Chapter Two
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“What? “” Elaine questioned.
“What did she do? Why?” Elaine asked. Very shocked by the confession, she hoped that this was all a joke, that Valeria was just messing with her like she typically did sometimes. She had tried to pull a stand like this before, but it was only a joke. She had made it seem like she had invited some people and Elaine had totally freaked out.
And this time around, even though she knew Elaine would still freak out, she had decided to do it anyway. “You are joking right?” She questioned and Valeria just shook her head.
“No, I'm not joking, unfortunately”. She said.
“But you are going to have fun, okay? I did not invite that many people. It's just probably 15 or something like that.” She confessed through gritted teeth. Because she was definitely not proud to say it and she knew Elaine would freak out and she totally did.
“Fifteen?! What makes you think fifteen is small? It was supposed to be our small evening watching movies, our birthday tradition. Why did you have to change it?” Elaine questioned and Valeria just shrugged her shoulders at her.
“Well is it not obvious, this is not very typical eighteenth birthday celebration. I mean, surely you do not love it now , but who said you'll hate this?” The doorbell rang and Elaine immediately gasped.
“No! you have to tell them to go away”. She said, practically begged her.
“No, I'm not telling them to go away, they're already coming in”.
“What are they even going to eat? We didn't buy enough snacks”. Elaine said, hoping that it would strike some sense into Valeria's mind, but instead she seemed to have the perfect answer for everything.
“Nope. I knew you would say that, so I planned ahead of time. I hid the snacks and the alcohol in your basement, so once they come in, all you have to just help me get them”, she said. And Elaine was totally shocked by all of this. How could she have missed it?
. She had realized that Valeria was acting different the whole day and it was very strange for her to be acting the way she was acting, but she had not made anything of it. She had said that maybe she was just rather on the edge, but she definitely knew better now. She definitely must have sensed something, but she totally ignored it because she did not expect her to do this, that and this for so many years and regardless of how many times she has suggested inviting some more people over.
Elaine had always said no and Valeria had always respected her wishes, but this time around, it seemed she was ready to defy it all. It seemed she was ready to do something different and force her out of her little comfort zone, her little cocoon that made her feel so much more protected. She loved being able to blend in to all the other people that were insignificant in the school. She did not want to stand out.
She just wanted to make sure that she went to school and only focused on her studies and nothing else. But after this, she doubted it was going to happen. She did not want anyone to be talking about her 18th birthday. She did not even want anyone knowing that it was her 18th birthday anyway.
“Well, we can't have our guest waiting for too long”. Valeria said. And Elaine was totally shook, she felt like running up the stairs to go change out of her dress. But she was more frozen in place than anything. And she had to be more trusting of what Val had said. Maybe fifteen people were not that bad, even though they sounded rather bad to her. Perhaps she could tough it out for at least an hour and eventually kick them out. Her parents had left after gifting her for her 18th birthday because they had an engagement partyto attend with one of their friends and they had wanted to leave the house to her and Valeria so they could be free to do whatever they wanted and they definitely had not accounted for a party being one of those things.
Corrine, Elaine mother trusted her very much. She had raised a very well mannered girl and she was very proud of that every single day. Elaine definitely adopted all those things from her adoptive mother, but with this happening, she doubted that her mother would have been very proud. She could not know. She could not find it in her to tell them that she decided to throw a party while they were away.
Even though it was not her idea, it would definitely seem like she was supportive of it because she still let it happen. As the door opened, though it was way too many people talking. She was certain it could not have just been 15 people.
“ What kind of party is this?” She heard a voice. That she was rather very familiar with.She had been in the class in one class or more with Laura, the most popular girl in the school who was also very mean and the classic mean girl that you would find and not want to encounter in high school or be near.
She had shared class with her for so many years that she could not mistake her voice for any other. Why would Valeria ever invite Laura to her birthday party? She was confused and she just wanted to wake up and realize that it was all a dream, that Valeria was joking and it would immediately end.
“Well, we are going to make it lively, don't you worry”. She could just hear Valeria confirming in the background and she was just dying inside. She just wanted to run up the stairs, but instead she said that she was going to do something different. She said that she was going to make sure that she does not look as nervous as she is, that she was not going to look as unwelcoming as she was.
“Well, where is this birthday girl anyway. What did you say her name was?” Laura asked. And she did not even wonder for long where they were because soon enough they walked into the living room and Laura had a gift bag in her hand.
“Oh, there she is, Elaine, it is very nice of you to finally invite us to your house”. Laura said and she only smiled at her.
“Well, I can't take credit.” She responded and Valeria widened her eyes at her, she could just tell she was warning her against her behavior right now.
She did not want her to be acting like such a wet blanket already, but she couldn't find a way to have to be acting like anything else. As more people walked in, Elaine was doing her count. She had long surpassed 20 people and it was definitely not what Valeria had told her that it was. So walking over she found her talking to one of her many friends caught up, pulling her hand away.
“You promised that there would only be fifteen people, I have already counted 25 and I can still hear more cars pulling in. Do you know what Margaret is going to do?” She questioned and Valeria rolled her eyes at her.
“Margaret is just a bit of old woman, she will not really tell your parents that we had a party here and she must be sleeping already.”
Margaret was Elaine's neighbour that she had grown to dislike over the years because of how nosy she was, because of how she was always trying to get her into trouble even when she had done absolutely nothing. She just loved to meddle in her business and with a whole party and so many people pulling into the driveway, she definitely knew that Margaret must have been watching and must have been ready to tell her parents everything and, and she did not want her parents to find this out. She did not want to disappoint them the way that she knew such information would disappoint them.
“Well, I'm telling you, Margaret is already sleeping. That old woman meets her bedtime early on and you should not be worried about her. We'll just tell your parents that we decided to invite more friends that you met while we were doing some…. I don't know, but we will figure something out.” Valeria does not even complete her sentence before one of her other friends pulls her away. And that is when Elaine's eyes land on someone that she rather prefers to avoid most of the time.
Logan.
Logan, the self-proclaimed most attractive son of a gun in the school. That's precisely what every girl thought of him. Yes, Elaine could agree that he was definitely easy on the eyes. His tall frame, very muscular physique that he had earned from participating in several sports over the years and definitely from hitting the gym a few times had earned him the popularity that he had right now. He was desired by all the girls in the school and as much as she had to admit it to herself, she had sensed him at some point in her life and knew that her little crush for him was still there when she saw him, which was not often.
The one time she remembers hearing his voice being directed at her was when she bumped into him probably 2 years ago, and he had warned her to watch where she was going. And still, she had felt butterflies the entire time. She did not like to be around him, but here he was at her party, right in her own home, and she did not particularly like that he barely noticed her.
And she was glad that it was the case, because she did not like to stand out. Especially not when it came to him and his group of friends. When it came to the popular kids, Laura, Parker and Zoe, and the three boys Logan, Ralph and James, they were a match made in hell. They were the six people that she wanted to avoid, those three boys, They had been known for playing several girls in the school and still the girls were drooling over them. Still, they just let them do whatever they wanted with them because I guess they were simply that hot.
Elaine could not imagine herself being that kind of girl, and so she had made sure to keep her distance from them and she had succeeded. But this time around, Valeria was threatening her comfort zone to the max her little coziness that she had managed to maintain and making it impossible for her to blend in with the walls and the furniture like she had always wanted to wherever she went. This party was going to get her in trouble, she could just tell. If not from it’s existence, then from the way that Logan kept stealing glances at her.
Saying glances would be an understatement, she felt watched and it just made her want to evaporate.