Like To Be You ✓

seventeen

Happy New Year! <3

o-o-o

The soccer afterparty seems boring when I get out of the Uber and look up at Jasper Moore's mansion. No fancy lights, no people spilling out the doors, no miscellaneous trash littering the tables or porch.

It's only after we enter we can hear the buzz of the party. We walk past the lobby where only a few people loiter and I open the door to the living room, from where a gust of warm air meets us. The lights are low and the music is typical hey-I'm-Mike-and-I'll-dj-for-20-dollars-an-hour-type.

The bar is directly at the other side of the entrance, so I make a beeline for it with Zayne closely following me. A few people stop us on the way to say hi, but I try to avoid them, because I need alcohol to deal with so many people from my school, especially the dumb jocks. I begin the night with a beer, deciding to start from weak to strong alcoholic concentrations.

"Choose one." The dude says, uncapping my beer bottle. He jerks his head towards an array of colourful plastic cups. I read the labels underneath them. Pink has 'taken', red has 'single', blue has 'dtf', and green has 'not interested'.

"Blue." I say. He grabs a cup from the diminishing stack and pours my beer.

Behind me, Zayne cracks up. "I'll have the green one please."

We grab our beers, and then before we can get to the other side of the room to watch people dance [def. Spasm like a lizard's cut tail or bob their heads with a hand in the air.], Zayne is pulled away by some people from the Drama Club who are drunk as a skunk.

"Neil!" Zayne's hand reaches out for mine, pure terror in his eyes as the crowd swallows him.

"Whoops," I say, and wander towards the sitting area. Meera from advanced chemistry swivels on a barstool, and I go join her.

"Since when were you in a relationship?" I blink at the pink cup in her hand.

"Oh no," Meera says and takes a big gulp. "It's just to keep boys away. Especially Jack." She grumbles the last two words into her cup.

"What about Jack?" I say, because I fucking love gossip. "You guys are friends, right?"

She looks down at her shoes, neon blue Puma ones, and tucks a lock of her dark, fascinatingly wavy hair behind her ear. "The asshole asked me out, I said yes, perfect date night, and then he acts like nothing happened. Nothing. He even gave me a 'my best friend' sticker yesterday in front of everybody. Like, what the fuck?"

"Dang." I say.

"Yeah." She shrugs. "But I've ensured that he knows this cup isn't for him 'cus he ain't shit."

"Yaaaas, girl." I say and lamely pump my fist.

"Please don't do that again."

"Kay-O."

She sighs. "Boys suck."

"Amen."

We tip our cups in cheers. Then Jack appears behind her, all fidgety, and I make myself comfortable in my chair.

"Meera?" He puts a hand to her shoulder.

She whips around, eyes wide and angry, and barks, "What?"

He looks at me, then back at her. "Could we talk some place private?"

"No. Take your fucking complicated issues to a girl who'll be stupid enough to listen." She swivels back around and glares at her cup.