The Year I Became Isabella Ande - Jessica Sorensen Page 0,59
stupidly silly drunk people. Music is booming and vibrates the floors. The smell of sweat, beer, and cigarette smoke laces the air, and I’m pretty sure I just stepped in a puddle that I think might be urine.
“Ew!” I shiver as I stare down at the yellow puddle on the linoleum floor.
I’m distracted just long enough by the grossness that when I look up, I’ve lost Kai in the crowd. I stand on my tiptoes, panicking as my gaze surfs the crowd. There’s just too many people to tell who’s who.
“I’m never going to find him.” Those old feelings of ridicule sneak up on me, and I hug my arms around myself, noting every glance in my direction.
They have to be staring at me. And you want to know why, Isabella? Because they know you don’t belong here.
“Hey, I know you, right?” Bradon, Kai’s friend, and the guy throwing this shindig, stumbles through the crowd and stops in front of me. He has overly long hair, his eyes are red, and his clothes smell like smoke with a kick. “You’re that chick from my school.”
I want to point out there’s a lot of chicks who go to our school, but I’m guessing I’ll probably just confuse him. “Yeah, sure.”
“You know Kai, right?” He wags a finger at me. “You’re that girl who was by his locker.”
Great. I went from being That Chick at School to being That Girl by Kai’s Locker.
I stick out my hand to properly introduce myself, so he’ll stop giving me lame nicknames. “I’m Isa.”
He eyeballs my hand then he wraps his fingers around mine, brings them to his lips, places a kiss on my skin, and then licks me like a dog.
I screech, loud enough to make a scene, and people glance our way. Apparently, drunk people have a short attention span though, because five seconds later, they’re all doing their own thing again.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help it.” He laughs at me as I wipe my hand on the side of my skirt. “I’ve never had a girl try to shake my hand before.”
“If it happens again, you should probably just shake it back,” I offer him some advice.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” He noticeably checks me out before peering around the crowd. “So did Kai come with you, or what?”
I inch forward as a guy staggers past me and jabs his elbow into my back. “Yeah, he did. I don’t know where he is, though. I lost him the second I walked in here.”
“Yeah, that happens a lot.” He looks back at me. “How about I help you find him?”
I nod, my anxiety going down a drop or two. “That sounds great. Thank you.”
“No problem.” He nods for me to follow him as he pushes his way through the crowd. “We can get you a brownie from the kitchen too.” He throws me a toothy smile from over his shoulder. “I make killer fudge brownies. They’re actually pretty famous.”
“I bet they are,” I remark, remembering Kai’s warning to stay away from the baked goods. “But I actually don’t like brownies that much.” Huh. Never thought that sentence would ever come out of my mouth.
“That’s because you haven’t ever tasted mine.” He raises his voice as an upbeat song blasts through the speakers and everyone gets all riled up. “One bite will change your mind.”
As I get jostled all over the place by the crowd, I thank the heavens that I’m wearing boots; otherwise, I’d be knocked flat on my ass by now. Heels were never my thing, something I learned every time I tried to wear them out to a club. I’d either trip, fall down completely, or my feet would end up hurting so badly that I’d have to sucker Indigo into swapping shoes. The only ones I can tolerate are platforms, but after wearing them to school last week, I’ve decide they might be as demonic as stilettos.
I struggle to maintain my balance, and Bradon snags my arm and tugs me out of the room, only letting me go when we make it safely to the kitchen. There are a few people hanging around a keg, but other than that, the room’s pretty empty.
“Brownie time,” Bradon announces as he lifts a paper towel off a plate. Underneath it are the most gooey and delicious brownies I’ve ever seen, and my mouth starts to salivate. Bradon picks up the plate and moves it toward me. “Try one. I promise you won’t regret it.”