Max winked at me, pulling more fury out of the other girl. “I’m getting a soda,” I said, and Max nodded, turning to talk to one of the guys behind him as I left to the snack table.

As soon as he was preoccupied with the conversation I snuck off to the bathroom. It was empty, luckily, and I stepped in and locked the door behind me. You know those scenes in monster movies where the person running away gets into a room, locks the door behind them, leans against it and waits in silence for a moment, holding their breath?

Then they hear the monster or killer walk by, and let out a sigh of relief, begin breathing again, and slide down the door into a seating position, still leaning against the door.

I did that exact thing, minus the listening for the monster or killer. For me the monster was the party.

So there I hid from the party, in there for at least half an hour until someone knocked loudly on the door. “Can you please hurry a little?” I sighed and left my fort, going to get that soda.