Beyond Education [Jemily]

Ready to Mingle

September 5, 2021
— JJ's POV
Up. Hit. Down. Catch. Up. Hit. Down. Catch. I was lying on my back on my dorm bed, tossing a bouncy ball up at the ceiling as my roommate, Penelope, was asking me for opinions on some outfits.

"What do you think of this skirt, Jayje? Too purple-y?"

"Purple-y isn't a word, Pen."

"Pretend it is for now, sourpuss. Answer my question so I can figure out what to wear tonight. Pleaseeee."

I caught the ball and paused for a minute to turn and look at her, "It's the perfect amount of purple-y for you."

"Yay!" She squealed and ran back into our bathroom to get the rest of her outfit together. She called out to me and asked, "Are you sure you don't wanna come with me to Chloe's party?"

"I won't know anyone there... I don't get how you made friends so fast, I'm not even friends with girls on the team yet!"

"Well it's only been two weeks, give yourself some time. If you wanna make friends then tonight's the perfect time to do that, pumpkin."

"Ugh, fine."

She came out of the bathroom and exclaimed, "Really?!"

"Sure. We can't be out too late, though. I have practice tomorrow morning before Criminology."

She buzzed, "Okay. Okay, okay that's fine. You need something to wear, though. I'll help. Oooh what about that red dress I saw you unpack last week?"

I shuffled through my wardrobe and pulled a dress out, "This one?"

"That's it!"

"What shoes should I wear?"

"Just throw on your white converse, that'll look cute." I followed her advice and shuffled my shoes on before hurrying to the bathroom to make my hair and face look presentable. Once I was ready, Penelope grabbed my hand and dragged me out of our room. We headed downstairs and walked outside onto the streets of New Haven.

I asked her, "Where is this thing?"

"She booked out some club a couple blocks away."

"Sounds expensive."

Penelope chuffed, "Cha." It didn't take very long to get there, and we knew exactly where the party was once we turned the corner of the street. There were clustered groups of people gathered outside, all of them smoking. I always thought that was a gross habit. Penelope and I headed inside, pushing our way through scattered bodies until she found the guy who invited her. She waved her hand up, "Derek!" A tall, buff jock smiled at us and set his drink down. Ever since she met him in some english class, he's all she's been able to talk about.

He wrapped Penelope in a hug, "How you doin, babygirl? Glad you could make it!" Babygirl. He turned to me and looked me up and down, "Who's your friend?"