In the bathroom, I put on my dress for the night—a turquoise sack of a thing I’d bought at Jenny’s because of its cute three-quarter sleeves, which Ainsley had then nipped in at the waist to turn into a skater cut—and finished my hair in privacy so I didn’t have to soak in the weird couple-y vibes emanating off Brooke and Ray. I wished Ainsley were here. I’d begged her to come along—she’d founded the club, after all. But she was out with some college friends at her own get-together. She’d also added a comment about how it couldn’t live up to the one she’d organized last year, anyway, because that mixer had a jumping castle, which honestly just made me think she was more bummed about the conflicting plans than she’d let on. At least she’d let me borrow her car for the night—she’d assured me she had no intentions of staying sober enough to drive.

When I finally headed back to the bedroom, I walked in as Brooke and Ray were mid-kiss. They ended it, giggling into each other’s mouths, then went back to fixing Ray’s hair without even acknowledging me. I wandered over to Brooke’s desk and picked up my phone, while Ray started telling a story about some senior Brooke seemed to have heard of, but I hadn’t. Then I dug through Brooke’s perfume collection and sprayed myself, while Brooke asked Ray to make her promise not to drink any shots. Then I doodled on a spare sheet of paper while Ray invited Brooke to a family barbeque that weekend, and, come on, wasn’t it rude to invite someone to something within earshot of someone who wasn’t invited?

I tried to tamp down my glower and checked my phone. We were supposed to leave ten minutes ago now. Brooke’s mom would be somewhere downstairs waiting for us. I got to my feet and stretched. And this, finally, got Brooke and Ray’s attention.

“Are we ready to go?” I asked.

Brooke and Ray exchanged a glance, and it was a loaded glance. A glance that said something about me, and I didn’t think it was something I’d like.

“We don’t even have our shoes on yet,” Brooke said in a long-suffering kind of way.

“Okay, cool,” I said, and an awkward layer fell over the room.

“Well,” Brooke said with a light laugh, turning to Ray. “Guess we’d better get our shoes on, huh?”

Another look I was left out of.

Tonight wasn’t going to be much fun for me, was it?

Brooke had forgotten me again.