Thank you for giving this book a chance, I hope it will not disappoint you and will be worthwhile.

This book is entirely fictional. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Lastly, all rights reserved. This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, or stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, or otherwise—without the permission of the author.

Thank you and I hope you will enjoy this as much as I did writing this.

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I did not know why I did it, but I leaned down and captured his lips with mine. All coherent thoughts and common sense flew straight out of my head.

Those few stilled seconds with his soft lips on mine felt like heaven and dread. It was as soft as I had always imagine, but the aftermath was not worth it.

At least I finally know how he tastes like, I thought. Underneath the bitter taste of vodka, he tasted like how I always dreamt of, honey and spice, an odd combination yet so perfectly complimented each other, and suited him so well.

I pulled away, already missing his warmth. I couldn't look into his eyes, the disgust that must be in them, "I-"

He cut me off with his lips and snaked his arms around me before I could finish my apology. My body acted before I even knew what I was doing, my hands sinking into those blond curls that I had been dying to touch.

Then we were devouring each other, two hungry human beings tasting each other for the first time, finally clenching their thirst. Our lips were moving together as if we had been practicing this tango our whole lives.

Reluctantly, I pulled away first, panting hard. His hair was disheveled, running in all different directions, so unlike his normal, carefully styled hair. But he didn't seemed to care, because he was looking at me with shock, disbelief and some other emotions I couldn't interpret yet.

I knew my look probably mirrored him, swollen lips, widened eyes, flushed face.

Before I could analyze his emotions or process what had happened, his impossibly soft lips were on mine once more and I could only close my eyes and return it. Savoring the moment, storing it in my heart; because I knew tomorrow nothing would ever be the same.

"Zac! It's been too long." I greeted my best friend as he got in the passenger seat, Zacharias Sin, who just came back from Hong Kong, his hometown.

"I know Kade," he gave me a warm smile and glimpses of his straight white teeth.

"How was it over there? I can't believe you suddenly left just like that! I thought we were going on a road trip for the summer. We had everything planned," I said to Zacharias as we drove to school just like last year. I did not mind that our plans did not go accordingly. (Okay I was a little upset but it's life).

"It was so much hotter and humid there, but it's nice to see my family and spend some time there." Zac said. Zacharias changed to our school during middle school, a seating plan threw us together and we had been best friends ever since.

"What did you do? Did you travel anyway?" He asked me, turning his dark chocolate eyes on me.

"Nope, stayed here whole summer, helped out the church and hang out with other friends, pretty boring." I said airily, I parked my car in the school's parking lot and we got out.

Weniville high school was not much of a sight, your pretty typical public school that was not too bad but a far cry from private schools. There were crowds of students slowly going in, everyone still floating in the summer mood, the weight of school not fully sank in yet.

Zac and I went in, Zac began telling me about what he did in Hong Kong. Friends and teammates greeted us as we went in, "still joining the volleyball team this year right?" a teammate called out as he passed by us.

"Yes of course," I shouted back, Zac echoed a 'yes' too.

We continued our talk until we had to part ways as we arrived to our lockers; just a few feet away from each other; two lockers between us.

Zac and I took our time walking to our homeroom, which fortunately were the same; but our schedules were quite different. Zacharias took AP English, literature and Art, while I took music, AP calculus and additional mathematics.

The day went by like your typical first day of school, everyone was excited to see their friends and chaos ensured with the teachers trying to "get to know us".
I only had homeroom, PE, general science and lunch with Zac; which meant that I barely saw him.

I stood by Zac's locker and waited for his Art lesson to end, tapping my foot impatiently. Finally, in the distance, I could see a familiar mop of dark hair that stood several inches above everyone else's lighter hair, coming towards me. He shoot a smile at me but some guys stopped him before he could come any closer, clapping his back and pulling him away to catch up. I tried not to feel annoyed as I peeled myself off his locker and stalked towards them.

"Kade! It's been a while! That party at Jean's were wild yeah?" One of the guys said as I approached them.

"Yeah, it definitely was a night," I replied, not really interested in the conversation.

"If only you were there man," the other guy said to Zac.

"I'm sure his next party will be as crazy," Zac answered with his signature smirk that drove all the girls crazy.

"Yeah of course, and you will go yeah?"

"Of course, why would I miss it?" Zac laughed and the other guys chuckled with him, a smile tugged at the corner of my lips at Zac's infectious laugh.

"Okay I'll see you guys tomorrow in history yeah?" Zac said to them, noticing the arms crossed over my chest.

"Yeah see you tomorrow Zac, Kade." They gave both of us claps behind our backs and at last they left.

"Finally," I rolled my eyes. It was nice to be popular, there were definitely pecks such as getting invited to all the parties and avoiding the possibility of not having any friends in certain classes; but it made it hard to be alone by ourselves, there were always someone around us.

"Oh you enjoy the attention too," Zac nudged me playfully as we walked towards our car.

I didn't bother denying it and instead changed the topic, "Mom insist that you eat dinner with us tonight, since it has been 'too long since she has seen her favourite son'" I animated air quotations as I repeat what my mom had said this morning.

Zac laughed again, a deep, resonant sound that he let out easily, causing my smirk to turn into a smile. "Yeah sure of course, I won't dream of disappointing mom." Zac and I had been to each other's house so often that we weren't even guests anymore. My mom always jokingly said that Zac was her favourite son since Zac was charming, nice and a gentleman. If only she knew that he partied as hard as me, and probably had been with more girls than I did.

"Yeah, yeah. Do you need to stop by your house or can we go straight to mine?" We both got in my car and we were out of the parking lot.

"It's fine, we'll go straight to yours," Zac got out his phone and called, "Mami?" His Chinese accent seeping into the word, "Yeah I'm eating dinner at Kade's..... yeah okay.... yeah, bye."

"Mom asked me to ask you to come for dinner tomorrow night," the Chinese accent had vanished and his flawless American accent was back. I was a little disappointed, his Chinese accent was lovely and I loved it whenever he use it.

"Yeah sure," and easy conversation flowed between us, steady and comforting as a river flow. He told me about the wonders he saw in Hong Kong, the constantly busy streets, tightly packed and the fast pace the place always seemed to be in. In return, I told him of the parties I attended, some shenanigans in church and lazy days at home.

We arrived to my house, your typical two stories high house in America. With a small porch, backyard and a garage for the two second-handed cars we owed. I parked my car in the garage and we both got out, arriving to the kitchen where my mom was already cooking.

"Zacharias! Come here my boy," my mom pulled Zac into a hug, "oh you have grown so much, and gotten tanner! And you are still too skinny, dinner will be ready in two hours." Although this was how my mom greeted Zac every time, he still looked uncomfortable with my mom fuzzing about him.

"Hello to you too, mom." I emphasised the last part, Zac shot me a helpless look, I only smirk at him.

"Oh hey Kade," my mom said with a nonchalantly tone, but her eyes told otherwise. She finally released poor Zac.

"It's nice to see you too, Wendy" Zac finally spoke, "and I brought you some souvenirs from Hong Kong." He pulled out some snacks from his bag and handed them to my mom with both hands.

"Oh Zacharias! You didn't need to, really thank you." Mom pulled Zac in a hug again, but lucky for Zac, it was a quick one. After my mom harassed Zac some more, we could finally go up into my room.

"Yeah Zacharias when did you grow so tall?" I tilted my head up to look at him. He did grew taller during the summer, I never had to tilt my head up to him in the eyes, but now I came just below his nose.

He rolled his eyes, "you want your souvenirs or not?"

"Okay okay," I put my hands up in surrender and flopped onto my bed. Zac sat more gracefully besides me and threw a bag of something at me.

I caught it before it could hit me, "white rabbit?" I spoke out loud, reading the only English writing on the bag of something.

"It's some type of milky candy, quite famous from China," he pulled out a bottle of something, "and this is the Hong Kong styled milk tea."

"Thanks Zac you are the best," I accepted the bottle. Zac had talked about the milk tea from his hometown so many times that I felt like I had tasted it even though I never been to Hong Kong.

He watched me intently as I tipped the bottle back and the liquid hit my unsuspecting tastebud. It's strange, a bit bitter, yet sweet, and after taking a second gulp I could taste a hint of condensed milk.

His dark chocolate eyes were still watching me and they flickered onto my lips, "so what do you think about it," his eyes met mine.

"It's not what I expected," I took another gulp. Licking my lips, I could still feel his stare. "It's definitely different from the milk tea here." I said.

"Do you prefer the Hong Kong one or the American one?" He took the bottle from my hand and took a sip himself.

"I don't know, there's a difference but I don't have a preference. Both's fine for me," I took the bottle back and took another gulp, there was just a little left. I handed it to Zac. He finished it off.

"Oh well, now tell me about that game you had been playing all summer," Zac said and as usual, we played video games until my mom called us for dinner.

"And our captain is..." coach paused dramatically, but we all knew who it was going to be. "Jeremy!" Thunderous applause filled the locker room, and congratulations followed.

"And our vice captain..." coach began again, once we had quiet down. "Zacharias!" I wolf whistled as loud as I could and pulled Zac into an one-armed hug, our teammates joined us and it became a group hug; Zac and I being the exact middle of it.

"Congrats!" I pulled him down so I could shout into his ear over the noise of our exultant teammates.

"Thanks!" He shouted back. Turning to face me, his messy brown hair brushed against my face, it was surprisingly soft. He jerked back suddenly, and I frowned.

Kean, our teammate who played as the middle blocker shouted, "Party at my house tonight! Everyone is invited!" Cheers broke out again and it somehow were even louder than before. Our coach shook his head exasperated; he was used to our constant partying and didn't mind as long as we performed well in practices and games and don't get caught.

"Okay since you all have plans, get out of my locker room." Coach shouted over our excited chatters, waving us away, shooing us out of the locker room.

"You or I drive tonight?" I asked Zac as we all shuffled out, some lingering in the locker room but we didn't dwell with the others.

"You can drive," Zac said, "or if you want to get drunk I can drive?"

"It's okay I'll drive. I got drunk enough times during summer,"

Zac laughed, "okay sure,"

I drove Zac home, telling him that I would pick him up at around 10, and drove back home. Once I arrived, I began my calculus homework, which was not hard but time consuming. By the time I finished all my homework for the weekend, dinner was ready.

My younger sister, Emma was still texting on her phone when we all sat around the table.

"Emma, put your phone away, we have to say grace first," my dad chided.

After furiously typing for a few more seconds, she finally put her phone down and we said our prayers and could eat.

"I'm going to a party tonight with Zac," I said, as I scooped some mash potatoes onto my plate.

"Me too," Emma said, grabbing the potatoes from me.

"Seriously, you are invited too?" I said incredulously.

"Yeah, everyone is invited. It's Kean's party! Who can not go?" She said with a smirk; the smirk that people always commented on saying that it looked exactly like mine, which I completely disagree.

"Aren't you too young to attend a party?" I said pointedly, glancing at my parents. They continued eating and watched our banter with amusement.

"You go to parties at my age too! And I'm almost 15," she scowled at me.

"You let her go? Seriously, mom?"

"I let you go when you are 14 too, it will be unfair if I don't let her go," my mom replied calmly.

Emma gave me a triumph smile and I stuck my tongue out at her, she rolled her eyes, "childish," she muttered under her breath, loud enough just for me to hear it.

I kicked her under the table, she kicked me back.

"Kaden, Emma," my mom cut in, "if you guys don't stop, you will both be grounded and not allow to attend."

That shut us up and dinner continued on normally, with casual conversation between us like always. After cleaning the dishes, I went back into my room to get ready.

Taking a shower and styling my hair carefully, I wore a denim jacket and jeans with a white shirt. Grabbing my wallet, keys and phone, I went downstairs. Emma was waiting for me in a pair of silver stilettos with her signature red miniskirt and black tube top, her blonde hair curled and red lipstick on.

"I don't remember promising to drive you," I went into the garage with her tagging behind me like a duckling following its mother.

"Well, mom said you are driving me so," she shrugged and got into the passenger seat.

"That is Zac's spot," I glared at her. She rolled her eyes and got into the backseat.

Sighing, I started the engine and drove to Zac's house.

"Zac!" Emma said enthusiastically, giving him a bright smile. Her eyes roamed over his leather jacket over a white tee and black jeans appreciatively.

"Hello Em," Zac greeted her, well aware that she was checking him out shamelessly, got into his passenger seat.

"Is Daisy coming?" Emma asked, finally tearing her hungry eyes off Zac to crank her head out of the window to look for Zac's sister, Daisy, who was the same age as Emma.

"I don't think so, she said something about finishing a show?"

"I'm going to get her," Emma said determinedly, getting out of the car.

"We are already late," I called out after her.

"Everyone else is just too early," she shot back at me, not turning once to look back and disappeared into Zac's house, which was pretty similar to ours.

I shook my head, Zac laughed at my exasperation, "she is just like you," his eyes twinkled with amusement.

I scowled, "we are nothing alike,"

He raised an eyebrow, something that I wished I could do, "Same blond hair and hazel eyes, both have a high body count, sarcastic, good looking, do I need to go on?"

I rolled my eyes, "She will never be as good looking as me,"

"No," he agreed, I raised both eyebrows at him, "she's better," he smirked.

I hit him and he laughed again, "Asshole," I grumbled.

"What's so funny?" Emma said, I did not hear her get in.

"Zac's being an asshole as usual," I fist bumped with Daisy, who looked miserable, "Hey Daisy,"

"Kade," she said sourly, she glared at Emma through her thick glasses who smiled innocently back, fooling no one.

"How did she do it?" I made eye contact with Daisy through the rearview mirror.

"Threatened to spoil the ending for me," her voice was venomous.

"See, I'm not as evil as she is, we are not the same," I glanced at Zac, who was already looking at me.

"Oh please, what about the time you scared Mr Potedor shitless? Or wake me up at 3am just to TP Jeremy's house because you were drunk and 'his house will look nicer with toilet paper, because it 'fits his house's aesthetic'?" He did the eyebrow thing again.

"It's just twice," I waved him off.

"Then what about the time you make Kean-" he began.

I cut him off, "okay, okay you made your point, and we arrived." I turned off the engine and ignored the cheeky smile threw at my way.

Emma dragged Daisy away as soon as the car had stopped, Daisy threw a pleading look at us, I waved goodbye at her and she gave me the finger.

"And your sister is just like you,"

"I know," he said simply, not taking the bait.

"Kade! Zac! You guys made it! Come in," Kean ushered us into the dim house and the smell of alcohol and sweat hit us, the music was loud enough that I could not hear what Kean had said, but nodded anyways.

Kean left us on our own, knowing that we were well familiar with his place. We made our way to his gigantic kitchen, where he always kept all the alcohol. Zac grabbed two red cups and pour vodka and orange juice in it, just the right amount, the way he knew I like it.

"Thanks," I said, and we knocked our cups back and downed it in one go. I made the next drinks for us.

Soon our friends found us in the kitchen and somehow we made it to the makeshift dance floor in Kean's living room. I was dancing with this girl, Bethany? Brittney? And out of the corner of my eyes I saw Zacharias with a girl too. He caught my eyes and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at me, silently asking, "are you going to hook up with the girl?"

I shrugged, it would be up to the girl, if she wanted to then I would, if not, there always were plenty of others. Before I could suggest anything, her friend dragged her away, but not before she planted a clumsy kiss on my mouth. Oh well. Looking around, I spotted Zac looking very engaged with a blonde girl. Not wanting to disturb him, I made my way to the kitchen for another drink, and got caught up with Jeremy and Kean.

"I think I should go home now, you know how my parents are," Jeremy said, looking at his phone, it was 1am.

"Yeah, we know," I said. Jeremy's parents were Filipino. Although they were not necessarily very strict, Jeremy still listened to his parents and was the eptimone of a good child. 

"Maybe I should go to," I said, looking around for Zac and our sisters.

"Woah dude you going to drive like this?" Jeremy put a hand on my shoulder, steadying me. I didn't even noticed that I was swaying a bit.

"I have to bring our sisters home, and I promised to drive," I did not know that I drank this much.

"I can drive them home, maybe you and Zac can stay here for the night?" Jeremy offered.

"Jeremy, you are a god sent angel I swear," Jeremy was the friend that would wait for you to tie your shoes while the others had already walked ahead.

"No problem man," he clapped me on the back and gave me his sunshine smile. Then he left to get Emma and Daisy, who knew Jeremy since this was not the first time he had helped me drove them.

"Well I guess I can get wasted tonight then," I knocked my cup with Kean's and we downed it in one gulp. After a few more drinks, I wandered off to find Zac, tripping over my own feet.

I found him on a couch, nursing a drink. "Woah, why is the Zacharias Sin all by himself? Where are the girls?" I spun around dramatically, shading my eyes and looking out like I was really trying to find someone.

Zac rolled his eyes, "oh please, then why is the Kaden Zaveri alone?"

"Trying to find his best friend," I flopped down besides him, taking his drink and finishing it.

"I thought you were driving?" He frowned.

"Jeremy is driving them back, we can stay here for the night." I said, "let's get fucking wasted,"

Zac smiled, and I felt the room brightened, "I knew I should have been the one to drive, guess we are getting wasted then." He got up steadily, while I struggled to stand straight. Zac sighed and grabbed my arm, dragging me towards one of the empty rooms where people crashed when they were too wasted or wanted to hook up.

"No I want more drink! I'm not drunk enough," I whined, pulling him towards the kitchen. He didn't put up a fight and let himself to be dragged.

We ended up finishing another bottle of vodka, and when Kean found us, Zac was laying face planted on the kitchen floor. I was laughing for no reason. No I'm laughing because Zac is laying on the floor! Isn't that funny?

"No and you should help me get him up," Kean tried pulling Zac up, but Zac's too heavy for Kean. Kean was only 5'10, and a 5'10 guy trying to pull a 6'2 guy was something that was definitely hilarious.

"I said that out loud?" I didn't move until Kean glared at me and I finally helped him carry Zac, who was completely passed out.

"No, I could hear your thoughts," Kean said sarcastically, but my mind could not process it.

I gasped, "really?" Slowly we made our way back to one of the rooms.

"No," Kean snorted and dropped Zac on the bed.

"What do you mean?" I frowned, Kean was not making any sense at all.

"I mean that you are drunk right now, please go to sleep for the love of god," Kean sighed, and then he left.

Sleep didn't sound so bad, my head started to feel heavy. I walked out of the room and tried to find an empty room or couch to sleep, no such luck. All the rooms and couches were taken by passed out people or couples. The world began to spin; before the world dissolved, I managed to make my way back into Zac's room and flung myself onto the bed.