It was the biggest party of the year, and Emma was going. She was wearing a black dress that went down to her knees, a cover up - as her mom called it, and her favorite black boots. Emma put on the necklace her brother gave her for her 16th birthday. For a brother, he was excellent at picking out gifts. As she fixed her hair in the mirror there was a knock at her door. “Come on in” she called. Her brother, Matty, walked into her room and sat on her bed. “You ready to go?” He asked. Emma rolled her eyes and walked out of her room and down the hall. “Yep” she called when she got to the top of the stairs. Matty got up and followed her to the door.
Emma got in the passenger seat of Matty’s Cadillac and immediately turned on the radio. Matty started the car and pulled out of the driveway. They rode in silence until they reached the house that the party was at. “Call me when you want to come home” Matty reminded her as she got out of the car. “I know, I know” Emma replied sighing “See ya.” She waved to him as she opened the door of the huge house and walked inside.
Emma found her two best friends, Riley and Lizzy, in the living room, talking to a group of people. “Hey” Emma said as she joined them. “What’s going on?” It was her friend Lizzy that answered her question “We’re setting up a game of spin the bottle. We are gonna play upstairs. You want to join us?” Spin the bottle was the last thing Emma wanted to do, other then go home. “Sure” she said forcing a smile. Emma hoped no-one would want to play and she would be off the hook.
Emma sighed as she, Lizzy, and Riley followed a group of teenagers up the stairs. They were going to play spin the bottle after all. Emma followed the group into the master bedroom where everyone took a seat on the floor. She closed the door behind them and sat down on the foot of the bed. Emma didn’t want to sit next to anyone on the floor, many of them were drinking. She didn’t have a problem with their drinking. She just didn’t want to sit near anyone who was drunk. Riley turned toward Emma and patted the floor beside her. Emma just shook her head and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“Ok, who wants to go first?” A pretty blonde girl asked as she held up an empty beer bottle. The girl looked around at the circle of people as no-one volunteered. “Fine” she said smiling “I’ll go first.” She leaned forward, set the bottle on the ground, and with a twist of her wrist, sent it spinning. Emma watched with polite curiosity as the bottle stopped spinning, pointing at a boy with brown hair and a cocky smile. She closed her eyes and rested her head on her knees, trying to concentrate on the music downstairs and the girl crawled through the center of the circle and kissed the boy. Emma stayed like this for a few minutes until Riley softly called her name. “Emma, you awake?” she asked. “Yeah, I’m awake” Emma replied
lifting her head up.
She rolled her eyes. The empty bottle had just been handed to a boy who was obviously drunk. With a glance at a red-headed girl in the circle, he spun the bottle. Emma’s eyes widened as the bottle slowed as it reached Lizzy. But her eyes almost popped out of her head as the bottle stopped, pointing at her. The boy made his way across the circle and stood in front of her. “No, really” Emma said leaning back, away from him “I’m not playing.” The boy just smiled and leaned closer. She put her feet on his stomach to keep him away. He laughed and a few girls giggled. He pushed Emma’s feet away and leaned even closer. “Get away from me!” Emma exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand as he came so close that their foreheads were touching.
