After we agreed to go to the Lakewood Shopping Mall for breakfast, we went back upstairs to our rooms because each of us desperately needed a shower and fresh clothes.

The remnants of yesterday's party and the smell of alcohol were still clearly on us. Moreover, neither Collin nor Blake had even bothered to change for bed, as Ashton noted with horror.

When we met in the garage about three quarters of an hour later, we looked fresh and presentable again. We drove into town in Ashton's black Range Rover. Everyone was lost in their own thoughts and the only thing to be heard was the quiet hum of the...