27

The three of us strolled along the residential area under the sun and then arrived at the beginning of downtown at the comic book store that I hadn't even been inside in all these years.

I pushed open the glass door, entered first and immediately stared into several pairs of eyes that were examining me curiously through their glasses. How typical, I just thought and then looked at the colorful shelves.

"If a gym is heaven, it's hell," Juline said quietly in my ear and I immediately glared at her. I loved her with all my heart, but sometimes she could be really shallow. The nerds didn't pay any more attention to us and I walked awkwardly along the narrow corridors and looked at some comics more closely. How could you get excited about something like that?

"Can I help you?" someone suddenly spoke to me and when I turned around I was amazed. A man who looked like something out of a Calvin Klein fashion catalog stood smiling in front of me and took the comic book out of my hands for a quick look.

"Do you like Spiderman?" he then asked, looking me up and down. His blue eyes then locked on mine again.

"Yeah, totally," I stuttered, not even knowing what or who Spiderman was. I didn't know why I lied to him either, and embarrassed, I turned back to the shelf to avoid his gaze.

"What exactly do you like about him?"

Excellent! What do I like about the spider man?

"Well that... he has a lot of legs and that makes him really fast... Besides, he looks really good with..."

He suddenly laughed behind me and I turned back to him, embarrassed, red-faced.

"I didn't want to question you, but I've been working here for years and I saw that you didn't know anything about comics. So let me know if you need help."

"Yes, let's do it," Micah suddenly appeared next to me and put his arm around my shoulders to eye the guy skeptically.

"All right," said the Calvin Klein guy and then disappeared back to the front behind his cash register.

"We found something. A board game from Lord of the Rings," Micah then explained to me, but I wasn't really listening to him and thinking about the situation. Not that I liked the guy, but the fact that Micah somehow intruded into the conversation showed me just how inscrutable he was. I had to talk to him before he saw my hickey or this would only complicate things.

"Okay," I said shortly and followed him to the cash register, where Juline was already standing with the board game and rummaging in her little bag for money.

She presented the money and together we left the store to go eat something beforehand.

3 HOURS LATER

Once we got it all done, all we had to do was wait for Cody to send us his address because no one ever saw him. I didn't even know what kind of party it was supposed to be. Were his parents at home? Did he only invite us? How old was he anyway?

Questions and questions swept through my mind until Micah finally got a text and immediately called a cab.

"Where does he live that we need a taxi?" Juline asked the brown-haired man, who was busy explaining to the driver where we were. She looked at me questioningly and I just shrugged unknowingly.

I don't know why but the situation with the Calvin Klein guy and Micah came back to me and then when the cab came I immediately sat in the front next to the driver to avoid having to sit next to my best friend. What a shitty situation.

"Where to?" he asked old drivers next to me with a funny accent and Micah gave him the address and the cab started to move.

As we drove past both familiar and unfamiliar places, the merry-go-round in my head started again and I forced myself to block it all out for the moment. I've always let my mind control me too much anyway, and I've been hoping Cody's will have booze. Otherwise, this would be a really thought-provoking evening.

Then, when I suddenly recognized the cul-de-sac behind the trees of which was the playground where I was with Kiyan, I suddenly missed him and would have liked to go home, but I had a hard time running away.

I got out first, took my cell phone and texted him.

Hey, what are you doing?

I immediately regretted it, but a reply came back before Micah and Juline even paid for the cab.

I'm with Zayn.

I read the message through several times and it just seemed totally cold to me. He didn't even ask what I was doing, what I found somehow a shame and what made my mood sink even further. Why was he just so distant sometimes?

"Wow," Juline's voice sounded next to me and I quickly put my phone away and followed her gaze. The sun was slowly going down, but that wasn't what amazed her, it was the huge house we were standing in front of.

It had a big driveway, double front doors and probably three stories. "Maybe I should get to know this Cody better," Juline joked at the sight of this mansion and I immediately rolled my eyes.

"Do you want to end up like my mother," I said dryly and immediately she hooked her arm on my arm.

"Just kidding," she apologized, and together we followed Micah to the front door.

"Do you think we're really in the right place here?" the brown-haired man asked and we looked at each other so puzzled that we had to laugh at ourselves.

"Let's find out," giggled Juline, ringing the doorbell several times.

It wasn't long before the door was opened by Cody, who once gelled his hair and once had no cartoon characters printed on his dark clothes.

"You're on time," he smiled at us and then looked at the gift that Juline kindly held out to him. "That wouldn't have been necessary. Come in first."

I was the last to enter the huge entrance hall and felt like I was in a palace. Beautiful paintings hung all over the white walls and the carpet alone looked like it cost more than all my belongings put together.

"I'll show you the rest," Cody said amusedly to our astonished faces and we walked past the stairs into the next room, which was just bigger.

In the right corner was a fireplace, next to which were several shelves full of books. On the other side there was a mighty dining table made of dark brown wood and when we walked to the table we could look to the left into the modern open kitchen.

"You must be filthy rich," Juline said, looking at all the alcohol that was neatly placed on the table.

"Not me, but my parents," said Cody, who was visibly uncomfortable as we surveyed his home in amazement.

"Who else is coming?" I then asked him, because like Juline I had noticed how many mugs and alcohol there were on the table.

"Well, I did a circular mail. My parents thought I was capable of staying alone for two weeks for the first time," he smiled and Juline immediately started laughing.

"And you prove your trust in them with a big party."

"What do you mean by circular mail?" I asked again and he showed me something on his cell phone.

"I have the email addresses of everyone at school since I'm always responsible for the yearbook, but I don't think many will come."

I widened my eyes in disbelief and mentally prepared myself for an escalation. If even one of our classmates knew how Cody lived, this mansion would be torn down today.

Juline drank herself in a good mood while Micah was busy on his cell phone and probably mobilizing other people. I was somehow lost at the huge window front opposite the dining table, listening to 80s music and dreamily looking at the illuminated pool. It just looked fantastically beautiful in the dark and I would prefer to be here alone and just let myself drift in the water.

"So you've been doing weight training lately?" Cody came up next to me and smiled and held out a red mug.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked confused and took the mug to smell it carefully.

"Tequila, as always. Apparently you drink it without salt and lemon and to your question, on the back of your sweater it says Kraftsports Member, or something like that."

"It's from Micah," I admitted, laughing at the idea of being in some basement with dumbbells. Cody also laughed briefly, but a ringing of the doorbell made him curiously disappear back into the hallway.

"You okay?" Micah immediately came to my side, putting his phone away to lean against the window next to me and eye me intensely.

"Yeah, you too?" I asked back and took a big sip to shake myself in disgust. I have no idea why I kept drinking that stuff. Juline had started it and kind of infected me.

"Yes," he said only briefly and then smiled at me exaggeratedly happily, causing a queasy feeling in my stomach.

"You look really cute in my sweater," he then added and held me in his gaze for a short time, which made me so uncomfortable that I stood next to him and looked towards Juline. She was still standing at the dining table mixing drinks and bobbing happily to the music, which looked pretty funny from here, but even that sight didn't take away the weird feeling I was having about Micah now.

Luckily for me, Cody came back and behind him several girls and boys entered the open living room, all of whom I had never seen before. Were they even from our school? I was a little annoyed at the thought that they were only here for the free alcohol, but Cody beamed and showed them everything with such pride that I pushed my negative thoughts aside. The main thing is that he had a nice birthday.

While Micah got us new drinks, the living room filled up more and more and the more often Micah's eyes met mine from the table, the more cramped I felt and unfortunately I drank one cup after the other out of this overwhelmed feeling.

Then, as I was about to go to the restroom as Micah was deep in conversation with Juline while getting supplies, I pushed my way through the many unfamiliar faces and then accidentally stumbled down a small flight of stairs to the hallway and flew straight into Zayn's arms.

He grabbed my arm, then pulled away and looked me up and down in amusement.

"Man Babsi, so stormy? Let me get there first," he winked.

"It's Cody's birthday. I don't think you're invited," I hissed at him annoyed, adjusting my sweater again.

"But I'm invited. I hope it was okay that I bring the boys," a female voice suddenly sounded behind Zayn and I immediately recognized this cheap, black-haired bitch and to my horror, Adam and Kiyan were also standing with her. I had to imagine that. Horrified, I stared at Kiyan, who was wearing his leather jacket and dark sweater and immediately avoided my gaze and walked past me with her into the crowded living room. Adam did the same, leaving only Cyan, who suddenly came too close to me.

"What Kiyan never got, but needs more than air to breathe, is someone who makes him feel like the only one, you know..." he whispered in my ear, looked at me intensely for a moment and then followed also the other.

I stood there stunned. It went neither forward nor backward. He was kind of right and I went over the day in my head. Starting with the fact that he brought me breakfast in bed, which tasted really disgusting, but was meant to be sweet and I then ran off to my best friend without saying a word. While that was normal, Kiyan shared his fears about Micah with me, and then I looked down at the black sweater.

What was he thinking? I threw an inner tantrum just because he showed up with Chloe, but haven't I been doing worse things all day? Am I even allowed to be jealous? We weren't even together... were we? How long have I known him? One week? Not even!

I was getting so dizzy and hot from all the thoughts that I turned and fought my way through the crowd to get past Micah and out the glass door.

I took a deep breath and was happy to be alone. Nobody was out here and when I closed the door behind me, I also heard the voices and the music only very quietly in the background.

Absolutely confused, I ran to the beautiful blue pool where we must have looked into the water for several minutes like a frozen woman. It was so clear, so pure, so untouched. I didn't even know why I was so drawn to it, but it was probably the longing for silence in my head that drove me here, which was then unfortunately interrupted.

"Wow," I heard the first voices behind me and as soon as I turned around, I saw more and more people coming out.

Didn't they have any more room inside?

When I wanted to go back in and see Juline, she came towards me with Micah, already laughing.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked in a slurred voice, holding out a new mug.

"Get some air," I said quietly and just accepted the cup as if remotely controlled.

The three of us stood there, watching the people around us and I caught myself looking in through the window again and again, but unfortunately I didn't see Kiyan.

"You, you and you, come with me!" Cody suddenly came over to us and then ran back inside excitedly. I didn't know what was going on at all, but then I followed him along with Micah and Juline.

We walked through the crowded living room, out into the hallway, and then through a door next to the stairs down into a basement. What was all this? Did he want us to turn off the electricity so everyone could go home? I would be there immediately!

We arrived downstairs to a room that didn't look like a basement at all, more like a hookah bar, just no hookahs. There was a counter with a small fridge, several bean bags, and the only light was those weird colored led lights.

"What are we doing here?" Micah asked and I immediately stared at Cody curiously.

"We're going to play spin the bottle. Don't spoil it for me," he winked and I immediately laughed hysterically, noticing that Cody and Micah were both giving me funny looks.

My laughter stopped and I looked to my right for help at Juline, who suddenly smiled past me. "I'm in," she said and horrified by her words, I followed her gaze to the door and then saw Zayn come in, of course with Adam, Chloe and Kiyan gradually entering the room as well.

That was my very personal purgatory...