It was finally Friday. I had been waiting all week for this moment. Tonight was  Brandon’s party. Only the biggest party of the year. He throws it at his mansion every year when his parents leave for their ski trip in Vermont for the weekend. Jake, my boyfriend, was going to pick me up later. My best friend Jessie was going to meet me there. I shaved my legs, washed my hair, and brushed my teeth. I put on my underwear and started doing my makeup. I had to get the wing of eyeliner just right because I was  the queen at that. I straightened my hair to its silky potential and slipped on my little, tight, black dress I had been hiding in the back of my closet for weeks, along with my black “hooker heels” I kept locked in my trunk away from my parents. I finished off the look with some pink tinted lip gloss. After blowing up my phone with selfies in the perfectly angled lighting, I heard a car pull up.
I hopped into the cab of Jake’s truck. After a few compliments on how good I looked, Jake put the truck in drive and we were off. We arrived at the party about an hour after it started. He helped me out, and we walked in together. I scoped the party out, just to see who was there and how they looked. As we all know, every girl tries to dress so that they look better than everyone else at a party. I was the best looking one there. That was, until Jessie walked in. Pinned up curled hair, and smokey eyes. A maroon crop top with a black pencil skirt and lace tights. Every girl went to compliment her while I was left at the pyramid of beer cans in the back of the room. She eventually made her way over to me. I put on a fake smile and complimented her. She said I was the best looking one there, but we all know she thought otherwise.
Jessie and I walked around the house together. It was a big house, long staircase, grand piano, a gorgeous chandelier that had cheap streamers draped from it. It was such an elegant house. Every room was painted white to make an enlarged effect. It was almost sad what a teenage party did to it. Beer stains on every carpet. Trash, cups, and throw up around every corner. Loud music blaring just enough to wake every neighbor on the block. We found a place to talk for a bit. Eventually we were separated in the heat of it all.
Jake seemed to notice how good Jessie looked that night too.Though the jealousy did get to me, I did not let it ruin my night. The next few hours consisted of loud music, lots of shots, and crazy lights. I remember throwing up a few times. Everything was going fine. Until I blacked out.
I woke up and looked around to see that I was on my front lawn. I moved my fingers through the grass that was still wet with morning dew. I had a baggy sweatshirt on over my dress. I thought maybe one of the guys had let me borrow it, so I went inside my house. I took off the sweatshirt and jumped onto my bed. Of course at that moment I got the urge to pee so I rolled off and walked to the bathroom. After peeing out everything I had drunk the night before, I took some advil and water and walked back to my room. I noticed something on my bed before I got in it. It was red, but hadn’t been there when I got in it the first time. I looked on the sweatshirt, but nothing was there. So I went over to the mirror, and saw that my new dress was covered in blood. The only problem was, It wasn’t mine.
Pockets! I checked the pockets of the sweatshirt to see if there were any clues as to what had happened. All I found was my phone. I tried to unlock it, but my passcode wasn’t working. I then realized it was Jessie’s, phone not mine. I typed in her passcode and went looking for clues. Nothing in the messages, so onto camera roll. Of course I found her stream of selfies before the party. But nothing other than selfies, including one with my boyfriend.

* * *
The bell rang, first period was over. Freshman year had just begun. Scooping the papers (filled with doodles more than actual work) off my desk and into my backpack, I looked around the classroom. Everyone looked as upset as I was that school had started. There was one person, in the very back of the class. She was so pretty, not the stuck up kind of pretty, the nice pretty. Nice clothes, long brown hair, and the biggest eyes.
I walked over to her, and introduced myself. She had the whitest smile you could imagine. It was almost scary how nice she was. We hit it off immediately with small talk about her new Michael Kors bag that I had had my eye on ever since it came out. It wasn’t a surprise at all to find that her parents had a lot of money going their way. We stuck by each other's side the entire day.   It was clear that we had to hang out, so I invited her over for a sleepover.
The night went just as I’d expected, but even better.  We bonded all night, talked about our crushes, did each others hair, ate tons of food, and talked about all the people we hated that had ruined our lives.
I asked her about the scar on her arm. She hesitated at first, and then the topic was dropped. Later that night, after I had opened up to her, she brought back my question about her scar.
“I was in the back seat of the rusty old pickup truck that my dad drove. I was only 6. We were on our way to meet my grandmother for dinner. My little sister was sleeping next to me. My mom and dad were arguing about directions as usual. It was raining, but not that bad.  Then things were broken into bits and pieces. The tire spun out, and then everything went black. I woke up, upside down. I was wet, and cold, but I couldn’t see much of anything. I heard the ambulance in the distance. My mom was yelling for me. My sister was crying. My dad wasn’t moving. My sister went silent, as if someone turned off a stereo with one click.
I woke up again in the hospital. I asked to see my family about a hundred times but the nurses kept telling me to stay put and to calm down. After a few hours, they brought my mom in to see me. That was when she told me my dad and sister didn’t make it. That was the day my life changed. My mom wasn’t the same after that. She put me up for adoption at the end of that year. That was when I met my new family. My new parents. I haven’t heard from my mom since then. And my new family has raised me with love and care. So I guess everything happens for a reason. I got the scar in the accident, a piece of glass hit my arm. Now it’s a reminder of the family I had, the family I lost, and how I need to make them proud.”
Jessie turned on the tv and moved on with the conversation. That’s the moment we became best friends.
* * *
I  figured that I should find more clues. So I decided to drive to my boyfriends house to see how he was doing. When I pulled up to the house  realized that the sliding door had been left half open. I shut off my car and walked up the cobble stone path. Knocking on the glass, I saw that the house was a mess. It was as if the party didn’t stop when he got home that day. Empty whiskey bottles lay on the floor, different colored spills on the tables, and half eaten nachos on the couch. I walked in and called out for Jake, but no reply. I went to his room and found him packing his suitcase rapidly.
“What are you doing? Why are you packing?”
“I just feel like I should get away for a little while. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Why won’t you look at me? Did I do something wrong? Do you know anything that happened last night, because I am just a tad confused as to why I woke up covered in blood on my lawn.”
Jake continued to look away.
“Okay well fine you don’t need to talk to me if that’s how you wanna be. Where is Jessie because I have her phone and I need to give it back because she must have mine.”
Jake stopped packing. He looked up at me, almost shocked at how I didn’t know where Jessie was.
“You really don’t remember what happened last night do you? I need to go, there is no need to give Jessie her phone back. She won’t be texting anytime soon. As for your phone, that was broken last night.”
He zipped the suitcase shut and walked out, leaving the door wide open behind him.
“What is she like grounded or something? Or locked up for drinking too much last night? What’s the big problem here?”
  He ignored my comment, So I just followed him out, shutting the door behind me. He didn’t say anything else before he drove away, leaving me standing in his driveway even more confused than I already was. I rolled my eyes and got back into my car. On the drive home I thought about what Jake had said, and wondered why Jessie wouldn’t be needing her phone. She lived on that thing, so why would she even consider going a day without it.
I figured I should go back to the house to possibly rekindle my memory. I pulled up to the house. Everything seemed dark. But last night it was filled with life. I walked into the already open door.
“ What is with people leaving their doors unlocked today?” I said to myself.
I looked around, to see some people still passed out and hungover. The room reeked of warm beer and vodka. I slid my hand up the wooden railing as I made my way up the staircase to the second floor. I peaked through the rooms, trying not to wake the hookups from last night. I opened the door of the very last room at the end of the hall to find my phone cracked on the ground. I picked it up, as glass shards fell from the screen.
That’s when it hit me. I remembered everything.
* * *
Jessie kissed my boyfriend. So I walked up and grabbed her. Being drunk is no excuse for kissing your best friends boyfriend. I started to yell at her, causing a big scene. She hit me, so I hit back. We kept at it until my boyfriend tried to break us up. I am in no need to listen to his wonderful words of wisdom after he kissed my best friend. He is sober so he has no right to even think that is ok. I took her outside. I drove away and she followed me in her car. We stopped in an alleyway a few blocks from the party. She kept saying sorry, and all I could say was shut up. She wouldn’t stop talking, I had to make her stop talking. So I did, I hit her harder this time. She finally stopped talking but then she wouldn’t get up. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. So I drove away, and crashed a few streets down. I passed out in the car after that. Somehow I ended up on my lawn.
* * *
I woke up in my boyfriend's jacket this morning, that means he was there. He picked me up after the crash, he brought me home. But did he know? Did he know that I hurt Jessie? I Need to go find Jake to find out what I did to her.
“Place your hands behind your back. You are under arrest for first degree murder.”
The police man cuffed me before I could get another word out. They walked me to the cop car, and we were off.