Summary

The prologue is narrated by Ashley in the first-person past. When she was five, the hills she lived in caught on fire and all the families in her Los Angeles neighborhood were evacuated from their expensive mansions.

“Chapter One” is narrated in the first-person present by Ashley. She and her three best girlfriends who she has known since kindergarten decide to skip school and hang out at Courtney’s pool. They are seniors, so they skip class quite frequently, though Ashley does not skip as much as they do. They usually go to the beach, but last weekend a man had been aggressively forward with Kimberly, so they do not want to return. Kimberly’s boyfriend, Michael, arrives with his best friend Trevor, who is going to be Ashley’s date to prom. They all decide to break into another pool near...