“Listen, bro. You’ll do fine. Just walk up to her and ask if you can prepare a drink for her. You know how to prepare cocktails?”

It remained silent for a bit, then Andy prodded my arm. “Hans, are you listening?”

I was looking at the stars while we drove towards a house party. Officially curfew had started, but this was a rich neighborhood. Rich people don’t go bump in the night, at least that is what the authorities thought. Most of the people invited to the party were under the legal drinking age, yet alcohol was bound to be in abundance.

“I don’t know, but I am pretty sure a whisky and cola mix is easy enough.” I said.

“I think you are underestimating it.”

“How so?”

“You can’t get laid if she goes to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.”

I scoffed. “I am not looking to get laid tonight, her phone number will be enough.”

Andy sighed and kept driving. He drove an expensive Italian sports car. It had a large display on the dashboard, showing we were already at the destination.

I looked over at Andy. We were both sixteen and he was significantly more attractive than I was. He had sun tanned skin with half long wavy hair and actually hit the gym on a regular basis. Both of us wore expensive dark blue tuxedos with a spaceship badge on our chests, showing we knew each other.

“Wouldn’t Marlene find me creepy if I just talked to her out of nowhere?” I asked. “I never really talked to her in school, except for the old bump and chat.”

“Nah, just keep it mild, girls love to chat with boys who seem nice enough,” He parked his car and shut off the engine. Music boomed from the large mansion. “Don’t be afraid to compliment her looks. Also, with a father like you have, girls will already be more interested. Don’t overshare too much, don’t touch without permission.”

“I wasn’t planning on touching her anywhere. That would be very weird.”

“Good. No touching the pretty lassies.”

Andy and I opened up the car door and stepped out. The muffled music boomed from inside. It was some weird rap music, but at least it wasn’t metal. I couldn’t handle metal. Too loud, too chaotic for my brain to handle, especially with a chattering mob already inside. There were multiple bicycles parked in front of the mansion and a couple cars in the driveway. Some sort of rainbow colored disco lights illuminated the path to the front door.

“You got this.” Andy said, “Just check if she is there, if not just talk to people until she is. You’ll do fine.”

I looked in the side mirror of the car to check if my hair was in the correct form, it was. “I am not really a talker.”

“When you start, you’ll do fine. Just talk about mutual interests. Boxing, hunting, or those weird Lo-Fi beats you’re into.”

“They’re not weird.” I snapped. “Many people listen to Lo-Fi.”

“I know.” He clarified. “Maybe you’ll find someone who likes it. Actually, you can talk to Marlene about Lo-Fi. She seems like the type to enjoy it.”

I nodded and walked to the front door, Andy followed. He rang the doorbell and a tall blond girl opened up. She must’ve been around two meters tall. She towered above Andy, who I considered tall. She was wearing a pink dress with ruffles at her decollete. She smiled upon seeing Andy and hugged him, pressing his head against her chest. He winked and smiled at me as he rested his head on her breasts.

“Hey, Andy. I’m so glad you could come.” She then looked over at me. “Who’s the little guy?”

Little guy?

Andy put an arm around my shoulder. I cringed upon the sudden touch. The only person who could ever touch me like that was my mother. In private.

She’s been gone for ten years.

“This is Hans Julians. He goes to school with me, this is his first house party, so don’t make him chug tequila shots just yet.” Andy joked.

I put on a fake smile and waved my hand at the pretty and tall girl. “Hello.” I said softly.

The girl smiled. “My name is Ivy, welcome to my birthday party. Come on in.” We walked through a hallway with family pictures. They had the girl in it. Ivy wasn’t an ugly girl, but she wasn’t my type. She dressed too girly, way too tall, and her pressing other men’s faces against her breasts didn’t sit well with me at all. I had my eyes on Marlene already anyway.

We entered the large living room. There were around fifty people in this room alone, drinking, talking and some even kissing. Another fifty were smoking and drinking in the backyard. I only planned on doing one of those things. I scanned the room for Marlene. She was nowhere to be found. The beats of the music hammered against my ears. Then again, everything was better than metal.

“Ivy,” Andy started. “Is Marlene Maarten already here?” My eyes shot towards him, giving him a refuting look.

“No, she still has to arrive. You want to make a move on her?”

“Nah, but I know someone who does.” He pointed at me with his thumb. I felt my heart drop onto the floor. Ivy looked at me and gave me a soft smile.

“Good luck, buddy.” She said before wandering off to mingle with the crowd.

I became angry and I balled my fists. “What the fuck, Andy?”

Andy laughed, but I didn’t think it was funny at all. “Don’t you know what type of rumors will go around now? I have been trying to avoid those.” I said to him with a raised voice. The music was too loud for anyone to hear anyway.

“Man,” Andy laughed. “Not all girls are gossipers. I know Ivy better than you, she keeps that shit to herself.” He recovered from his laughing fit. “Just calm down, it’ll be fine.”

I remembered what she said. “Good luck, buddy.” Was just a way of her pitying me. Marlene was drop dead gorgeous, while I was painfully average. I was shorter than most boys my age, had no muscle, and Marlene probably doesn’t know I exist. She was in the same class as me, but we never really talked about serious things. I didn’t have the nerve to. Anything I said to her at school would probably make me look creepy, but this party was my chance.

“You better hope she doesn’t start a rumor, else you’re toast.” I said to him, raising my fist.

“Calm down, little man.” He scoffed.

He was right. I calmed down and relaxed my hand. “You ruined my chances more than enough.”

“Nah, Ivy is a real one.”

I looked around, then asked softly: “Does she always press your head against her boobs like that?”

Andy chuckled. “Believe it or not, she does that to everyone. I have never had a sexual encounter with her. She does it to girls too, then again she is just so damn tall that she kinda has to,” He looked at a brown haired girl holding a red cup. “Let’s split up. Let me know how it went later.”

Shit, I had to socialize instead of looking at the others socializing. That was going to be hard. Doesn’t mean I was not going to try. I gave my friend a fistbump and departed. I walked through the crowd towards a table with soda on it. I grabbed some cola and poured it into a red plastic cup.

Someone appeared next to me. He was a head taller than me and had bleached blond hair. It was slicked back onto his head. He was wearing a polo with a tightly folded collar.

“You don’t need alcohol? No party is complete without it. Table’s over there.” he pointed towards the table with hard liquor bottles.

“No, that shit destroys livers and makes me act weird. I can’t have that,” I held up my cup. “but this is rather tasty as well.”

The boy cocked a single eyebrow and gave me a pat on the back. – Why do these people touch each other like that? – and started talking. “Good, more alcohol for me that way.” he said before wobbly walking off. The guy’s liver was probably begging to be put out of its misery.

I took a sip from my cup and the bubbles hit my tongue. It tasted sweet and fit the vibe of the party. The music was still rap music. Didn’t these people have some kind of other music they liked? The bass vibrated the entire house, I could see ripples forming in the soda when I looked into the cup. I decided to walk about the party. The boys were mostly dressed in suits, much like myself. The girls were dressed in formal dresses of all colors.

I looked next to me and saw a kissing couple. Did these people have no shame?. These people were cleaning each other’s mouth with their tongues like they wanted others to join in. Yuck.

“Did you two check each other for diseases?” I asked.

They broke the kiss and looked at me, the guy squinted his eyes to get a good look at me in the dimly lit room and frowned. “Get lost, weirdo.” He uttered.

I decided not to push it, that tended to act badly. I wandered off with a smile, met by a snarl from the couple. They continued kissing. Only person I’d kiss is Marlene. Behind closed doors. In her or my room.

Her’s probably smells better.

“Hans!” Someone yelled from behind. I turned around and my eyes were uncomfortably staring at Ivy’s chest. I gulped and quickly looked up at her face. “Marlene has just arrived, I wanted to tell you.”

So she could see me fail?

“Where is she?” I asked, my heart beating in my throat.

“She is sitting down with her friends now, on the huge bean bags.” Ivy bent down and whispered in my ear. “She looks really pretty, I’m jealous.”

“Of me?”

“Both you and her. Shoot your shot, Hans.” I didn’t waste a second and worked my way through the crowd. I saw her and her friends sitting on the massive bean bags. Marlene wore a long black dress with a big V shape, showing her beautiful breasts. She also had stark black hair. It flowed down and went down until the small of her back. She wore thick eyeshadow and black lipstick. Her skin was pale, it had to be makeup. Either way, her skin looked very smooth. She was very short, around 5 feet tall, yet she exuded a mature, yet also cute aura.

There were some friends with her. Two girls in colored dresses. One was slightly shorter than me, but taller than Marlene. She had silver hair, it contrasted with Marlene’s hair quite nicely. The other girl had brown hair in a ponytail and glasses. Quite nerdy, really. They may have looked pretty to other boys, but Marlene took up all my eyesight.

Silver-hair bounced her knee up and down in a nervous gesture. Not too weird with the awful music still present in the background.

I made sure my suit was straight and I looked good. Then I started to approach her. I saw one bean bag unoccupied.

I plopped down and my bottom got absorbed by the large bag. I was quickly made comfortable by the thousands of small beans adapting to the shape of my back and legs. My eyes were directly focused on Marlene.

“H-hey, Marlene Maarten, right?” I said. Better play it safe and make it look like I wasn’t in love with her. Her friends all looked at me. Shit.

“Yes, that’s me,” She said, Then her blue eyes widened as she got excited. I averted my gaze, eye contact was too intense so I stared at her forehead. “You are Hans Julians, the minister’s son! I didn’t expect you at this party.” When her friends realized it, they averted their gaze from me. Were they scared of me? Most people in the WEF did not even know my name, only my father.

“Eh, I don’t like parties. A friend was invited and he just brought me along.” I said.

“The one dressed in the same suit, with the badge?” She nodded towards Andy. He was on the other side of the room talking to a group of people.

“Yes, it was kind of an inside joke. Like we belonged to the same space family.”

Marlene giggled. “You two look more like businessmen than criminals.”

“Heh,” I scoffed, “I would be a silly businessman…”

She started laughing, her friends did too. Marlene had a cute snorty laugh. I started laughing with her, trying to sound as genuine as possible.

“Why would you be silly?.” The silver haired girl asked.

I blushed. “Well I do not really look good in a suit.”

“The opposite. You look cute, really.” The one with glasses said. “I expected you to be more, well, rude?”

“Rude? Me? Never.” I said quickly. “What makes you think that?”

“Well, your father-”

“Sanne.” Marlene interrupted her. “Don’t bring his dad into this. They’re not the same.” She crossed her arms under her breasts and looked at me. I kept looking at her forehead.

“Sorry, Hans, my friends can be a bit rude themselves at points.” She said, snarling at her friends.

“Oh it doesn’t matter. My dad is a hard case, always has been one. He is a great father to me. I go hunting with him in the forest. That is how I learned how to shoot a rifle.”

The silver haired girl groaned. “That is horrible. I love animals.”

I decided to explain. “Better than being a trophy hunter. We only hunt deer, really.”

Her eyes widened and she put her arms around herself.

Tell us more.” A smiling Marlene pushed. Most girls like her preferred talking about music or something, yet the hunting interested her.

“Well, we have rules. We don’t shoot babies, or mothers with babies. That would be very sad. We usually shoot deer that are on their own. Deer don’t really have a very strong pack mentality like wolves do. People who hunt those usually end up as meat.”

“I understand.” Silverhair said. “I am just vegan and I don’t like the suffering of animals. I couldn’t stomach a hunting trip.”

“We make sure the animal doesn’t suffer,” I reassured her. “We make sure to finish the animal off with a knife to the throat. Lots of blood, but it kills them in seconds. We go for vital spots when shooting too.”

“Interesting.” Marlene said. “Vanessa here is very squeamish regarding blood. She doesn’t like these things. Maybe stop talking about it.”

“That is fine, but we would appreciate some female hunters. It is still a very male dominated profession. I guess it is a rather manly thing.”

“I am not good with guns.” Sanne said. She pushed her glasses up her nose with her index finger.

I couldn’t stop now. I needed to know more about Marlene’s interests. This was going so much better than I expected. I had not been slapped yet. “So, girls, if it isn’t hunting, what are your hobbies?”

“I am a big reader.” Marlene said.

“I play baseball.” Sanne said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

“I like knitting.” Vanessa said at last. “I knit plushies.”

“Cute,” I responded to the last comment in particular. Vanessa blushed and looked down. “What books do you read, Marlene?” I asked.

“I like fantasy, historical, and romance. You know, costume dramas. Regal noble ladies and gentlemen in eighteenth century Britain or somewhere else. Castles and such.”

“I usually read non-fiction,” I started. “A lot of historical books. I read one on the Japanese empire and its history, it's so interesting.” I said enthusiastically. Then it hit me like a freight train: The nerves were gone. I was talking to a group of girls about my interests and they were actually listening. I didn’t stutter or say some weird stuff that would scare them.

I felt like a true Casanova. It filled me with courage to continue.

“Also,” I continued, looking at Sanne, “I don’t like baseball. You could probably outrun me.” Sanne started blushing even more. I was flustering her more than Marlene, damn.

“There is one other thing.” Marlene continued. “I run a school club, but I see it as more than a simple hobby.” She said.

“What is it all about?”

“I have called it the ‘Neuro-help Club’. It is a group of people who try to make the school a safe and comfortable place for the various neurodivergent and mentally ill students at the school and raise awareness for them. But I am merely a co-founder. I see Vanessa as the true leader.”

Vanessa covered her face in shame. “Don’t say that… you’re so much better than me.”

I was very confused. “Neuro-what?” I muttered dumbfounded, but still smiling.

“You not knowing what neurodivergence is, is exactly why we started this club,” She went on to explain. “If someone is neurodivergent, it means that someone has a developmental disorder. It is pretty much an umbrella term for people with ADHD, Autism, and any other disorder that causes someone’s brain to be wired differently. For many it is a taboo to talk about, but we want to spread awareness and understanding.”

That seemed like a good cause to me. They are people too after all. “So are you neurodivergent yourself?”

“No, I'm neurotypical, which means someone without a developmental disorder. Vanessa here has ADHD and Autism though, and she has helped me a lot with the club and in educating me.”

“ADHD? Seems like she is sitting still quite enough.” My statement caused Vanessa to sigh. The nerves creeped up again. I had messed up.

“That is not what ADHD is, it is way more complex than just being a hyperactive person.” Vanessa asserted.

“You know what,” Marlene said. “We could invite Hans to visit us after school this monday, so he can get educated on what these things actually mean. He has been misinformed, it isn’t his fault.”

“Sure.” Both girls said.

My heart started beating harder. I had somehow gotten an after school meeting with the most beautiful girl I knew. There must’ve been a god on my side.

Marlene grabbed her phone. She had a phone case with bats on them. “Can I grab your number? To put you in the group chat.”

My heart jumped. “Of course.”

I wasn’t in many chat groups with people I knew in real life. Most were people I knew online. I had friends in Europe, Japan, and the Middle East. I grabbed my phone and showed my number to Marlene. She added me to the group.

I talked to the girls for around an hour, mostly listening. I didn’t know much about which Korean boy band member was the cutest, or what drama social media influencers got into. Then Marlene said she needed to go home.

“That is quite early.” I said.

“My parents don’t really like me going out at night, I don’t want to worry them. I just wanted to show up because Ivy invited me. Plus Vanessa is getting sensory overload from this weird music they put on.” It was some sort of techno mix. We were sitting in a spot where the music was drowned out, but the bass still ripped through the air. I didn’t mind it, but Vanessa’s face seemed very distressed.

“Oh okay,” I said with an unsure tone. “I’ll see you on Monday then.”

Marlene left with her friends and Andy came to me shortly after. “Bro, did you succeed?”

“She added me to the group chat of her whacky school club.” I said.

“Whacky?”

“It is some sort of mental health help group for neuro-different people.” I continued explaining that they invited me and all the things we talked about. Andy scratched his chin and listened attentively.

“You did way better than I expected.” He said, “Keep this up and you’ll be banging each other in no time.” He amusingly said.

I made a disgusted face. “What in the hell is wrong with you? You only think about sex.”

“Like you don’t, you just hide it.” He shrugged. “I can’t do anything about the good ol’ intercourse being a primal desire of the human race.”

Andy had a point, but I had no interest in sex just yet. I wanted more out of a relationship than just that. Andy looked back at the girl he was talking to and got closer and whispered to me, “We need to leave, I made someone angry. Let’s just go to my house.”

No touching the pretty lassies. He had said. What a doofus.

I didn’t even ask what happened. We said goodbye to Ivy and went to Andy’s house. I slept there, because my father was in Japan anyway. He wouldn't notice.