*Just a little chapter to introduce the story a bit.

            I’ve been to a lot of college parties – big ones, hosted by sororities and frats, to small ones, usually by my friends or mutual connections. And I’ve done some things in these parties that I never thought I would. Yes, I got drunk and went a little too crazy, but I also started a dance battle at a party once (to which I won… I hope. I was too drunk to remember.)

            The thing is, I’ve done a lot of crazy things at these parties, but I’ve always managed to keep myself from doing two things: losing my ity and my first kiss. Yes, losing my first kiss is easier than keeping my dignity intact for some reason. I know, props to me for being such an angel, my parents would be so proud of me sans getting drunk and humiliating myself.

            And usually, all I had to do was keep my friends around me or avoid a party game that involved going into first base with someone else. But today, my luck must’ve run out because my excuses did not get me out of playing a game of truth or dare.

            So guess who’s inside a closet with some guy she barely knew? You guessed it right. It’s that girl who won the dance battle.

            “Come one, jeong! Let’s play one more game!” My friend, Jisu, yells from the other side of the room. It's a smaller party, nothing too crazy, just a couple college friends and people I didn’t know, so I can hear her fine. With a red solo cup in hand, I walk over to where she was and immediately, I regret my decision because with Jisu are probably twenty other people who are sitting in a circle with a beer bottle in the middle.

            Red flag. Party game. Spin the bottle.

            I am not losing my first kiss. Nope, not tonight, not with all these people I barely know, especially not with that guy eating garlic roasted peanuts.

            “Guys, this is my friend Sejeong by the way.” I bow a little and put on the friendliest smile I can pull off to mask the fact that I was very uncomfortable and ready to leave. Most of them wave their hand or greet me back. I look at them and see a few familiar faces.

            Jisu scoots over to make some space for me to fit in the circle, but I don’t sit down next to her, instead I look at her, thinking of the best excuse I could come up with. “Oh you know what, it’s getting kind of late. I just remembered I have to pack my things ‘cause I’m going home tomo-”

            “Aww, come on, jeong! You can do that later!” Jisu cries. A series of more protests for me not to leave follows.

             “Come on, Sejeong! One game of truth or dare won’t hurt.” A girl from my econ class says.

            “Yeah, Sejeong!”

            “Come on!”

            I don't even know some of these people.

            Truth or dare completely changes everything, though. All I have to do was avoid the dares, and I’ll never lose anything tonight. Being the “fun gal” that I totally am (haha), I sit beside Jisu and play the game.

            “By the way, I saw you packing your things like three times this morning.” Jisu whispers into my ear before pinching my side. I wince and pinch her back as well. “Don’t worry; you’re not smooching with anyone tonight if that’s what you’re so scared of.”

            Jisu was the very first friend I made when I started college. We were dorm mates, but when her family got a house nearby, she had to move out. Fortunately, we're still close. Actually, I’d say she’s my soul mate.

            “Okay let’s start!” A boy announces as he pops in another peanut.

            When it wasn’t my turn, sometimes I’d get bored and just stare at a few people in the circle.

            There were a lot of familiar faces, just as there were unfamiliar ones. There were two girls from my econ class, Jinhee and Jinri, who seemed to be inseparable. Even their names sounded the same. There was garlic breath who never seemed to stop eating his peanuts; his name was apparently Minki. Beside him was Baekho. I’d never met him, but Jisu and I used to always see him ordering pizza at the pizza place near campus. We nicknamed him horse meat for some reason. There was this one girl with a Chinese name that I couldn’t pronounce. She had a really cool industrial earring. Jihye, my karaoke buddy, was there, too. Beside her was Minhyun who I became friends with because of Jisu. I think he was starting to get annoyed with the boy sitting beside him.

            The others, I couldn’t remember very well. There were probably more than twenty of us. For a game of truth or dare it was pretty big.

            The dares were really something else, too. The dares took balls. Fortunately, when the bottle landed on me, they gave me an easy question to answer. Truth questions were easier to answer, but really, anyone who chose truth was a . I didn’t mind being a , though, as long as my lips stay a tonight.

            In the middle of the game, I check my phone for any messages. “Hey, I’m going to go get some drinks for a while.” Jisu says before standing up and walking over to the other room.

            There's one message from my mom sent a few minutes ago, and while I reply to that text, I feel a hand nudge me. I look up from my phone screen and see everybody else’s eyes on me. I look at them, confused as to what was happening, when my eyes land on the bottle pointing to my direction.

            “Oh, is it my turn? I pick-” I send the text hurriedly as I quickly pull my attention back to the game when someone intervenes.

            “No, Sejeong, weren’t you paying attention?” Garlic breath says.“You’re going to do 7 minutes in heaven with Baekho.” He says as he nudges horse meat.

            My body stiffens.

            Remember when squidward told spongebob to empty his mind? And all the little spongebobs inside his brain started panicking and shedding pieces of paper? I kind of feel like the little people in my brain were doing the same thing, too.

            I shift my vision towards Baekho, and somehow, I feel like a plate of horse meat.

*Hope you enjoyed that!