Page 56 of I Don't Need Your Romance

Carly taps her chin again. “How could they see the fun side of Sophie and not only the studious side? We need to be in some sort of social setting where we won’t talk about school at all.”

“I already tried the rec room,” I remind her.

Raven sits up. “What about a party?”

“A party?” Carly’s brows crease as she glances at Addie.

“That’s a good idea! Isn’t Julio throwing a party tonight? We can bring my list and search for—”

“Forget the list.” I sit up and run my hand through my hair. “Do you think my potential boyfriend could be at a party? I mean, we’ve been to parties before, but we never interacted with any of the guys there. No one ever approached us or tried to hang out with us. We’ve never been asked to dance.”

“Maybe we never made much of an effort either,” Carly says. “We’ve always preferred just being with each other. Maybe that pushes away any interest.”

Hmm. I guess it never occurred to me that my friends and I could have accidentally warded off a potential guy. We’re sotight-knit and put a wall around ourselves. Maybe that can be intimidating to a guy.

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” I admit. “It can’t be any worse than the last few days.”

“So…” Raven looks between all three of us. “I guess we’re going to Julio’s party?”

“I’ll text the guys to meet us outside our dorm in half an hour,” Addie says as she produces her phone. “I’m excited now! It’ll be so much fun to dance with my wonderful Caleb again.”

“It’s only been like…what? Two weeks?” Raven jokes, referring to the dance we had.

Addie sighs like she’s in heaven. “Nothing can describe how romantic it is to dance with your special guy.”

“Truth,” Carly says, looking forward to dancing with her special guy, too.

Raven shifts in her seat. I know she’s thinking about the end of camp, when she shared a romantic dance with the mysterious guy she refuses to talk about. Okay, maybe I added the romantic part. For all I know, it could have been a disaster and that’s why she likes to pretend he doesn’t exist. But I like to think positively. I mean, who knows? Maybe they’ll meet one day when they’re older and have a second-chance romance. Now that would beawesome.

We get up from the beds and start getting ready for the party. Since the whole point of attending the party is for me to snag a guy, there’s a lot of fussing to find the perfect outfit for me. None of us are super fashionable, but Addie has a closet filled with a plethora of clothes to choose from. Carly is having the time of her life trying to choose thebestoutfit for me.

In the end, I go with a short dark blue dress with leggings, since it’s cold out. We do our makeup and hair and then study ourselves in the mirror. We don’t dress up and go out often, so it’s fun to do it every once in a while.

“We look good,” Carly says proudly.

Addie checks her phone. “The boys are waiting outside. You ready, Sophie?”

“Yep.” I stand and grab my bag. “I don’t want to be too hopeful, but I want to be positive. I just can’t help but worry I’m doing something wrong.”

“Just be yourself,” Raven tells me with a smile as she wraps her arm around my shoulder and leads me to the door. “There’s no point getting the attention of a guy when you’re not your authentic self.”

“What if guys just don’t like me?” I ask. Addie is about to object, but I hold up my hand. “It’s a serious question. I’m not crapping on myself or anything. Maybe I’m just not what guys want.”

“Don’t you believe there’s a person for everyone?” Carly asks as we make our way down the stairs.

“I thought I did,” I admit. “But maybe that was too childish of me. I already told you I don’t think everyone will find their dream partner and live happily ever after.”

“I still believe,” Addie says. “And I hope I prove you wrong.”

We meet the guys outside, and Addie and Carly hug them and give them kisses. Then we head for our cars. My car is still at the shop, but it should be ready soon. So I ride with Raven.

Julio lives about half an hour from campus. I hear the blaring music when we’re quite a distance away. Ugh, I hope I’ll be able to actually have conversations with guys with all that noise.

Raven finds a parking spot next to Addie’s semi-rich car, and then we all meet outside the mansion. I can’t help but gawk at it. I know my classmates are super rich, but it’s sometimes easy to forgethowrich because I never get invited to their houses.

“Ready to get our dance on?” Carly asks as she does a fun dance move.

With a grin, Addie joins in the dancing. “Did you just make up this move? We should add it to our next routine.”