As soon as I got home I received a call from Jenna.

"What's up girl?" I said, only a second later realizing how stupid it sounded. This wasn't me.

"Wow. Where did Iris go?" She said in a joking manner.

"I don't know, I think she just returned to the phone."I joked back.

"There you are, haha! Now I can ask you what the hell happened between you and Andy?! "

"What do you mean?" I asked, kind of confused.

"I saw you guys in the park, talking, hugging...didn't he use to bully you?"

"Yeah. I have been confused about what has happened as well. I mean he found me crying in the bathroom a few days back and comforted me, and ever since he's been a changed person." I said, not telling her about the rape thing.

"I'm worried for you Iris. You shouldn't forgive him so quickly, he might be manipulating you."

"I haven't forgiven him. I've told him that numerous times. I can't trust him."

I could almost hear her facial expression change. I knew what face she was making on the other side of the line. One eyebrow raised, as in doubt.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead an doubt that..."

"Whatever. How's the thing with Phoenix going?"

Poor Jenna. She had had a crush on Phoenix ever since middle school, but she never dared to tell him.

"It's going well, it's going well. He's coming to the party at my place tomorrow. It's gonna be rad."

"You're having a party? Why haven't you told me earlier!"

"Well, technically it's not my party, it's Jeremy's. I wasn't allowed to invite guests myself at first. Well, technically I am not allowed to do that now either, but whatever. I'll just pretend we're having a sleepover. I wanna cook up an evil plan to set me up with Nix and I need you to help me. I didn't know you and Andy were on good terms though, so I thought I should stay away, since he's coming. Your enemy equals my enemy."

"See, this is why I love you. "

"Love you too, Iris. Meet me up at like, 6. Then my brother won't be too pissy. Maybe."

I hung up. If there was anyone I would help getting together with her crush it would be Jenna. Especially since she wanted to be set up with one of my closest friends.

---

I had told my parents that we were having a sleepover and brought a bad with sleeping clothes, a toothbrush and my sleeping bag to Jenna's house. I knocked on the door and got greeted by Jeremy, who seemed surprised by my arrival.

"Oh. Hey Iris." He said. "You're here to see Jenna?"

I could notice a slight incling of dissatisfaction when I nodded. "We're having a sleepover."

"Oh well, we're having a party here later tonight, so don't expect much sleeping, hehe." He said.

"It's fine." I said. He nodded in a kind response, as of approval for my answer. "Jenna, Iris is here!"

Jenna ran down the stairs. "Iriiiis!!!"

"Jenna!!" I hugged her and we quickly went upstairs to start plotting.

---

Loud music was playing downstairs, but through the closed door you could only hear the bass echoing. The actual partying started thirty minutes ago, but not all of the guests had arrived yet. Me and Jenna were mainly going through Jenna's wardrobe trying to find something she could wear.

"So, what do you think?"

I looked at her. She was wearing a red, formfitting dress that went down to her knees. Her light-brown hair fell perfectly against the dress.

"Yeah. You should definetly go with that. He'll adore that."

"Really?"

"Certainly. I know Nix, he likes girls with legs and girls with shape. That makes you look perfect. Besides, few people pull off red as well as you do. Just add a bit of lipstick and it's perfect."

"Thanks!"

I was ready to go downstairs when Jenna stopped me.

"Why?"

"You can't go down there looking like that! Well, you could, but that is if you want people to look like you just woke up."

I realized I was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. Maybe not so socially acceptable to Jenna.

"I don't have anything else to put on. Guess I'll just stay here."

"No, I can't go downstairs without you. Just grab my black dress from the coathanger, put it on and let's move!"

"Obeying order!" I said, making a joking salute-gesture and did as she said. It was a truly beautiful dress, with lace up top.

Time to enter phase one of "Operation getting Nix to like Jenna"...

---

"Hey Nix!"

"Hi Iris! What's up?" He answered.

"Nothing really, was kinda thrown into this party last minute. hey, you remember Jenna, right?"

"Yeah, how could I forget Jenna?" I could see Jenna's face blushing as he gave her a hug. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, how 'bout you?." Jenna said, still blushing. "Hey, is there anything non-alcoholic here to drink?" I asked Jenna.

"Yeah sure. Just go into the kitchen, there should be like five bottles of ginger ale there."

I left. Phase one complete. And phase two was basically just getting Nix wasted, so I figured she would manage. I had to more or less fight through a huge crowd of people before I reached the kitchen. She was right, there were some ginger ale bottles on the table, even though the main part of the bottles on it were vodka bottles. I grabbed a red solo cup, filled it up and had a sip. It is not impossible to pretend it is beer when everyone is intoxicated, so I was usually not bothered by people.

Just as I was going to leave the kitchen I noticed a few familiar faces. Ashley, Jake, Jeremy and Christian were walking towards me. I didn't really know how to react. Were they changed as well?

Notes

I decided to make this chapter a two-parter, but really it won't be much of a cliffhanger as the second part will be up really, really soon.

How are you guys feeling about the story so far? Please comment, I would love to hear!

This chapter is named after and inspired by the chapter that I originally had as my 6th chapter but hated and deleted. I have a plan this time for how it will all pan out eventually, as far as the two-parter goes. Sorry for the long chapters by the way, would you prefer shorter updates? Or do you like getting a lot at once.

And yeah, I do like ginger ale. A lot. Hence why the main character likes it and the chapter is named after it.