At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, I stood on the pier with Jisoo and Irene. They had both ended up borrowing clothes from me,  and I had to admit we all looked pretty incredible. I wore a miniskirt with a white off-the-shoulder sweater and a black strappy heels. Jisoo was in ankle boots, jeans, and a halter top. And Irene wore an ruby-red silky slip dress and strappy sandals. I felt like we were at some yacht club photoshoot, minus the cameras.

Nobody else had shown up yet, aside from the caterer, and the captain of the yacht, of course. Visions of my birthday party were floating through my mind. All that candy on the coffee table, uneaten. This party was going to be that all over again.

The big white yacht, its rows of windows reflecting the setting sun, was anchored to the dock beside us. A metal walk-way bridged the gap between the pier and the boat, and there was nobody here to cross it. Shouldn't at least one person have arrived by now? I looked at my phone.

"We're an hour early," Jisoo said.

"But in an hour this boat will sail out to sea for the night with or without people on it," I said.

"They'll come," Jisoo assured me.

Irene rubbed her arms as the wind kicked up. The water lapped at the pier and she looked at the boat. "Could we wait on the yacht?"

"Yes, we can. Let's go make sure all the food and stuff is getting set up." Maybe this was like the metaphorical boiling pot of water. If I watched it, nothing would happen.

The caterers were busy at work putting out all the things I'd ordered. Things I thought my peers would like: mini hot dogs, fishcakes, pizza bites, chips. Were there normally snacks at big parties? Why hadn't I gone to parties before?

Eventually the water boiled. Metaphorically, of course. People started trickling in by twos and threes. By fives and sevens. I recognized a lot of the people - Jackson from Math, Jihyo from Chemistry - but a lot I didn't.

"Oh, look there's Jinyoung," Irene said, pointing at her ex-boyfriend who'd just walked down the steps into the main room. "Who invited him?"

"Who's Jingyoung?" Jisoo asked, and Irene smiled.

The noise on the yacht rose to a happy buzz and my nerves settled.

When Jennie walked in, she hugged me. She wore one of the outfits she'd bought on our shopping trip - a rose-colored, one -sleeved minidress, and a silver band that twisted around her bicep. I was surprised how dressed up everyone was. Was this normal for a party or did the word yacht up the fashion game?

"You look awesome," Jennie said.

"Thanks, you too," I said.

Jennie's friend Lisa, who was standing next to her, widened her eyes. "I didn't even recognize you."

"Thanks?" I wondered if half the people on this boat hadn't recognized me when they arrived. I did look different.

Jennie threw her hands out to either side. "You're kind of a genius. Your party cannot fail because nobody can leave."

"What do you mean?"

"You know, when people come, think your party , and take off? That's the worst, ending the night at ten because you only have a handful of people left."

"I hadn't even thought of that." What if my party and people want to leave? I would have trapped them. They'd have to jump overboard if desperate.

Jennie said, "Don't worry about it. This will be awesome. I'm getting some food. You have like actual food. Not just candy."

"Is that bad?"

She petted my arm. "Calm down. It's good."

When she left, Irene sighed. "How come you never introduce us to Jennie?"

"What? I haven't? I'm so sorry. I guess I . . ." Thought you knew her, was how I was going to finish that sentence but that wasn't true. I knew they didn't know her, just like I hadn't known her before recently. "When she comes back, I'll introduce you."

The owner of the yacht, a woman named Jessi, came up to me. "We're going to be pushing off in ten minutes."

"Okay," I said, then gasped.

"What?" Jisoo asked.

"The band. The band isn't here yet." At least I didn't think they were. I stood my tiptoes, trying to see over the heads of the people around me. I hadn't thought to bring any backup music in case they didn't show. "I'll be right back. Don't leave without me," I told Jessi.

"We won't leave without you."

I pushed through the crowd and to the upper deck, then out onto the pier. I couldn't see Jae anywhere. Had I really not gotten his number to call him? That was booking-a-band 101. Well, at least it should've been, if I wrote a manual about booking a band.

At two minutes to the hour, with me pacing the dock, Jae came strolling up, holding his guitar. A group of grungy guys followed after him.

"Nice of you to show up," I said.

"You said eight. I'm two minutes early."

"I said seven thirty but whatever. I'm glad you're here. Come on."

Jae raised his guitar in the air like I'd just praised him somehow and climbed aboard. Just in time because Jessi was walking up the stairs.

"You ready?" she asked me.

"We're ready."

☘ 𝔏𝔬𝔱𝔱𝔬 𝔏𝔬𝔳𝔢 ☘

"This band stinks," I said to Jisoo. I sat down next to her in the back of the big room. I slipped off my heels that were too high, dropped my car keys inside of them, and shoved them under the table. It was the first time I'd sat down all night. I'd been busy checking on food and answering questions about the yacht and my money and my new hair. Everyone wanted to talk to me.

"They really do , don't they? Tell me you didn't pay them," she said.

"I paid them. I practically bagged them to sing."

She laughed and I did, too. It didn't seem to matter, people were still having fun. There were groups all over the boat - dancing, lounging in chairs on the deck, leaning against railings and enjoying the view. The ocean was relatively still tonight and the rocking of the boat created a calming effect for me. I leaned my head against the wall and let out a happy sigh.

"Where's Irene?" I asked.

She pointed and I followed her finger to Irene, who was in the middle of the dance floor dancing with a guy I didn't recognize.

"I swear, I don't even know half these people," Jisoo said. "Do you?"

"No. I think people invited friend as from other schools." I paused, "Not that I know everyone from our school."

"But everyone knows you." She circled her finger, indicating the entire boat.

Past Irene, I saw someone I recognized but couldn't place. "Who is . . ." I trailed off as my mind put her in context. Rosé from the zoo was here.

"Who is what?" Jisoo asked.

My heart stopped. Rosé from the zoo was here. How did she find out about this? Was she going to tell JImin about my party? I needed to talk to her. Find out if she knew this was my party. If she knew about lottery win. Chances were, if she was here, she did.

"Will you watch my stuff for minute?" I asked Jisoo, pointing to my shoes and car keys.

"Of course."

I pushed through the crowd and tapped Rosé on the shoulder. She turned around and the words that were about to come out of my mouth stopped.

"Hi, Suzy," she said.

It wasn't Rosé. It was another girl who looked kind of like her, a lot less like her up close, actually. "Oh, hi." I didn't know her name.

"This is so much fun."

"Good. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself." I was obviously getting paranoid about Jimin finding out about my win from someone else. I needed to tell him myself and soon. Too bad I'd waited so long that now I had to think up the right way to do it, make it a big production.

I pointed over my shoulder. "I better get back." I turned around and nearly ran Jennie over.

"You should do a party like this every weekend," she said, waving her cup of punch.

I laughed. "This is my one and only, so enjoy it."

"What else are you going to with all that money?" she asked.

"I'm going to save most of it."

She nodded slowly like she thought that was the most boring answer in the world. It was.

"What would you do with it?" I asked her. I was learning that people love this question. This always had an answer ready. I wouldn't have had an answer ready, had someone asked me that before my lottery win.

"I would buy a plane and fly it around the world," Jennie said.

"As in you would fly it yourself?"

"Yes."

"You're a pilot?"

"I've never flown a plane before but fifty million dollars would be a good motivation to learn. I'd want to do something I've never done before. It's like a chance to redefine yourself."

I nodded. "Can't you do that without money?"

"Money make it easier."

"I guess."

"Let's say you couldn't save the money. That you had to spend it. What would you do?" she asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"Maybe you should find out."

That sounded an awful lot like Jimin's challenge-live a little. It made me wish Jimin was here, at this party . . . dancing with me. No, not dancing with me. I shook me head and looked over my shoulder to where Jisoo sat, her chin resting in her palm.

"Let's go talk to Jisoo," I said.

"Um . . . sure."

Jennie's hesitation made me remember how Jisoo had refused to tutor her. Maybe it would help them both to get to know each other a bit.

Before we could walk back to Jisoo, though, a girl with brown hair and a worried expression grabbed me by the arm. "Suzy! I have to show you something. Quick."

"What is it?"

"Bam Bam is taking bets on if he'll jump overboard."