“What makes you think you’ll get away with throwing a party?” I asked Avarie, sitting on the spotless white leather couch in their living room. Avarie and Seth weren’t terribly rich, but they were rich enough to make you jealous. Plenty of people in the neighborhood had to have been wealthier, but I’d yet to have seen a cleaner and more organized house than the Lamont’s, making me wonder how Avarie was ever going to pull off a party, which was bound to leave the house in ruins.
Avarie put a bowl of pretzels neatly in the center of the mahogany coffee table, smirking slyly. I reached slowly for one, but she harshly slapped my hand away, scowling. She moved back, “I’ve done it before,” She said simply, shrugging.
I frowned, pulling away and rubbing the spot on my hand where she’d slapped me. That was the closest she’d probably ever get to affectionate. “Then why do you need me?” I asked begrudgingly, pushing my glasses further up my nose.
“Because you’d rat me out if I didn’t count you in,” she explained dully, as if I was stupid. Once she took a step back at the living room, surveying it once more, she smiled and crossed her arms, pleased. She had changed out of the girly sundress she’d worn to a sequined halter top and tight skirt, along with strappy black heels. She, frankly, looked like a hooker, to be perfectly honest, but I couldn’t be surprised in the slightest, really. That was the side of her neither Seth nor my mother ever saw, or probably ever would, if she got her way—which was always.
“You could’ve just bribed me,” I told her, kicking my feet up onto the table, fantasizing over the things she would’ve been able to buy me to shut me up. She probably would’ve bought me Puerto Rico to shut me up, if she could. I knew her too well to know that she’d rather blow up a pet shelter than let me go and blow up her whole “good girl” cover instead.
She scowled, “Like you’re worth it, honestly.” She said, chuckling to herself.
I frowned, wagging a finger in front of her face, “Ah, ah, ah! You don’t want me going and telling Seth about your escapades, do you?” I tempted, smirking superior, feeling that for once, I had the upper hand.
Avarie grimaced, and crossed her arms. She blew a loose strand of hair from her eyes and sighed, “What do you want, Em?” She asked, surprising me. I almost dropped my jaw at hearing that—Sse was really being serious? That whole threat really worked?
I grinned ear to ear, “I want a pony.” I said simply, with a curt nod of my head.
Avarie frowned, raising an eyebrow, meaning to say I was crazy. She rolled her blue eyes and nudged my foot off the table, sending the sole of my foot on the floor with a thud. “And I want you to get your dirty feet of the table,” she said, her voice acidic. “That’s expensive.”
“Oh,” I said flatly, dropping my feet, “and God forbid I get my middle class germs on your furniture.”
She smiled so sweetly it made me nauseous, “So glad we see eye-to-eye, Em,” she said, “but are you going to dress like that during the entire party?”
I frowned, looking down at my plain ensemble of sneakers, jeans, and a t-shirt. I looked up to her, shrugging, “Yeah—and?”
She scoffed, “Nothing—just that you look like a plumber, for God’s sake.” She complained, and reached out to yank my hair loose of its pony tail, trying to make myself look a bit more presentable.
“I can pull it off,” I said, scooting away and fixing my messy hair, smirking and slumping in my seat.
Avarie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, pulling far away. “Just don’t embarrass me.” She said, annoyance in her voice, “I don’t want my friends thinking I hang out with losers.”
I stuck my tongue out, contracting my face into the most disgusted face I was capable of making. I made a retching noise, “We don’t hang out, Avarie. You dragging me here against my will is more of a hostage situation as opposed to a friendly meeting, wouldn’t you say?” I proposed.
Avarie smoothed her skirt, “I already told you the only reason I brought you here was because you’d rat me out if I left you alone.”
“I didn’t even know you were throwing a party, dingus.” I snapped at her, yanking a handful of pretzels from the bowl, further irritating her. To go further, I shoved several in my mouth at once and began to chew loudly, crumbs falling onto the immaculate couch, “You dug your own grave here.”
Avarie frowned, not willing to admit her mistake. Instead, she just made a high pitched whining noise and put a hand on her hip, “Look, Emery.” She said firmly, turning towards me, her blue eyes locked with mine in an intense and uncomfortable stare, “I know you don’t know much about social interaction, but people like you don’t get very far at parties. Cool people will be here. Cool people that you don’t know,” she said, and smirked devilishly, catching an evil glimmer of light in her eyes, “Let’s keep it that way.”
I scowled. My mind having drawn a vocal blank, unable to make a sufficient comeback, all I could do was crush the remaining pretzels in my hand, and drop them in the cracks of the couch, right before her eyes as an attempt at retaliation.
¤ ¤ ¤
It was about nine o’clock when people started arriving, flooding into the house like a dam had broken. How such an unpleasant person as Avarie had so many friends was beyond me, but there were certainly over a hundred attendees at her party. I stood at the top of the staircase, overlooking the foyer, watching as people entered the house, and people who’d been at the party for a while who’d gotten drunk stumbling about. It would have been entertaining to watch, if it wasn’t so vomit inducing.
Avarie had mentioned that “cool people” would be attending, but I’d yet to see anyone that looked of any special importance. The closest thing to social royalty I’d seen was a drunken boy with a crown on, but it was composed of empty beer cans and duct tape. I couldn’t be surprised, though. I’d lost all hope for any sort of enjoyment the moment Avarie gave me a lecture before the party. I knew she didn’t like me before—she probably even hated me—but hearing that from her only made me angrier. Why should I have to stay stuck in her house, wasting away my night so that she could throw a party? I’d tried to find her before to ask her for a ride home, but she had seemed to vanish off the face of the planet, gone amongst the throng of invitees.
I sighed and leaned against the railing of the spiraling staircase, looking over everyone. Just as I was watching a couple fall over an expensive looking vase, I felt my phone begin to go off. Smiling, I picked it up, reading the caller ID to be Luke. I flipped open the phone, never having been so excited to see his name before. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about Luke! He could drive!
“Luke!” I said cheerily, “Thank God you called.”
Luke sounded amused, “What? Are you getting eaten alive, or something?” He asked playfully, although his theory seemed preferable to my reality at that moment.
I sighed, looking around, “I’d be better off, I think.”
Luke laughed, and cut off, sounding confused, “Why’s it so loud, Em? I thought you were at home.”
I frowned, noting the ambience that was booming in my ears. Talking to someone was quite difficult when “I’m Sexy and I Know it” was playing in the background at full volume, so I tried to weave through the crowd and find the closest door I possibly could find, and slipped quietly away behind its walls so I could talk to Luke in private. Once I’d disappeared behind the door, I looked around at where I was—it was large, familiar room with soft purple walls and lavender bed sheets. Everything was prim and proper, as was everything downstairs before it became animal house. I raised an eyebrow, and my memories seemed to flood over me again.
Of course.
I was in Avarie’s room.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath softly, not even realizing that the word had left my mouth until Luke spoke.
“Em? What’s wrong?” He asked, sounding worried. “Where are you?”
I cleared my throat, sounding hoarse over the phone, “The ninth ring of hell.”
“Huh?” Luke said, sounding seriously confused this time. It took me a moment to answer back, though, because I felt almost everything inside of me paralyze itself. I was actually in Avarie’s room. Alone. I’d only ever seen her room before once, when I first came over a year ago for our very first dinner with the Lamonts, and she went to go fetch a cardigan before she and I took a walk outside to “get to know each other”—I could really only say that that ended in disaster, and us both pushing each other into the neighbor’s pool. But now, as I stood inside her room, I felt almost as if the entire world had dropped 10 degrees, chilling me with fear that she’d walk in at any moment and tear my hair out.
“I’m inside of Avarie’s room,” I blurted out instantly, speaking so quickly that the sentence sounded like a single phrase.
Luke must’ve done a double take, because he hesitated, “…What? Why are you at her house—?”
“Shit! Luke, save me!” I said in a whispered tone, my back pressed against the wall. If Avarie came inside and saw I was in her room, she’s have me skinned. I wasn’t one to be scared of Avarie, but her room was a completely different topic. When I’d first tried to enter her room after her, she almost broke my arm as she pushed me out. I could only imagine what she’d do if she saw me inside her room, alone.
“Are you at her house?” He asked again, his voice soft but sturdy, as if he was trying to calm me down.
“Y-Yeah,” I said softly. “She’s having a party, and she dragged me over, but I just wandered into her room.” I said, chewing on my lip, worried out of my mind.
“Just slip out of the room,” Luke suggested rationally, which would’ve worked in any other case but this one.
I shook my head dramatically, even though he couldn’t see me. “No way! Are you batshit insane? What if she’s on the other side…?”
He sighed, and I could practically see him in the back of my mind, just rolling his eyes, “Calm down, Emery. You’re freaking out over nothing.”
“But it’s Avarie!” I exaggerated, making pointless theatrical gestures as I spoke, “If she sees me, she’s going to choke me with a designer belt!”
Luke chuckled to himself over the phone, but I knew better. Avarie would have killed me if she saw me at that moment, in her room alone, ready to wreak havoc. He was about to complain about my paranoia when I heard something—it sounded like a door knob, twisting around. I turned backwards, my eyes widening to see that the door was opening slowly. At that moment, I panicked and almost unknowingly ended the phone call, and scrambled to find somewhere to hide, seeing the closet first. I darted towards it, and opened it as quietly as possible, slipping away behind it, my heart racing.
“Cassie, stop it! We can’t go in here!”
Frowning, I peered through the blinds of the closet. I’d never heard the voice of the girl who was speaking, and through the blinds, her face seemed unfamiliar as well. There were two girls; one was stick thin and redheaded, with a rounded, cherubic face and a button nose. She had bright blue eyes, and dressed like someone from the 60’s, with an old maroon cardigan, a floral printed knee-length skirt, and brogues. She had a look of fear in her eyes that darted about the room, like something bad was about to unfold.
The other girl rolled her gray eyes, shaking her head. She was tall, and seemed fit, and had a mane of shoulder length blonde hair, with an oval face with smoothed features. She had small, almond eyes smudged with black shadows, high cheekbones, and pouty, glossed lips. She was more dressed up than the other one, and had on a tight, black dress with clanking jewelry and tall, silver heels.“Be quiet! Just get in here, before Avarie sees!”
The redhead panicked, and grabbed her friend by the arm, tugging on it hopelessly. Her voice squeaky. “But, Cass—”
“Shh!” The blonde scolded, swatting away her friend’s hand, “You’re like a shrieking banshee!”
I watched the two bicker from behind the blinds of the door, frowning and confused about what exactly they were doing. Why were they alone in Avarie’s room, too, and what exactly was the blonde going to do?
I watched as the blonde pulled something that looked like a makeup compact from her bag. Her eyes flickered across the room for a moment, and suddenly went wide and excited once she saw Avarie’s vanity table. She ran over, grabbed what seemed to be a powder pallet and threw it into her purse, putting the one from her own bag on the desk as a replacement. She took a moment, rearranging everything to how it looked before, grinning wickedly. I watched her carefully, confused—what was she doing?
“Cass…I don’t like this…” the redhead said, looking almost queasy enough to throw up.
The blonde, who I supposed was named Cass, just rolled her eyes, “Molly, you’re as squeamish as a baby kitten. Lighten up, will you? This will be hilarious!”
Molly frowned, “I just don’t think—”
Cass turned around, “You don’t think what? That watching Avarie Lamont break out will be the most satisfying victory ever? I thought you hated her just as much as I did!”
Molly looked down, frowning, at her shoes, “W-well, I do, but—”
“But nothing,” Cass said, shaking her head with a sigh and closing the clasps of her bag, “what’s done is done, and now we just have to—”
“All the single ladies, all the single ladies, all the single ladies, now put ‘cha hands up!”
I immediately heard my phone go off, hearing the embarrassing ringtone that Luke had set to my phone when I’d fallen asleep at his house one day, and my hand went straight to my pocket. Luke. He’d called me back, and now the two girls could hear me.
Before I even had time to accept or decline the phone call, the girl named Cass had come over and thrown the door open, standing in front of me with her gray eyes ablaze. I stood still, shaken with fear, and bit my lip, discreetly tapping the red decline button.
There was a moment of silence before she spoke, her voice strict and intimidating, “Who are you?”
My face reddened, and I shoved my phone clumsily into my pocket. “U-Uh…” I stammered, trying to get a hold of myself so I could give her a straight answer, “…E-Emery. My name’s Emery.”
Cass frowned, eyeing me ferociously, like a lion stalking its prey. She smacked her lips, “And what are you doing here?…In Avarie’s closet?”
I frowned, and crossed my arms. I tried not to seem so squeamish when I replied to her, “What are you doing in her room?”
The redhead looked scared, and began to nibble on her fingernails, “Cass, I told you someone would find out!”
Cass rolled her eyes for what felt like the millionth time, “Calm down, Molly!” She flashed her eyes to me, and held her gaze, “Our new friend, Emery, isn’t going to tell Avarie we were here, isn’t she?”
I shrugged, frowning, “It depends on what you were doing.”
Cass and Molly took a long look at each other, and then turned back to me. Cass was smirking brightly, “Well, we just gave Avarie a new compact that has makeup with something in it that will make her severely break out.” She said with a laugh. “Which you won’t tell a soul about—right?”
I nodded my head quickly, “I promise.” I said curtly.
Molly approached behind her friend, slowly, and frowned, “I’ve never met you before.”
“Look at how tiny she is,” Cass observed, “she’s probably a freshman.”
I frowned, crossing my arms. I assumed that they were from Avarie’s school, St. Augustine’s Prep school. I imagined most of the people from the party were from her school, because she’d never really associated with anyone from my public school other than myself and Luke, which she didn’t really even do consensually.
“I go to Lincoln High School, actually,” I corrected for them both, “and I’m a junior.”
“Oh, a public school girl!” Cass said, looking astounded and fascinated all at the same time. She smirked, “Where did Avarie find you?”
“Her dad found my mom,” I said resentfully, “she’s my step-sister-to-be.”
Cass’s eyes went wide, and her mouth fell. She went to clasp her hand over her mouth, and was speechless, something which I could infer didn’t happen all too often. After a moment of awkward silence, she spoke up, “Oh, geez. My condolences, kid,” she said, cringing. “Well, I’m Cassie Frank, and this is my friend, Molly Downy. We go to Avarie’s school,” she explained.
I nodded at them, “Um…I suppose, nice to meet you?” I said unsurely, realizing that our meeting area was a bit less than ideal.
“Cass,” Molly said, interrupting Cass from replying, “Val just texted me—she and Jule are waiting.”
“Well, tell Val to keep her fucking pants on,” Cass snapped back with agro. I raised an eyebrow, assuming to myself that whoever Val was, there was some bad blood between her and Cass.
Molly bit her lip, “They’re looking for us—they might see us in here!”
“They won’t care. Val hates Avarie,” Cass said, dismissing the thought. “And Jule’s probably already too drunk to give a shit.”
I frowned, wondering to myself who Val and Jule were. They probably went to Val’s school too, but I’d never really heard Avarie speak enough about the people from St. Augustine’s enough to know who anyone was.
Molly spoke in her tiny, whining voice again. “But, Cass—”
“Ugh, fine!” Cass finally snapped, and in a voice that was much louder than intended.
Suddenly, as if she’d heard herself through someone else’s ears, she clasped her hand once again over her mouth, frightened she might’ve screamed so loud someone could hear. Molly and Cass both had panicked looks on their faces, and turned to me as if I could solve the problem. After a moment of quiet nothingness, I began to hear the door click open, and all I could see before the closet door shut closed was Molly and Cass jumping in with me.