Eli wasn't one for drinking games, but he had to admit he was pretty damn good at this one. Not his fault their "DJ" kept picking easy songs. Though some might suggest he was cheating.

Their "DJ", Mitchell, scrolled through the Musetunes app on his phone. Meanwhile, a rather large huddle of his classmates pressed in around him. Each of them had a bottle of liquor clenched between freezing fingers.

Earlier, he'd escaped outside with the hopes there wouldn't be as many people out here. With the cold and heavy snow coating the ground, he'd thought it would deter the other kids from swarming him. Instead of having a semi-quiet time outside, he'd unintentionally led a bunch of them into the snow.

Maybe if they suffered long enough they'd head back inside.

Eli pushed back his dark gray beanie as Mitchell brightened. "Got it! Ready?"

The others talked him into playing a drinking game. It was rather simple in regards to drinking games—nothing more than an identify and win game—but Eli had a knack for it.

Again, not his fault Mitchell kept picking easy songs.

Mitchell held his phone and, screen carefully hidden, pressed play. The first three notes of Kamree Philip's "Dreams Ain't Nothin' but Heartbreaks," hit the open winter air.

Eli raised a brow and cast a glance at the four others playing the game. Felicity Matthews had her lips pressed as the swelling beats of the intro played. Hank Fairbanks stared at the ground. Tyanna Yan scrunched her eyebrows together. And, already considering himself at a loss, Ren Brodney took a swig.

Eli waited. The song had a long intro, but really the others should've had it by now. This song had been on the top 100 Musetunes charts for at least three weeks. And then they played it on the Hiit radio station for four.

"Oh!" Tyanna perked up, "Karmen, 'Low Down'."

Mitchell shook his head, and Tyanna pouted but took a long swig.

Eli waited.

"'Don't Tear my Heart?'" Hank Fairbanks guessed, "Havana Green?"

He had to resist the urge to laugh. Havana Green, his little brother Ian's mate, would never sing a song called Don't Tear My Heart. Besides, the only officially released song by Havana was on the album she'd been featured on for the Musetunes Festival last year. That song was called "Free Me."

Don't Tear My Heart...maybe he ought to be offended on Havana's behalf.

Eli looked at Felicity, but she just shook her head.

"Dreams Ain't Nothin' but Heartbreaks," Eli said, "Kamree Philips."

Mitchell gave a whoop. "Eli does it again!"

The other kids playing gave a playful groan. "He's cheating!" Hank joked.

"Stop picking people he knows, Mitchell!" Tyanna snapped.

"He doesn't know Kamree Philips!" Mitchell defending.

"She and his sister are practically best friends!"

Eli snorted. It was true, Lizzie was good friends with Kamree Philips. In fact, Kamree came to visit every once and awhile. If she weren't so busy, he imagined he'd see her more often around the palace, but when she wasn't writing songs with her mate Daxton Cavenaugh, she was taking care of her little squirt of a sister Paisley.

Eli caught movement off in the distance near the pool house. He glanced over, only to frown at the familiar figure striding towards the main house from around the back.

Was that...Nora?

Felicity bumped her shoulder into his arm. "Let's play another round, Eli."

He nodded absently and vaguely remembered playing another round or two. He lost both rounds. Yet he couldn't find it in himself to care as the other half of his attention watched mousey little Nora from Chemistry head back into the house.

He hadn't had any long conversations with the girl, nor did he know anything about her, but she was probably the last person he expected to see at a party. Let alone this party with all it's loud music and alcohol.

Someone tugged on his sleeve. He looked down, only slightly, at Felicity who'd curled up close next to him.

Everyone at Jostlin Academy knew Felicity. Not only was she one of the prettiest girls in school with her blonde, carefully highlighted locks, and pixie-like features, but she'd been slowly climbing up the Musetunes charts for a while.

Everything she touched turned to gold. Her closest friends, 6 of them that he knew of, weren't far behind her in the charts. She'd been known to help them out with their writing and composing every once and a while and had helped them make their own mark on Musetunes.

She was still in the low 900s, but that alone was a feat when one considered how many Aces were on the site trying for the exact same thing.

Felicity ran in a circle almost adjacent to his own. And some of his friends—Devon, Pete, Garth—were her friends as well. That meant they went to the same parties and often found themselves hanging out in the same group.

He didn't mind her. She clearly knew what she was doing from an artist's standpoint, and she wasn't rude or snippy. In fact, sometimes he'd found himself liking the way she giggled and her dry sense of humor.

The only thing he really had against her was the same thing he had against everyone here at this blasted school. And that was their weird obsession with getting close to him and his family.

Aces wanted to succeed, it was the way they made money. They wanted to grow their careers and make a name for themselves. The easiest way to do that was to get close to the "golden family" of Aces—the Leongers. It was irritating, but fine. He'd gotten used to it. But what he didn't enjoy was the fakeness with which everyone interacted with him. Everyone had an agenda. While he understood that, it still made him frustrated. This was his life. And he was getting mighty sick of it way too soon.

Maybe he needed to drop out of school. Hire a tutor to teach him at the palace. At least he wouldn't have to get out of bed.

"I'll be back," Eli told Felicity and slipped from the group. The bottle in his hand was three-quarters full. As long as he held it, no one would bother him too much.

Usually, he had nothing against drinking, and on any other night, he'd have drunk with the best of 'em, if only so he wasn't so damn focused on the attention and the stares. But tonight he'd go back to the palace and try to work. He liked being as sober and attentive as possible when it came to his own music.

He pulled on the back of his beanie to adjust it and glanced at his phone. 11:37pm. He still had about an hour and a half until his ride came to pick him up.

His eyes darted around the backyard, searching.

One of the bodyguards stood at the edge of the property, scanning the group outside. The other one was trailing not far behind him, dressed in normal clothes and integrating himself among the group.

All the other kids knew his bodyguards and expected them to be there. It was a testament to their own understanding of his position that they'd known to expect him to have a small team with him. Ariel had even private messaged him this morning to ask if they'd need anything.

He slipped into the house.

"Eli! There you are!"

"Ey, Eli! Help me settle a bet I made here with Maria—"

Eli ignored them and pushed through clumps of teenagers to head toward the living room. He surveyed the crowd, noting Tessa, the girl Nora hung out with, in the kitchen. If she was here, where was her best friend?

A familiar face slid in front of him. "Hey, Eli."

Eli stopped. "Ziggy? What the hell are you doing here?"

Ziggy waved his small camera in response. "The usual."

Eli snorted. Ziggy'd been compiling video of his classmates since last year. While he told everyone it was so they could have the best graduation video ever, Eli wasn't too sure. Ziggy was a sucker for a good story. And to have video evidence of it? Even better. The only way to get the "good footage" as Ziggy put it, was to be at all the parties and major sporting events.

Most students invited him to these gigs because he'd been known to give the footage out for music videos and help with shots for album covers and the like. In a weird way, he and Ziggy were somewhat kindred spirits. Only where people used Eli for his fame, others used Ziggy for his talent with the camera.

He glanced over Ziggy's shoulder.

"Who you lookin' for?"

"What?" Eli shifted on his feet. "Oh, no one."

Ziggy raised a brow.

Eli lifted the glass bottle in his hand and took a small swig. "I thought...I thought I saw this girl in my Chemistry class."

Ziggy shoulder bumped Eli, "Nice man. She cute?"

Eli blinked.

"'Course she is." Ziggy turned so they were side by side and scanned the crowd. "Need help finding her?"

Eli shook his head. "No, it's not that important. Nora—"

"Nora?" Ziggy turned back to him, surprise lighting his eyes. "You know her?"

Clearly Ziggy knew Nora too. Or rather, from his tone, wanted to. "Do you?" For some reason, the interest in Ziggy's eyes peaked his own.

Who was this girl? He'd thought she was a quiet little Scholar, content to live her school life only in the classroom and commit her time under the radar. She obviously had more to her than Eli gave her credit for.

The quirky sound collector and fruit giver he'd met in the library was officially someone he wanted to, at the least, have a full conversation with.

"I just met her about a half-hour ago," Ziggy admitted, then shrugged, "Tessa Greenfield introduced me. She seems cool."

The thumping bass cut off for a moment, only to return in the form of another song. An Anonymous song.

Ziggy's lip ticked as he noted the song change. "Love this song."

"She'll be happy to hear that," Eli said, deadpanned.

At that, Ziggy grinned. "Ian has us all on the guest log for tomorrow. Guess I'll tell her that myself."

"You do that."

But he could already see Lizzie's response in her head. Maybe a small laugh and large grin. Instead of saying "thank you", his sister would respond with some sarcastic, joking response. Probably a, "Yeah? Cool—I made it myself."

The thought made his own lips twitch. He loved his sister.

"Eli!"

"Eli, guess what?"

"Eli! Over here!"

He shook his head and, with a quick nod to Ziggy, made his way to the restroom. He just needed a moment of quiet. Just a moment, then he could scrape himself together and come back out here.

Scooting past a couple pressed tight together, he adjusted his beanie and climbed the foyer stairs. Ariel had mentioned that there was an upper-level bathroom he could use. While the rest of the house was cordoned off to all the other Jostlin students, Eli got the all-clear.

Ariel had taken a couple of nicer dining room chairs—dark wood and pristine white faux leather seats—and used them as blockades at the top of the zigzag double staircases. At the top of the stairs, the house branched off into two wings. He went left and hopped the chairs, noting his bodyguard Markos not too far behind.

The bathroom was on the right. Door closed tight, Eli had his hand on the knob when he noticed the door at the end of the hall opened a crack.

He frowned. None of these rooms should have been open. He peeked into the room, a little warily. Just because the rooms were cordoned off didn't mean determined kids wouldn't find their way in to either wreck havoc...or worse.

What he found took him by surprise.

It was a small music room. A line of guitars hung on the pale blue wall along the back. White, boxy loungers bordered a light tan patterned rug. The modern, gold chandelier hanging from the ceiling cast a yellow glow over the dark embossed baby piano...and the girl in front of it.

He'd been surprised to find Nora at this party. With her quiet nature, he'd expected her to be at home. But here in this music room she seemed to belong.

Even if she wasn't supposed to be in here in the first place.

She had a dark red long-sleeved top that cut the middle of her low back. Her caramel hair was pinned in some swirling intricate half-bun.

His eyes dropped just a tiny bit. She had dark jeans and—

The temperature in his cheeks rose. A hint of a dark corkscrew Acemark peaked out from under those dark jeans.

Then he stopped and listened.

Her fingers danced over the keys. Back and forth, back and forth, as she played out the same melody. Her foot pressed on the pedals. Instead of singing, she mouthed words only she could hear. Then she stopped. Frowned. Started again. The same melody—almost about the length of a tiny verse—over and over and over.

Eli stepped further into the room. "What are you doing?"

The keys clanged as she flinched hard, her knee hitting the underside of the keys. The small white marble bust on top of the piano wobbled, but steadied. She hesitated for a moment then carefully started again, frowning down at the keys.

She'd definitely heard him. Yet was clearly ignoring him. What the hell?

"Hey," Eli tried again.

Then—Creator help him—she put up a pointer finger, asking for a moment. She played the melody again.

Did she just—?

Instead of being angry, his interest peaked. Still, he felt the need to warn her, should Ariel decide to make her way up here. "You're not supposed to be in here."

"I know," she said in her soft voice, "just...give me a sec."

The bass thumped through the walls. It was a wonder how she could even focus at a time like this. But she did and, after a moment or two, she reached up to the top of the piano and clicked the stop button on that handheld recorder of hers.

Then she turned to him.

The clothes fit her really nicely. She had a smaller frame, something her uniform at school tended to hide. He had to admit he liked her outfit. But he also really liked the fact that she still wore her dark black glasses.

Instead of falling at his feet or being embarrassed at getting caught, her eyebrows came together. "Why are you up here?"

Did he not ask her the same thing? "I asked you first."

Her lips pressed together, the barest smile teasing her mouth. Then she sobered. "I came up here to use the bathroom."

"The bathroom's downstairs."

"Then why are you up here?" She asked. Her head tilted to the side. A wisp of caramel hair fell to her cheek.

Eli crossed his arms, but chuckled. "I came up here to use the bathroom," he said.

She snorted.

His gaze focused on the piano. "What were you playing?"

That was when she shuttered down. "Nothing."

Hmm. Definitely not nothing. "Does it have a title yet?"

Her shoulders went back, "Yup. It's called "Eli Leonger's a nosy butt."

He could count on one hand the number of times someone called him a nosy butt. Or anything other than fabulous, amazing, or "hawt". It caught him so off guard that he laughed.

She only blinked at him, "Want to hear the next one? I'm calling it "Buzz off"."

"I liked the first one better."

"This one's a tentative title. I'll work on it."

He opened his mouth to ask her to play it again for him, but her phone chose that exact moment to buzz loudly on top of the piano.

She snatched it up, looked at the screen, and swore softly. "I have to go."

Disappointment hollowed out his chest. Which was...odd. Usually, he wanted to be alone. To be free of the prowling fame seekers and anyone else that wasn't his family. But he found himself liking his interactions with this girl. She kept taking him by surprise.

That numb hollow void in his chest closed just a tiny bit.

Nora stepped around him to get to the door and glanced back. "I'll...see you in Chem."

And Eli—smart, educated, outgoing Eli—replied, "uh, yeah. Sure."

After she left, he had to resist the urge not to punch himself in the face.

What the hell was happening to him?