Surviving High School

Amir.
    “Find me something to make my drink a little more interesting ,” she said. “Now.”
    Amir took her cup and ran to the kitchen.
    Emily sipped her milk and looked Dominique up and down. She was wearing a tiny gold dress that stretched barely from her upper thighs to the top of her chest, so delicately balanced that it seemed the slightest movement would cause a wardrobe malfunction. It was the kind of dress that guys loved and girls hated—unless you were the one wearing it.
    “Nice lingerie,” said Kimi.
    “Nice polka dots. Did you get called back in time to sell houses in the fifties?”
    “I’m not a Realtor! Now why don’t you head back to the Frederick’s of Hollywood catalog you crawled out of and leave us alone?”
    “Gladly,” said Dominique. “You’re not the one I wore thisfor anyway. He’s still hiding somewhere.” Trying to find Ben, all three girls turned and looked over the sea of partiers.
    “Catch you later, Swimbot,” Dominique added. “You really do look great. You know, you should seriously consider accessorizing—with a scoop of ice cream.”
    As Dominique turned, Amir came running from the kitchen with her drink in hand. She took one sip, grimaced, and handed it back to him.
    “Try again,” she said as she walked toward the central room. Amir watched her go, looking down at the cup in his hands.
    “Stupid,” he said to himself. “Stupid.”
    “What are you, her butler or something?” asked Kevin, who had just walked up from behind them. Amir turned to look at him.
    “I’m just being nice.”
    “I’m just saying, there are cooler girls at the party,” said Kevin. “Don’t waste your time with that one.”
    “I’m practicing my moves for when my ladylove, Claire, finally visits from Canada,” said Amir defensively.
    “Right,” said Kevin. “Your long-term, megahot Canadian girlfriend who would rather spend her Friday nights playing World of Warcraft with you than dating the beefcake, lumberjack-looking dudes at her school.”
    “You doubt her authenticity?” shouted Amir, his voice’s pitch growing higher. “Take it back, swine!”
    “What are you two doing here?” asked Kimi, interrupting their conversation before it became too nerdy to bear.
    “I always come to Ben’s parties,” said Kevin. “We go way back—to Odyssey of the Mind days in middle school. He practically taught me how to code.”
    “Speaking of which,” said Amir, “I believe I spotted a certain electron-microscope prototype in his dad’s office. Want to take a peek?”
    Kevin turned to the girls.
    “As sad as it makes me to say good-bye to you, I do actually want to go check that microscope out,” he said. “Maybe I’ll catch you later.”
    “Can you believe him?” asked Kimi, not taking her eyes off Kevin as he walked away. “Ditching girls like us to go play with some nerd toy. So lame!”
    “As lame as crashing a guy’s birthday party when I barely know him?” asked Emily.
    “Hey! Don’t you dare compare yourself to those geeks,” said Kimi. “Who cares if you don’t know him that well? Ben has totally been giving you, like, you know, signals.”
    As she spoke, Kimi took her BlackBerry out of her pocket, created a new file for Kevin Delucca, and in the cons column wrote Lonely nerd .
    “You’re starting a file for that guy?” asked Emily. “He doesn’t seem like your usual type.”
    Kimi shrugged. “Most guys at school have a file. I like to be thorough.”
    A few minutes later, Kimi went off to find Phil, leaving Emily by herself. She was standing against a wall, looking over thesea of faces and hoping to see Ben Kale, when a voice to her left said, “There’s an unexpected sight. A Kessler at a party.”
    Emily turned to see Cameron Clark, a drink in hand, looking down at her. She hadn’t realized until now just how tall he was—six foot two at least. His tight black shirt showed off the elegant V of his chest, and girls all around the room kept glancing his way. Emily stared up into his cold blue eyes, speechless.
    “Your sister—she wasn’t the type to make it out much,” he said, sipping from his cup.
    “Yeah,” said Emily. “Well, I’m not her.”
    “I know.” He looked down at her, studying her face. “Sara and I used to swim together almost every morning. I guess she never mentioned me?”
    Emily shook her head.
    “Sara was like that,” he said. “Quiet. Good at keeping secrets.”
    Emily was about to ask Cameron what