"Nepeta," You spoke strongly, you were nervous. You really wished the party wasn't a pool party and you also wished it wasn't the hottest day of the year.

"What is it?" She looked over at you for a moment before back at the paper she held that had directions to the party. She was wearing a bikini, which you told her not to, but she didn't listen to you. She had shorts on but they were very short, you wished she wore a shirt; she was so exposed. You were worried for her of course, you were always worried about her.

"I-I don't think this was a good idea," You knew you didn't know anyone at the party, even if you weren't there yet. Nepeta only talked about a few people and that was it; you knew if she left you, people would talk about you.

"Of course it was, Equius! Don't worry you'll have fun!" She said before smiling, grabbing your hand and dragging you to the house that held the party. You decided not to argue with her, she would only get upset and leave you during the party. You didn't want anything to go wrong.

"Hey Nepeta... and um Equius, I think?" A small child asked as the both of you got to the door, your eyes widened behind your shades. You didn't think anyone knew your name or even noticed you.

"Yes, it's Equius." You said as you tried to think of his name, your eyes dragged Nepeta for a moment, she looked happy and you didn't know. You should have paid attention to at least one person in your classes.

"Alright, I see you came fucking prepared to swim. Is that lump of sweat going to swim too or what?" Oh, that hurt. You cleared your throat, before looking down at him.

"No, I wasn't planning on it but I did bring a suit just in case." You spoke without hesitation, he had no right to call you a 'lump of sweat,' you made sure that you brought an extra towel in case you really started to sweat. You weren't even going to swim, but Nepeta told you to and you listened to her as she listens to you. You did get a bit controlling at times, but she didn't leave and you figured that's why you did it so much.

You and Nepeta were finally let into the house and lead to the back yard, it was a nice place. A pool and a deck; the pool was not in ground like you had thought, but you didn't really want to swim anyway, so it didn't matter to you. Once the small boy left, you quickly asked her who he was; Karkat Vantas. You believe that she told you about her little crush on him, you told her that she should just get over it; she yelled at you.

"Hey Asshole, I'll show you the bathroom in a second," Vantas called out to you. and you could feel yourself start to hate him, you didn't ask for the bathroom; why was he showing you the bathroom?

"Fine," Nepeta gave you a smile and you did not return, your teeth were cracked and ugly; you have been told several times not to smile, even in school pictures. Vantas soon walked over to you and looked at you for a moment. He was handsome, his hair stayed out of his face enough to show his hazel, almost red eyes. You were surprised by the color, but it really didn't matter, this was probably going to be the only time you talked to him.

"This way, shit head." What did you ever do to this guy to make him hate you so much, you thought. You don't even remember this guy, was he in a class you had? He must have been, he knew your name.

"You could be nicer," You state.

"You could take off your shirt," He said, turning, giving you a small wink. You stiffen at his words, and great, you were sweating.

"E-excuse me?" You stutter out as you stop walking, he turned to you and you thought you saw a hint of blush on his cheek but you were unsure. Why would he anyway?

"Oh, Nepeta fucking talks about you sometimes for no damn reason, she said that you have nice abs." He said, biting his lip lightly. Great, him biting his lip probably meant something important. You would have to ask Nepeta later.

"I didn't know she talked about me," you said before raising your shirt to show off your abs, he stared for a moment before turning and continuing to walk.

"I don't hear a lot about you but when she does it's pretty good, nothing too bad." He stated as you nodded a little to yourself.

"Well that's good, I wouldn't want my best friend to talk poorly of me." You mumble to yourself before looking at him, he had stopped at a door.

"Here," he said before moving to go back outside, you went in the small bathroom and changed, you didn't like the way your body looked or anything about it. You were ugly and you knew it was going to stay that way. You shook your head and left the bathroom, Nepeta told you not to think in detail about your imperfections and most of the time you didn't think of them at all; you didn't get depressed as easily now.

Once you were back outside you stayed with Nepeta, she talked to you, Pyrope, and Vantas. She was really enjoying herself and you weren't. She kept talking to you and everyone else. Anytime you stopped talking to her and just sat down alone, she made a point to bring you over into the conversation. You realized that she was trying to make it so you were having a good time, but it wasn't working. You wanted to leave.

"You could at least try to have fun," Pyrope said as-

"Equius!" Your head flicked towards the voice who called you. Vantas.

"What?" You asked as you approached the small grumpy teen in the pool, he was hanging off the side, with a small smile on his face.

"Come in the pool," You raise a brow at his request.

"Why?"

"Just get in the fucking pool."

"No."

"Fucking do it."

"Ask nicely."

"Get in the pool now."

You realized that you weren't going to be good friends with him.