"You're lying." Of course, Sabrina's first response would be that.
"I'm not. Check your bag." I motion to where our bags are lying at the pool's edge. With great skill, Sabrina leaps over everything in her path, stopping not even for a split second. I chew down on my lip. We get invited to Adelaide's party and it comes down to this. Just swell. Real slick. Don't even mention the $30 gift I had to get Adelaide. Apparently some phone cases cost over $5. I mean, this one slides out and everything and has a bunch of other features I find no use for, but really? Come on people, 30 bucks for a mere phone case? You're kidding!
A panting Sabrina jumps into my thoughts, scattering everything inside my brain.
"I couldn't find it!" she wails.
I'm about to say, told you so, but I don't, because these necklaces mean a lot to us. They even remind us of our Soul Animals, not like I want to be reminded of Skifter, but okay.
"We can go ask Mrs. Adelaide's mom?" I put in.
"We can go ask, who?" Sabrina answers.
"Mrs. Adelaide's mom." Sabrina cracks up in return. I roll my eyes. "Let's just go ask." Sabrina wipes the fake tears of joy from her squinted eyes.
"Yeah, you do that," she counters.
"And why aren't you coming?" I question. "We're in this together. Are you coming?"
"No."
"And why not?" I'm starting to get frustrated with this red-headed best friend of mine.
"They aren't our real necklaces. Remember? Zaroho took our real ones." Sabrina stares straight into my eyes as the realization sinks in. I look down at the concrete, smooth against my bare toes as I refuse to look her in the eye.
"They're not your real what again?" A nasal voice pierces the silence. Adelaide.
"And what do you think you're doing here?" Sabrina snaps.
"It's my house! I can do whatever. I. Want," Adelaide shoots back. She grabs our hands and races us to an empty corner of the yard. A short brick wall runs across and around the perimeter of the lawn. She hoists herself up and motions us to follow.
"And what exactly do you want with us? Why are we here?" Sabrina fires. Adelaide grins the most uncanny grin ever.
"Because you're my new best friends! You know, I've always admired you, Sabrina!" Sabrina glares. "Your eyes were always the prettiest green. Just like the sea. In France. I went to France, guys, did you hear? We got first-class seating and they served delicacies on the plane." I roll my eyes. Count on Adelaide to give you details all about her posh expensive life. And besides, Sabrina's eyes are blue. What the? Something's not right.
Adelaide pats the empty space next to her. "Come sit, Christine. I saved this seat just for you!" I gape. She called me Christine. Hardly anyone calls me Christine. Except when I'm in trouble. And I sense trouble coming. She pats the other space beside her and says the same thing to Sabrina.
"Brina, come settle in with us! It'll be fun!" The way she emphasizes the word 'fun' gives me the creeps. She sure knows how to be uh, out of the ordinary?
"Oh, no! That's all right, Adelaide. I'd rather sit with Christi." Sabrina climbs up the brick to sit next to me.
"Don't you mean, Christine?" Adelaide corrects. I want to get the heck out of here. I cringe as Sabrina nudges me.
"So, Brina, what were you and Christine talking about earlier?" Adelaide questions. Sabrina whispers in my ear.
"Christi, something's up. The only person who's ever called me 'Brina' is Kase. Kase. And we know what happened to him!" I nod. Sabrina puts on a super joyful voice and answers, "Oh, we were just talking about how our phones are just so unreal! So last season! Right Christi?" Adelaide raises her eyebrows. "I mean, Christine...?" Sabrina says. Adelaide gives her an approving look.
"Sabrina's..." I start to say. Adelaide shoots me a blazing fireball. I gulp. "What I meant to say was... Brina was right! Our phones are like, so old fashioned! Don't you agree?" I stumble over my words. Gee, who knew it'd be so hard to go to a birthday party?
"Absolutely! All the phones poor people get are like, found in dumpsters and stuff! Duh!" Adelaide claims.
"What kind of phones are uh, those types?"
"Oh, you know, all those iPhones, Samsungs, anything that's not mine of course!" Of course, I think blankly. So that means Adelaide refers to us as "poor people." Great. Absolutely fantastic. That's so endearing!
"Hey, you wanna do something?" I ask, trying to get away from Adelaide.
"Sure!" Sabrina says, jumping off the stone wall.
"Hold up!" Adelaide exclaims. I groan to myself. "Let me come!" Her voice rings out against ours. I groan again.
"On second thought, I really have to... I really have to..." I trail off.
"You really have to what?" Adelaide gazes into my eyes. I mouth, Sabrina, and wait for an answer.
"We have to go to the bathroom!" Sabrina continues. She glances at her bare wrist and says, "Oh! Haha, look at the time! Let's go find the restroom, Christi...ine." I nod a little too vigorously for comfort.
"Yeah! Well, see ya, Adelaide!" Adelaide gives us a questioning look, on account of our maniac fail to escape her clutches.
As we walk away as fast as our feet can carry us, I turn to Sabrina and hiss, "Why'd you bother to 'look at time'?"
"Well could you have done better?" she snaps.
"Fine, sorry. Thanks, Brina." I snicker.
Sabrina throws her hands up in the air. "Stop with the name-calling already! Christine..." I roll my eyes, then ask,
"So, where's the bathroom?" Sabrina throws her head back and laughs.
"Well, it was your plan!" I snap. She looks away, giving me my own feeling of triumph.
"Well, I'm sorry," she answers. "But I wasn't the one who... who..." Ha! She can't come up with a comeback! I smile slyly to myself while Sabrina looks around, desperate for something to say.
"I wasn't the one who bought Adelaide a $30 phone case! I mean, come on, Christi! A phone case? Adelaide probably has millions of those!" I narrow my eyes.
"Fine, you win. Let's just find the bathroom." She nods, and we walk towards the house.
"Hey, is your mom still here?" I ask Sabrina. She shrugs.
"Maybe. Yours?"
"Not sure... maybe." She flashes me a grin.
"You think she can take us back home?"
"I wish! My mom wouldn't want us to leave a chance to be more social. Plus, we need to find our necklaces."
"Well, they aren't even real! What's the deal? If they aren't real, then why do we want them?" I stop there.
"I, I, don't know." I really don't. It's too confusing. Something inside of me just wants to find the necklaces.
"I know!" cries Sabrina. "Let's ask Lupo and Skifter!"
"Shhh," I whisper. "You don't want someone to hear that, right?"
"Hear what?" Oh, joy. Adelaide. Stalker! I want to cry out. But I don't. Cause no one wants to be on Adelaide's bad side. No one whatsoever. Believe me!
"Hear that... Sabrina has a crush on someone!" I hurry out. Sabrina's jaw drops straight down. Her head shakes in a noooooooo way is that true! kind of way. I sneak her a look. She sniffs, snapping her head away from me.
"You know, Adelaide, it is true. Sabrina just doesn't want to tell you," I whisper harshly. I instantly cover my mouth after I realize I forgot to say "Brina." Thankfully Adelaide doesn't notice. Sabrina, on the other hand, does. She knocks into me on the shoulder. I totter around. Adelaide lets out a totally fake laugh.
"So, who does Brina like?" Adelaide questions. Sabrina opens her mouth to protest, but I interrupt.
"Uh, she likes..." I try to think back to all the boys in our grade. Someone who's you know, famous. Then, a thought strikes me. Haha!
"Sorry, I didn't hear that. Could you repeat it again?" Adelaide's eyes twinkle. Her expression lightens. Boy, does she think we're speaking the truth? Well, is she ever wrong! But it couldn't hurt to play along.
"Jace," I mutter into Adelaide's ear. Adelaide raises her eyebrows. Then her expression falls from a smile to more of, a disapproving look.
"Jace?" Surprisingly, Adelaide's voice has lost its nasal tone. Instead, it has amounted to not even a whisper. Sabrina, from where I can see, is glaring her head off. I mean, what can I say? She saved me, I can save her this time. Well, if you call embarrassing her to her guts "saving." Not like she actually has a crush on Jace. In fact, I think I know who does. And it's not Sabrina.
Adelaide blinks a few times.
Then, to our relief, she pushes us out of her way.
"Uh, I've gotta do something, guys. Be right back." She makes a mad dash to the food table, where Jace is sitting, chewing on a super fake looking hot dog. Well, at least that was sorted out!
I motion to Sabrina, and she happily skips up next to me.
"You know Jace is the most annoying boy in the grade, right?" she prods.
"Well, duh!"
"Then why'd you choose him?" Sabrina's eyes bug out.
"He was the first person that popped into my mind! Settle down. It's not like Adelaide actually thinks you like him!"
"Well you don't know that!" She looks over to where Adelaide is posing by the food table, approximately two feet away from Jace's face. She's talking to him, but he's not exactly listening. He's too focused on his food. When he eventually looks up, he speaks a few words. Adelaide barks back some at him. She points over to where Sabrina and I are standing.
"Fudgesticks! He's gonna see us! And even worse! He thinks I have a crush on him! Which is so not true!" Sabrina shouts.
"Why are you so worried?" I respond. I turn back to see the food table, where Jace is getting up out of his seat. Sabrina shrieks.
"He's coming over here!!!"
"Sabrina, chill. You don't even know what Adelaide said to him." No response.
"Sabrina?" I turn around. She's gone. Great. And I'm left alone to deal with this popular boy with a super cheesy smile plastered on his face who's apparently decided to come over here. Wow, I'm the luckiest person in the world.
"Oh, heh, hey Christi!" Jace says, pulling a hand through his hair. "Where's Sabrina?"
"Uh, she left."
"For good?"
"No, she's coming back." As if on cue, Sabrina pops out from behind a bush saying,
"Christi, I had this thought..." she trails off when she sees Jace. She immediately hides behind me.
"What's he doing here?" she whispers.
"I just wanted to talk, Sabrina." Jace laughs. "You're not scared of a little talk, are you?"
"Absolutely not!" Sabrina steps out and crosses her arms, putting a brave look on her once scared face.
"Hey, okay, then... I gotta tell you something," Jace mumbles, once again running a hand through his hazel hair.
"Did Adelaide say I liked you?" Sabrina asks. "'Cause I have something to say about that!"
"So do I," he says. "Look, Sabrina, you're a good person..."
"Yeah, and you're a good person too, Jace." I look at the both of them, switching out lines.
"But I don't like you," They both sputter out at the same time. They blink a few times.
"You what?" They each say. I can't help it, I laugh. They glare at me, causing me to laugh some more.
"So you don't have a crush on me?" Jace says. Sabrina widens her eyes.
"Ha! As if! No way!" She smiles. "You?"
"Naw. I mean, I do. But it's not you."
"So you like someone else besides Sabrina?" I ask, jumping into the conversation.
"Yup!" Comes the answer. I shake my head. Goodness gracious.
✦
After another round of swimming, Adelaide's present fiesta, and some other random things related to parties, it's finally time to go. I sigh, relieved. I get a text from my mom saying I'm going home with Sabrina and Mrs. Waller. I shrug to myself. I love both Sabrina and her mom, so I'm cool with it.
"Sabrina!" I call. "Time to go!" I spot her still talking with Jace. After what happened about an hour ago, I'm surprised she's still even acknowledging the dude's alive.
"Okay!!" she cries out. She races over to where I'm standing. Mrs. Waller waves goodbye to Jacqueline, reminding both me and Sabrina to give out our thank yous. We both wave (reluctantly) to Adelaide. She blows us fake French kisses. Joyousness.
When we finally get to the Waller's car, Sabrina and I embrace.
"We survived Adelaide's party!" We shout. We both settle into the car, and as we drive away, I notice Sabrina's face is pale. She was happy a few seconds ago, what's up with her?
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"I found out who Jace likes. It's not me. Not Adelaide. Not Lani." She looks out the window.
"Yeah... so who does he like?" I say, raising my eyebrows, inquisitive. What is wrong with her? She usually never wants to talk about this kind of thing! I gaze in concern at my best friend. She looks like she's gonna throw up. Just when I think she will, she answers.
"You." My jaw drops.
"That's a lie."