Chapter Eighteen
Sophie
“I’m very bad with boys.”
Lying on my bed with my head hanging over the edge and my hair sweeping the floor, I stare at the ceiling with nothing but dejection seeping out of my pores. It’s Friday evening and I haven’t had any more luck finding a potential boyfriend than I did when I first started on Tuesday.
“I must be defective,” I continue. “My parents should return me to the hospital and ask for a replacement.”
“Since when are you such a drama queen?” Carly asks with a laugh. She, Addie, and Raven sit on Raven’s bed and are trying to find something to do. Friday nights are usually movie nights, but so far, we haven’t yet agreed on what to watch.
“I’m not,” I say. “It’s just different when it’s proven before your eyes how incompetent you are.”
“Because you haven’t hit it off with any guys?” Raven says. “Sophie, we suspected this could happen. We’ve been saying since freshman year that there are no decent guys for us here. Maybe it wasn’t so smart to hope that things could change all because we wanted it to.”
“I’m still not giving up!” Addie stresses. “There are hundreds of boys who attend our school. There’s no way each and every one of them is a jerk. If we looked over my list again—”
“I’m sorry, Addie, but your list sucks,” I grumble.
She purses her lips. “No, it doesn’t. We just have to go over it again and weed out the bad names.”
“You’re new here,” Raven reminds her. “You don’t know the guys like we do.”
“That’s the point,” she insists. “You’re all looking at it negatively because of past experiences, but I’m an objective observer. I can look at the guys with fresh eyes and see who’s good and who isn’t.”
I lift my head a few inches off the bed to exchange glances with Raven and Carly. Maybe she has a point, but didn’t the last few days prove the guys are, in fact, jerks?
“Maybe the problem is the school setting,” Carly muses as she taps her chin. “Everyone sees Sophie as the studious girl who is the first one to raise her hand in class. They assume she’s not fun.”
“Maybe I’m not,” I mutter.
“Of course you are!” Addie says. “We always have tons of fun when you’re around. You make us laugh all the time and bring light into our lives when we feel down. And the way you turn every situation into a romance trope is super fun, too.”
“Agreed,” Raven says. “The problem is the boys.”
Carly taps her chin again. “How could they see the fun side of Sophie and not only the studious side? We need to be in some sort of social setting where we won’t talk about school at all.”
“I already tried the rec room,” I remind her.
Raven sits up. “What about a party?”
“A party?” Carly’s brows crease as she glances at Addie.
“That’s a good idea! Isn’t Julio throwing a party tonight? We can bring my list and search for—”
“Forget the list.” I sit up and run my hand through my hair. “Do you think my potential boyfriend could be at a party? I mean, we’ve been to parties before, but we never interacted with any of the guys there. No one ever approached us or tried to hang out with us. We’ve never been asked to dance.”
“Maybe we never made much of an effort either,” Carly says. “We’ve always preferred just being with each other. Maybe that pushes away any interest.”
Hmm. I guess it never occurred to me that my friends and I could have accidentally warded off a potential guy. We’re so tight-knit and put a wall around ourselves. Maybe that can be intimidating to a guy.
“It doesn’t hurt to try,” I admit. “It can’t be any worse than the last few days.”
“So…” Raven looks between all three of us. “I guess we’re going to Julio’s party?”
“I’ll text the guys to meet us outside our dorm in half an hour,” Addie says as she produces her phone. “I’m excited now! It’ll be so much fun to dance with my wonderful Caleb again.”
“It’s only been like…what? Two weeks?” Raven jokes, referring to the dance we had.
Addie sighs like she’s in heaven. “Nothing can describe how romantic it is to dance with your special guy.”
“Truth,” Carly says, looking forward to dancing with her special guy, too.
Raven shifts in her seat. I know she’s thinking about the end of camp, when she shared a romantic dance with the mysterious guy she refuses to talk about.
Okay, maybe I added the romantic part. For all I know, it could have been a disaster and that’s why she likes to pretend he doesn’t exist. But I like to think positively.
I mean, who knows? Maybe they’ll meet one day when they’re older and have a second-chance romance. Now that would be awesome.
We get up from the beds and start getting ready for the party.
Since the whole point of attending the party is for me to snag a guy, there’s a lot of fussing to find the perfect outfit for me.
None of us are super fashionable, but Addie has a closet filled with a plethora of clothes to choose from.
Carly is having the time of her life trying to choose the best outfit for me.
In the end, I go with a short dark blue dress with leggings, since it’s cold out. We do our makeup and hair and then study ourselves in the mirror. We don’t dress up and go out often, so it’s fun to do it every once in a while.
“We look good,” Carly says proudly.
Addie checks her phone. “The boys are waiting outside. You ready, Sophie?”
“Yep.” I stand and grab my bag. “I don’t want to be too hopeful, but I want to be positive. I just can’t help but worry I’m doing something wrong.”
“Just be yourself,” Raven tells me with a smile as she wraps her arm around my shoulder and leads me to the door. “There’s no point getting the attention of a guy when you’re not your authentic self.”
“What if guys just don’t like me?” I ask. Addie is about to object, but I hold up my hand. “It’s a serious question. I’m not crapping on myself or anything. Maybe I’m just not what guys want.”
“Don’t you believe there’s a person for everyone?” Carly asks as we make our way down the stairs.
“I thought I did,” I admit. “But maybe that was too childish of me. I already told you I don’t think everyone will find their dream partner and live happily ever after.”
“I still believe,” Addie says. “And I hope I prove you wrong.”
We meet the guys outside, and Addie and Carly hug them and give them kisses. Then we head for our cars. My car is still at the shop, but it should be ready soon. So I ride with Raven.
Julio lives about half an hour from campus. I hear the blaring music when we’re quite a distance away. Ugh, I hope I’ll be able to actually have conversations with guys with all that noise.
Raven finds a parking spot next to Addie’s semi-rich car, and then we all meet outside the mansion. I can’t help but gawk at it. I know my classmates are super rich, but it’s sometimes easy to forget how rich because I never get invited to their houses.
“Ready to get our dance on?” Carly asks as she does a fun dance move.
With a grin, Addie joins in the dancing. “Did you just make up this move? We should add it to our next routine.”
“I think you guys should save it for the dance floor,” Raven says with a laugh.
“Ooh, let’s teach it to Sophie,” Addie says as we head into the mansion. “The guys will see you dancing and they’ll fall in love with you right on the spot.”
I give her a look. “You know I hate to dance.”
“What did I say about using ‘hate’ and ‘dance’ in the same sentence?” Carly demands with her hands on her hips.
I motion to my ears and yell over the loud music, “What? I can’t hear you.”
She playfully knocks her hip into mine.
The place is pretty packed. I don’t recognize a lot of people, so I assume they’re from other schools. But most of them appear to be on the wealthy side.
“Who wants food?” Carly asks as she makes a beeline for the refreshment tables.
It seems Julio went all out because there are so many different kinds of food here, including baked goods, normal snacks like potato chips, pretzels, and candy, but then there are the rich kind of foods.
The kind that chefs slave over to get the perfect bite.
Raven makes a face after tasting one of those dishes. “Just because it was prepared by a gourmet chef, it doesn’t mean it’s any better than your average food.” She grabs a brownie and takes a bite, her body perking up with joy. “Now that’s what I’m talking about.”
As I munch on potato chips, my eyes survey the area.
There are so many people here and it’s hard to notice a familiar face.
I could technically try my luck with a stranger, but I have no idea who any of them are.
It’s not the smartest idea to get together with a guy I don’t know at a party. He could be in college for all I know.
“Time to dance!” Carly grabs Ryder with one hand and uses her other hand to wrap her fingers around my wrist, hauling me along.
“Why are you dragging me there?” I whine, trying to plant my feet into the floor. But it’s no use. As a dancer, Carly has way more muscles than me. I’m like a deflated balloon floating in the strong wind.
Once we find an empty space on the dance floor, Carly wastes no time shaking her body. With a huge smile, Ryder joins her. I fold my arms over my chest and study the kids around me. Most of them dance in a tame manner, but there are always the wild ones who take things to an extreme.
“Dance, Sophie,” Carly instructs.
“You know I can’t dance.”
“Everyone can dance! All it takes is shaking your body to the beat.” And she demonstrates by doing a sick move.
I give her an incredulous look. “As if I can do something like that.”
“Something like what?” Addie asks as she, Caleb, and Raven join us.
“Dance the way Carly is dancing,” I tell her.