, on a friday. marianne and amélie were barely staying awake. math class was never their favorite.

"neil invited us to their meeting at 5." amé tapped marianne on the shoulder. her voice was a low whisper.

"so, how was your date?" she whispered back, her voice being overshadowed by their teacher's booming voice.

"it wasn't a date!" amélie hissed, continuing to doodle on her worksheet. she was paying 0 attention to this stupid class. "it was fine. we walked around the lake."

"sounds romantic." mari teased, making her voice all sing-songy.

"it wasn't." amélie narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"sure." marianne grinned, dragging out the e.

amé playfully kicked marianne in the shins, getting the attention of their teacher.

"ms. laurent and ms. dubois. is everything okay?"

"yes mr. baumel." they said in unison, before their teacher began talking again.

—————-

after class, the two rushed to their dorm and began getting ready to go out. marianne put on a short-ish floral print dress with a cardigan over top.

"you're awful fancy looking." amélie smiled, pulling on a thick-strapped tank top.

"it's charlie! he probably has plenty of girls he could be seeing. i've got to look good, even if it's some silly book club meeting." marianne chuckled, pulling her hair into a ponytail tied together with a ribbon.

"it's nothing like that. you've been."

"it's just reading, and smoking."

before amélie could retaliate, a knock at their door was heard. marianne rushed to get it.

it was cindy. "marianne! you look pretty. where are you guys heading?"

silence. marianne and amélie exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.

"let me guess, you two are going to hangout with the welton boys! can i come?" cindy laughed, twirling a strand of her hair.

before amélie could say no, marianne spoke for her. "sure!"

"alright, i'd better go get ready." mari closed the door on her.

"are you kidding? i don't want her to come."

"she'd probably get her friends to beat us up behind the school if we ever thought about saying no. she's the most popular girl in our school, this has got to count for something."

"fine."

at about 4:30, marianne and amé went to cindy's dorm and knocked. cindy opened it, and she looked a lot more fancy than mari, who was wearing a full set of pearls.

"you guys know it's a poetry club, not a fashion show. we're going to be sitting in that damp cave on those rocks for a few hours."

cindy gave amé the dirtiest look she had ever seen.

—————

the three walked, cindy disgusted at how wet the bottom of her dress was getting as it dragged alone the ground. amélie zipped up her sweater even further. it was still fairly light out, but a cool chill was in the air.

"look what i scored." cindy squealed, pulling out a bottle of vodka from her coat pocket.

"nice!" marianne grinned. amé wanted to throw up.

"it's my mom's. she's such a bitch but she always keeps the alcohol cabinet unlocked. have you ever drank amélie?"

her face burned. no. she'd been too scared to, after she found out her mother was an alcoholic. never, did she want to end up like her mother. her father was also an alcoholic, but she knew that he would never leave his family like her mother did.

"yeah, of course she has! she was totally drunk at chris noel's party."

"sure." cindy rolled her eyes, jealous that she wasn't invited. they got to the cave, still a bit early, and expected no one to be there.

"hey girls!" charlie grinned. amélie was relieved to see everyone was there.

"hi charlie." marianne batted her eyes, immediately taking the seat next to him.

"hi." amé smiled, awkwardly standing at the entrance of the cave.

"um, this is our friend cindy simon." mari pointed at the blonde girl. she was all dolled up, and immediately caught the attention of all the boys.

"hey guys." cindy grinned, twirling her hair. neil grew pale.

amélie went to sit next to him, but got pushed out of the way by cindy. she ended up having to sit in between meeks and knox.

"did you bring your notebook?" meeks asked her, before getting cut off by cindy.

"i brought the fun. it's not much but everyone can still have some." she held the half bottle up, shaking it.

"yeah, but it looks like we'll have no need for it with cindy here." amé quietly said, nodding.

cindy took a swig, before passing it to todd.

"um, no thanks." he quietly said, putting his hands up.

"what a wuss." she snickered, passing it over to cameron.

he took a giant swig, before coughing it all up.

"cameron, i'll show you how a real man does it." charlie snatched the bottle away from him, and took an even bigger sip without flinching.

marianne giggled, and took the bottle from him. cameron looked embarrassed. they all kept passing the bottle, until it came to amélie. she held it in her hand, and stared at it. everyone looked at her in silence. there was quite a bit left in the bottle.

"what are you waiting for?" cindy asked, annoyed.

"come on, amélie." knox elbowed her.

"i don't know if i'm feeling it tonight."

"i thought you've drank before." cindy snickered, making amé's face grow redder by the second with both embarrassment and anger.

"i have, i just don't feel like it tonight." amélie clutched her stomach. it was too much pressure.

"i know a liar when i see one!"

"a liar?" amélie asked, shocked. she put the bottle to her lips, and finished the entire bottle. it burned her throat, but she tried so hard not to make a face.

she smashed the bottle on the ground. "how's that for a liar!"

cindy covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing. everyone else was stunned. including neil.

silence filled the cave, before neil spoke up.

"i'd like to talk to amé. in private, please."

"don't be too long." cindy snarled, watching as amélie followed neil outside the cave.

he saw the glistening tears in her eyes. "are you okay?" he asked. the sun was setting and the grass tickled his ankles.

amélie was trying so hard to hold everything in, but those three words broke her. "i don't want to be like my mother."

"you won't be." neil soothed her. it wasn't any use. she was sobbing, blabbering nonsense he couldn't understand.

"i'm an alcoholic. i feel so dirty, and disgusting. why is cindy such a boozer!"

"you're okay. everything is going to be fine. it's just a bit of alcohol, you're definitely not an alcoholic."

she shivered in the wind. "i'm so sorry neil. i'm a mess. i don't want to be like her. i should've never let her come."

"i'll walk you home." he said softly, taking off his jacket and placing it on amélie's shoulders. he felt a pit in his stomach. he felt really bad for amé. her face glistened with tears their eyes locked for a second, but neil nervously broke the eye contact.

"i'm going to throw up." amélie covered her mouth, making neil laugh. "i'm serious!"

"well don't!"

"yeah, like it's that easy. one sec." amélie walked into the forest that surrounded the path, and threw up. she was clutching a tree with one hand, using it to balance herself.

"neil?" she wiped her mouth, walking back to their path. "it's too dark."

she felt a warm hand press onto her shoulder. "i'm here, don't worry."

"okay. can we go?" her voice quivered. neil nodded. she could barely see him move in the dark, but amélie clutched onto his arm as they walked so they didn't lose eachother. amélie was comforted by this, by him.

she could imagine a whole life with him. she hated to admit it, but she liked him an awful lot.