Free All I Can't Resist by Kels Barnholdt

Chapter One
    I glance nervously around the parking lot and tug my already buttoned coat a little closer to my body. Somehow this seemed like a much better idea when I was sitting home alone a few hours ago, bored, watching season one of 90210 on DVD for the hundredth time.
    Now that I’m actually here though, I’m starting to think my best option is to turn around, run right back to my car, and drive straight home without a second thought.
    “Come on, Chels,” my friend Veronica says, taking a swig out of the water bottle full of vodka that she stole out of her parents’ liquor cabinet, “we can’t just sit in the car all night.” I sigh. Somehow I always get myself into these types of situations with her.
    Veronica and I have been friends since we were like four. She’s a really good friend and has this really big heart, but she’s also kind of um…crazy. I don’t mean literally crazy in the head. I just mean she’s kind of carefree. She doesn’t worry about what could go wrong in a situation. She just lives for the moment. Unlike me, who worries about every little thing. I worry about things that haven’t even happened yet, and about things that probably never will happen.
    “I know,” I tell her, looking around my car for something that could possibly buy me a little more time. “I’m just thinking.”
    She shrugs and throws back her head, finishing what’s left in the water bottle.
    Yikes, now she’s going to want to go in for sure. A Veronica without alcohol is not a happy Veronica.
    “Thinking about what?” she asks me. “What could go wrong?”
    Jeez, I don’t know. We could get caught using fake IDs at the bar. They could call my parents, or even the police. Somehow entering my senior year with a criminal record and grounded for the rest of my life doesn’t sound like the best idea.
    She must see the look on my face because before I can say anything she goes,
    “Don’t answer that.” Then she swings the door open and before I can protest she’s marching across the parking lot toward the entrance of the bar.
    I shake off my nerves, push all thoughts out of my mind, and jump out of the car before I have time to change my mind again. I glance down at my outfit for the millionth time as I run to catch up with her. Jeans and a light blue sweater. I look like I just stepped out of a Gap catalogue, which isn’t exactly a bad thing. It isn’t exactly sexy, either.
    Veronica, on the other hand, looks like she belongs in a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. Her dress is short, black, and tight. She has it paired with white high heels, hoop earrings, and red lipstick. Her blonde hair is flowing in perfect curls down her back.
    I run my hand through my straight brown hair and try to remind myself that it doesn’t matter what I look like. It’s not like I have anyone to impress anyway.
    “What if they know they’re fakes?” I plead.
    Veronica stops in her tracks and turns to look me in the eye. “Chelsea, relax, the IDs are legit. They were like eighty bucks. Nothing that expensive is a scam.”
    I roll my eyes. This is exactly what I mean when I say Veronica doesn’t worry about anything. Nothing that expensive can be a scam? Yeah, right. This is 2013.
    Scammers live for this type of shit.
    “The only thing that’s going to throw up a red flag is you if you don’t knock it off,” she continues, unzipping her wristlet and smothering her already red lips with more lipstick.
    “Me?” I squeak.
    She nods and tosses the tube of lipstick back inside her clutch, “Yes, you. They’re going to suspect something is off if you keep acting all jittery. Now just breathe, and relax. I have this all under control. Just follow my lead.” And before I know it, she’s walking again and I’m, as always, a step behind.
    Once inside Veronica marches right through the restaurant part of the entrance and into the bar. She does it effortlessly, like she’s here all the time. I’m not sure what I was