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on her ass.
    “We should head back,” I called out to her.
    “No, no! Please!” She ran over to me, her skin was cool with sweat and her hair was no longer perfect and elegant. “You’re leaving again soon and I want to spend as much time together as possible.”
    Her lips drooped in an attempt to convince me to stay. I sighed. “Fine, five more minutes but then we’re leaving. What do you want to do?”
    She perked up as if I’d said something interesting.
    “Swim!” she shouted. “I want to swim!”
    I cocked an eyebrow at her. “We’re on a sports field. Where are you going to go swimming?”
    “The waterfall!” She jumped to her feet and began running across the field. I stared after her, there was no waterfall here.
    “There’s no waterfall here! The closest waterfall is—” My heart dropped into my stomach and she disappeared from sight.
    The closest waterfall was outside the protection of the charms. I kicked off my shoes and sprinted across the field, oblivious to any of the alcohol’s effects.
    “Mila!” I yelled after her. “Mila!”
    Mr. Aleksandrov and Eli were going to kill me.

 
    I promise

    U p in the sky, the moon shone down upon me. I looked back and forth, searching for Mila amongst the mass of tangled branches and thorn bushes. My feet crushed over a bed of dried leaves, filling in the haunting void of silence. My breathing quickened and my head spun as I tried to navigate through the woods. My clutch was still hanging off my wrist by its small strap. I grabbed for it desperately, pulling out Eli’s whistle. I had brought it to the party to give back to him, but I hadn’t had enough alcohol to work up the courage to do so. As I held it, it occurred to me that I’d never used the whistle before, I wasn’t even sure how it actually worked, but I blew it anyway. I’d rather deal with Eli’s wrath than Mila’s death. The forest was alive with nocturnal scurrying noises. I couldn’t see her, but that didn’t change things. I knew she was out here somewhere. It wasn’t until I saw her silver dress shimmer in the moonlight that I relaxed a little. She was leaning against a tree. The forest had fallen silent and her sobs filled the air. I ran over to her.
    “Mila?”
    “I’m lost,” she cried.
    “I know. Let me take you back.”
    “I don’t want to go back… I hate it there!” Her voice was loud and broken.
    “Just come with me.” I reached out and touched her shoulder.
    She turned abruptly and her eyes narrowed in on me. “Come with you? Why? So you can leave me again?” A funny slur altered her speech.
    My mouth dropped open and an offended gust of air came out. I thought all was forgiven last night. Alcohol—magnifying bad feelings since—forever. “Mila, why are you doing this? I thought we sorted everything out?”
    “Because—” she bent over and pulled a leaf off the ground, splitting it with her long nails. “I can’t stand my life. It’s boring. Since you left, things have gone back to normal. I hate normal. I have no friends and no real family… nothing.”
    It had never occurred to me to question where Mila’s parents were. It had always been just her and Mr. Aleksandrov.
    “You have me.”
    “What good is a friend who’s only there for you a few weeks at a time? Who ignores you for a whole year?”
    I reached for her arm. “We can talk about this when we get back to the school.”
    She recoiled away from me, angry at something I’d thought we’d gotten over.
    “No. I’m taking a page out of the Ruby Moore handbook and I’m running away from my problems.”
    I flinched at her words. She doesn’t mean it , I thought, fighting against the part of me that wanted to leave her here. She’s drunk . I wonder how accurate the saying ‘ a drunk man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts’ actually is?
    “Mila? I’m sorry. I’ll stay with you if that’s what you want.”
    Mila collapsed into a crying heap on the forest floor. “It should