The Summer Everything Changed

Chapter 4

I got to the house the boys were at and felt a little nervous. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have come. But, I wanted to prove I was mature enough to hang out at a party and that I didn't need to be left behind. 

The door was open and music was blaring. There were tons of kids dancing, talking, and making out. I'd been to a few parties back home thrown by kids at school, but nothing to this extent. I've never been around anyone drinking who wasn't an adult.

A couple of guys saw me alone and came up to me.

"Hey, lil mama. You lost?", one of them asked. I think his name was Jason.

I chuckled nervously. "No, no. I just got here. I was at another party before this."

"Cool."

Another one started talking to me. Mike, maybe. "You need a drink?"

"Uh, no that's okay. I'm good."

"You sure?"

I was looking around the room to see if I could find any of the boys. "I'm sure."

They kept talking to me, but I wasn't paying attention. Just then, I spotted Nick holding hands with some guy.

"Nick!", I shouted. His head whipped around. He let go of the guy's hand and marched over to me.

"Jules? What are you doing here?" 

"I decided to come out and join you guys."

"How did you even get here?"

Jason cut in. "Hey, no need for the interrogation man." 

"Yeah, everything's chill", Mike added. "No need for jealousy."

"She's my sister, dumbass." If Nick wasn't mad before, he sure as hell was now. "She's only a sophomore, you know?"

"I'm going to be a junior this fall. I'm already 16." I tried to explain.

"Look man, we don't want any trouble."

Nick grabbed my hand and dragged me to a corner of the room. 

"We're leaving now. I'm going to find Matt and Chris. DON'T move."

I pulled my arm back. "No! I'm not leaving. You don't have to treat me like a baby. I'm fine."

The guy Nick was with before walked over to us. "Nick, you good?"

"Sorry, Aidan. I just need a second - "

I cut him off, "Hi Aidan. I'm Julie, Nick's sister."

"Nice to meet you."

"Aidan, I'm sorry. I have to take her home." Before I could argue, Chris noticed I was there and ran over.

"Jules? When did you get here?"

"Chris, can you stay with her for a second? I need to look for Matt so we can drive her home."

"Nick, relax. I'll watch her. Just hang out with Aidan."

Nick looked back and forth between me and Chris and sighed. He pointed at me, "Fine. But don't talk to random people and don't drink!"

I rolled my eyes. "Kay."

"I'm serious, Julianne."

Chris tried to reassure him. "Don't worry, Nick. She'll be fine."

He and Aidan walked away into the crowd.

I groaned. "He's so fucking annoying!"

Chris laughed at me and put his hands on my shoulders. "Listen, it's alright. He'll cool off."

A random voice yelled out for Chris.

"Look, I'll be right back okay? Then you and I can chill. I promise" He started to walk away then turned around to say, "I'm happy you're here, Jules". He smiled at me and then continued back to his crew. 

I sighed, low-key pissed that I was by myself again. I looked around the room and almost everyone had a red solo cup in their hand. I grabbed an empty one to try and blend in with the crowd. I went to find the kitchen to fill it with some water. It was so hot in here with all of these people. 

I walked in and saw Matt by the fridge. As I got closer, I saw he was kissing a girl. And her arms were all over him. I wanted to turn around and walk out, but someone shoved me and I fell to the ground.

"Julie?"

I was angry; internally raging. He'd make out with some random girl he just met, but couldn't even talk to me for five minutes back at the house? A girl he's known practically all of his life?

I got up and looked him in the eye. "Hello, Matt. Having fun with Malibu Barbie?"

"Excuse me? Who are you?", she asked angrily.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Julie. Don't," Matt interjected.

"I'm Kayla", she said hesitantly.

"Well, Kayla, thanks for taking your tongue out of his mouth long enough to introduce yourself."

She looked at Matt, dumbfounded.

"Julie, you're such a fucking brat!"

"And you're a dick!" I waited for him to respond, but he just looked away. I shook my head in disbelief and walked out.