Cady's POV
I sat down with Gretchen and Karen at our usual spot. There was no sign of Regina, so I relaxed. However, Green Heather kept on giving me glares whenever I passed by.
"So, what are you doing this weekend?" Gretchen asked.
"I'm not really planning anything." I told them.
"Oh, you could, you know, have a party!" Gretchen said. "I heard that you can rent the nearby clubhouse for a couple hours. Don't worry, I'll pay for it!"
I gave her a careful look. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't really know..."
"If you throw a party, we could invite Aaron over!" She said.
I paused, reconsidering my options. "Well, I could... but we should just keep it small, let's say 5-6 people."
"Oh, okay, sure! No problem!" Gretchen said.
The next few days were spent planning. We rented the clubhouse and Gretchen began listing various things that she had thought of.
"Hey Aaron! Congratulations on being nominated prom king!" I said as I went up to him.
"Oh, thanks, but the nomination is really stupid anyway. People have been nominating me for stuff like this since I was at North Shore." He said.
"Oh." I said, laughing nervously. "Anyway, I'm having a little party at the clubhouse this weekend, and I was hoping that you would come."
"Is Regina coming?" He asked.
"No! of course not!" I snorted. "Do you think I'm an idiot? I'm just inviting a few people over, and you better be one of them biotch!"
Aaron visibly cringed. "Okay then." and then he left.
"See, I told you saying that would work! I'm totally honored that I helped set this up for you!" Gretchen beamed. "And also, I can help you with a whole lot of other things as well! I can help you shop for clothes, fix that tear in your jacket, I can also arrange a music playlist for-"
"Gretchen!" I flashed her a smile. "I get it."
Gretchen looked slightly hurt for a second, but she simply smiled. "Sorry, I guess I got a bit carried away."
"Well, I see you at the party, I guess." I said, trying to relieve the tension in the air. "Bye Gretchen."
"Bye Cady." She waved and left.
Regina's POV
I can't believe Cady had the nerve to tell me not to sit at our table. Can't they bend the rules for one freaking second? Sweatpants were all that I could wear thanks to this stupid weight gain.
I decided to get on the treadmill and burn a couple fats when my phone rang. It was my mom asking for a video call.
I accepted it reluctantly. "Hi mom."
"Hi sweetie!" She said in a sickeningly sweet tone. "How is school?"
"Fine." It's absolute hell.
"Are you on the treadmill again?" She asked.
"No, mom, I'm right over there back home with you." I said sarcastically.
"You know sweetie, I know that you're worried about your body, but true beauty comes from the face!"
"Mom, stop talking about my body!" I said.
"Well maybe you can fix up a low-carb snack, like-"
"MOM I SAID I'M FINE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" I ever-so-slightly ran faster on the treadmill.
"WELL CADY'S HAVING A PARTY! I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE CONCERNED WITH YOUR APPEARANCE SO I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!" She said back.
"What?" I tilted my head in confusion.
"Cady's having a party this weekend. Gretchen and Karen posted it on their stories on Instagram."
I almost threw my phone. "THOSE BITCHES! I'LL MAKE THEM PAY!"
"Woah sweetie, calm down. Maybe you could throw a party of your own!" My mom said with a half smile.
I brushed off her attempt to calm me down. "Mom, you're not helping." I grabbed a Kälteen Bar from my bedside table and ripped it open.
I realized my mom was still on call. "Sweetie, why are you eating a Kälteen Bar? Those things make you gain weight."
I ended the call and threw the Kälteen Bar into the trash, screaming my lungs out.
Cady's POV
"Wow Cady! You look great!" Gretchen said. She and Karen were helping me set up food and drinks for my party.
"Thanks! Do you think these crackers will be enough for all of them?" I asked.
"Yeah! Those will do just fine." She handed me a small shot glass with jelly in it.
"What's this?" I put down the tray of crackers to grab the glass.
"Oh, that's what you call a Jell-O shot." Karen said.
"Wait, does this have alcohol? Isn't that a health hazard or something?" I asked again.
"It has a bit of alcohol, but not enough to get you drunk." Gretchen explained. "It's just to help you loosen up a bit you know!"
I looked at the glass skeptically. My parents would never allow me to drink alcohol. But Gretchen said it was only a little bit, so it wouldn't hurt to have one.
"Alright." I raised my glass.
"Cheers!" Gretchen and Karen raised their glasses as well and we all downed our shots.
"Oh, it looks like our guests are here!" Gretchen said.
Several people flooded the entrance and started entering and dancing. Besides some people I know from school, there were some who I didn't recognize.
"Wait, Gretchen I told you to only invite 5 other people." I told her.
"Who cares! Everyone's having fun!" Gretchen proceeded to pull me towards the center of the room."
"Cady, you're looking good tonight!" Somebody said as they passed by.
"Oh, thanks!" I stammered.
In the middle of the room, Kurt and Ram (who weren't originally invited) were dancing with 2 of the Heathers. (who also weren't invited).
Yellow Heather went up to me. "Hey! You're Cady right? Nice party by the way!"
"Oh thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it." I didn't know what else to say to this girl.
"Why don't you take some shots?" She asked. "Here, I'll show you how to do it."
A minute later I was holding a shot glass in one hand and a lime wedge in the other. "So it's salt, lime, then shot?"
"No, no, no. It's salt, shot, lime." Mcnamara reminded me. "Very important to get the order right."
"Oh, sorry, I haven't really done this before." I said.
"No need to apologize!" Mcnamara shook her head. "I remember when Veronica had her first Remington party and I had to teach her how to do it properly. She would have come, but she said she had something else to do."
After Mcnamara taught me how to take shots properly, me and Gretchen took turns drinking while the crowd cheered us on. A few shots later, I was feeling a little tipsy and wondering what was taking Aaron so long.
"Aaron!" I called out to the dancing crowd. "Where are you?"
Later on, I spotted a certain boy who wasn't there before, wearing a white shirt and black jacket. When the boy turned around, I realized that it was him.
I walked up to him. "Aaron! Hi!"
"Oh, hey Cady! I like your dress!" Aaron said.
"Thanks!" I pulled down the edge of the dress to smoothen out any wrinkles. "C'mon! why don't we sit down?" I gestured towards two flimsy plastic chairs.
He took a seat. "Great party you have here!"
"Yeah. By the way, I'm drinking something that's not soda tonight." I stood up, but the world suddenly seemed to spin, and I lost balance.
"Whoa!" Aaron caught me by the arms. "I can tell. Thanks for inviting me tonight, by the way."
"Oh, Hehehe, no problem!"
"Guess I wasted too much of my time being pissed at Regina." He said.
"Yeah, I guess you have!" I said a little bit too enthusiastically.
An awkward silence passed. "Do you miss Kenya?"
"What? Pffft. No, Well, I do miss walking on ground that isn't paved, but other than that, I'm completely happy now. I have lots of friends, people actually know my name, and I have more shoes! More is always better, anyway." I shrugged.
"Well, sometimes it's better to be alone. Sometimes it's better to appreciate what you have instead of always wishing for more. There is a saying: Too much of a good thing is bad."
"What possibly could be bad about this? I mean, sure there was Regina, but now look, you have me! It all worked by pretending to need a tutor." I leaned in to kiss him.
He pulled away. "Wait, pretending?"
I let out a couple of drunken giggles, not realizing what I had just said. "Yeah. Would you believe me if I told you that I pretended to fail math just so I can get you to talk to me? Sure, I'm pretty good at math, but now I'm failing!"
He frowned. "That's... pretty stupid."
My smile faded. "Wait, what?"
"Why didn't you just talk to me then?" He stood up.
"Because, you were Regina's property!" I said, stating the obvious.
"Property?" He gave me a confused look.
"Well, no, shut up! Not property but-"
"Shut up? You tell me that you failed math just to talk to me and now you tell me to shut up?" He asked, incredulously.
"No, I mean, sorry, I messed up. Just sit down and be hot and-"
"Sit down? Be hot? God, you're basically a clone of Regina!"
"Am not!" I stood up as well. "I'm more than her! I'm better than her! I'm better than Regina will ever be!"
"Oh yeah? If that's the case, I want less." He turned and left.
"Aaron, wait!" It was too late. I had already lost him in the crowd.
I looked around. That's when I suddenly realized everybody was watching our conversation.
"Aww, seems like poor little Cady got dumped by her boyfriend. Just like Regina." A voice befitting a witch said. It was Red Heather.
"I'm not Regina! I'm the better version of her!" I said back.
"Better? You honestly think you're better than that bitch?" Heather cackled. "Your boy toy back there may be right about you being a clone of Regina, but you are even worse than she is at being on top! You even stole her boyfriend!"
"I didn't steal him! He wanted to dump Regina!"
"That's exactly why he also wanted to dump you. Face it, you are just like Regina, you are nothing but a dirty little whore." Green Heather said.
Everyone started jeering. "Freak! Slut! Loser! Lard-ass!"
"Cady!" Gretchen pushed through the crowd. "What are you doing? Aaron is leaving!"
I made my way through the crowd and out the door. However, there was no sign of Aaron.
Instead, a familiar blue blazer rode on a bike with a familiar black trenchcoat and stopped right in front of me.
"Cady?" Veronica asked. "You said you were going home to visit your parents."
"Look, I can explain-"
She squinted. "Is that Heather in there? You invited them?"
"No, they just came. It's a long story."
A bottle of beer flew through the window. Veronica ducked, but the bottle narrowly missed JD.
"Holy shit!" He said.
"We went to Janis's art expo and all you did was lie to her and throw a party?" Veronica asked. "Janis is your friend! Why would you do this to her?"
"Veronica, you wouldn't understand." I tried to keep calm.
"Wouldn't understand what? That you're doing this all for popularity? All for one guy you'd never even have a chance with? I've been where you are Cady. Doing stupid things for popularity won't work, you'll just make a fool out of yourself."
I frowned. Anger that I didn't know I had flared up. "How could you possibly say that? You're the one enjoying the life with the Heathers."
Veronica simply glared at me, and sat back down on JD's motorbike. "JD, lets go." She turned her head to face me. "Just be careful with the friends you make." With that, they motored away.
"You dirty little liar." Someone else said. It was Janis, getting off from a car Damian was driving.
"Janis! I can explain-" I said again.
"Explain what? That you're supposed to be out of town? 60 different people are posting pictures of your party! The hashtag "#cadyheronsparty" is trending on Twitter!"
"You know very well that I couldn't invite you! I have to act like I don't know you!"
"You are full of lies." Janis spat.
"Janis, I can't stop this car. I have a curfew." Damian said.
"This is your party! You could choose who to invite! You could choose to change how the world works, but you just decided not to!" Janis said.
"You would hate this party." I told her.
She gave me a disbelieving look. "Why? 'Cause you're having an amazing time with your amazing friends?"
"Janis! I can't spend every single second with you! It's not my fault that you're like in love with me or something!" I snapped.
Janis was shocked. "What?"
"Oh no she didn't!" Damian said from inside the car.
"See? That is the thing with you Plastics. You think that everyone is in love with you when actually, everyone hates you." Janis pointed an accusing finger at me.
"You made me like this!" I said. "It was your idea for me to pretend to be Plastic!"
Janis took a step towards me.
"Buddy, it's not pretend, you're as Plastic as they come."
"You think your shit don't stink."
"You think the rest of us are dumb!"
"I hate Regina's guts! But here's what you don't comprehend."
"At least she has the guts, to not pretend to be my friend!"
Janis grabbed a painting from the backseat and tossed it to me. "Here, have it. It won a prize."
I instantly felt regret for shouting at her. "Janis, I-"
Janis was on the verge of tears. She turned and got into the backseat.
"No. It's fine! Really fine!"
"We'll be fine!"
Damian poked his head out from the window. "And I want my pink shirt!"
I briefly considered following them, but I didn't want to upset Janis even more. Sighing, I took a look at the painting Janis tossed me. It was a painting of me, Janis, and Damian, smiling and just being friends with each other.
"Oh my God." I thought to myself. "What have I done?"
~Reeee sorry updates are a bit slow. Writer's block has gotten to me.
~I struggled with how to write Veronica into this scene since Janis already lectures Cady about how she betrayed her. I just went with Veronica warning Cady about stuff like this (ofc she's speaking from experience.)