It feels like I'm underwater. Robbie's blabbering on the phone, but I can't hear a word he's saying because I've been staring at Zack so long that it's disorientating me. He's progressively looking worse and worse, and Aiden's staring as emptily at him as I am. Robbie's muffled voice rings in my ears, and I slowly turn my eyes to him. I lock them onto his tanned face for a few seconds before wavering back to Zack, who's still lying lifelessly on the ground. I exhale a lungful of air.

'No,' I mutter to myself. 'No.' I say it louder this time.

This is a joke, isn't it? The two most heartless human beings known to mankind thought it'd be hilarious to fake something as serious as this, and they figured it'd be even more hilarious to make an idiot out of two nobodies. I clench my teeth. The anger that had settled is bubbling up all over again. This isn't funny. This is really not funny.

I bend down and kneel next to Zack, then shake him. Nothing. Robbie's talking on the phone above me as I shake Zack even harder. Has he actually called emergency services? I begin tapping Zack's cheeks, so much so that Robbie snaps at me for hitting him so hard. I ignore him and start shaking Zack again. Still nothing. This is all a joke, it has to be. I hiss Zack's name. No response.

What's happening?

'Is he still not breathing?' Robbie asks me so quickly that he nearly trips over his words. I don't respond, I just stare. 'For God's sake, is he? They need to know!'

I hover my hand over Zack's mouth expecting to feel a warm breath, but the air is still. More nothing. I turn back to Robbie and shake my head as a stutter escapes my mouth. He's not. He's actually not breathing. This can't be real. He has to be breathing. As Robbie continues talking on the phone, I carefully place index and middle finger onto Zack's neck.

'A pulse--He's got a pulse,' I announce, although I'm not sure to who.

'Shit, Mia, we did this at school, remember?' Aiden is kneeling beside me. I hadn't even noticed. 'First aid, recovery position, y'know? I don't remember, I can't... I don't know.'

He places his hands under Zack's arms, then hesitantly maneuvers him onto his back. He proceeds to move his arms around in different directions, none of which are anywhere near correct, not to mention the fact that CPR is supposed to come before the recovery position. The music blasting from the house is deafening, and the smell of the humid summer air is intoxicating.

This is happening. This is as real as the flesh on my bones.

Before I can think about making any moves, a loud swear leaves Robbie's mouth from above. I look up to see him bashing Aiden's phone screen with his fingers. He swears again, dives onto the ground beside us, and starts shaking Zack with way too much force.

'Stop! It'll make him worse!' I shout.

'You were just doing the exact same thing!' Robbie growls back, and while he has a valid point, now is really not the time to be arguing.

'Why aren't you still on the phone to emergency services? What the heck are--'

'It just died on me!' he exclaims. 'Where's your phone? We'll use--'

I shake my head. 'I don't have it! I'm meant to be grounded, my--my dad took it away because I let the dog--I mean, ugh, it doesn't matter, I just don't have one.' I'm swearing now. 'They're on their way though, yeah? Did they say what we should do?'

'Something about CPR, but I--I dunno!'

I turn back to Zack, who's even paler than before. The prospect of performing CPR on him makes Robbie visibly squirm, but as I turn to Aiden, I don't think I've ever been so grateful for his obsession over dickheads with quiffs. If there wasn't an eighteen-year-old kid dying in front of us, it'd probably make me laugh.

'Ah, shit... Shit, shit, shit,' Robbie mutters. 'My folks are going to kill me. What if his parents sue me? Can they do that?'

Is Robbie kidding? His best friend is dying in front of us, and all he's worried about is how much of an inconvenience it might be. Jesus. Aiden's in the middle of performing CPR, which he's doing surprisingly well, but it's not working. I don't think it's working. Before long, Aiden's struggling to breathe himself.

'I can't--I feel really light-headed,' he mumbles as he sits up, then drops his head into his hands.

I barely waste two seconds before taking over. I'm not giving up. As shitty as Zack was to me earlier, I'm not giving up. I mirror Aiden's technique, and by the time I'm starting to feel dizzy myself, Aiden has recovered enough to take over again. It feels hopeless, like we're playing some messed up tag team game where we're running in circles, but I'm not giving up.

I'm in the middle of catching my breath after giving CPR for the third time when there's a splutter, and I'm so dazed that it takes me a second to realise who made the sound.

Zack.

Aiden pulls away, and we all turn silent. Zack splutters some more, but his eyes remain closed.

'Check if he's breathing,' I order Aiden.

He does what I tell him. 'I think so, I--I don't know... I mean, I can't really hear because the mu--'

I shove Aiden aside, and check for myself. It's barely distinguishable, but as I lower my ear to Zack's mouth, I feel hot air gently blow against it. He's breathing. It worked. The CPR actually worked. All of a sudden, I become my father and develop an intense need to tell everyone exactly what to do.

'Robbie, get everyone out of your house. It'll be ten times easier if they're all gone when the ambulance gets here, and turn the bloody music off while you're at it. It's awf--'

'What does the music have to do with--'

'Just do it!' I snap before turning to Aiden. 'The ambulance won't be able to get into here because of the electric gates, so go and open them.'

Aiden nods, and unlike Robbie, does exactly as he's told by jumping to his feet and sprinting down the long driveway. Robbie still hasn't moved. I give him orders again, and he mutters something under his breath, but eventually heads towards his house.

I use the boys' disappearance as my opportunity to remember how to place someone into the recovery position. I've got no idea how accurate the end result is, but I hope it's enough. That's all it has to be.

'Zack?' I gently shake the limp body in front of me. 'Hey, can you hear me? I will be so pissed off if I never get the chance to tell you how much of an arsehole you are, so don't you dare die on me, okay?'

There's no response. I check if he's still breathing. He is. His chest rises slowly, and I release a shaky breath. I continue blathering on as I grasp onto the belief that it'll actually help him, but there's still a part of me that can't accept this as reality. This is Zack Maddox, and Zack Maddox can't just... He can't just die. He's invincible. Everyone knows who he is, and his presence is a hurricane. People like this don't just die.

My hand brushes his face as I try to stir him awake, and I hadn't noticed before, but he's freezing. I whip my shirt off and drape it over him as I try to cover as much of his bare skin as possible, leaving myself shivering in nothing but a grey t-shirt. I gently shake him again, and as I'm about to speak, the music emanating from the house comes to a sudden stop.

I must've forgotten what silence felt like because as it comes crashing down, it stuns me. My heartbeat has never been so loud. I'm about to try and rouse Zack again when I notice his eyelids fluttering slightly.

'Zack?' I shake him. 'Zack, hey, wake up.'

His eyelids flutter again, and his lips part.

'I... I don't, it--it was an accident. She didn't--He's... I don't--he's bleeding. She said--I--'

'Is that Zack?'

I whip my head around, and about ten feet away from me stands a young girl with blonde hair. Before I can respond, she shouts in the direction of the house.

'Shit,' I mutter under my breath.

A few more people emerge and stand next to the blonde girl. More follow, and there's soon a small group beginning to form. Some start gossiping, some begin laughing, some look like they're on the verge of crying, and some even pull out their phones to take a photo. I can't believe what I'm seeing. This isn't a show.

As the group expands even more, some come forward and kneel next to Zack, just as I'm doing. I'm suddenly barged aside by a frantic girl wearing some glittery abomination of a dress, and before I know it, I can't even see Zack anymore. I stumble to my feet and look around me. Shit. Almost everyone who was in the house now seems to be crowded around Zack. Robbie did a cracking job then.

'Oh my god, someone call an ambulance!' one of the younger crowd members yells.

Already done that, hon.

'I just found him here! No one was around to help, it's disgusting!' someone who's now kneeling beside Zack shouts.

Well, that's complete bullshit.

'I swear I just saw him, like, five minutes ago!'

'Where's Robbie?'

'Has anyone called an ambulance?'

'He's dead!'

As I barge people out of the way to try and get back to Zack, I notice the first girl who appeared earlier. She's hesitantly moving him out of the recovery position I placed him in.

'Stop!' I shout at her, but she can't hear me over the chatter of the crowd.

I charge forward until I find myself beside Zack again, and move the girl out of the way. As I place him back into the position, I hear sirens, and an overwhelming sense of relief washes over me. He's still breathing. It's shallow, but it's there.

The second I see reflective jackets emerging through the crowd, I step aside and hide myself among the mass of teenagers gathered in Robbie Morrissey's front garden. As the paramedics order the crowd to back away, the space where Zack lies opens up. I spot my shirt still draped over him on the ground, and for a moment, curse myself for leaving it.

#

It's strange seeing somewhere that was once so full of life so empty. There are deserted cups spilled over the kitchen floor, and next to the fridge lies a packet of pink marshmallows. There's an uneaten pizza sitting on the marble counter, and it feels like it's staring at me, like it's questioning where everyone disappeared to. I'm staring back at it when I hear Aiden's voice for what feels like the first time in forever.

'There you are! Holy mackerel, Mia, I've been scouring the garden looking for you, almost filed a missing person's report. Have you been in the house the whole time? You don't half know how to stress a guy out.' He pulls up a chair next to me. 'This is insane! Can you believe it? Like, I hope Zack's fine, but how exciting is this?'

Is he serious?

'I can't wait to tell everyone about how we were Zack's saviours, I mean, think of the rep we'll get. And hey, I technically kissed Zack Maddox. If anyone questions you about it, just say I did, oka--'

'You're just as bad as them!'

Aiden freezes. Zack could be dead. He could be dead, and all anyone seems to be interested in is gossiping about him. The boy made every last inch of my body tremble with anger just hours ago, yet I seem to be the only one who's even the slightest bit considerate of what's happened to him. I know how engrossed Aiden can get into this kind of thing, but this is just wrong.

'Sorry,' Aiden mutters. 'I've just--I got caught up in all the...' He gestures to the space around us. 'Sorry.'

Aiden scratches the back of his neck, and we both fall silent. The ambulance must've gotten here close to half an hour ago, and most people have left. I've got no idea where Robbie has vanished to, but I don't really care.

'Hey, what was wrong earlier?' Aiden's voice brings me back to the present. 'When you wanted to leave, before we found Zack?'

After all of the hype tonight, what happened in the bathroom has taken a backseat in my mind. Zack wasn't well then, was he? It was so obvious. He was deathly pale, his eyes were so bloodshot that the veins in them were almost popping out, and he was all over the place. A trickle of guilt gnaws at my mind. I should've spotted it then. I could've helped him sooner.

I shake my head. To be frank, he should be grateful I helped him at all after the way he treated me. It's pretty obvious that he overdosed on who knows what, so if this does end badly for him, then it's his own fault. I shouldn't feel guilty.

'Mia?'

'Oh sorry,' I say, remembering Aiden's question. 'Just some guy is all. He was creepy with me, and it freaked me out a bit.' I pause. 'You don't know him.'

Aiden says something else, but I don't hear it. All I want to do is crawl into bed. I called Mum from Robbie's landline to explain what happened, so she's on her way to pick us up. Despite the fact I'm going to be even more grounded considering I lied and sneaked out to a party, I don't really care. I just want to go home. I'm staring at the pizza again when I hear a voice that isn't Aiden's.

'D'you mind leaving? I need to clean up.'

I turn to the doorway to see Robbie standing there. He's pulled a jumper on over the t-shirt he was wearing earlier, and his brown hair has fallen flatly onto his forehead. 'Sorry for being a dick earlier, I was kinda stressed.'

I nod and get up from the kitchen table, and Aiden follows. Robbie is clearly still drunk. He's leaning against the door as if he'll crumble to the floor if he doesn't, and he's blinking at an unnaturally frequent rate. There's a trickle of sick running down his jumper.

'That pizza needs eating,' I mutter as Aiden and I leave the room.

It's not long until Mum arrives to pick us up, and with her arrival comes endless questioning. It doesn't bother me because the familiarity of her voice eases my mind after this disaster of a night, although I decide to leave out any details on finding an unconscious eighteen-year-old lying beside a bin. Luckily, she agrees with me that Dad grounding me over forgetting to clean the dog's paws after taking him for a walk in the forest was a bit absurd, so she's not angry with me.

'Your dad's not too happy with you,' Mum says softly.

A tsunami of nerves crashes into my stomach. Dad's going to kill me tomorrow. I didn't necessarily lie to him, I just didn't tell him the details of where it was I was going tonight, or that I was going out at all. While grounded. But, I mean, I could be a lot worse. I could've been rushed to hospital after passing out in someone's front garden.

'Don't worry, sweetie,' Mum continues. 'He's at work until the morning now, and I'll make sure to soften him up when he gets home.'

As we drop Aiden off at his house, a thought hits me. Zack spoke. When he was lying on the grass, he spoke, didn't he? Before that first girl arrived, he said something. I scan every detail of every memory I have from tonight in an attempt to recall what it was he said. It was weird. Something really weird. What was it? Something to do with blood. Bleeding? Yeah, that was it; he said that someone was bleeding, that something was an accident.

I know I should shrug this off, that chances are it was something he said in a complete delusion. I can't, though. I don't know why, but all I can think about for the rest of the journey home are the words Zack Maddox spoke as he lay dying on the damp grass outside his best friend's house.