When Roland had asked her to bring some friends tonight, Luce had gotten a sinking feeling in her stomach. There were no hall monitors at Shoreline, no terrifying security cameras recording the students' every move, so it wasn't the threat of getting caught that made her nervous. In fact, sneaking out of the dorm had been relatively easy. It was drawing a crowd that was a bigger challenge.
Dawn and Jasmine seemed like the most likely candidates for a party on the beach, but when Luce went by their fth- oor room, the hallway was dark and no one answered her knock. Back in her own room, Shelby had been tangled up in some sort of tantric yoga pose that hurt Luce just to look at. Luce hadn't wanted to break her roommate's erce concentration by inviting her to some unknown party--but then a loud knock at their door had made Shelby fall crossly from her pose anyway.
Miles, asking Luce if she wanted to get some ice cream.
Luce looked back and forth between Miles and Shelby and smiled. "I've got a better idea."
Ten minutes later, bundled up in hooded sweatshirts, a backward Dodgers cap (Miles), and wool socks with inpidual toe shapes sewn in so she could still wear her ip- ops (Shelby), and with a nervous feeling in the gut about mingling Roland with the Shoreline crew (Luce), the three of them tramped toward the blu 's edge.
"So who is this guy again?" Miles asked, pointing out a dip in the rocky path just before Luce would have gone ying.
"He's just ... a guy from my last school." Luce searched for a better description as the three of them started down the rocky stairs. Roland wasn't exactly her friend. And even though kids at Shoreline seemed pretty open-minded, she wasn't sure she should tell them which side of the fallen angel pide Roland fell on. "He was friends with Daniel," she said nally. "It'll probably be a pretty small party. I don't think he knows anyone here but me."
They could smell it before they could see it: the telltale hickory smoke of a good-sized bon re. Then, when they were almost at the foot of the steep stairs, they wound around a bend in the rocks and froze as the sparks from a wild orange blaze nally came into view.
There must have been a hundred people gathered on the beach.
The wind was wild, like an untamed animal, but it was no match for the rowdiness of the partygoers. At one end of the gathering, closest to where Luce stood, a crowd of hippie guys with long, thick beards and ratty woven shirts had formed a makeshift drum circle. Their steady beat provided a nearby group of kids with a constantly changing groove to dance to. At the other end of the party was the bon re itself, and when Luce stood on her toes, she recognized a lot of Shoreline kids crowded around the re, hoping to beat out the cold. Everyone was holding a stick in the
ames, jockeying for the best spot to roast their hot dogs and marshmallows, their cast-iron kettles full of beans. It was impossible to guess how they'd all found out about it, but it was clear that everyone was having a good time.
And in the middle of it all, Roland. He'd changed out of his pressed button-down shirt and expensive leather boots and was dressed, like everyone else there, in a hooded sweatshirt and shredded jeans. He was standing on a boulder, making riotous, exaggerated gestures, telling a story Luce couldn't quite hear. Dawn and Jasmine were among the captivated listeners; their re-lit faces looked pretty and alive.
"This is your idea of a small party?" Miles asked. "This is your idea of a small party?" Miles asked.
Luce was watching Roland, wondering what story he was telling. Something about the way he was taking charge made Luce think back to Cam's room, to the rst and only real party she'd ever gone to at Sword & Cross, and it made her miss Arriane. And, of course, Penn, who'd been nervous when she rst arrived at the party but ended up having a better time than anyone. And Daniel, who would barely speak to Luce back then. Things were so di erent now.
"Well, I don't know about you guys," Shelby said, kicking o her ip- ops and padding onto the sand in her socks, "but I'm going to get myself a drink, then a hot dog, then maybe a lesson from one of those drum circle guys."
"Me too," Miles said. "Except for the drum circle part, in case that wasn't obvious."
"Luce." Roland waved from his position on the boulder. "You made it."
Miles and Shelby were already way ahead of her, heading toward the hot dog station, so Luce trekked over a dune of cool, damp sand toward Roland and the others.
"You weren't kidding when you said you wanted to make your presence known. This is really something, Roland."
Roland nodded graciously. "Something, huh? Something good, or something bad?"
It seemed like a loaded question, and what Luce wanted to say was that she couldn't tell anymore. She thought about the heated conversation she'd overheard in the teacher's o ce. How sharp Francesca's voice had sounded. The line between what was good and what was bad felt incredibly blurry. Roland and Steven were fallen angels who'd gone over. Demons, right? Did she even know what that meant? But then there was Cam, and ... what did Roland mean by that question? She squinted at him. Maybe he was really only asking whether Luce was having fun?
A myriad of colorful partygoers swirled around her, but Luce could feel the endless black waves nearby. The air near the water was whipping and cold, but the bon re was hot on her skin. So many things seemed to be at odds right now, all shoving up against her at once.
"Who are all these people, Roland?"
"Let's see." Roland pointed at the hippie kids in the drum circle. "Townies." To their right, he gestured at a big group of guys trying to impress a much smaller group of girls with a few very bad thrusting dance moves. "Those guys are marines stationed in Fort Bragg. From the way they're partying, I hope they're on leave for the weekend." When Jasmine and Dawn sidled up next to him, Roland put one arm around each of their shoulders. "These two, I believe you know."