Chapter 3

"42... 44 ... There! 46."

My dad drove onto the driveway of the house marked 21446. I got out of the car and looked up at the familiar house.

"Here Jared," said my mother handing me a platter of fruits.

"Moooooom," I groaned. "Fruits again?" Every potluck dinner we go to, my mom always insists on bringing fruit. "Hey, if I don't bring them who will?" was always her reasoning. It was always embarrassing to walk in carrying fruits when everyone else made delicious, home cooked entrees and desserts.

I stood there holding the platter of food in my hands watching my dad and mom retrieve more platters from the car. Yeah, I said more. She always made us bring multiple platters, almost as if she were trying to make up for the quality with quantity.

"Jared, go ring the doorbell and tell them we're here." I felt a sense of dread as I looked glumly at the front door. "It's ok, I'll just wait for you guys."

"Why wait? Just go let them know we're here," said my mom impatiently. With a sigh, I walked up to the door and pressed the doorbell. I was taken aback when the door opened so quickly.

"Hey Jared!"

My mouth dropped. "Ashley?"

"Its so nice to see you again!" she beamed. "Here, you can put that in the kitchen." She turned and led me towards the back of the house. What the hell. I followed her while I stared at her ass. She had on a pair of very short red lifeguard shorts that really showed off her firm ass. It wasn't overly large and it was very well defined and judging from the look of her legs and arms, her body was very toned.

I greeted her parents as I placed the platter down on the kitchen table. They briefly asked me about school and I answered in typical teenage fashion, "It's okay." My parents finally walked through the door and I stood off to the side awkwardly as they embraced Ashley's parents and started chattering. I was unsure of what to do when I felt a tug on my arm.

"Hey, let's go up to my room." Ashley turned and bounded up the stairs. I stared after her for a minute. What the hell. I went up, my mind unsure of what to expect. I definitely didn't expect such a warm welcome from Ashley. In fact, she also seemed glad to see me. I mean, I was glad to see her in a sense. She definitely grew up a lot.

I walked into her room and saw Ashley sitting on her bed. I decided to sit on the ground. She didn't seem to mind.

"So, how've you been?" she asked. We talked about schoolwork, vacations, how we missed summer, etc. It seemed pretty normal given what I was expecting. Gradually, I felt myself began to relax.

Ding dong. I tensed up again. I had almost forgotten that there would be other people at this party. Looking back at Ashley, I almost felt a little sad. I had just started thinking that we would get along but who knows how she'll act when the other girls are here.

Ashley didn't seem to notice my forlorn look as she ran out the door. I heard high pitched squeals coming from downstairs. I decided to go down and show myself. No point in prolonging the inevitable.

Looking down from the top of the stairs, I saw a group of people standing in the doorway. It looked like all the other guests had arrived. My mom saw me from the kitchen.

"Jared! There you are!" I flushed as I felt every pair of eyes in the room. I noticed that everyone had stopped talking and it made me nervous.

"WOW Jared," I heard one of the mom's exclaim. "You've really grown up!"

Still red, I faced Mrs. Liu and said politely, "Thank you Auntie Liu." Even though Mrs. Liu wasn't my real aunt my blood, I had grown up calling all my parents' friends either Auntie or Uncle.

"You know..." Auntie Liu's eyes seem to run down my body. "If only you were only a few years older, you'd be perfect for my little girls." She gave me a wide smile. I blushed, not sure if my skin could turn any more red.

"Mooooooooom," protested the twins in unison. They didn't seem embarrassed, on the contrary, they looked annoyed.

"I know, I know," waved Auntie Liu. "You girls only date older guys. Girls." She rolled her eyes at me jokingly. Caught by surprise, I chuckled which turned the girls onto me.

"Whats so funny!" chirped one of the twins. Before I could respond, Ashley's dad came in from the kitchen and announced that now that everyone is here, we could start dinner. Seeing the escape, I quickly turned around and walked towards the kitchen, everyone else following.

As is custom at these parties, only the adults could sit at the dining table and us kids were relegated to the "kids" table. It wasn't even a table, we just sat around a coffee table in the living room and sat on the floor or on couches.

I was sitting on the floor using the coffee table to eat dinner on. Directly in front of me was a three seat couch which sat Crystal Fung and the two twins, Janet and Jenny Liu. Crystal was seated directly in between the twins eating her dinner while they engaged her in conversation. She was the oldest kid there, a Senior at Cupertino High School. One thing I noticed right away when she walked in was her height. I remembered that she had always been tall back when we were growing up. Now, she stood just shy of 6'0. She really was a beauty.

Her jean cutoff shorts really displayed her long legs. She wore a simple white T shirt that seemed almost skin tight, the way it clung to her breasts. Her breasts weren't that big, not as much as Vivian's anyways. But she wasn't flat chested either. It was enough to make me shift slightly as I got a chubby.

Crystal noticed me staring and stared at me coldly. I avoided her gaze and stared at my dinner.

"I'll be right back. I need to use the restroom." I looked up as Crystal got off the couch. I watched fascinated as her long black hair trailed down, resting just above her shorts.

"Ewwwww, Jared's checking out your ass Crystal." One of the twins giggled. Crystal turned and looked at me with a blank stare before continuing on. Embarrassed, I looked away and paid attention to the twins.

Janet and Jenny were both Sophomores at Lynbrook High School. Their bodies were well-built and toned body due to playing tennis. Tonight, they were wearing identical black spandex shorts and a yellow T-shirt that read Camp Waikiki.

One of the twins whispered to the other loudly so that everyone could hear. "He's ogling us now." I heard giggles from the side and turned to see Samantha and Ashley laughing at me. Both girls were sitting on the floor as well.

"You must feel like a lucky guy Jared," grinned Ashley. "You're surrounded by all these beautiful girls tonight. You remember Jared right?" She nudged the girl next to her. Samantha looked at me shyly, "A ... a little bit." She gave me a small smile.

Samantha was Crystal's younger sister and the same age as me and Ashley. I remember her being shy and always hiding behind her mother. She's definitely grown up since then. Like her sister, she was going to a beauty. Her simple khaki shorts hugged her hips and displayed her long legs.

Crystal returned and sat back on the couch. Her presence shifted the attention of the twins towards her and likewise, Ashley and Samantha resumed talking. This left me free to ogle all the female flesh in the room.

After dinner, I went back to the couch. I figured that this would be when the girls would all head up into Ashley's room again. I had asked Ashley's dad earlier if I could watch TV and he showed me how it worked. I was watching a rerun of Friends when Ashley came in.

"Hey Jared. What are you doing here all by yourself?" I turned to look at her. Ironically, although I was prepared for this question, I didn't expect it to come from Ashley or one of the girls.

"Uh ... just watching Friends." Ashley noticed my slouching posture.

"Really? It almost looks like you're sleeping," she giggled. She was kind of right. Although I enjoyed watching Friends, there is only so much sitting down I could take. I had actually felt my eyelids getting heavier before she came down.

"You wanna come up and hang out with us?"

"Huh?" I looked at Ashley, wondering if I'd heard wrong.

"I mean ... if you don't to it's fine. I just thought I'd ask." I sat up on the couch. "Oh sure." Anything to get me off this couch. I followed Ashley up to her room wondering what they were doing.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that all the girls were sitting on the floor in a circle. There was a gap in the circle which was where Ashley and I sat down to fill.

"Okay, now that we're all here. We can start." Crystal was shuffling a deck of cards in her hand while she talked. I didn't recognize the green card backs.

"What are we playing?" I asked. Crystal gave me a sly look.

"It's easy," she said. "Just watch." She placed the deck of cards in the middle. "Alright Janet, you go first." Janet grab the top card off the deck and looked at it.

"Who was the last person you kissed?" Janet licked her lips and glanced at her twin next to her. "She's right here." They giggled.

I was shocked. I looked around at the other girls but they just had smiles on their faces.

"My turn!" said Jenny as she grabbed a card. "Give the person to your right a hug. PFFT." She tackled Janet. Rolling her eyes, Ashley grabbed the next card.

"Kiss the person to your left on the cheek." Before I could react, Ashley leaned over and pecked me on the cheek. I blushed in response.

"Your turn Jared," said Crystal impatiently. I looked at the deck of cards. So far the tasks on the cards haven't been that bad. I picked up a card and read.

"How old were you when you had your first significant other? 8th grade," I answered. I was relieved. This game seemed innocent enough. Samantha reached in and picked up a card.

"Hold hands with the person to your right until your next turn." All the girls made Oooooooo noises as everyone looked at me and Samantha. Rolling my eyes, I reached out and clasped my hand within Samantha's. Her hand was soft and felt nice, it gave me a slight tingling feeling in my nether regions.

The game continued for a few more rounds with different questions being asked and innocent tasks such as "give the person to your right a piggyback" or "tickle the person to your left." After Janet stopped laughing, she grabbed a card. Her eyes lit up.

"Upgrade and shuffle!" she exclaimed. Confused, I watched as everyone got up and switched places.

"What's going on?" I asked Ashley.

"Upgrade and shuffle means we shuffle the order of players and upgrade to the next level of cards," she explained. "You joined when we were at level 2, the green deck. Next level is the yellow deck. The challenges and questions become more uncomfortable as the level gets higher."

Uh oh. I felt nervous again unsure of what was to come. Crystal finished shuffling the yellow deck and cards and placed in back in the middle. Our new order put me on Crystal's left with Janet on my left followed by Ashley, Samantha, Jenny, and back to Crystal.

"It's Janet's turn again. She's pulled all the Upgrade cards so far," said Ashley. Janet reached over and grabbed a card.

"Have everyone close their eyes and ask them a yes or no question." Janet grinned. "Eyes closed everyone." I closed my eyes and waited.

"Are you a virgin?" Oh hell. On reflex, I raised my hand. I almost forgot that I had actually lost my virginity yesterday. Just as quickly, I lowered it.