I’ve never actually been to one, but this isn’t what I expected of a high school party. I pass another couple making out by the pool, then move out of the way as I’m nearly splashed by a guy and girl flirting and playing grab-ass in the sloshing water.
“Hey, you made it!”
I turn in the direction of the voice and see Mallory coming toward me wearing a smile and a peach-colored bikini, but curiously lacking her entourage again. I think I can count on one hand how many times I’ve seen Mallory without Anae and Shawna in a social setting, and now she’s approached me alone twice.
I offer back a smile. “Yeah, here I am.”
“Great.” Her smile widens. She turns and gestures to a wet bar area. “You can grab a drink over there. We’ve got everything. Here, I’ll take your purse and put it in the coatroom.”
My grip on my purse tightens. “Oh, that’s all right. I’ll keep it on me.”
Her eyebrows rise in surprise. “It’ll be kinda hard to swim and keep track of it. Not like any of the poor people are here tonight, but—” She freezes, realizing what she said.
I offer a thin smile. “It’s fine. I’m not going in the pool. I have to keep my phone close in case my mom needs me, so… thanks, anyway.”
“Are you sure?”
Déjà vu hits as she adopts the look of a lost robot. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
“All right,” Mallory says, walking toward the bar and clearly expecting me to follow.
I do because I expect she won’t go away until I satisfy her, and I want to go find Janie. Maybe she’s inside.
Mallory lingers until I grab a drink—two, actually. There’s bottled water, which is what I grab, but she insists I have a real drink. She grabs bottles of liquor from behind the bar and makes me something herself.
I thank her and take the red Solo cup, then I make my way inside the house to look for my friend.
I find a lot of people inside—including one pair of definitely naked teenagers snuggled up beneath a fur blanket in the downstairs guest bedroom—but I don’t find Janie.
I suppose as many people as there are here, we may keep missing each other while we’re circulating. I find a corner off to myself where no one will bump into me, then I shift my drinks so I can reach into my purse and grab my phone.
I text Janie to ask where she is, but there’s no immediate response.
“Is that for me?”
I turn, startled, as a guy I vaguely recognize but don’t know the name of gets a little too close and takes the drink right out of my hand. “Um…” He takes a sip, watching me over the rim. “I guess it is now.”
He smiles, lowering the cup and moving closer. “I’m Kevin.”
“Hi, Kevin.”
“Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?”
“No.”
Inexplicably, he smiles like I’ve just said something sexy. “Hard to get, huh? I like it.”
I couldn’t be more turned off. “Not playing hard to get. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go look for my friend.”
I move around him and start heading back the way I came, but the guy follows me.
“I can be your friend.”
He says it like I’ll be enticed. I roll my eyes, hard. “No thanks.”
As aggressively as he began, I think he might keep coming, but fortunately, he seems to get the hint because when I look back, he isn’t there.
At least he took that drink I didn’t want off my hands. What a pal, that Kevin.
I check my phone once I get back out near the pool. There’s still nothing from Janie.
What the hell?
Someone shouts “hey!” behind me, but it doesn’t occur to me they could possibly be addressing me until someone grabs my shoulder and yanks me around.
I have to look up, my eyes widening as I look into the angry red face of Kalea Danson. I was in a group project with her once, and back when I used to sit with people at lunch, we sat at the same table a couple of times, but we don’t really know each other.
She’s definitely looking at me, though.
Angrily. Very angrily.
“Um… me?” I question.
Her eyes narrow. “Who else?”
I’m so confused. “I don’t know. Can I help you with something?”
“Yeah.” She shoves me and I fall back a couple of steps—not only because I’m taken completely off-guard, but because Kalea Danson is the only girl on the school wrestling team.
She’s huge.
I’m not.
I would never intentionally anger her.
“What the hell was that for?” I ask, not even angry, just confused.
She turns her phone around and shows me a picture of me and Kevin talking upstairs. It must have been when he first approached and took my drink. He’s definitely giving me a sexy look, but my back is turned, so you can’t see that I’m definitely not reciprocating.