When Bluebirds Fly | ✔

Part Two : Chapter Three

Allison was still clad in her polka-dotted, silk pyjamas and camisole top when Tony, Isaac and I stood at the doorstep of her fabulous two-storey house complete with a neat lawn and a modern garage. She looked distraught with her blonde locks framing her perspiring face and a manic look glinting in her forest-green eyes. That kind of look was familiar, the never-say-die attitude kind of look. It presumably occurred whenever she ardently undertook the task of losing weight. The result was always losing more of her self-esteem and happiness rather than her chubbiness.

Before I could blithely hand over the bouquet of sunflowers that I bought for her as a birthday gift, she roughly pulled me inside. Isaac and Tony followed me closely. I shoved my thoughtless present towards her. "Here I got these flowers for you---"

"There's no time for this," she said dismissively, dumping the sunflowers in the empty bin with the same carelessness that I had picked them. "Come with me up in my room. You boys stay down."

Isaac and Tony were bewildered at her order as they exchanged a curious look. Tony couldn't fathom how the devil had possessed his angelic girlfriend and Isaac was still confounded as to why he was invited to Allison's birthday party in the first place. He wasn't. Tony and I had dragged him after our shift at Bailey's Nuts because Tony was a nice human being and I preferred Isaac's company over these two saintly creatures any day.

Now one of these saintly creatures was unwittingly unleashing all bridled frustration with each stomp towards her room.

"What's up?" I asked as she flung the wooden door of her pastel pink room open.

She towered over the heap of clothes in the middle of her room and picked a maroon velvet dress. "Guests have already arrived and I'm not ready!"

"Well, Tony, Isaac and I are barely guests . . . " Just then the doorbell rang downstairs and Allison and I flocked near her casement window. "Who are all these people? Why do you hang out with me if you have so many friends?"

"Oh, they're not friends exactly . . . I sent out an invitation to everyone in the school."

"By everyone, you certainly don't mean the decent ones." I glared down at the shaved and dyed heads of the notorious cliques of our school known for creating a ruckus whichever party they invaded in. In this foolish case, invited in. "You haven't heard of them, Ally? They were arrested for nearly drowning the birthday boy at his pool party."

The mortified look on Allison's face made me smile as she conspicuously shivered, but masked her fear by a brave façade. "Well, g-good thing we don't have a pool here."

"Rather bad, this party would have been glorious with an exciting murder or two."

"Stop terrifying me!" She cried out, scurrying to the other end of her modest-sized room. "Help me get into this dress and turn around."

"We have the same bits you know." I scoffed when her round face turned crimson. "Anyway, I'm not interested in looking so I'll turn."

"No, wait!" She was already maladroitly stripping down to her cute undergarments. "I have to get into this dress, I have to."

"What's so special about this piece of cloth?" I snatched the tube dress from her, my eyes instantly narrowing to the price tag and I sardonically clicked my tongue. "Ah, I see now."

"So help me!" she implored, stepping into the dress and desperately tugging it up. "It won't go beyond my waist!" I began forcefully pulling the velvet fabric from behind as she took care of the front part, both of us grunting together. "I'm so fat, Mariana! So, so fat!"

"No, you're not," I lied coolly, wanting her to shut up about something that couldn't be changed simply by whining about it.

"You're going to look prettier than me on my birthday! Even in those rags that you're wearing!" She insolently burst out in her despair. I gritted my teeth and instead of passing a snide remark, I snapped the tight cloth against her damp skin and she screamed, "Ow!"

"Your talking and moving aren't helping you get inside this fucking dress. Who the hell told you to buy a small size?"

"I had a plan." She heaved, squirming uncomfortably to the point of painfully. "I-I had a diet planned and-and I thought I would lose weight till my birthday---"

"Got it," I cut her off, not able to tolerate her naive plans. "Breathe in, breathe in, breathe in right now!"

"I can't! I can't do this anymore! I think I'll die!" She was trying to escape, wiggling out of the dress and I quickly blocked her, fiercely gazing at her straight in the eyes.

I bellowed, "Would you rather lose two hundred dollars worth of a worthless dress or die like a true queen?"

She was shaken by my intensity as she inhaled deeply. "Die . . . die!" She sucked in her soft stomach the most she could and noticing the clear opportunity, I yanked it up with all my strength. "Oh my God, oh Mother Mary, have mercy on me!"

"Done." I stepped away from her, inspecting the outcome of our endeavours. "Although I think I ripped it a little from behind," I admitted unrepentantly, touching the slight tear in the material. It was like touching the inside of a smooth petal, the reason behind the exorbitant price of the dress. "Are you happy now?"

"Y-Yes," she stammered weakly, unable to breathe as the two hundred dollars physically choked her.

"Are you sure . . . "

"Yes, yes, thank you!" She clutched her slightly bulging stomach and began lumbering ahead. She asked dubiously, "I look pretty in this, right?"

She looked like a beer barrel painted red.

"You look beautiful!" I lied again, making my voice sound as chirpy as I could. "Let's go down."

The moment Allison uncertainly opened the wooden door of her pastel pink room, loud music blasted harshly in our ears. We both frantically dashed downstairs and seeing the throng of people wildly moving their hips and buttocks, Allison held the parapet in shock and I pushed her forward. She let out a tremulous squeal, "This is all so exciting!"

"And stuffy and already smelling of weed . . . "

"What? I can't hear you!" She definitely pretended to not hear me talk about drugs as she mustered some courage and stumbled into the crowd in her red stilettos. "Isn't this the best party everrrrrr!"

"Sure," I murmured, scrunching my nose at an unknown dude spanking his friend. "I didn't even know these went to our school . . . "

"What?!" Allison was sneakily disappearing into the stifling crowd and I sighed wearily.

From across the room, near the glass dining table, I spotted a large mop of unruly hair carelessly swaying to the beats of the song that I had no clue about. I glided past the people, shrinking myself and once at the food-laden table, I pretended to indifferently help myself with a greasy pizza slice. Almost immediately, I felt a pair of curious pale grey eyes on me. A sudden wave of warmth flooded in my stomach and turned my insides to an embarrassing mush. It had to be the effects of the moderately delicious pizza on a starving stomach.

"Hey, Ana!" he shouted vivaciously to grab my attention as if he hadn't already.

Just then, someone dancing heedlessly behind me elbowed me hard in the back and I whirled around, outraged by the assault. "What the fuck---"

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to!" Tony's innocent eyes begged me for mercy and I scowled. "I'm so sorry!"

"Hey," Isaac's pleasant voice was right in my ear. I could feel his breath cool on my hot neck as he gently held my arm. "There are too many people here. Let's go out."

Narrowing my eyes coldly at a scared and remorseful Tony, I replied, "I was going to suggest the same."