Her sighed in relief as she found herself out of the hallway and into the living room. She finally gave in and sprinted for the front door, hoping she would be stealthy enough to get out with no sign she'd left.
Just as her fingertips grazed the surface of the door knob, Dash stood before her. She fumbled, and found herself collapsing on top of her younger brother.
She hissed as she pushed herself off and away from him. "Ugh, Dash, what are you doing?"
"I should be asking YOU that!" he jabbed a finger against Violet's collar bone accusingly. "It's way past midnight, Mom and Dad would kill you if they knew you were up this late!"
Violet sighed and held her forehead in her hand, annoyed at such an obvious statement that only a little brother could make. "That's why we don't tell them, Dash! Duh!"
He scoffed. "Like Mom woudn't find out! She knows everything!"
"Shut up! She doesn't know about your failing grade on that math test, does she?" Violet placed her hands on her hips. She could go somewhere with this. "Or that frog in Susie Tamer's lunchbox. How about that time you glued her favorite earings to your dolls? She still thinks Jack-jack ate those!"
"Action figures!" Dash snapped, finally having enough of his sister's games before sighing-a sign of defeat. "Fine. I won't tell her about this and you don't tell her about...all of that. Deal?"
Violet smirked, wrenched the door open, and proudly strode out. She was going to shut the door, but not without having the final word. "Deal!" She squeaked and shut the door behind her.
"Sorry I'm late! Dash came outta nowhere and all but interrogated me! I cut a deal with him, though, so it's no big," She said, hugging her family-babysitter-turned-friend, Kari. Her usually tightly pulled ponytail was now free, letting her hair drape softly onto her shoulder. Her perpetual smile, always flashing her braces, was now replaced with a look of annoyance and boredom.
"Uh-huh, yeah, okay." Kari brushed away Violet's excuse with ease and replaced it with a topic of her own. "Come on! The party started, like, forever ago! I bet Tony's totally worried you're not gonna make it!"
Violet rolled her eyes as Kari shoved her out of her house and lead her down the street. "Puh-LEEZ, Kari! Tony wouldn't ask where I was if his life depended on it. He only invited me because his little brother and my little brother hang out sometimes."
"Yeah, right, Violet! Just look at ya'! You're, like, the IT girl of Western View!"
Violet laughed outloud. "Kari, months ago I had zero friends. Now, I've got one. No offense, but that's not the "it" girl kind of thing I've read in magazines."
"Well, I bet Tony likes the quiet, mysterious types! Besides, you've been wearing colors other than black lately, if that didn't get his attention, nothing will!"
Violet bit her lower lip, remembering that first day at school in her(now favorite) pink blouse Tony when asked her to the movies. In the end, he couldn't make it since he got sick with the flu and was out of school for almost the whole week. He never did keep his promise to make it up to her. In fact, they hadn't talked at all since that phone call to 'postpone" the date.
Still, it was hope. And hope was definitely something Violet needed in her life.
"Oh, look here already!" Kari exclaimed, linking her arm with Violet's and throwing her head back in laughter. "Come on! Tony's waiting!" She held her head high and sauntered into Tony's house with pride. As for Violet?
Less could be said.
She slinked her way past the door and closed it quietly, which there was no point in, no one would have heard it over the blaring music and rambunctious teens.
"All right," Kari announced. "Now to find Tony!"
Violet planted her feet firmly into the ground just as Kari tried to pull her along. Noticing Violet's hesitation, she turned around to look at her.
"What's wrong, Vy? Don't you wanna find Tony?"
"Um, uh, N-not just yet."
"Not just yet? We're hours late to the party, he's probably been worried where you've been this whole time, Violet! We have to find him now or he'll find a group of other kids to hang with for the rest of the night, you'll lose your courage, and this night will forever go down with you as your sole regret in life! Now or never, Violet! Now! Or! Never!"
Violet's eye's stayed staring at the ground, her hair finding it's familar spot in front of her face. "I...I just..."
Kari's expression softened and she placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Look, Vy. You've liked this guy for all of junior high, right?"
Violet nodded.
"This is the summer before highschool, right?"
She nodded again.
"Your whole life, for one reason or another, you've felt way less pretty than other girls. To you, you've always been too thin, too pale, too quiet, too-"
"Invisible."
Kari paused at Violet's word, before continuing. "Yeah. But, don't you see? This is your chance to finally prove to yourself that you CAN be more than other girls. You CAN be prettier and smarter and better and if you don't do this the only person you'll be hurting is yourself!"
Violet's eyes finally met her friend's, her expression one of fear. But slowly, hesitanyly, the corners of her mouth turned up and she gave a firm nod.
"You're right, Kari. I'm being silly."
Kari smiled back and relaxed a little. "You're darn right I'm right! Now, come on, we gotta-"
"Go find ourselves a Tony!" Violet finished for her, standing straight and confidently walking with her friend away from the door.
"Violet! Hey, Violet!" Violet turned at the call of her name, Kari had drank six glasses of punch so Violet was left to wait at the snack table for her to come back. Though who stood before wasn't Kari, but Tony.
"Uh...um... Hi...Tony...?" Violet stammered, her cheeks taking the same hue as the Tropical Punch in her glass.
"Hey," he greeted her, putting one hand on the table beside them. "I didn't think you'd show. Parties never really seemed like your kinda thing."
"Ah...uh...Yeah. Parties, me. Not very, uh..." Violet's eyes fell to the floor as she searched her mind for a word.
"Compatable?"
Violet nodded. "Mm-hm, that." She kicked herself mentally. How could she be so stupid? She had yet to say a complete, coherent sentence to Tony, yet here he was, a freaking thesaurus compared to her.
Violet cleared her throat and tried to regain the confidence she'd had just moments before.
"Um, So, Tony..." she began, not sure where she was going with this. "You... you sure seem to like the type to enjoy parties!"
He laughed and she nearly burst into hysteric sobs, fearing she'd said something stupid. "Yeah, I guess I do enjoy parties. Only the good ones, though."
"Is this a good one?" Violet asked.
He laughed again. "I sure hope so, it's my party."
"Oh. Heh, yeah, it is."
"'Yeah, it is', what? It's my party or it's fun?"
"Both," she replied, a sincere smile on her face. "Although, I honestly don't have much experience with parties. The last one I got invited to was Josh Fillmore's in fourth grade at Charlie Cheddar's. God, it was awful. He cried because they spelled his name wrong on the cake, his mom gave him a doll that was meant for his little sister the week after, and some kid puked in the ball pit, so the whole place had to be closed down early. Not to mention, my dad dropping me off and picking me up, he always feels the need to show off his oh-so hilarious jokes from, like, the stone ages to the other parents at any given cha-" Violet stopped and looked up at Tony, his face pulled into what Violet interpreted as boredom.
"S-sorry. I'm rambling."
"No, no," he chuckled, pouring himself his own glass of punch and leaning against the table. "Go on, this is pretty hilarious."
Violet looked around for any hidden camera's. "F-for real? You thought that was funny?"
"Mh-hm," Tony nodded and stole a sip from his drink. "You're a pretty good story teller." She chuckled and stared into her drink. "I guess years of telling Jack-Jack and Dash bedtime stories finally paid off."
"Little brothers?"
Violet nodded, looking back up at Tony. "Dash is going into the fifth grade and Jack-Jack's still being potty-trained."
"Wow, that must suck. Having no sisters, I mean."
She shrugged. "Well, I guess it does suck sometimes. But, I mean, it's not like I know what it's like to have a sister, so I don't really know what I'm missing out on."
"Don't any of your friends have sisters? Aren't you jealous of them?"
"Nah, Kari's an only child."
"And?" Tony egged on.
"And...what?"
"What about your other friends?" He tilted his head curiously, almost cat-like.
"Um... o-other... friends?"
He chuckled and asked jokingly, "Yeah, Violet. Other friends, you got some, don'cha'?"
Violet looked around nervously, her eyes searched the kitchen as if it held the answers. "I... of course, duh! What kind of loser doesn't, right?"
Tony laughed and nodded in agreement. "I'd hate to be that kid with, like, only one friend. That's some sad stuff right there."
"Heh heh, yeah," Violet agreed, trying to hide her disappointment. "Tota-" Violet was cut off by a suprise hug from behind and a screaming apology, "Sorry I took so long! You wouldn't believe the line for-" Kari froze as she stepped her way around Violet and looked in her direction. "Oh. Hiya, Tony!" She slips a sly grin towards Violet, who simply gives a shy shrug in response. "So, I see you and Violet have greeted eachother well enough!"
He chuckled and looked to Violet warmly. "Yeah, you could say that."
Violet's cheeks flushed and she avoided his gaze until she was sure he wasn't looking anymore. "Well, I'm Kari! Vy's one and only best-best friend! Did she tell you about that time I accidentally dyed my hair green? Boy, she saved me big time on that one, huh, Vy?"
Violet nodded nervously.
"Yeah, she's real trustworthy when it comes to down to it! I'd tried dying it a little lighter for picture day in a week, but boy was that brand of dye a gyp! I called her right away, practically crying my eyes out, and she rushed right over to help. We spent, like, two days calling people, trying to make appointments, looking stuff up online, it was a nightmare! But she totally came through in the end and found a guy from Seatlle who was only in town for one more day and willing to give us a discount and stuff, it was totally awesome!" Kari seemed to say her whole story in one breath, her mouth moving a mile a minute, as was common of her. "Wasn't it totally awesome, Vy?"
"Uh...yeah, I guess so..."
A crash was heard in the back of the house and Tony's face fell into his palm. "Ugh, look, sorry, guys. I really gotta check this out." He turned his attention to Violet, giving her a charming half-smile. "Catch up later?"
Violet's eyes lit up and she had to restrain herself to keep from jumping with joy. "Yeah, totally! Catch up later!" Tony nodded, gave a small, "Cool" and rushed away to the source of the noise. Once out of sight, Kari shoved Violet's shoulder playfully.
"Oh my gosh, Violet, he was totally all over you just now!" Kari took on a mock-thoughtful pose and looked at her friend quizzically. "You, My Dear Violet, are a man-catching-machine! I don't know what you did or said, but it totally caught Tony's attention! He was all over you and a bag of chips! If I didn't know any better, I'd say he's head over heals in love already!"
Violet giggled, "Please, Kari, he was just being nice. And calm down, people'll start looking."
"People SHOULD start looking! With the way things are going, you're just steps away from Mrs. Tony! And if he was just being nice what was with that whole "catch up later" deal? He was SO into you!"
Violet was ready to give her own argument before her cell phone buzzed in her pocket. "Craaaap," She groaned and answered the call, apology speech at the ready. "Look, Mom, I'm really sor-"
"Shut up," Dash hissed.
"Dash? Geez, you nearly gave me a heart attack! Why in the heck are you calling me on mom's phone? And it's, like, four in the morning! Shouldn't you-"
"I said shut up, Poop-For-Brains! Mom totally got up for work just now!" "Yeah, so?"
"Well, Mom being Mom, she's gonna check to see if we're sound asleep in our beds!"
Violet slapped her forehead and groaned. "Oh my god, you're right! I'm so, so, SO dead!"
"Why do you think I called, dumb-butt? She's in the shower, hasn't done her make up, but Dad's bound to complain to her about the water bill. That means you've got about half an hour."
"Half an hour? It took nearly half an hour to get here! I'm dead!" She sighed, finally realizing it was another Now Or Never Situation. "All right, I'll be there in no time."
"Good luck, Vy."
"Yeah, yeah. And, Dash? I totally owe you."
She could almost hear the smug look on his face as he replied, "I know," and the line went out.
Violet turned to Kari, shoving the phone in her pocket. "Kari, we've gotta get going. Like right now or you'll be reading my obituary come sunrise."
"Wha?"
"Just come on, will ya'?" Violet snatched her friend's hand and they went racing.