to come. So she just didn't.

There was one other person who hated parties just as much as Talia and Dani, Serena Riordan who's brother loved them and had a huge name for himself as the top ranked supe. It put a lot of pressure on her, but not too much.

The girl always gives a hundred percent in everything she does, after all she will not let herself just half-ass something. Everything she does, she does with a hundred percent accuracy, perfectly.

She's a lot like Kali in that way, except Kali beats herself up about it. She's so determined that she hurts herself and others. Once she gets her mind set on something she cannot just simply let go of it. It consumes every thought.

That's all she did as soon as she walked away from Grayson. She thought about everything that went wrong, now with a bottle of vodka in her hand.

She drunkenly pushed through the crowd, her head clouded by his words and the vodka. It was like she was alone, there was no one else in that room with her, no one else until she knocked into someone coming from the opposite direction very hard.

She stumbled into a nearby table hitting her in the side, and later knocking her to the ground.

A red bowl containing equal parts of soda, juice and alchol went everywhere, and of course all over her white mini skirt and top. She was embarrassed to say the least. As she sat on the floor she thought about where things went wrong.

Everything was ruined, even the bottle she had in her hands, now smashed into pieces, some of the pieces even embedded into her palms sending sharp pains throughout her body.

"Are you okay?" Emmy asked her, genuinely worried about her when she saw her blank expression and hands. She happened to be the one she knocked into and felt so guilty.

"Yes I'm fine. I just need to get out of here." Kali was beyond embarrassed at this point, just ready to go back to her dorm.

"Come upstairs with me. This is my place, I can't just let you leave like this." She brought her hand out, waiting for her to take it, and to her complete surprise she actually did.

"Thank you." She whispered as she followed behind her.

"You stay here I'll be back in a few minutes." She whispered to Adrian who had watched the whole interaction beside her, leaving him with a kiss.

"Be careful." He said, looking at her with a sheer expression of love on his face.

"When am I not?" She laughed, before she continued.

She led her through the crowd that couldn't help but stare and talk about her, after all it was a big commotion and everything about Kali was distracting now, from the red and white spotted outfit to her bloody palms, and runny makeup.

"This whole night has been shit." Kali took her heels off,  as one of them was slightly broken and kept her unbalanced.

"I'm sorry. I should have paid attention to where I was going. I didn't expect anything like that to happen." Emmy looked upset, but not like Kali who was on the edge of tears.

"It was not your fault. I also wasn't paying attention. Let's just say there's been a few things that have happened. This was just the tip of the iceberg."

They finally reached Emmy's room where Talia sat on one of her couches. The room was massive, probably bigger than the downstairs of Kali's childhood home.

She stared up at the ceiling, a huge golden chandelier covering it. She knew Emmy had money just from the functioning bar and the rest of the party room downstairs but she didn't understand to what extent.

"You have a really nice house." Kali took everything in.

"Thank you, I'm so glad you think so. Here let's clean up your hands." Emmy grabbed tweezers and started pulling glass from Kali's hands as carefully as she could, then she had her wash them before she bandaged them. Talia helped every now and then.

They were both so nice that it made her feel even worse.

When Emmy was done helping her clean up she made her drink a glass of water while she picked out an outfit from her closet.

She picked her out a shiny black mini skirt, even shorter than the one she had on before, and a black tube top, she even found a pair of heels for her.

"You really don't have to do this." Kali felt emotional almost. No one had ever been this nice to her. She felt so seen.

"Yes I do. You seem so sweet. Don't worry about what anyone has to say. You look hot. So just walk down there with confidence." 

"You look really pretty." Talia said to her in agreeance, the first she had spoken since they got up there.

"Thank you. Both of you." She smiled, yet she didn't feel like going downstairs just yet.

"You're welcome. I'm going to go back down stairs before Adrian gets worried, but feel free to stay up here with Talia for as long as you need." Emmy gave both of the girls a hug before she went downstairs. Kali was in shock. Emmy didn't even know her yet she had helped her so much.

"I'm sorry I got you involved in all of this." Kali turned to Talia who stood beside her.

"It's fine. I didn't mind, and I think Emmy was just glad she got to style someone with her wardrobe." The two girls laughed, their laughs filling up the room. They just sat and talked for a few minutes. Or really it was more so Kali. She was usually quiet as well but the alcohol did something to her.

"I think I'm going to go back downstairs if you don't care." Kali wanted to make sure she wasn't just leaving the girl alone, she had no clue that Talia loved being alone at times.

"Yeah, I don't mind at all. Go ahead. And when you see her can you tell her that she needs to bring Adrian upstairs. He really needs to leave."

"Of course."

Kali walked back downstairs in newfound confidence. She looked hot, no one could deny it.

She turned heads as she walked through the crowd again. People were talking about her, but this time it was all good things.

Things were turning around for the better, atleast they were until she saw Adrian.

"Hey where is Emmy?" He noticed Kali from earlier as the girl who went upstairs with her.

"She said she was coming down here to find you." Kali explained, not showing the worry that she felt deep down.

"I haven't seen her since she went upstairs with you."

No one had. And it would be the last time anyone would... for a long time.

A/N: okay i hope we like this! here's the first chapter unedited. please tell me what you think and be honest!! i know it's definitely not the best. also I'm sorry it was really hard to introduce all the characters in great detail since so many of them actually dislike parties as a whole, but trust they will all be further explored. anddd please tell me if you want your character to be written differently. and cast pls finish your opinions if you haven't by the 12th!! also pls tag some people that you would know would like this story a lot. love you guys <3