After our first kiss, my cousin Carol wouldn’t give me a second of peace. She was always poking at me, pushing me to “try new things” and telling me I needed to go out with other guys to see if I could get her brother out of my head. Like it was that easy, just flip a switch and boom—I’m over him.
— Why don’t you hook up with Felipe? He’s into you. And let’s be real, he’s fucking hot, right?
I held out as long as I could, but I had to admit it. Felipe was the hottest, most popular guy in school. Light brown hair and those emerald-green eyes that stole my attention like crazy. I’d always been drawn to intense stares, and his had this special spark, almost hypnotic. Every girl was obsessed with him.
Felipe was Júlia’s brother, my best friend, and he was in his senior year, same class as my sister. We ran into each other all the time because I hung out at their house a lot. When I wasn’t at Carol’s, I was over there, crashed on Júlia’s bed, especially on ballet class days. We’d study and catch up on all the gossip.
I knew damn well he wanted to hook up with me. He’d asked me out a few times, but I always turned him down. At that point, my head and my heart were only about Diego.
Still, he had a reputation as a total player, and that pissed me off like crazy. I didn’t want to be just another name on his list or the next rumor in his boys’ group chat. But Carol kept hammering it into my head so much that I started wondering if it was worth at least trying anyway.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Hey, Diary!
Today I’m at Júlia’s house.
After Carol, Júlia’s been my best friend since we were kids. When my mom put me in ballet at eight, Júlia got excited and wanted to join too. It was the best thing, because having her with me in class always made everything way more fun. We’d laugh, gossip, and help each other through the hard parts. I love ballet, but it’s fucking exhausting! Some days I get home so wiped out I can barely pull my slippers off. Today was one of those days. I’m destroyed, like “dead with seasoning” level.
Tomorrow there’s gonna be a party here. Felipe invited me… well, he always invites me. But this time I actually said yes. And seriously, I’m already feeling that mix of excited and nervous as hell. These parties always pull in the senior crowd, but people show up from everywhere. Everyone brings booze and they say the alcohol flows nonstop.
Felipe and Júlia live with their dad, who’s super chill and pretty liberal. He doesn’t care if his son throws parties with the music blasting and alcohol flowing for underage kids, as long as his daughter stays out of it. But Júlia hates her brother’s parties. She’s always saying she wants to disappear on those days because the house turns into total chaos: yelling, people everywhere, and that dirty funk shaking the walls all the way to her room.
I had to come clean to my sister Isabella. She was gonna find out anyway, so I figured it was better coming from me. Of course she didn’t like it. Isabella’s super protective, sometimes she acts more like my mom. I basically had to make a pact so she wouldn’t snitch to our parents. She’s such a good girl: she drinks, but swears it’s only socially. But she never goes to these kinds of parties. She’d rather hang out with her boyfriend a thousand times over.
For my parents, I just asked if I could sleep over at Júlia’s. They said yes and that was it… mission accomplished.
Saturday, March 28, 2015
9 a.m.
I woke up to Júlia’s annoying alarm. She got up right away for a shower, while I, obviously, stayed buried under the covers a little longer. I only got up once she finally freed up the bathroom.
After that, we sat down together for breakfast and planned to spend the morning by the pool, soaking up the sun until it was time for the party.
My cousin Carol had been pushing hard for me to wear the red string bikini, clearly trying to get the guys’ attention. But I ended up bringing the light pink one instead, same style, also with ties. Besides, pretty much everything I wore to school was pink. It was kind of my signature.
Just like the red one, this pink bikini had the high-cut thong bottom. It wasn’t a full-on dental-floss thong, but it wasn’t modest either. The cut left part of my ass showing, just enough to tease. Júlia had mentioned that most of the girls at these parties showed up in straight-up thong bikinis, so I felt pretty comfortable with my choice.
9:40 a.m.
I went to the pool with Júlia and we spent most of the time in the water, messing around, shooting the shit, and sprawled out in the sun, totally relaxed, until lunchtime. Every now and then Felipe would show up with a drink in his hand, offering us something, but you could tell he was busy getting everything ready for the party.