21. First Party.

[Emily]

I froze because the voice did not belong to Ace, rather it belonged to Dave.

"Dave is talking to you." Jenny whispered and I nearly died of embarrassment as I turned to him.

"Yes, it's me." I croaked out and tried my best not to show my embarrassment.

Dave was the Ace of junior year, he was the handsome popular jock that everyone wanted to get with so the fact he knew my name and even recognized me was huge.

"I thought it was you, you're looking really cute, but I must say I'm surprised to see you here." He said and I was tongue tied.

"I'm going to leave you now." Jenny smiled sheepishly before leaving me with him.

I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me, I tried to signal her to come back but she was already gone, she looked back at me and mouthed some words and I glared at her retreating figure.

"Thank you." I turned to him and spoke because I didn't know what else to say.

"This is your first time at a party like this, right?" He asked and I nodded shyly.

"I guessed he smiled and grabbed my hand.

"Come with me, I'll introduce you to everyone, we can get some drinks and have fun together." He said and I had no power to stop my feet from moving with him.

"Everyone is out back." He said and as he pulled me along with him, I looked around for Jenny and I spotted her dancing and laughing with some people.

"Wait." I stopped him and pulled my hand out of his.

He looked at me confused and then his face colored in embarrassment, he was probably not used to being rejected by any girl.

"I'm sorry but I need to have a word with my friend." I said and he nodded.

"Cool." He said. "I'll go get us some drinks and come back to get you." He said and I nodded.

As I walked through the river of bodies pressed together, I couldn't help but get suspicious, Dave had never spoken to me before today and he was acting really strange like he was really interested in me.

I didn't really have any feelings for him but I could not deny that he was extremely handsome with his blonde rough curls, his green eyes and muscles, he also had piercings and they were like a huge turn on for me.

I remember starring at Ace's piercings the first time he spoke to me at the start of the school year.

"Jenny, what are you doing, you can't have alcohol." I grabbed the red cup from her hands and pushed it away.

"Come on, Emily, it's a party, try to loosen up and have fun." She slurred her words a bit and I wondered how she could be getting drunk already.

"Are you already drunk, so soon?" I asked.

"No, come on, I'm not such a light weight, this is nothing." She said gesturing to the red cup and I frowned.

"No more of this, Jen, you promised no drinking and that we'll return home once it's one o'clock."

"Yes of course, Emily, I haven't forgotten, go with him, I'll come find you when it's one." She said and pointed to Dave who was leaning against a wall, two cups in his hands and he was staring at me.

"What should I do, Jen?" I asked her, panicked.

"Remember what we talked about, have fun." She said and draped her hands over my shoulders. "Look, nothing will happen, it's just talk, if he begins to make you uncomfortable or tries to touch you indecently, you give me a call and your best friend promises to come dare and give him a piece of my mind." She said and she gave me a hug.

"Alright, Jen." I said and left.

"I envy your friendship with, Jenny." He started when I got to him. "Here." He said and gave me one of the red cups he was holding.

"Why?" I asked genuinely surprised.

He was acting very different from how I'd imagined him to, I'd imagined him to be a snub but he was actually really polite to me and it seemed that he genuinely wanted to have a conversation with me.

"It's real, I've watched you guys since, you truly care about each other." He said.

I didn't understand what he meant so I just kept quiet and kept following him.

Weren't all friendships like Jen and mine?

"Hey guys, guess who came to party." His voice became louder as he got to his friend group.

"Damn, she's hot man, where did you find her."

I frowned as each ot them began to describe me in their own ways.

"Gosh, I can't believe you guys don't know who this is." He laughed and at this point I was beginning to feel self-conscious.

"It's Emily from our grade, it isn't hard to recognize her, she's always been a cutie." He said and I felt myself blush.

"Wait, what?"

"No, you're right."

"The nerd has come alive." Someone said and they all began to laugh at me.

When I couldn't take their mocking again, I turned to leave and I walked a few feet away before he caught up to me.

"Where're you going?" He asked.

"Elsewhere." I said my head down.

"Don't take their teasing to heart, Emily, their just joking, they know that you look really good." He said.

What has my life turned to, I thought, before this year, Ace would never have spoken to me and neither would Dave and now they were both acting nice to me.

"Thank you." I smiled shyly at him, I'd resolved to follow Jenny's advise and just live a little.

"Look, if you're not comfortable hanging with them, we can go somewhere else." He said and I nodded. "Just wait for me, here."

After he left, I couldn't help but search for Ace in the crowd, Jenny said he would be here but I'd not seen him at all.

Olivia's backyard was very large and she had a huge pool, I walked towards it and I laughed as the people in the pool splashed water on themselves.

"If it isn't the nerd." Olivia sneered behind me and I turned to face her.

"Thanks for inviting me to your party." I said, ignoring her coldness.

"Why, I thank you for coming, in fact I didn't think you would show up at all, what did you do, drug your parents?" She laughed.

"Where are those minions of yours, I'm sure they can help you with a better insult." I shocked her and myself with my retort but she was just too annoying and I couldn't hold back.

"Oh we're right here, we were just getting our queen a drink." Brittany said and I nearly gagged.

Queen, how dare they disrespect that title like that, slut would do her just fine.

"Yes, by the way have you had anything to drink." Mandy asked and before I could replied, she poured the cup of alcohol down my dress.

"Oh my God, Mandy, you're so clumsy." Olivia gasped.

"What is wrong with you?" I yelled at her in anger.

"Oh come on, it was a mistake besides you're wearing a cheap black dress, the dress probably smells worse than alcohol anyway and it's black, so no stain there." Mandy sneered.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I started to feel uncomfortable with the liquid on my dress, I didn't want them to see me cry so I turned away hurriedly.

"Wait, wait, I'm sorry, let me show you to the bathroom, it's that way." Olivia said and held my arms.

"That's fine, I can find it on my—" I tried to remove my hand from her arm because I just knew that she couldn't have good intentions.

Before I even finished speaking, she pushed me into the huge pool behind me.

Everyone around began to laugh loudly as I fell into the pool.

Fear began to grip me as I fell into the cold pool, I began to sink fast to the floor of the pool and I began to panic and thrash around inside the pool, water filled my lungs as I screamed inside the water.

I never learnt to swim, my father never let me take lessons, it wasn't important to him but now as I drowned inside the pool, I made a pact with myself to learn how to swim if I ever managed to survive this ordeal.

So this is the end, this is how I die, I thought to myself as my vision blackened and my eyes began to close.

I felt the water deepen beside me and two pair of hands hoisting me upwards.

I saw the blurry face of two people trying to get me to breathe and vomit out water when I felt the cold tile of the floor on my back.

"How was I supposed to know she can't swim." Olivia cried beside me.

"You better pray nothing happens to her or it's over for you."