A/N: I'm writing again, after what, five months? I probably won't have any of my other stories up for a while (though I promise, I will finish most of them, and put them back on), but I am going to be updating this one frequently. Maybe every other day. Three days at most. Let's see how long before that becomes a lie.

Prologue

Music pumped through the speakers as the party started to fill. I sat uncomfortably on the couch, hoping someone I knew would show up soon. Parties made me nervous; there were too many people to impress, too many mistakes that could be made. It didn't help much that teens all over were filling cups with beer; some even shooting up.

To my relief, I saw my boyfriend of four months, Tyler Cohen, walk up to me.

"Hey, Emmaline," he said, kissing me briefly.

"Hi," I mumbled, glancing at the obnoxiously obvious red plastic cup in his hand. I had seen plenty of people who have drank before, but I never thought Tyler would.

"When'd you start drinking, Ty?" I asked, not liking how he could possibly ruin his life with the one cup.

"Tonight. Saw the beer, figured, why not? Only young once, you know," he told me calmly. I bit my lip; just because we were young didn't mean we were stupid.

"Well," I said slowly, "Maybe you shouldn't." I knew as soon as I said it, it was a bad idea.

"Well," he said, "Maybe you shouldn't tell me what to do." His tone was colder than I had expected, and he looked at me with nothing but disgust.

"Fine," I told him, trying not to let it get to me, "Ruin your life."

I didn't expect the slap. It was echoed loud, and I noticed everyone's eyes on us, including my friend Will, who had just walked in the room.

I heard a bunch of people start yelling at Tyler, some telling him to hit me again, and even noticed the fight that started out between him and Will. But I kept staring ahead, not believing what had happened.

I had no idea what was starting.