'And why did you tell Sehun he couldn't hang out with us at the party?' I asked when we pulled out of the school parking lot.

'I need girl time,' EunJi explained briefly. 'And besides, does he always have to hang out with us?'

'We're going to a party,' I pointed out bluntly. 'If you want girl time then we should do something else. And no, he does not always have to hang out with us, and he doesn't. Did he do something wrong? What's going on with you? You've been acting kinda strange lately.'

'Nothing's wrong. I'm fine,' she sighed impatiently. Her perpetual bad mood was so very confusing, and far from resembling my best friend - it was freaking me out. And what, if anything, did it have to do with Sehun?

We walked in the side door between the house and the garage. Bass boomed from the basement; laughter and hollering could be heard further down the hall. This house was modest compared to some of the monstrosities in Daegu. We were considered on 'the other side of town', closer to where I used to live.

We ventured towards the laughter to find a group sitting around the kitchen table with cards in their hands and red cups in front of them, daring one another to drink for various absurd reasons. There were others crammed into the small kitchen, either leaning against the Formica counters or passing through to get to the keg. 

EunJi made her way to the back porch where the keg rested in a trash can filled with snow. 

'Can you stay over tonight?' she asked before taking a cup from the stack.

'Sure,' I replied with a shrug, hugging myself with a shiver. I texted my mother as we walked back through the kitchen, then followed EunJi down the shag-carpeted stiars to the basement. I stopped at the bottom when I saw Sehun playing pool to the right and hesitated long enough to wave and apologize with a grimace as I continued after EunJi in the other direction. We walked into a small, wood-panelled space with a beat-up couch covered in multicoloured afghans and a console television pushed into a hollowed-out fireplace. 

Yura smiled at the sight of us, shuffling through the bodies to get to where we stood, while EunJi inspected the scene. I didn't really know Yura; she played volleyball with EunJi. But this was her house, so I knew we should at least make an effort to say hi.

EunJi scanned the room, not trilled with what she saw. 'Back upstairs,' she insisted, completely ignoring Yura. My face twitched in confusion, but I followed after her anyway. I held up my to wave in apology when I saw Yura's smile fade as she watched us disappear up the stairs.

By the time we were back in the kitchen, EunJi needed a refill. Instead of following her out to the deck like a pathetic sidekick, I took a seat on a wooden stool next to the kitchen counter. I watched the card game, trying to figure out the rules and if there was apoint to the absurdity. I quickly discovered there really wasn't a point - it was all about getting drunk and making people do stupid things in the process. I sighed and shook my head. 

'Hey, I didn't know you were going to be here,' Haeun exclaimed when she and Soeung-Eun walked into the kitchen with pink bottles in their hands. 'Where's Sehun?'

'I don't know,' I replied, making a face - finding it strange that was the first question they asked. 'I'm here with EunJi.'

'Ooh, are you fighting?' Seoung-Eun asked, leaning in like she was about to hear a secret.

'No,' I answered, drawing out the 'o' and looking at them like they were crazy. 'I think he's downstairs playing pool.'

'So what do you know about your mother's hot boyfriend?' Seoung-Eun drilled.

'Not much,' I replied shortly, annoyed with the question. 

'I think he may be hotter than Sehun,' Seoung-Eun interrupted.

'No,' Haeun argued, then paused and said, 'Okay, maybe.'

'Seriously?' I finally interrupted, wanting to put an end to the conversation.

'I was just saying,' Haeun retorted defensively.

'That's messed up,' I shot back. 'You don't compare my boyfriend with my mother's. That's so very twisted.'

'True,' Seoung-Eun agreed, 'but he is -'

I walked away before she could finish. Unfortunately, this wasn't a big enough house to lose them, so I slipped into the bathroom when I saw the door open. This was the first party I'd been to in Daegu since last May. Apparently, I hadn't miss much.

I looked around for EunJi upon exiting the bathroom and found her in a corner talking to a tall blond with dark eyebrows. They were laughing and leaning towards each other, her hand occasionally brushing his arm - all the signature flirting moves.

'That's Minyuk's cousin,' Haeun explained from beside me. She had apparently been waiting for me to get out of the bathroom. 'He's visiting for the weekend from Busan.'

'Oh great,' I groaned. This was not going to go down well. And right on cue, Eunji's smile faltered. She turned abruptly and stormed out on to the deck. The guy was left dumbstruck, looking around to see if anyone had noticed. The girls giggled next to him, indicating that not only did they witness the ditching, now everyone at the party would know about it as well. 

I sighed and followed after EunJi.

'Hey.'

She continued to pour the beer into her red cup, not looking up.

Before I could find the words to make her feel better , which wasn't something I was used to doing, I heard, 'I dare you to jump.'

I looked over and a