IMPORTANT(ish): So I was rereading previous chapters, 'cause I never actually proofread any of them when I originally posted them lmao, and I realised that I forgot to include a scene in Chapter Three, when they were at Miriam's pool party. This is why you should always remember to proofread, kids. Anyhow, I've gone back and added it in so you can go read it if you haven't, but if you don't want to, what basically happened is that, when Emma left Cleo and Lewis talking alone at Miriam's pool party, she ran into Byron at the beach (like they do in the episode) and they just chatted for a bit. As I said, you can go back and read it if you want, but it wasn't a particularly important scene or anything so I figured I'd just quickly recap it here for those of you too lazy to go back lmao.
Chapter Six
"Em, are you sure alfalfa and blackcurrant juice is really the way you want to go?" Cleo asked, glancing dubiously at the juices on the kitchen counter in front of her.
As Cleo spoke, Emma set down the pillows she'd brought downstairs from her room on the floor, in front of the television, and turned around to give Cleo a questioning look. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Cleo started, making her way around to the other side of the counter as Emma walked over to a pile of blankets, "I just thought maybe this year you could try something new."
Emma picked up a blanket from the pile and walked back towards the TV. "Like what?" she asked, chucking the blanket onto the floor alongside the pillows.
Cleo shrugged. "Sugar," she suggested.
Emma laughed, as if Cleo had said something ridiculously funny. "Sure, and why don't we just have full cream milk whilst we're at it?" she said sarcastically. "That's just crazy talk."
Cleo pulled a face while Emma was looking away, but didn't say anything. Knowing Emma, she'd probably start lecturing Cleo on the dangers of too much sugar in your diet and how it at least doubled your chances of heart disease - a fact Cleo knew because Emma had already lectured her on it multiple times.
A knock at the front door jolted Cleo out of her thoughts.
"That must be the guests," Emma said, making her way over to the door, being careful not to tread on one of the many pillows and blankets on the floor. She disappeared round the corner and, a second later, Cleo heard the front door click open.
"Hi, come in!" Emma exclaimed. "Right on time!"
Before long, almost everyone had arrived, and the living room was full of chatty teenage girls. Emma and Cleo stood by the front door, talking as they waited for the last couple of guests to arrive. Someone sitting in the corner of the room turned up the music.
The doorbell rang. Emma turned away from Cleo to open the door, and came face to face with Miriam.
"I don't know which one of my numbers you sent my invitation to," Miriam said, barging past Emma into the house, "but it managed to get lost." Rikki trailed in behind her.
Emma exchanged glances with Cleo, then looked back to Miriam. "Glad you could make it," she said, summoning up a sarcastic smile.
"Miriam!" a shrill voice exclaimed suddenly, and Emma's mum appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "What a delightful surprise! I haven't seen you in ages!"
"Hi, Mrs Gilbert," Miriam said, smiling sweetly.
"What is Miriam doing here?" Cleo hissed, as Miriam hugged Emma's mum.
Emma shrugged reproachfully. "I guess she tagged along with Rikki."
"I knew inviting Rikki was a bad idea," Cleo said, bitterly.
But as she spoke, Rikki drifted away from Miriam and joined Emma and Cleo. "Hey, guys, look, I'm really sorry about Miriam coming," she said quietly. "I didn't really know how to stop her. I can try and get rid of her, if you want."
Emma shook her head. "No, no, it's fine. You go enjoy the party."
Rikki nodded and walked back to Miriam, who was chatting with Mrs Gilbert.
"Okay, maybe Lewis was right about Rikki," Emma said. "At least she apologised."
Cleo shrugged. "Yeah, maybe," she agreed grudgingly.
"Hey, are you okay?" Emma asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?" Cleo replied.
"You seem… I don't know." Emma wracked her brain for the correct word. "Annoyed."
"Of course I'm not annoyed," Cleo snapped. "Why would I be annoyed?"
Emma just shrugged. She could see there was something bothering her friend, but she could also see she didn't want to talk about it, so she decided to leave it, for now at least.
Emma's mum appeared, then, in front of Cleo and Emma, having finished her conversation with Miriam.
"Emma, something's just come up at work," Mrs Gilbert said, "so I need to leave. I don't know when I'll be back, but it will probably be quite late. Obviously your father and Elliot are out camping so you'll have the house to yourself, but I'm sure you'll be able to manage, with all your friends over."
"Of course, Mum," Emma said. "We'll be fine."
"Good," Mrs Gilbert said, smiling. "No boys, though, okay?"
Emma laughed. "Don't worry, I don't think any boy would even want to come to this," she said, gesturing to the rather girly atmosphere of the place. "You can trust me."
"I know, I know," Mrs Gilbert said. "I'll be off then. Bye girls."
"Bye," Emma and Cleo chorused. And Mrs Gilbert was gone.
"Hey, did your mum just leave?" Miriam asked, still standing on the other side of the door.
"No, Miriam, she walked out of the front door, with her car keys, so she could go to bed," Emma replied, sarcasm dripping from her voice.
"All right, all right, chill," Miriam said. "Come on, Rikki," she added over her shoulder, beginning to head towards the living room, where everyone else was. As she seemed to have been doing a lot lately, Rikki followed her.
"Gee, what a nightmare," Emma muttered as they walked away. Cleo snorted beside her.
The doorbell rang again. "I wonder who that is?" Emma said, frowning; all the guests had already arrived. She made her way over to the door and, when she pulled it open, a group of guys she vaguely knew from school were standing in the doorway.
"Uh, hi?" she said uncertainly, but they pushed past her into the house without replying.
As they walked inside, she noticed that Zane was amongst the group. She grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. "Zane, what are you doing here?" she asked.
"Chill," he said, glancing at her hand on his arm. She loosened her grip. "Nate called me and said there was a party at your place," Zane continued.
"A party?" Emma echoed. "I'm having a sleepover, yeah, but there are no boys allowed. You guys weren't invited."
"Well, according to Nate, we were invited," Zane said.
Emma let out a frustrated groan and let go of Zane's arm completely and stormed over to Nate, yanking him away from his friends. "Hey!" he protested. "What did you do that for?"
"Why did you tell Zane you were invited to my party?"
"Because I was invited," Nate replied, irritated. "Can I go now?"
"Who invited you?" Emma persisted.
"Miriam," said Nate.
Emma sighed. Miriam. She should have known.
Ugh I finished writing this chapter yesterday and I completely forgot to post it smh.
Um, I'm not sure what Emma's mum's job is, or if she even has a job, so I don't know if it's the kind of thing that would require her to have to rush out late at night, but just go with it lmao.
mermaidbyheart Thanks for your review. :) I sent you a PM but i figured I'd put something here too, even though it's kinda pointless because I'm not actually saying anything in response to you but ? idk
Guest Tbh I can understand being obsessed with Ash, he was pretty good looking lmao. Him and Emma were really cute together as well. Thanks for your review. :)
