Elena Cruz
Elena fell asleep without meaning to. One minute she was working on the assignment, the next she was waking up disoriented with her laptop still open beside her and drool on her pillow. She blinked at her phone.
9:47 PM.
She’d been asleep for almost three hours. Drifted to sleep the moment Lila left . Elena sat up, groggy and confused about what had woken her. Then she heard it.
Music. Laughter. Voices carrying up from downstairs.
She got out of bed and opened her door. The sounds were clearer now. Multiple people talking over each other. Glass clinking. The unmistakable buzz of a party happening somewhere below.
She walked to the top of the stairs and looked down.
The entire first floor had been transformed. People filled the living room and spilled out onto the back pat
