He spun the cap back onto the bottle and tightened it, slowly becoming aware of a figure in the periphery of his vision.

Mari. So he hadn't escaped her after all.

Still, she hadn't approached him yet. She hadn't started talking yet, so there was still time for him to take his drink and get out of there.

Maybe he'd just put a little more in it in case she followed first...

There was a girl standing next to Mari, all legs and green hair. Ciaran didn't pay that much attention to other people, but he was pretty sure only one girl in school had green hair.

She seemed rather nice, actually.

Picking up his fuller glass, Ciaran snaked through the people in the kitchen, back out into the house.