My (Not So) Charmed Life

Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots Everybody

No such luck. In fact, for someone who had just yesterday told me that I was better off hiding at home than going to school, I had never seen someone so excited for me to leave the house. She all but pushed me up to my room to find a cute outfit for the party, and even offered to let me borrow clothes from her closet, something that she had never let me do before. She all but pushed me in the direction of my room, instructing me to find a cute outfit and have fun.

I stepped into a shower, hoping that the warm water would calm me down and make me forget that in a few short hours, I would be attending my very first high school party. It wasn't like I had never been invited to a party before. I was unpopular, but Shira wasn't, and she always begged me to go with her. I was so awkward in social situations, so the idea of standing in a corner alone while everyone around me hooked up and got wasted was my idea of hell. I was perfectly happy being a wallflower through high school.

I got out of the shower, wrapped a towel around myself and sat down on my bed. I had no idea what to wear. Huffing out a breath, I got up and put on some underwear and then surveyed my closet. Did I wear a dress or jeans? I wasn't sure what kind of clothes a person should wear to a party. I'd seen movies, but could Mean Girls really be a reliable source? Not to mention how much I had hated the dress that Lindsay Lohan had worn to her own party in that movie.

After changing my outfit four times, I finally settled on one. I wore a black top with a V-neck and flowing sides, dark wash skinny jeans and a pair of black wedges from my mom, since I almost never wore heels. I added some silver eyeshadow and mascara and a tiny dab of lipgloss, trying not to go overboard and look trashy. As an afterthought, I fastened my monogrammed necklace around my neck, spritzed on some perfume and headed downstairs with ten minutes to spare before Shira would come to pick me up.

Always right on time, Shira honked her horn at exactly 8. I left the house as quickly as possible to avoid my mom, who was probably looking for me so that she could document the moment that I leave for my first party. I had had the foresight to grab a small cross body bag, and I'd stuffed it with a spare phone charger, a twenty dollar bill, hand sanitizer, gum and band aids just in case. Shira picked up my bag and rifled through it, rolling her eyes at my emergency stash.

She turned up the radio, and I groaned at the Ariana Grande song playing. I hated radio music. Taking pity on me, Shira gestured to the glove compartment and I took out the CD that I kept in her car for times like this. Skipping to song number five on the list, I relaxed in my seat as "Therapy," by All Time Low came on. By the time we pulled up to Mason's house, it was almost 8:30, and I was seconds away from hyperventilating. What if I got kicked out of the party? I was a total geek; I didn't belong at a party like this? If I left now, I could probably get home in time to watch 13 Going on 30 on Netflix before I fell asleep.

But before I could convince myself to go home, Shira steered me into the house and I was in sensory overload. There were so many people!

I recognized two of Lacey's friends, Kimberly and Teagan, practically grinding on two guys from the football team in the middle of the room. Lacey was close to them, doing some dirty dancing of her own with Bradley's friend Marc. I couldn't believe how she could ever want to dance with anyone else when she had Bradley.

If Bradley was mine, I wouldn't ever look at another boy ever again. Behind Lacey, I spotted Ryan dancing with a blonde girl in the corner, and I swallowed the urge to wave at him like an idiot. As I stood there staring at him like a moron, he caught my eye, and I watched in horror as he up and left the girl he was with and began walking over to me. I looked around desperately, and saw a group of people huddling by the wall. I scurried over to them and pushed my way through to avoid Ryan. And that was my big mistake,