* * *

  When Madelene opened the door a battle of screams erupted and so did my eardrums.

 

"You came!" Madelene shrieked in that sugary sweet way that made me feel sick. She pulled Marti into the house and I followed nervously. There was barely room to stand there were so many kids crammed into that house, and I felt like a sardine.

Madelene and Marti disappeared into the crowd almost instantly, and I felt my stomach drop. I tried to follow, but there was no room to move in the entry way. So I waited, feeling the eyes boring into me from all directions. Whenever anyone glanced my way they eyed me warily and then snickered. I caught my reflection in one of Madelene’s huge windows. Sure, I didn’t look like a cool kid: my sandy blonde hair was pulled up into a bun and I was wearing jeans and a tee, but I didn’t look like the freak they seemed to think I was.

   Their nerd-branding stares made me want to start spouting information on photosynthesis and Shakespeare and prove them right. But I couldn’t let Marti down. So I tugged my hair out of its up-do and pulled off my glasses. There. I looked a little less conspicuous without my frames. Satisfied that I could now pass as socially acceptable I scanned the room for Marti and Madelene.

Catching a glimpse of them walking out onto the deck, I started forward.

But of course I couldn’t see, so I smacked into someone almost immediately.

  “Whoa babe, watch where you’re going.” A guy in his twenties said laughing. He steered me straight again, but I collided with someone after only a few more steps. I heard giggles.

Sweat broke out on my brow and I could feel a lump growing in my throat.

I hate parties. I thought.