The Five Steps | Jensoo

Chapter 6

Jisoo

As soon as I step inside the hallway is plastered with people I've never seen before and I can feel my hands clam up.

The urge to bolt is strong but I remind myself, Stick to the plan. Get a drink. Pretend like I belong.

Find Chaeyoung. Then... hope that she's alone too and looking for a familiar face to hang with. I mean, it's been a day. She can't have made that many friends yet, right?

I keep my eyes peeled as I squeeze through the crowd, taking note of the bathroom in case I need a second alone. I find my way into the kitchen and grab a red cup off the stack. I hold it against the ice dispenser attached to the fridge and peek back at the drink selections: a keg of beer, a half empty six pack of Mike's Hard, three handles of Fireball, and some cans of Coke, so it takes me a minute to realize no ice is coming out.

"That's busted," a big sweaty boy says, coming up beside me with a cup filled with a brown liquid that's probably not juice. "Here. You gotta..." He rips the freezer door open with his free hand and I jump out of the way as he pulls an actual hatchet out of the back. I watch with horror as he hacks away at the ice, his drink sloshing out of his cup and all over my arm before I can dodge it.

Yep. Definitely not juice.

"Uh thanks," I say as he bare hands a chunk of ice and drops it into my cup. He grunts, throws the hatchet once more to the back of the freezer, and then lumbers away like nothing happened. I make my way over to the bar and pour myself a can of Coke. No one needs to know there's nothing else in it. Probably not the best moment for my first drink.

I head through the other doorway out of the kitchen where a plastic beer pong table is set up in what should probably be a dining room. I find an open spot against the wall and try to pretend like I'm riveted by the four guys tossing a couple of balls back and forth into the cups. It actually hurts to see them doing it when they could be using them for what they're really meant for. The beautiful game.

And then it gets worse, a blur of white coming right at me.

I could duck.

I could put my hand up and block it.

But I do absolutely none of those things. Fifteen sets of eyeballs watch a Ping Pong ball bounce directly off the center of my forehead and drop into my Coke.

"Sorry!" A guy shouts from across the table.

My face immediately fills with heat and I know it must be redder than the cup I'm holding. The room explodes with cheers and claps as a boy in an unbuttoned polo shirt takes my drink and chugs the whole thing then spits the ball out onto the floor, barely missing my shoes.

"Is this just Coke?" He scrunches his face up at me and I go into full panic mode.

"What? No. It's–" He burps, handing me the cup back before I can come up with something. I don't look at him or anyone else around me. I just make a beeline for the bathroom that I passed earlier.

I close the door and click the lock behind me.

"Jisoo what the hell..." I run my fingers through my hair and drop my elbows onto either side of the sink. I should've stayed home.

I'm in a new place surrounded by new people but the truth is... I haven't changed a bit. I've just been lying to myself, pretending like I could be someone different here. It's becoming abundantly clear that no matter what changes happen around me I'll always be the same Kim Jisoo. No friends. No life. No chance in hell that Chaeyoung would ever even talk to me, let alone go out with me.