Chapter 2: Love at First Sight
"Sinead, when you said that you had costumes for us to wear, I didn't realize that you meant that we had to go as either princesses or Velma and Daphne from Scooby -Doo" said Amy, eyeing the costumes that Sinead had presented with distaste
"Come on, these costumes aren't that bad. And plus, nobody will know who we are if we wear wigs." said Sinead
"Come on", guffawed Amy, "Do you honestly think that people won't recognize us because we're wearing wigs? Honestly, nobody's that stupid."
"I'm not sure that you've seen some of the people at our school." replied Sinead
"I assume you're talking about various members of the Jocks?" Amy said
"You think?" replied Sinead sarcastically
"Don't be so prejudiced, my brother's good friends with Jonah and Hamilton." reposted Amy
"Well Dan isn't exactly known for his IQ is he?"
"Hey! He's good at maths!" said Amy in defence of her brother
"That's about the only thing he's good at…" muttered Sinead under her breath
"We can discuss the IQs of the people at our school another time, right now, we have to find costumes." said Amy, pretending that she hadn't heard Sinead
Meanwhile Jonah's house…
"You're telling me that we have to go as a bunch of old dudes?" yelled Dan
"Not old dudes Dan, musketeers." said Hamilton
"And you're supporting this idea?" Dan looked at Hamilton with disbelief
"Yo Dan, do you have another idea?" asked Jonah
"Err, well, we could go as, ummm…"
"You see, there's nothing else for three guys to go as." said Hamilton
"Wait! I had an idea!" shouted Dan, who was desperate not to end up as a musketeer. After all, he did have a reputation to maintain
"What?" asked Jonah
"We could go as a group of superheroes, or we could go as cartoon characters, or people from Hogwarts, or the Jonas brothers, or cowboys, or-"
"Shut up! We get the idea! We don't have to go as musketeers!" shouted Jonah, who was desperate for Dan to stop talking
Dan smiled evilly, "But I have so many other ideas like-"
"I don't really care, but can we not go as superheroes? I don't feel comfortable wearing tights." said Hamilton
"Sure, doesn't matter what we go as, just as long as the Richies don't recognize you and Jonah." said Dan
"Whoa Dan, that has to be the smartest thing you've said all day." said Jonah, surprised
"I know, I surprise myself sometimes." he replied
"Can we stop talking? The party starts in about an hour. And we're still not dressed in our costumes." said Hamilton
"Sure thing, let's find something to wear."
Back at the Starling's house…
The doorbell rang, sending the Starling home into a frenzy.
"Ted, can you see who's at the door?" shouted Mr Starling to his son
"I'm still getting dressed dad!" he shouted back
"That's Austin at the door! I'll get it!" shouted Mrs Starling
She opened the door to reveal the face of Austin Paris.
"Sorry we kept you waiting, our house is a little disorganized at the moment." she said
Austin raised an eyebrow at this as he surveyed the immaculate living room in front of him.
"Sinead, are you and Amy dressed yet?" shouted Sinead's mother
"Coming mom!" she shouted back
A few minutes later, Amy came down the stairs dressed as a princess.
"Sinead, come on!" yelled Amy to her friend
"No! I'll trip on the heels! And I look stupid!" she replied
"You look fine, now come, or we're going to be late!" Amy was getting impatient, as certain boy had promised her a dance with him, so she wasn't going to miss this party.
Sinead walked down the stairs slowly and uncertainly. But she had nothing to worry about. Her straight auburn hair had been curled for the occasion and she was wearing makeup, which was a rarity for Sinead. She was dressed up as an angel, with fake wings and a white dress.
"Sinead, you look, err, well, umm nice." stammered Austin, who at the sight of Sinead had gotten completely tongue tied.
"That's a compliment right?" Sinead whispered to Amy
"I think so." she replied
"Thanks Austin, what are you supposed to be?" Sinead asked
"Oh, I'm Justin Bieber." he said
Sinead wanted to groan, but didn't as she didn't want to upset Austin. Was he trying to impress her by dressing up in a purple hoodie and weird baggy-skinny jeans? Or did he honestly think he was being cool? Either way, it was an awful costume.
"So how are we getting to the Kabra mansion?" asked Amy
"Ned and Ted are going to drive us." replied Sinead
"Where are they?" asked Austin
"We're here." replied Ted, who was followed by Ned
"You're going as Mario and Luigi?" asked Sinead, who wasn't really sure if that was the name of the videogame characters
"Yep." replied Ned
"Hey Sinead, you're going as an angel right?" asked Ted
"Yeah I am, why?" she said
"Then why don't you wear the blonde wig that's in the costume pile?" he answered
"Yeah", piped in Ned, "After all, when else are you going to wear it?"
"But I curled her hair for the occasion!" cried Amy
"But the wig would go well with the costume!" retorted Ned, who had no sympathy for Amy
"Are you saying that all angels have blonde hair?" asked Amy
"No, I never said that, I meant-"Ned was silenced in the middle of his sentence when he saw that Sinead had gone and put the wig on
"I'm wearing the wig, now can we please go to the party?" asked Sinead
"Fine", grumbled Amy, "Just don't expect me to bother curling your hair ever again."
Austin, Amy, Sinead, Ned and Ted left the house and got into the car.
Driving to the Kabra's house...
"We're late! Hurry up Ned, you drive slower than my grandmother!" said Amy
"Jeez, calm down Amy! Why are you so desperate to get to this party? Is there a guy waiting for you there or something?" asked Ted
"Yeah, besides, we're not even late yet." added Ted
"I know, I know, but the way you're driving, the party will have ended by the time we get there." Amy glanced anxiously at the time, wishing that it would slow down so that they wouldn't be late
"I don't drive that slowly!" Ned retorted
"Ned, shut up, even I, your twin acknowledge the fact that you drive slowly. I would be driving right now if mom and dad hadn't banned me from driving." piped in Ted
"Why aren't you allowed to drive?" asked Austin
"He crashed his car into a stop sign." answered Sinead
"Oh." said Austin, who realized that this party could possibly be very awkward
…Fifteen minutes later…..
"We're here!"
At the Kabra Mansion…
The party was amazing. Pop music blared from the speakers and everyone was already dancing, even though the party had only started fifteen minutes earlier.
"Isn't this party fabulous?" Natalie Kabra asked her brother
"Yes Natalie, you did a fantastic job." he replied while scanning the room for a certain brunette
"Oh look! There's the Starlings and Amy! Let's go and welcome them to the party!"
Ian followed his sister to welcome the guests. Ned and Ted were his best friends, but they had an awful choice in clothes. One only had to look at what they were wearing now for that fact to be demonstrated. Sinead was wearing a blond wig, which was a little strange but looked nice. But not as nice as Amy. She was dressed as some sort of princess, and she looked absolutely beautiful. Not that Ian would ever admit that to her.
"Hi guys, how are you enjoying our party so far?" asked Natalie
"We only just arrived, but it looks amazing." gushed Sinead
"Thank you Sinead" said Natalie who was clearly enjoying the success of her party
Ian was about to ask Amy to dance when he saw a certain Jock from across the room
"Natalie, may I talk to you for a second?" he asked
"No Ian, I'm welcoming our guests. I'm sure that whatever needs to be said can be said later." she replied coldly
However Ian paid no attention to his sister, and dragged her off away from the guests.
"What is wrong with you Ian?" Natalie was livid, being embarrassed in front of her friends
"There's a Jock at the party! That Hamilton guy!" he said
"Calm down Ian, he doesn't seem to be too bad, and he's not causing any trouble, just leave him be."
"You can't mean that Natalie!"
"Oh yes I do, too many parties are ruined by the whole clique fight thingy, and if you go and beat him up, I swear I will get up on that podium and tell everyone your most embarrassing secrets."
Ian's face paled at the notion, and Natalie smiled, knowing that she had one this argument.
"Instead of finding Jocks to beat up, why don't you go ask Amy to dance?" Natalie said before walking off
"What! Natalie come back here!" he was about to storm off when he noticed Amy coming towards him
"H-h-hi Ian." Amy cursed herself, she had gotten over her stutter after speech therapy, but talking to Ian, it always came back
"Hello love." he said with his trademark smirk
"D-d-don't call me love Ian. I'm not your girlfriend." she said
"So?" Ian was about to say more, but a slow song had come on. That was weird, usually people waited till the end of the party to play slow songs.
"Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to dance." he said
Amy was slightly surprised, but tried not to show it.
"Sure Ian, I'd love to." she said taking his hand as he led her to the dance floor
The house certainly looked amazing, but Sinead wasn't sure that she was having that much fun. Amy had ditched her to go dance with Ian, and she didn't really talk to many other people. and now she looked like a complete loser, just standing there with Austin. He was a nice enough guy, but incredibly boring. She had to come up with an excuse to ditch him.
"Excuse me for a moment Austin, but I need to go to the bathroom." she told him
"Err sure, go ahead." he replied, shifting his feet.
Sinead sighed, he probably found this whole thing incredibly awkward as well. She was pushing past the couples dancing to get to the little garden. Sinead loved the place; it was probably one of the only spots in the Kabra mansion that wasn't decorated with all sorts of fancy furniture, priceless works of art or gold. She was not the most outdoorsy type of girl, but this little secluded place was a patch of heaven. She breathed in the scents of the flowers, taking in the reflection of the moon in the small pond.
"Are you supposed to be an angel?" asked a voice from behind her
"Yeah I am. See the wings?" she said turning to face him
He was dressed like Ron from Harry Potter, complete with a red wig and Hogwarts robes. She had to laugh, the outfit looked so ridiculous on him.
He joined in. "Yeah I know how bad it looks, but my buddy said that we had to have matching costumes."
"Couldn't you have gone as the three musketeers or something?" she asked
He face palmed himself. "That's exactly what I said! But he didn't want to be dressed as 'an old dude'."
They talked for what seemed like hours, and Sinead was surprised to find herself smitten by this mystery boy, and was shocked when she heard the clock inside strike eleven.
"You do realize that we've been talking for an hour?" she told him
Hamilton had fallen in love with this girl in the space of an hour. Just before he thought that he'd liked Rosie, but looking back, that had been mere puppy love, this was love.
"It's crazy." he agreed, before leaning down to kiss her, it was chance, he didn't know how she would react, but it was worth the risk, what if he never saw her again after today?
But to his surprise she kissed him back. Then pulled back just as quickly.
"I have a date waiting for me inside!" she exclaimed
"Your boyfriend?" he asked
"No, but-"
"It doesn't matter then. Where were we?" he added with a smile
Sinead was on edge, her heart beating fast as she leaned in to kiss the boy again.
"Excuse me for interrupting, but Sinead, your brothers are waiting for you." said Amy
Sinead cursed Amy in her head but left anyways.
Hamilton was stunned, the girl that he was in love with, that he had just been kissing, was a Richie? Not just a Richie, but the sister of two of the most powerful Richies? He didn't care what clique she belonged to, after all, he was in love, but the feud between the Jocks and the Richies was bound to come between them.
Amy glanced sympathetically at Hamilton before running of to find Sinead. She found her waiting by the door to the garden.
"Amy, who was that guy, you recognize him, so who is he? I think that I'm in love." her best friend told her, her eyes lighting up at the mention of her new beau
Amy sighed before answering.
"He's Hamilton Holt, a Jock, and your enemy."
AN: I'm so, so sorry that I took so long to update. I had a school trip, loads of school work and then my computer crashed. But I'm going to try and start updating regularly now.
Thank you to everybody who reviewed or added this story to Alerts/Favourites, it means a lot to me.