There was a group of five sitting on the couch. A blonde guy on the end was taking a hit off a green bong while the others watched. I wondered if karaoke was code for getting high. If it was, I wasn’t sure I was wanting to participate.

I recognized one of the girls. She was a close friend of Jen’s and as soon as my eyes locked on her I felt my stomach clench. She recognized me too and pointed her candy red nail directly at me, “Hey! I know that girl! Hey, girl! Come on over here!” She smacked the boy who was sitting next to her. “Make some room!”

“Watch it, Sadie,” he warned before moving over. A couple got off the couch too, to make room. I walked over slowly and sat down next to Sadie with an apprehensive smile. I felt like this was a trick.

“Hey… Sadie.”

“How do I know you?” She wrapped her arm around my shoulder and pulled me in close.

“Um… Jen, I think.” I looked at Stacy, who had sat down beside me, but she was busy staring at the bong and asking twenty questions about the pot inside of it.

Sadie yanked on me, causing me to give her my full attention. “Oh yeah! You’re the girl who is always trying to steal her boyfriend.” She laughed, and I smiled, though I didn’t think that was very funny.

“I’m not really trying to steal him. We are just friends.”

She laughed again. “Oh, sure, sure. I tried to steal him too until I realized what a geek he was, no worries.”

I laughed mirthlessly and pulled away, “Yeah…” I turned my attention to the coffee table. It was a smorgasbord of junk food and the only thing that looked even slightly appealing were the brownies. I shook my head, I wasn’t going waste my calories on some stupid brownies, and looked up just in time to see Jen’s long legs coming into view as she came down the stairs.

Sadie looked too and gasped with excitement when she saw Jen. “Hey, girl!!” She jumped up and ran to her, wrapping her up in her weirdly strong embrace. Kent was behind her and I looked away before he could meet my gaze. Maybe if I just chilled here and looked away, he wouldn’t notice me. Maybe I could camouflage myself into the couch.

Nope. No, I wasn’t that lucky. “Hey, Elly,” he said, sounding surprised.

I saw Stacy look up at Kent because I was looking at her. She looked at me and cocked her head towards Kent to try to get me to say hi.