The Original Crowd (A Whole New Crowd 0.50)

As I drove into Rawley, I turned my phone on and saw that Mandy had called three times. Grayley had called once.

Geezer.

Visiting hours were over, that wasn’t even a question. I didn’t really feel like breaking into a hospital in the same night. So that meant I needed to hold up another promise.

Listening to Mandy’s first voice message, I could hear the anger in her voice; she was pissed, accusing me of purposely skipping the game. In the second one, she’d been happy—must have been right after the win. And by the third one, she was drunk.

What a shocker.

I would’ve known where the party was from a mile away if she hadn’t left directions. Okay. Not really, but seriously—the music was blaring so freaking loud, I finally chose to turn my own radio off. The house was another palace, just like Tray’s. Lights were streaming out through walls that were just consisted of windows. Seriously. There were little wooden frames every now and then, but the entire house—just windows.

Parking at the end of the lane, I walked closer and saw groups of kids in the front yard.

Fuck. I recognized some Pedlam students. What the hell? They were supposed to wallow in their own parties. In Pedlam. Not here.

And apparently, seeing more and more, they’d all taken root on the front lawn. So the rest of the kids inside were probably Rawley students.

I hugged myself, suddenly chilled, and almost wished I’d kept my sweatshirt on, but to no avail, I was dressed in a sheer sweater, a black tank top underneath, and a pair of jeans.

“Yo.” Came a holler, followed by a whistle.

“Hey. Hey. It’s Lanser’s bitch.” That just had to be Gentley. Of course, he had to be here. None of the parties I’d been to in Pedlam had ever come to this proportion. Makes perfect sense now why so many Pedlam students were here, including Crispin Gentley.

I hated him. Really. Really. Hated him.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

“Hey,” he said again, grabbing my elbow just as I was about to pass by.

“Let me go!” I snarled, wrenching my arm out of his grasp.

“Whoa. Calm, bitch.”

My nerves were shot. I was too wired—my blood was still pumping from the job and my heart rate hadn’t slowed down, so I didn’t want to deal with him. I didn’t know what I would do or say. I didn’t feel in complete control of myself.

“Whatever,” I muttered, darting past him and inside.

“Hey!” he shouted, turning to follow me, but I quickly got lost in the crowd.

I was a bit surprised that people were actually saying hello to me. What the hell?

I searched the living room. The dining room. The second living room. The upstairs—cringing at every door I listened to—and then moved down into the basement, where I was more amazed to find an additional two living rooms. They were complete with an entire game room, exercise room, and whirlpool—which was full to the max.

Huh.

So I walked back upstairs and wandered outside, where I found Mandy. She was on the opposite side of the pool, situated on one of the five patios, in the corner with the volleyball courts to one side and a pool-house on the other.

How could people live in homes like these? How could they remember to be people?

She was sitting on Carter’s lap, his hand underneath her shirt, laughing and drunk. I was more stunned to find Tray at the same table, an amused grin on his face with Molly and Larkins in seats next to him.

What the hell?

Carter spotted me first. “Hey, you made it,” he said warmly.

“Taryn!” Mandy screeched, stumbling over to me, throwing her arms around me. “I love you so much, do you know that? You came. I’m so happy. I didn’t think you would.”

I hugged her back and patted her on the back. “I know. I had to take care of something.”