LISA

Damn it. Could my life get any more complicated?

I sprinted around the house. I didn’t know I could run that fast. I mean the only exercise I ever got was when I was out walking around the football field for the band halftime show or practicing for the band halftime show.

I got one hell of a sprint going now though. I didn’t even bother to slow down when I got to the crowd of people partying and having a grand old time.

The jerks. How dare they have a good time while I was heartbroken. It was all I could do to keep the tears from coming.

I still couldn’t quite believe it. I’d almost believed Jennie earlier when she said we had a chance.

Now I knew it for the lie it was. I didn’t know if she’d decided she was into guys after all or if she’d just decided she was going to hide from who she really was by falling into the arms of everybody’s favorite football player, but whatever it was it was clear I was out of the picture.

I wiped a tear from my eyes and slowed down. The crowd was too thick here. I was going to knock someone over by running into them, and it looked like people were already having a hard enough time keeping their balance without me running around like an idiot.

Someone appeared in front of me and I tried to get around them. It was hard to see what with my vision all blurry from the tears that were threatening.

I stepped to the side. The person in front of me stepped to the side and blocked my way. What the hell?

I looked up and blinked away the tears. The girl looked familiar. Joy. What the hell was she doing blocking my way?

I squinted. There was something about the sour look on her face that was off. Wrong. Like she was upset about something even though I couldn’t think of anything I’d ever done to her.

“Excuse me,” I said, wanting to get as far away from her as I could.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

I blinked again. Unlike everyone else at this party she looked like she was totally sober.

“I need to get out of here,” I said. “Could you please get out of my way.”

“Oh no,” she said, in a tone of voice that said she was trying entirely too hard to sound sympathetic.

I already didn’t trust her any more than I could throw her, and I didn’t think I’d be able to throw a girl like her very far even if she was pretty petite.

“You can tell me what’s wrong. It’s okay. Is it about Jennie?”

Okay. Now I was really suspicious. She was acting like she cared about me but wasn’t this the girl who had a reputation for spreading any rumor that came her way whether or not it was true?

I knew I shouldn’t say anything to her, but I was so pissed off. The words leapt to my lips without thinking about it.

Damn it.

“I saw them kissing,” I said.

Joy’s eyes went wide. It was like we were in our own little bubble in the middle of party central. She was trying her best to look concerned but I knew she wasn’t concerned about me. She wasn’t that kind of person.

“Oh no. You have a crush on Donghyuk, don’t you?” she asked, her voice dripping with false sympathy.

That question was getting too close to a truth I didn’t want to discuss with anyone who wasn’t Jennie. I tried to step around her again but she was right there in my way. She put a hand out against my chest.

What the was her problem?

“Let me go,” I said. “I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Maybe you don’t want to talk to me,” she said, all the sympathy suddenly gone from her voice. “But I’m going to talk to you and you’re going to listen to me if you know what’s good for you.”

That brought me up short. The sudden change was astonishing. I was pretty sure she’d been bullting me all a