JENNIE

I stepped out onto the lawn behind Donghyuk’s house. Though I’m not sure it was exactly accurate to call it a lawn.

I lived in a small town. We’re talking a town so small that it made John Cougar’s small hometown seem like the big city in comparison. The sort of place that was getting even smaller since all the factories left and all the drugs came in.

I saw more than a few of those drugs on display now, though nothing that I recognized as the hard stuff. I stayed the away from all of that. But that’s not the point. No, the point was everything about the back of Donghyuk’s house looked like something that had been transplanted straight out of some mansion in the big city.

There was a big pool, for one. Like a fancy in ground pool dug out of the ground and not the above ground pools most people around here used. People were splashing around in the water shrieking and having a good time.

“You didn’t tell me to bring a swimsuit,” I said, turning to Joy.

She looked at me for a long moment. Another one of those looks that told me I was missing something.

“Who said anything about needing a swimsuit for the pool?” she asked.

I looked again. Really looked. It was hard to tell from here, but it looked like people weren’t wearing much of anything. Some of the girls were in bras, at least, but I had a feeling that was going to change as the night wore on.

I shivered. I was in a different world now. I’d been on the squad for years but I’d managed to avoid this world. I wasn’t sure what to think now that I was voluntarily stepping into it.

“Come on,” Joy said. “You’re going to have a great time here tonight. I promise.”

I looked down at my own outfit. A pair of shorts and a pink tank top. I hadn’t thought skinny dipping or hopping into a pool would be in the cards so I hadn’t worn anything all that fancy underneath.

Odd, that. Because I usually wore something fancy whenever I went over to Lisa’s place. Because there’d always been a part of me that hoped something might happen at Lisa’s place.

Now something had finally happened and I was doing my best to avoid Lisa. I should’ve told her I’d go to her place. I should’ve run from this place, but here I was and I was out of my depth.

Joy walked me over to a keg by the pool. I’d seen plenty of those at parties my parents threw, but this was the first time I saw it at a party with a bunch of people my age.

It felt wrong even though I knew on some level that of course there’d be a keg here. Donghyuk’s parents didn’t have a problem with that sort of thing, after all, as long as they got the keys.

They’d grabbed Joy’s first thing when she walked in.

I took a deep breath. I needed to act like I was having a good time. I was supposed to be having a good time, damn it.

Donghyuk was there working the keg. Pumping it and dispensing booze to anyone who asked. He looked up at us and smiled.

It was a dazzling smile. There was a twinkle to his sky blue eyes as he looked me up and down. I almost would’ve thought he was interested if I didn’t know he could have any girl he wanted at this sort of party.

Why would he want me if he could have anyone he wanted?

“Well hey there,” he said. “Never seen you at one of these parties before.”

“This is Jennie,” Joy said, stepping in for me and irritating me in the process. It was like she didn’t think I could speak for myself or something.

“Hi Jennie,” he said, his voice low and breathy.

It was the sort of voice, and the sort of look, that would’ve set any other girl’s heart aflutter.

The only problem? Lisa. The way I felt about her. The fire I felt when our lips brushed. It was a fire that was so much better than anything I’d felt with any other guy like ever.

And I knew I could never feel that fire with Donghyuk even if he was everything every girl at this school wanted. At least he was everything the girls at this school who weren’t into girls wanted.

“Hi yourself,” I said, smiling and trying to be polite without acting like I was too interested. I didn’t want to get his hopes up.

I looked around at the crowd again. It was a nice distraction from Donghyuk and his eyes.

Was that a trampoline on the other side of the pool? It looked like there were people inside the netting, but they weren’t doing any jumping. The thing was still bouncing up and down though, and I blushed when I realized what was causing that bouncing.

Yeah, this was nothing like any sort of party I’d ever been to before.

“So what brings you out here tonight?” Donghyuk asked.

I was so distracted by the trampoline that I almost didn’t notice he was even talking to me. Guys like Donghyuk weren’t interested in girls like me.

A sharp pain in my side brought me back to reality. Or close enough to reality anyways. I turned and glared at Joy who was glaring right back at me.

“Donghyuk asked you a question Jennie,” she said, her teeth grinding.

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “Guess I was distracted.”

The look on Donghyuk’s face made it pretty clear he wasn’t used to girls being distracted. At least not when they were in his glorious presence. Not that I thought it was all that glorious.

Though I was a little annoyed that I didn’t think his presence was all that glorious. Damn it. Why me?

“I was just saying I’ve never seen you at one of these things before,” Donghyuk said. “What brings you around now?”

I opened my mouth but couldn’t th