Crash and Burn

f o u r: A Party?

After the Friday night Roman came over and stayed longer than welcome, I had a quite peaceful weekend. Gemma came over on Saturday and we had a Pretty Little Liars marathon, then met Darren for dinner later. I spent my Sunday lounging around the house in my pajamas, even after my mother scolded me for staying indoors too long. My counterclaim included things about how I get a total of ten hours outside for cross country per week, and that I needed to study for my upcoming chemistry test. All of this was true, so once she got off my case, I cracked open my chem book and got in a good two hours of studying to ensure that I would ace it.

I spent my week at school avoiding Roman at all costs, and it made it easier that we didn't have a meeting this week. I still focused on student council of course. I showed Roman and I's ideas for the dance to Mrs. Montgomery to get her opinion, and then we proceeded to pick five out of the ten themes to vote on in the next meeting. I also got a DJ approved, and because this was a town known for partying in Colorado, we had to book the music provider fast, or else everyone would be full. I contacted a cheap DJ that had good reviews, who had played at many high school dance before, so he knew what to do. I felt very accomplished as I thought about all of this Friday afternoon as I headed to lunch. It felt good to be getting things done because I wanted this dance to be a success, and considering I was doing pretty much all of the planning on my own since Roman wasn't much help, I thought I was doing a damn good job. I entered the obnoxiously loud lunchroom and headed to Gemma, Darren, and I's regular table where they were there waiting for me.

"Hey, guys," I chirp as I plop down across from them.

"Hey, girlie," Gemma says before we do our handshake.

"Sup loser," Darren says, earning a thump on the forehead from me.

"Owww, what was that for?" he groans, rubbing his forehead.

"Don't be such a baby, she didn't even nail you that hard," Gemma laughs, but then her eyes widen when she realizes that her comment sounded quite provocative.
"Whoa whoa, Gemma don't get too dirty now." Darren jokes while sending a playful wink at her. "Ugh, shut up Darren!" Gemma squealed then proceeded to throw grapes at him. "Guys stop being such idiots," I groan, shaking my head at their childishness.

"So how's it going with you and Anderson hmmm?" Gemma questions, smirking at me.
"Don't even get me started on him! He stayed at my house for dinner last Friday night," I visibly wince just recalling the memory. Both of them gasp and cover their mouths with their hands, clearly surprised and Gemma even looked a little frightened.
"What?? Why??" Darren asks urgently.
"I don't know to be honest. My mom asked him if he would like to stay and I tried to get him to refuse but he looked very satisfied when he disobeyed my wishes," I say, making a disgusted face.

"OHHH what if he's in love with you and wanted an excuse to hang out with you longer?!" Gemma snorts, cracking up into uncontrollable laughter while Darren joins her. I, however, am very unamused by her comment. Just thinking about that possibility makes me want to vomit, but I don't need to worry because I know that will never happen for as long as we both live.

"Haha you guys are just freaking hilarious," I sneer, crossing my arms over my chest grumpily.
"AWW come on Tess we're only kidding around," Darren nudges my shoulder, sending me a playful smile. It was technically impossible not to smile when Darren was so I couldn't help it when I cracked a grin as well.

"That's our girl!" Gemma cheers, reaching across the table to pinch my cheeks. I swat her hand away playfully, and she just giggles. All of a sudden her laughter stops and her eyes widen as she stares at something located behind me.

"What are you-" I start to ask before she cuts me off.
"If I were you, I wouldn't turn around." She warns, but obviously, this just makes me curious, resulting in me turning around. My cheeks turn red at what I see. There are Roman and his three sidekicks, all staring at me. Once he sees that I've caught him in the act, instead of turning away like a normal person, his stare intensifies and so does his devilish smirk. I give him a harsh glare before turning back around to my friends, raising my eyebrows at them.