"Get down, Valerie!"

My hands ran down the lines of my body, pushed through my hair, reached skyward to touch the roof of Jack Heath's living room, which seemed to be sinking closer and closer, lit by silver sparks that swirled in the corners of my vision. Giggles and song lyrics spilled from my mouth as I paraded around the dining table, Jack's girlfriend Rebecca joining in and clasping my elbow familiarly.

Who needed Sydney? Rebecca would dance with me, and she didn't demand the spotlight.

"Valerie! Get down!"

I looked around, but I couldn't find the source of the voice. Was that my name?

"Valerie!"

I clambered off the dining table gracelessly, the world painted in blurry, vibrant hues and flashing lights, a glittery, colourful, spinning world I couldn't make sense of. There was still a thick crowd of people, hands and bodies and faces that bumped into me as I walked, yelling things that I couldn't make sense of. And who was calling my name?

"Ally," said Cora, appearing at my side as if from thin air. Magical. Her hand came up against my back, the pressure a comfort. I looked drunkenly over at her. Cora was pretty. Her hair was so long and golden, like a princess. But she was frowning. Princesses didn't frown.

I giggled at her downturned mouth, and poked her nose experimentally. She didn't smile. "Princess Cora isn't happy with me."

Cora grabbed my arm and hauled me to the corner of the room. "Princess Cora is thrilled that you're living your best life, and are, somehow, laughing, right now. Princess Cora just doesn't want you to fall of the table and break your neck."

"At least Sydney and Tommy could comfort each other at my funeral," I replied, sneering at the image. Stupid whores. And that wasn't slut-shaming, because we do not believe in slut-shaming in the House of Valerie. But we do believe in bad person shaming, and therefore would continue to slander the not-so-good names of Tommy and Sydney for many weeks, months, years to come.

With a grimace, Cora pushed me down on the couch. "Sober up just a little bit, okay? Kai is going to come and look after you while I find you some water."

"Kai? Like Sydney's Kai? Kai is at a different party," I slurred, my head lolling back against the couch. Jack had a pretty ceiling. It had a flower pattern engraved into the plaster, and it sparkled when I moved my head. "Otherwise, Sydney would be following him around instead of doing the dirty with my Tommy."

Cora rushed forward to pull my head forward, pushing it near my knees. The sharp tug made me feel a little nauseous, but the urge to hurl dissipated as she gently stroked the back of my neck with her thumb. "Can I tell you a little secret?" she whispered.

"I am the greatest keeper of secrets in the whole party," I replied. I lowered my voice to a whisper. "'Cos the ol' noggin' ain't doing aaany 'membering right now."

She grinned. "Kai was only at the other party because he was Mackenzie Ratten's date. They broke it off though. But don't tell Sydney." Then Cora considered and shook her head. "Honestly, do what you want. Syd deserves it."

I smirked. Sydney would be devastated to learn that Kai Delaney had been after another girl. Had it been any other night, I would've rushed to her side to insist that Kai had no idea what he was missing, that it was obvious they were a perfect set—with her humorous quips and good looks and his matching amusing nature and God-given face and body and general Kai-ness.

It was no surprise that Sydney had pursued Kai with single-minded ambition. They would be a charming couple. And they were like magic together; flirting and laughing and endless back-and-forth. Yet somehow, Sydney was yet to lock him down. Maybe because Kai wasn't the kind of guy who enjoyed being locked down. Or because somehow, Kai had seen her for the traitorous toad she was.

I felt myself fall onto a couch. It was all soft pillows and solidity, even when the floor and the room and the world was spinning, tilting on some undefinable and intangible access. But the floor had already dropped from beneath me today, sending my stomach plunging with it; it would not do so again.

"Look after her," I heard Cora say. "I'll go get her some water or something."

"Who am I looking after?" I mumbled. Then there was a weight beside me, sinking into the couch and pulling me into the side of something hard and unyielding. A hand came up to hold my hair, brushing it gently out of my face.

Kai's voice held traces of amusement. "You're looking after me."

I looked upwards, and there he was. Kai Delaney. He was an Abercrombie and Fitch model aged back a few years, all jet-black hair and hard, elegant lines. A flirtatious smile curled at the corner of his lips. For me, and not for Sydney. Trouble, trouble, trouble.

"How are you doing there, Little Valerie?"

I gave him an exaggerated thumbs up, and my head spun. "So good. The goodest." I frowned. "Is that a word?"

"It is now."

I smiled up at him, dopily. The alcohol made all of his movements slow and the world around him rock like a boat in a storm. I almost expected Sydney to fill the space between us, her arms around Kai's neck, whispering sweet nothings in his ear. But she was already saying those things to my boyfriend, whispering sultry words of betrayal and heartbreak.

"Did you lose Sydney?" Kai asked me. I saw his gaze scan the crowd for my best friend, looking to the centres of groups, the tops of tables. He didn't bother scouring the fringes of the room. "It's strange to see you out of her shadow."

I frowned. "That's rude. I'm not Sydney's shadow."

Kai looked at me, considering. The expression on his face was dangerous in its easy grace and simple beauty. "You look better in the light."

"Are you trying to flirt with me?"

A raised eyebrow. "Why? If I was, is it working?"

I trailed a finger over the line of his jaw. "No," I said simply. "You have always lived in Sydney's shadow to me as well."

Kai's eyes darkened slightly. I grinned.

"But did Cora not tell you?" I asked him, tilting my head to the side.

"Tell me what?"

"About our Sydney." At Kai's blank expression I smirked, and bent down to whisper in his ear. "We don't like Syd anymore. She's a backstabbing traitor, and when she said we'd be good prison roommates, she was totally lying. She would let me get shanked. Because she's the worst. She's stabby. She's stabby in my back."

I mimed a dramatic Caesar-esque stabbing, brutally driving an imaginary knife through Kai's back. I couldn't help the wide smile that broke across my face at Kai's simultaneously baffled and confused expression. He was so pretty, Kai Delaney. Busts of him would've been far better to lack at than those of Julius Caesar.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kai whispered back, amusement lifting the corners of his mouth.

I waved a hand lightly through the air. "Well, you see, I was not the only one impaled tonight."

"You didn't get me that bad," said Kai, gesturing to his back, which was not bleeding or torn, given I had used a conceptual knife for a hypothetical murder. "I'll live, Little Val."

"Aren't you strong and masculine?" I teased. Then I grimaced. "But I wasn't talking about you. See, Sydney was also stabbed. By my boyfriend's wiener in the bedroom upstairs."

Kai's mouth opened in a small oh, the amused smile giving way to shock. "Tommy and Sydney?"

"Doing the dance with no pants. Et tu, Brute, I say to her." I made a vulgar gesture with my hands, but Kai's eyes were not laughing and teasing anymore. They were already flashing with something that looked a little bit like disgust.

"Tommy cheated on you?" Kai's voice was dark. "With your best friend."

I sighed, and flopped an arm over my eyes. I didn't think the room could whirl if I couldn't see it, but I was proved immediately wrong. It felt like I was upside-down on a rollercoaster. "Yeah, he did," I said sullenly. "Not, like, the height of morality for either of them, really. A bit of a dick move."

"You could say that. Personally, I'd probably have a stronger take on the situation. My current vocabulary probably couldn't encompass everything I'd want to say to that."

I grinned at him. "Should we get a dictionary and learn some new naughty words?"

Kai only seemed faintly amused at that, but stronger still was the divot between his eyebrows that spoke of concern. "You seem to be in a surprisingly good mood, given the circumstances."

I shrugged. "Better to know now than three years down the line, I suppose."

"Better if he just... doesn't cheat on you."

I snorted a laugh. "Coming from you." Poke. My finger connected with a chest that was all muscle. Nice. "Mr. Bad Boy Kai Delaney. It's not like you're the poster boy for monogamy."

"That is true," Kai admitted. "But I also never claimed to be. Tommy Aster committed to you. He should keep that promise. But he's a wanker."

"We definitely need that dictionary," I confirmed. "Wanker really doesn't do him justice."

That made Kai smile, a real, genuine smile. Nothing like the flirty smiles he gave Sydney, or the familiar smiles he saved for Cora. This was a savage grin, mean and surprised and excited. It matched the anger that roiled in my gut, tempered by liquor and the intoxicated feeling of a hundred eyes on me as I danced on the table, firmly in the spotlight that I had stolen from my best friend, while she was locked upstairs. But it was still there, underneath it all, betrayal and heartache and fury.

"So where are they?" Kai asked. His voice was even, but I could hear the edge beneath it. "Did you kill them? Has Cora gone to hide the bodies?"

"Cora?" I said skeptically.

"She has hidden murderous depths. She would do it for you."

I considered this. "Maybe. I always thought Sydney would be the one burying my bodies. She told me she would."

"She probably would," said Kai on a sigh. "But only because the only way there would be a body is if it was of her making. Quintessential Sydney. Loyal to covering up your mistakes because she was always the one who forced you to make them."

I gaped at him. "That was surprisingly profound, Mr. Delaney. Do you have hidden depths as well?"

Kai snorted a laugh. "No."

I poked his chest. "You're an onion. You have layers. I just thought you were a wanker pretty boy! But it turns out you're an observant wanker pretty boy. This is astounding. I am astounded."

Kai crossed his arms over his chest. Cora reappeared through the crowd, claiming the spot beside Kai with concern glittering in her eyes. She looked at me as if I was a pathetic drunk girl, broken-hearted and too wasted to deal with it. Maybe I was. But I didn't feel broken-hearted; I felt like I was teetering on the edge of possibility.

"They're upstairs," I said finally. "Cora locked them in. I wanted to steal Sydney's spotlight, and I wanted her to be unable to do anything to steal it back."

Kai watched me for a moment, his eyes careful and considering as they rested on me. I looked back at him, defiant. Then a smile broke across his face, and he gestured to the table in the centre of the room. The spot in the middle was empty, as if it was waiting for her. For Sydney. But the spotlight didn't belong to her tonight. "Take it then."

I turned on my heel.

"Kai," I heard Cora hiss behind me. "I told you to look after her."

Kai's response was faint. "I am."