Find me in the Ocean

Chapter 1

"The world isn't perfect. But it's there for us, even in our darkest of moments. "

- Tanihara Mamotan (Bleak Stranger)

It's only a wednesday, and yet for some reason Jamie Park, Calum Johnson and I are all standing outside a houseparty, waiting to be let in. There are people everywhere and Jamie has been fidgeting with his short, black hair for the past five minutes. He does this whenever he's seen someone pretty, and it's very easy to tell.

Cal, on the other hand, is just standing in complete silence, staring down at his hands.

"Is this really a good idea?" I ask Jamie. "I mean, it's still a schoolday..."

"Ethan...Eth... Here's the thing." Jamie sighs. "I don't want to waste another year still a virgin. I personally, actually want to get laid once! I mean if you don't want to be here, feel free to waste yet another year in front of your computer. Talking with your imaginary girlfriends and pout all you want, I don't care!"

I stare at him in disbelief and confusion. I mean, it's no secret that I'd rather stay at home and play games, but to hear Jamie say something like that...

"Well someone had a change of heart!" I jokingly say to him. "Ok, I'm gonna be your wingman for tonight. Let's go!"

I place my hands on Cal and Jamie's shoulders and push them towards the door. Cal follows hesitantly, as always, but he doesn't say anything. I mean, I didn't expect anything else from him. He doesn't usually talk.

We make our way through the door and we get greeted by this really tall, scary man.

"Who are you?" He asks us.

I look over at Cal, who looks equally as terrified as me. It almost felt like we weren't even supposed to be there, but we were. I make myself ready to talk to him, but before I can say anything, Jamie steps forward.

"Good day gentleman, my name's Jamie and this is Cal and Ethan." he turns around and gestures towards us.

The guy in the door looks at us all and I can feel how his eyes scan me up and down.

"I know the host of the party, so if you could just let us in..."

All of a sudden the guy looks even scarier than before and Jamie goes completely quiet. I sigh before deciding to step forward and talk to him instead. But before I could do that, a young woman steps out from the party and into the hallway.

She sighs loudly and starts talking to the guy.

"Hey Brad! How's it going out here?" She asks as she walks up to him.

I immediately recognize her as one of the girls in my class and so I decide to go for it.
"Emm... Hey Ellinor, was it?" I say to her.

I feel how Brad stares at me as I try to get Ellinor to recognize me.

"It's Ethan, from chemistr..." I say, but before I could even finish, her whole expression changed.
"Ethan! Hi!" She bursts out, clearly a bit drunk. "How nice to finally see you at a party! I don't think I've ever seen you outside of school."

As she's talking, she drags me and my friends into the party, leaving Brad behind to watch the door. As soon as we left the hallway, we get bombarded with music and people everywhere. Some I recognise, most I don't. We make our way into the kitchen where Kadie Hagan is. She's sitting on one of the kitchen counters, scrolling through her phone. I'm pretty sure that she and Ellinor are childhood friends.

It's always been a wonder to me how she's never dated anyone before, because she can really stand out from the crowd if she wants to. I remember a few years back, the first day of school. Jamie, Cal and I were walking down the hallway when Kadie walked past us. Back then she used to wear a lot of makeup and wore outfits that just barely passed the dress code. After that day, Jamie had a huge crush on her for weeks. But now, she barely wears anything other than oversized hoodies and shirts.