The Party

I gasped in surprise as cold water mercilessly shot into my back. I didn't have time to complain, so I ended up showering in the chilly water. The icy coldness made me numb and as soon as I turned the water off, I shivered and shut my eyes tight and imagined myself on a warm tropical island. I reached out, with my eyes closed from behind the curtain, for a towel. As soon as I got one, I roughly patted myself dry and walked out the shower with the towel wrapped around my hair. I grabbed another dry towel and thoroughly dried myself down before wearing my underwear. I sighed as I looked into the mirror.

"Gained some pounds, huh?" I asked myself. The water was so cold that it didn't cause any fog on the mirror. I dressed myself with a button up blouse and a pair of skinny jeans. When I looked into the mirror again, I screamed and ripped out the "towel" wrapping my hair.

"Kimmy, did you have fun showering in the cold?" my older brother, Sean, asked sarcastically.

"Ha ha. Not as fun as having my hair wrapped in your used boxers!" I replied with gritted teeth.

Sean was laughing his head off as my mother rushed into the kitchen. I put two toaster waffles in the toaster and opened the refrigerator for some milk. She talked (nearly yelled) busily into the phone.

"No, Jonathan… No… What?" Mom said. Sean and I watched quietly as she made six lunches with the phone propped between her shoulder and ear. She continued to talk on about the recent sales increase and when she listened to her secretary, Jonathan, her usual reply to whatever he said started with, 'no'. Sean and I nibbled on our toaster waffles and drank our milk as the usual morning chaos started to unravel.

"Rawr! Rawr! I'm a monster and I like to eat cole slaw!" Dad said, chasing Cole with his arms flailing around.

"Da-ad! Da-ad!" screamed the littlest Connweller, Cole, running around the kitchen. Cole was naked, and like every morning, Dad was using any way possible to get him to wear some clothes.

"3… 2… 1…" Sean mouthed.

"Hold on, Jonathan. I've got another call," Mom said before hanging up. Sean and I giggled quietly at her little routine.

"Sean… Kim... Cole… Knox…" Mom said, as she handed us our brown paper bag lunches and a kiss on our foreheads. "Now, where's little Jojo?"

She walked out the kitchen to look for my younger brother.

Sean and I were cleaning up and grabbing our backpacks when Mom walked in.

"My biggest babies!" she said giving us hugs. "Daddy and I will be out of town for the weekend, so be good, O.K.? Especially you, Sean. Oh, don't forget to drop Jojo and Cole off at Grandma's… They've been begging to go over for some reason."

"Mom, I was thinking about having my study group for, like, a get together this weekend…" Sean said out of the blue, giving me a nudge. I gave him a puzzled look.

"No," Mom answered.

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"What do you think about Sean having a little 'get-together', Knoxy?" Mom asked Dad as he walked into the kitchen.

Dad just stood there, but Sean nudged me again.

"Pwease… Daddy?" I asked with puppy-dog eyes and a pout.

"Oh… Alright… Only a few friends and make sure everything is exactly the way we left it," Dad said.

"Thanks!" we said in unison.

Mom rolled her eyes in annoyance but gave us all kisses on our foreheads.

"Miss Connweller, find the limits of the functions on the board," Mrs. Greene says.

"2, 5, 2 over 5 and 0." I answer without skipping a beat.

She pauses for a second to recall what I just said before nodding her head in approval.

The bell rings, and that's when it all began.

I was walking out the door with my friend, Joanna, when I saw my brother with the rest of the soccer team. They almost always hung out together, but today it was different. Sean had his arm around Jared. Jared… The guy I've had a crush on for years… In fact, I'm sure everyone on Earth knows this by now since I've had a crush on him since middle school.

"Hey… Hey… Look, Kimmy…" Joanna said in a hushed voice.

I didn't say anything, but just watched in curiosity. Joanna and I stood there until Sean's eyes met mine momentarily, which he acknowledged by giving me a small wink. I looked away to find Joanna blushing and grabbed her wrist and dragged her away to biology.

"Why is your brother so… cute?" Joanna babbled.

"Ha. Live with him for a week and I promise that you'll change your mind," I said rolling my eyes.

Jared came into the classroom. That moment, I couldn't help but stare. He wasn't handsome or well built, but there was something about him that really got me. In fact, he was shorter than average and to be put nicely, just adorable. I felt my heart rate increase dramatically as if I've come back from a jog as he passed in front of my desk toward his seat. I looked down at the textbook and then at the clock to keep my mind away from him, but it didn't work. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from bursting out in a fit of giggles to a point it bled. It actually hurt to keep myself from thinking about him.

The techno music beat away as people danced and just plain went crazy throughout the house. The thing is, Sean and I are masters when it comes to throwing mini house parties. But tonight was different. Something just felt different as I dropped Cole and Jojo off at grandma's house for the night. Cole and Jojo have their Xbox at Grandma's house. Jojo once had a fit of rage after playing Call of Duty, while everyone was sleeping, and broke everything in the basement. It was a wonder that he broke the pool table in half. Ever since that little 'incident', Mom banned him from playing videogames for good. But the boys hid their Xbox at Grandma's, so they go over whenever they get the chance.

Anyway, the party was loud and crazy. I looked around and saw Jared talking to a girl in my calculus class. What was her name again? I just watched the two talk. Everything around me seemed to move in a blur. Suddenly, they stood up and moved upstairs.

I mentally panicked and was about to follow the two un the stairs until Sean tapped my shoulder.

"What?" I asked. I guess my voice came out harsh.

"Woah there, Miss Angry… I was just hoping if you could get some more chips from the grocery store…" Sean said.

"Fine."

I stomped up the stairs to get my keys and jacket. When I opened the door to my room, I couldn't believe my eyes.

"What the… Sorry," was the last thing I said before tripping down the stairs in shock.