Friday

"I can't wait for your party!" a prep girl squealed. "I know it's going to be great!"

"Will you have Chanel goody bags again? Is that the surprise?" a yacht club girl inquired, her eyes dancing excitedly.

The talk around school was that I was throwing a major house party this weekend… and there was going to be a huge surprise during the party. My coterie had kept up with a barrage of never-ending questions, but I wouldn't divulge a single detail.

I smirked to myself. The only people that knew what the surprise actually was were Mia, Lindsay, and myself. But everyone would enjoy the big reveal… everyone, that is, except for Autumn.

Payton, Mia, and I took our usual seats at the center lunch table: Payton on my left, Mia on my right, and myself in the center. Preps, cheerleaders, yacht club girls, and many more joined us, filling the surrounding seats. I took a sip of my lemon-and-cucumber infused spa water and watched as Autumn entered the cafeteria.

Three feet in, a class clown guy stuck out his foot. Autumn, her head in the clouds, probably daydreaming about my boyfriend or Julian, was oblivious.

The cafeteria roared with laughter as Autumn tripped over his outstretched foot, landing face-first into a pile of rotten mashed potatoes that the guys had been throwing around trying to prompt a food fight.

At the same table, the class clown girl next to him, who did our school's morning announcements, had caught it all on tape.

"This is gonna bring some laughs to tomorrow's morning news!" she chortled.

The class clown guy continued his routine. "Hey, Autumn," he began. "Want a hand?" He struck his hand out to her.

Autumn took it, then suddenly screeched as her body was met with a small electric shock. Everyone covered their ears, then laughed. The class clown guy had placed a hand buzzer in his palm.

"Okay, Imma stop joking now. Autumn, you need a hand up?" He had a sincere, angelic expression on his face.

Autumn sighed, then gingerly reached out and met his hand. Buzz! Autumn screamed again, falling back to the hard cafeteria floor. He had re-activated the hand buzzer.

Everyone laughed even harder. Mia turned to me, tears in her eyes. I was on the verge of crying from laughter myself. Thank Gucci I had worn waterproof mascara today!

Autumn, scowling, tried to get up herself. Her right hand collided with the mound of sticky mashed potatoes she had fallen face-first in. She gritted her teeth, slowly standing up.

Meanwhile, the class clown guy had sat down, turning his back on Autumn as he conversed with his friends.

Autumn tapped him on the shoulder, hard. The class clown guy ignored her. Autumn kept tapping away, her hands forming into C-shaped claws.

Finally, the class clown guy turned around. "What the hell do you want?"

He wasn't prepared for what would happen next. No one in the cafeteria was.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Autumn shrieked.

Hurriedly, everyone in the cafeteria rushed to cover their ears. Autumn Brooks had a voice that could—and would—shatter glass.

The class clown guy pulled his hands away from his ears. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm gonna go back to eating my lunch. Stay away from me, psycho." And with that, he turned away from Autumn.

His friends snickered, clapping him on the back. Autumn scowled, stomping her foot like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum.

Her eyes roved the cafeteria, looking for a place to sit. The first place her eyes went to was my table. The coveted center table, where everyone was attractive, impeccably dressed, and having a good time.

We pretended not to notice that the art freak was staring at us, laughing uproariously to rub it in that we were having the time of our lives… and she wasn't.

Autumn sighed, looking away. I watched as she scanned the tables filled with cliques. Who in this school didn't hate her? The skaters? Nope. The musicians? No dice. The gamers? No way.

What about her actual clique, the hipsters? Autumn started to walk over to them, but a withering glare from a hipster guy made her stop.

"Girl, those sneakers are so uncool, they're not even ironically cool!"

Autumn turned away from them, tears forming in her squinty brown eyes. She quickened her pace until she had reached the infamous table known as No-Man's-Land. No, not the WWI trenches. The single café table that was one-sided, so it could only fit a single person. Across from the café table was a large green dumpster, filled to the brim with all the rotting trash that had been collected from the cafeteria this week. Due to its smell, and its proximity to the the entrance the teachers liked to use (what teachers, though? The only teacher who'd ever come into the cafeteria was Professor Edwin, and she didn't even teach at this school. She just liked to check up on my school to be a bitch.) no one desired to sit there.

Mia snickered as Autumn slid into the lone seat at No-Man's-Land.

"I feel so bad! Should we invite her to sit with us?" Payton cried.

The answer to that was an unanimous chorus of No's.

"Sorry, Payton. The majority says no. Gotta do what the people want, right?" I gave my "Honor Roll student" smile.

Payton nodded. Little did she know, I was the one who really controlled the majority. The girls just parroted what I said in conversations when Payton wasn't present.

Suddenly, the cafeteria quieted. I scanned the room, searching for the source of the sudden silence. Why hadn't my friends said anything?

I felt a chill go down my spine when I saw No-Man's-Land.

Wes had scooted into Autumn's seat, a snug fit since it was meant for only one person. And Autumn had began sobbing into his gray sweatshirt for all she was worth, clinging to him like he was Adam and she was Eve and they were the only two humans on the planet.

I dug my Dolce & Gabbana Iris manicured nails into the side of my wrist just above my Tiffany tennis bracelet and Juicy Couture charm bracelet.

This time, a miniscule amount of blood seeped out. Shit!

I pulled myself out of my feelings and concentrated on the task at hand. From my pink-and-black Chanel tweed bag I extracted my TracFone and conducted a text to Lindsay.

Me: It's on Friday. Don't forget the video.

As I've always said, don't get mad... get even. During my party, Autumn Brooks was in for a surprise... one more shocking than the prank the class clown guy had pulled on her today.