Don't Give up on Me

Zacky POV

There was a feeling of teenage exuberance in the air as the party swelled around us. After a long list of things Violet and Charlotte had prepared for us, we finally got to relax. No more negotiating with dealers, no more using fake I.D.'s to get alcohol. We were allowed to bask in the glory of the party around us, Violet's large house filled nearly to the brim with people, teens spilling into the backyard.

"HEY! Hey! I wanna make a toast, guys," Jimmy says, making me peel my eyes away from Andi's curvacious form a few feet away and look over to him. "To the best party we'll ever throw!"

"Jimmy, you say that every time," Charlotte rolls her eyes, yet touches her cup to the rest of ours before taking a long swig.

"Only because always seem to out-do ourselves, Charles," he grins, ruffling her hair before bounding off into the crowd. She only laughs, her brown eyes sparkling.

"So why aren't you over there flirting with Andi?" she asks suddenly.

I laugh. "I could ask you the same thing about Brian, you know."

She shrugs. "Okay, you've got me there. But he's too busy trying to make me jealous by flirting with Serena the Village Skank right now..."

"How the fuck did she even know about this? I swear we told ev-"

"Zack, she's on the dance team with us. The girls don't keep shit like this private like we told them," she cuts me off. "Is is so wrong that his childish tactic is working?"

I give her a small smile of sympathy. "Why is he trying to make you jealous? Another argument?"

She nods. "Isn't that how it always is?"

"Go talk to him, Char. Its obviously bothering you. Go make nice with him, but keep his ego in mind," I tell her. She groans.

"That's what the problem is in the first place!" she starts to walk away, but then turns around. "And take your own advice. Go talk to Andi. Before you explode."

Taking my cue, I walk over to where the short redhead stood. She was talking to my friend Jason and his girlfriend, her large blue eyes vibrant as she talked animatedly.

"Dude, where has this chick been? She's fucking awesome!" Jason grins. I could already tell he'd had a few drinks, so his usual filter was completely down and he said whatever he thought.

"She's been in Austin, man," I shrug.

"She has honorary California girl status," Logan, Jason's girlfriend grins. She had natural blonde, almost white hair and the largest plugs I'd ever seen on a girl, the dimples of her smile pierced as well as her nose.

"Hell yeah!" Jason says before someone taps him on the shoulder. "Oh, we've gotta go, babe. Later!"

"He's... really honest," Andi says when the pair leaves, a wry smile on her face.

"He's drunk," I correct her. "He's a cool dude, both sober and intoxicated, though."

She laughs, the attractive sound making its way to my ears above the noise of the party. There may be hundreds of people surrounding us, but I could only focus on her. Everything else was blocked out. And I couldn't pinpoint why I was so drawn to her like this. Maybe it was the alcohol clouding my thoughts, but I don't remember her ever looking this pretty. Her long red hair fell in waves to her narrow waist, the material of her simple white vneck clinging to her every curve. Long legs peaked out of her black denim shorts, her skin still managing to hold a healthy looking tan, though her skin was so sensitive. She just looked hot, although, I thought that everyday, even when she had come downstairs this morning.

"I'm going outside, care to join me?" she says, regaining my attention quickly. I nod and follow her through the sea of people to the French doors that lead to the backyard, where even more people were hanging out. Many of them were enjoying the pool, a few of the daring girls topless as they swam. I rolled my eyes as we kept walking, guys staring in awe as we passed the pool.

"Where are we going?" I finally dare to ask when we reach the back gate. She looks over and grins.

"We're going to the beach. I felt claustrophobic," she states, walking around the side of the houses.

I sigh. "Why? The party's here!"

"You get to go explore with me, dude, come on," she says, taking my hand and pulling me closer to her as we walked. Now, she was normally pretty confident, yet careful, but never like this. So, she definitely had to of had a drink or a few tonight, because she had lost some of the guard she always kept up.

Shrugging, I went along with it and tightened my grip on her small hand slightly, leading her the short distance to the sandy, private beach nearby. The silence between us felt comfortable. There was no pressure to say anything, since there wasn't much to say anyways.

As soon as we reached the end of the pavement, she kicks off her boots and socks, leaving her feet unprotected on the rough wood planks of the dock. Even in the moonlight, she looked damn fine, her hips swaying rhythmically as she walked. She looks over her shoulder and raises an eyebrow, catching me in the act of yet again staring at her. "Are you coming or what?" she asks, turning around and crossing her arms.

"I'm coming, girl, chill," I tell her, joining her seconds later. "You're awfully impatient."

She rolls her eyes. "You're awfully slow, get your ass over here." I chuckle quietly as she takes my hand again and pulls me along until she suddenly stops, sitting on the edge, her barefeet just barely touching the water.

"So what's the real reason why you left the party?" I ask, looking out at the dark waves rolling in onto the sand.

"Like I said, I felt claustrophobic. Too many people were there. Most of the guys were pretty creepy, too," she sighs, twisting the cap off of the beer she'd swiped out of a cooler as she left. She takes a swig and sets it down with a dull thud. "And you know, you're not."

"I'm not what?"

She rolls her eyes. "You're not creepy. As far as I know, anyways."

I laugh. "Oh. Thanks, I guess?"

Andi lights a cigarette and looks at the sky, the moonlight and dull bright of the cherry at the end the only light illuminating her face. "You know, there are more stars out here than I thought there would be."

"What do you mean?" I ask, following my gaze up to the sky. Wispy clouds stretched across the sky lazily, the stars twinkling dominantly through them. The almost full moon shined brightly in the dark purple sky.

"Well, in Texas, the only way you could see them is if you went out to the lake, or to the country and camped out. And over the summers, I looked forward to seeing the stars. Because they're just... there. No star you see right now is the same one that'll shine tomorrow. It takes two years for a stars' light to reach the Earth, did you know that?" she asks expectantly, taking a long hit. I shook my head, urging her to continue.

"So, say that one, for instance," she points to a bright one in the center of the sky. "That little guy, he's shinin bright right now. But poof! He could be gone, right this instant, and we wouldn't know because it took two years for its light to reach us. Its fascinating, if you think about it."

I try my hardest to come up with a response that wouldn't make me sound like a total idiot. "I don't expect you to respond, by the way. I just wanted to say it," she says, taking another hit before slowly blowing out velvety smoke.

"You know, I've never been camping before. What's it like?" I ask. She flicks the butt of the cigarette into the water and purses her lips.

"Well, its a lot like what it looks like on tv: the bathrooms are gross, the lake is somewhat nasty, and the mosquitos suck," she replies.

I chuckle. "So its terrible?"

"I never said that," she grins. "Its fun. You've gotta go with the right people, though, or else its not gonna be a good time. And bring plenty of food. You can't depend on 7-11 for everything. By the way, I'm honestly really shocked you've never gone camping."

"I grew up on this very beach, Andi, do you really think anyone within a 100 mile radius of the Hollywood Hills goes camping?" I scoff, then realize how awful that sounded. "We go surfing instead," I add on quickly, mentally kicking myself.

She laughs. "You're spoiled. But that's okay. I'm gonna change you, that's a promise."

You already have, I think to myself. But I didn't tell her that. I couldn't come off like one of those guys.

"Don't go making another promise. We still haven't gone to that concert," I remind her instead.

"You haven't made yourself worthy!" she snaps, her blue eyes dangerously flirtatious. "And I never break my promises. Ever."

"Mmhmm. Okay. We'll see," I say, using all three phrases that I'd learned that she hated over the past couple of months.

"Shut up, Zacky," she groans. "I'm starting to regret coming here with you..."

"I'm not that bad."

"Yeah, you are."

"Not really."

She laughs. "You're so different."

"Is that a bad thing?"

She shakes her head, her eyes locking with mine. "No. No, its a great quality to have."

And the way she looked at me for those five short seconds made me believe that she meant what she said. But, it didn't last. It never could; she never let her guard down long enough for me to delve into what made Andi, well, Andi.

"So who should I go camping with?" I ask after a few moments of comfortable silence.

"Me, obviously."

"Just you?"

"Yup," she says, her bottom lip popping the p as she drug the word out.

"That doesn't sound like much fun," I say jokingly, causing her to stand up and try to walk away.

"I'm just kidding, Jesus Christ!" I tell her, tugging on her hand and pulling her back down beside me.

"I wonder why I hang out with you sometimes," she mutters, shaling her head. "You're such an asshole."

"And you're a bitch. We've been over this, babe," I reply, picking up my own drink and taking a drink.

She laughs softly. "I actually wish people were more like you at school. Most of the people here aren't nearly as cool as I expected."

"That's life for you, Andi," I shrug. "I mean, not everyone can be as cool as me."

"Or me! You see, this is wh-" she starts to say, but the sound of a police siren cuts her off.

"Shit," we both mutter, tossing our drinks over the edge of the dock in less than a second. "Let me hold your pack," I tell her firmly. She looks at me as if I'm insane.

"Your shorts are tight as fuck, Andi, they show. Just let me hold them."

Her eyes narrow. "Have you been staring at my ass?"

"This REALLY isn't the time to discuss that!" I hiss. Sighing, she slyly hands over the pack of Marlboro's and I slide them into my pocket.

"I've got a plan. Follow my lead," she whispers in my ear. She leans into my side and hides her face in my neck, and pretends to cry. I ignored the way it made my blood flow and I focused on the officer quickly approaching.

"Isn't it a bit late to be out for a swim?" The officer asks as he arrives. I felt all hope of getting out of this when I recognized him; he was the same cop that gave me my first ticket, and my first arrest.

We're fucked, I think bitterly.

"We weren't swimming, sir," she says quietly, and if I hadn't known it was an act, I'd of believed that she was crying for a long time. "Just trying to relax."

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

She takes a deep breath before speaking. "Well, you see, my mother left my father earlier this year, and ever since, he and I have been butting heads. We had a fight over my grades tonight so I went for a walk, but my.. boyfriend followed me; he didn't want me out all alone."

I try not to react to the fact that she called me her boyfriend, no matter if it was part of a lie. "There are some real creeps out there, babe."

"Well, whatever the reason may be, its past curfew for minors," the officer says in a matter-of-fact tone. "And this is a private dock, so you're both tresspassing."

"Sir, we didn't know this was private property," Andi says. "There were no signs marking it when we walked here."

"There's a sign marking it very clearly right there," the cop snaps, pointing to a medium sized sign in front of the sidewalk we walked on only moments before.

I guess in our buzzed state, we didn't see it.

Shit.

"Can I get you both to stand up for me?" he asks, then takes out his flashlight. "Why are your pupils dilated?"

"I was crying, sir," she lies, though we both knew that if he bought our lie before, he wasn't now.

"Lemme guess, your boyfriend was too?" he scoffs. "Don't try to play me a fool, the other reason I got called out here was because of a party a couple of blocks away. Got a little too loud, too rowdy, and we had to shut it down."

Our poker faces hadn't faltered yet, though our confidence definitely did. "So, do you two wanna lie to me some more before I take you both to the station, or do you want to just get it over with?"

"You can't prove anything," Andi says. "That's against the law, you haven't even told us what we're being taken down for!"

"Watch who you're talking to, miss," the officer barks into her face. I push her behind me; no one should talk to a girl like that, no matter if they were in uniform or not.

"Don't speak to her like that. Just tell us why you're taking us down and we'll oblige," I say cooly, standing eye to eye with him.

"You're tresspassing on private property, its past eleven, AKA, the city curfew for minors, and I smell alcohol on both of you. Therefore, I have to take you down to the station. Understand?" he says slowly to us, as if we were children.

"Wasn't so hard, was it?" Andi mutters. I squeeze my eyes shut, groaning internally. The cop grabs both of our arms and leads us both down the dock, pausing briefly to let Andi put her boots back on before pushing us towards his squad car.

"You have the right to remain silent," he begins to quote the Miranda Rights as he tightens handcuffs around our wrists. Andi yelps as he tightens hers, her eyes shut as she delt with the pain before he opened the door for her.

"Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, the court will appoint one to you. Are these conditions clear?" the officer says. We only stare at him before he shoves us both into the cramped backseat.

"Well, I told you we were gonna have an adventure," she says quietly to me, winking.

"Be quiet," the officer says as we pull off of the gravel road and onto the neighborhood's paved road.

"Its one of my rights as a-" she starts to say, but I nudge her with my knee to keep her quiet. As much as I wanted to hear what she had to say back to him, I didn't want us spiraling deeper into the shithole we were in.

He pulls onto the neighborhood of where the party was. "Both of you, I've been asked to come here as well, so I'll be back. In the meantime, don't do anything stupid."

"Its kind of hard when we're in handcuffs!" Andi says angrily as he gets out. He slams the door, not even acknowledging her as he walked over to a few other cops in the front yard.

"Was that true, what you said about your mom?" I ask to fill the silence.

"Yeah," she replies quietly. "It actually happened last year, but yeah. All true."

"I'm sorry," I tell her genuinely. She only shakes her head.

"God, the cops here are bigger assholes than the ones in Austin. Holy shit," she changes the subject, laying back against the seat.

I chuckle. "Last year, I had this performance at the Open House for school with my band- we sucked, by the way- and the next morning, they arrested me because they thought I stole microphones and shit. That sucked, especially since I was in Green's class when they came and got me."

"Is that why he hates you?" she asks with a grin. I nod. "Damn, that's actually kind of awesome- the arrested at school part, anyways."

"Eh. I couldn't play baseball the following spring because it happened again," I shrugged.

"I've honestly only gotten tickets," she sighs. "I got zip-tied once after I got into a fight with this girl at school. But never arrested."

"What?!" I exclaim, completely surprised. "Why'd you fight her?"

"My boyfriend at the time was cheating on me with her. She was my best friend, too, and she was trying to say the only reason they were fucking was because I had gone out of town for a few weeks without contacting anyone." She rolls her eyes. "Its not like it was on purpose..."

I soon realized that she had grown completely serious, as her tone had lost its confidence and instead became more sad. Part of me wanted to put an arm around her to comfort her, but I soon remembered that hey, you're a dumbass and are in handcuffs.

She sighs. "Its over with. I kicked her ass, and then I moved here. The end."

"Is that Matt?" I say aloud with a raised eyebrow as one of the officers pulls a tall guy that looked very similar to Matt in handcuffs to another squad car.

"Shit, that's Violet with him too," Andi sighs. "Damn, we're dropping like flies..."

We watch all of our friends either run past us- as many kids were doing- or join us in the back of squad cars. So far, it was us, Matt, Violet, Johnny, and our friend Matt Wendt get pushed into the same backseat fate we had.

"So... nice plan, earlier. Telling him I was your boy-"

"Don't look too far into it, Baker," she interrupts with a sly grin. "You're going to have to do a lot more than that if you wanna be my boyfriend, just saying."

"Is that a challenge, Dawson?"

"Take it how you like."

"Well, challenge accepted."