This really wasn't Kai's kind of party.
Everyone was giggling over the tops of their beers, intoxicated by the mere sense of doing something wrong. A couple jocks were shoving around, still bellowing from their win at the football game several hours earlier. Girls draped themselves over walls and furniture and whispered together with sly looks around the room like they were telling the most interesting secrets imaginable.
In other words, the whole thing was a drag.
It was a bunch of over-grown kids playing make believe to catch a taste of what wild felt like. Kai felt exhausted just looking at them all. He slid a slightly crushed cigarette out of his jeans pocket and tried not to think about why he had come in the first place.
He knew she didn't go to parties but he had clung to some kind of hope that maybe this one would be filled with enough of the preppy crowd to tempt her into coming. He'd spent the whole game glancing over at her and watching her reluctant participation in the excitement. Her half-hearted smile and straying brown eyes—it drove him mad. It was nearly enough to make him get up from his spot amongst the stoners to go and sit with the pretty tennis captain. Damn the social hierarchy to hell and back, would it really be so horrible for them to have one conversation?
He took his first drag, holding the smoke inside his mouth for a moment before letting it stream out of his nose. He checked his phone. If he wasted another hour here he would never forgive himself. He straightened the sleeves of his jacket and was turning to just when—
"I don't think they let people smoke in here."
He yelped at the voice he was used to hearing answering discussion questions in AP Lit. He had never imagined (ok, maybe he had and that was why he was here) that it would ever be directed at him.
He spun around to face disapproving eyes and a quirked mouth. She stood before him with her hip pressed out and arms crossed and he nearly inhaled the entire cigarette in surprise. He immediately snatched it from his mouth and ground it out with hasty fingers. Suddenly ashamed, he shoved the messy remains into his pocket to deal with later and tried to flash his signature smile that was feeling much more like a cringe.
"I'm sorry." His voice was sincere because he truly did mean it and she gave him a small smile in return.
"It's alright. You don't seem like the kind of person to do it out of spite."
He nodded and stuck out his hand, but not before trying to subtly brush off any cigarette remains on his jeans. "I'm Kai."
She looked at the hand in surprise before taking it, eyes roving curiously over his face. "I'm Jinora." Her hand was small in his and he really hoped his hands weren't clammy or that he was shaking her hand for too long.
"You're in my AP Lit and Gov with me. I sit in the back," he said, watching her face carefully for disdain or contempt.
"I know." They were both surprised at her quick reply and she blushed. "I mean, I see you around all the time. You have ceramics right before me. Your vase with a face was the example. It was brilliant."
She seemed embarrassed by what she had said and began to stare at the ground. Kai felt a small measure of his confidence returning, if only a little. Her compliment left a warm glow in the center of his chest. "It's ok. I've noticed you, too."
That wasn't creepy at all.
But much to Kai's relief, she didn't edge away and she even looked a little relieved. She smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. "I wonder why we've never spoken before. I think we had some classes together last year, too?"
He leaned against the wall uncomfortably. "Yeah, well the kids in AP classes don't usually like to associate with me. I don't really fit the mold, if you haven't noticed."
If she heard the prideful bitterness in his voice she didn't show it. She just looked at him with greater interest, tilting her head to the side. "I don't see why not. You seem bright."
Her strange word choice made him glance down to make sure that yes, he was still in the black leather jacket and frayed t-shirt. He still had rumpled hair and a distinct air of scruffiness. There was absolutely nothing about him that fit bright or its connotations. He was about to thank her when someone called from the other side of the room.
"Hey, Jinora! What are you doing here?!"
Jinora glanced over at the cluster of people on the couch beckoning her over. They all looked like her crowd—girls in sparkling tops with long hair and guys with broad shoulders in varsity jackets. She looked back at Kai apologetically. "Um, I think I had better get over there."
She turned to leave, a short curtain of hair shrouding her face. Kai reacted with impulse rather than tact. His hand shot out and grabbed hers and she froze. Kai immediately let go, appalled at his own impunity. Words poured out of him in a nearly incoherent stream.
"I'm so, so sorry, I really didn't just mean to do that, but I know you're book club president and I was wondering if maybe you could give me some recommendations? Please?"
It was ridiculous and out of nowhere and he still couldn't believe he had just snatched at her hand like a jerk but Kai couldn't just let this encounter be the only one they had. He couldn't spend another week glancing at her at football games and pining over the back of head in class. Rejection or not, he had to know if this would ever work at all. Whatever this was.
Her eyes widened and softened. Something flickered in them as she chewed her lip and Kai caught his breath. "Let's meet tomorrow. I'd love to recommend you some books."
"Great," he breathed, overwhelmed by the flood of relief. She didn't hate him and she didn't think he was a waste of her time. "That would be great."
She grinned back at him and her eyes danced mischievously. "You better be at the library when lunch starts. I don't do second dates with no shows."
Wait, what?
Before he could ask her to repeat what he was certain he had misheard, she started moving through the mix of people over her impatient friends. It was probably best because Kai felt a dreamy smile work its way onto his face and it probably would have been very embarrassing had she stayed around to see it.
He turned to leave in a daze and he felt a sudden rush of relief that he had asked her about the book club rather than accidentally offering to join the tennis team.