Califournia Love

The Party

**Jesse's POV**

I can't stop worrying about tonight. Tonight is the party and I know I'm supposed to have fun and let loose but I just can't shake the anxiety. I invited Andy and told her to bring her friends too but now I think I am regretting it. Not because I don't want to see her, but because I am afraid of rejection. What if she shows up and completely changes her mind about coming? I can't stand to think about that anymore so I get up and run to the kitchen. I sit next to Zach at the table and grab an apple. As I take a bite, I can't help but notice Zach giving me a very strange look.

"Can I help you?" I ask. He just laughs and looks at his phone.

"So uh Mikey tells me that you have been really stressed out about a girl. Andy or someone. He also tells me that you invited her to my party tonight. Tell me about this girl?" I should have known Zach would make me feel super uncomfortable about this.

"She's just a girl. An incredible girl, actually. Wait, she's the girl that I ran into at the burger place a few weeks ago! You remember her, right?" Oh no. What did I say? The moment I stopped talking I noticed that Zach's face changed from curious to disappointed.

"Oh. Yeah I know who you are talking about. I got to go to the store. You want anything?" Zach quickly gets up, grabs his keys and walks out the door before I can answer him. Rude. Maybe I did need something. Hmmm..that was weird, right? What the hell has gotten to him? Ugh he's probably upset that I invited a bunch of random people. Oh well, Zeeko. Oh well.

**Andy's POV**

Stacy and I are sitting on my bed trying to figure out the plan for today. We still have a lot of things to do but there was no way I am missing the party.

"So uh you're going to the party with me, right? I don't want to go alone." I say it in a way that made it seem like she doesn't have an option. Which she doesn't.

"Yeah of course. Maybe I will track down a really hot guy there. Who knows? And I'm probably going to end up borrowing something to wear." She says as she looks through my closet.

"Well unless you want to wear my 8th grade graduation dress or something in my dirty laundry pile, go right ahead. I got nothing either."

"Well I guess we can't go..." I can feel Stacy tense up a little as she said that.

"Shut up, we are NOT missing this! We can go naked for all I care." I explain as I throw my pillow at her.

"Haha I bet everybody would enjoy that. We will be the talk of the year! Anyways, I ran into Shane today."

I was speechless. It has been such a long time since I heard that name.

"What? What did he say? Did he seem well? I hope so.."

"Yeah he seemed well! He asked if I kept in contact with you. I kinda told him that you were here...please don't be mad at me!"

Shane was an ex best friend...and ex boyfriend. Stacy, Shane, and I were the best group of friends. We did everything together and hung out every weekend from elementary school to Junior year in high school. In our freshman year, Shane told me that he loved me and of course I said I loved him back. I was so oblivious to what exactly his intentions were. We went to all of the dances together but we were a bit confused about our relationship. Were we friends or more? We just didn't agree on that. Then one of the girls on the dance team started a horrible rumor that I was sleeping around and I was cheating on Shane and I heard a few people actually accuse me of being pregnant! After that, Shane moved away and we never spoke again. It was one of the worst things that happened in my entire high school career.