Chapter Eight: The Party

It was Saturday, the day of the Shipman's party. It was also the Saturday the Jill had been dreading. She would have much rather stayed home and read a book or played some board game with Lily, but Lily had been picked up by their grandmother, and Mrs. Pole had insisted Jill go to the party.

Jill was wearing the dress she had bought the week before when she had gone to town. Her mother had borrowed her some shoes and had curled Jill's hair and styled it in some kind of up do. Jill couldn't help but look into every mirror she passed and grimace.

Part of the reason Jill didn't want to go was that she was afraid of what everyone would think of her. She always tried to act like nothing bothered her, but deep down she was really nervous about going to the party. What if no one wanted to dance with her? Or she tripped and made a fool out of herself? Or she said something wrong? Or- well she couldn't think of anything else, but anything could happen, and if she simply didn't go to the party at all than nothing could go wrong.

Mrs. Pole came downstairs to find Jill sitting on the living room couch looking less than enthusiastic.

"Don't look like that Jill." She said. "It will only be a few hours." She said.

"But why do I have to go?" Jill asked.

Mrs. Pole sighed again. "I told you Jill. People don't think very highly of divorced women, but they like people with families, if Mr. Shipman meets part of my family that would help my job very much."

Jill frowned, than she sighed. Ever since her father had left she had been determined to be helpful and show her mother how brave and mature she was, but now she realized that she wasn't being very brave or mature. So she decided she'd just have to grin and bare it.

"You're right mum." She said.

"Alright, then," Mrs. Pole said surprised by her daughter's sudden change of attitude. "You know what, I'll make you a deal." She said "The party five hours long, but if you make a good impression we can leave after two."

Jill nodded and smiled. "Okay."

"Let's get going than." Mrs. Pole said getting her coat.

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The Grand Ballroom was packed with people. People dancing, people talking, people walking around, just people everywhere.

Jill had only been there once before, and that was about four or five years ago when her father had taken her downtown to work with him and he had taken her to the Shelters Hotel for lunch. Being young and inquisitive Jill had wondered off when her father had gone into the restroom and ended up in the Grand Ballroom. It had seemed even bigger to her then when she was younger and she had walked around the whole place in amazement of seeing a room that big. Then the concierge had found her walking around, called her a 'naughty ragamuffin' and very angrily found and returned her to her father, who had been amused, rather than upset about the situation, much to the irritation of the huffy concierge.

It had been a while since then. Things had changed. The most significant being the abscence of Mr. Pole who would most like take Jill anywhere again. And the Grand Ballroom was no longer the biggest room Jill had ever seen, but the second biggest after the Ballroom in at Cair Paravel.

Honestly Jill, do you have to follow me around as if you were my tail?" Mrs. Pole asked when she saw that Jill was still following her everywhere that she went in the room.

"Well, what am I supposed to do mum?" Jill asked wearily.

"Talk to people, socialize." Mrs. Pole told her.

Jill sighed and walked away from her mother. They had only been there for half an hour, and Jill was already tired of the party.

'Maybe I can find Eleanor.' Jill thought hopefully to herself. She looked around the ballroom, which was crowded with people dancing on the dance floor and people talking of to the side. 'But they're so many people in here everyone in town must be here.' She thought.

Just as she was about to begin her search something ran into her, almost knocking her off her feet.

"Oh sorry." A voice said.

"That's alright-" Jill began to say, before she noticed who it was.

"Eustace!" she exclaimed, excited to see someone she knew.

"Oh good, it's only you." Eustace said when he realised who it was. He was still looking about him nervously

"What are you doing." Jill asked him.

"I'm hiding from my cousins, Edmund and Lucy." Eustace told her.

Jill brightened. "Oh! The two who also went to Nar- well, you know, with you before?" she asked.

"Yes." Eustace said nodding.

"Well, why are you hiding from them?" Jill asked when he didn't supply her with any further information.

"They're trying to make me dance." Eustace said saying the word 'dance' as if it was something horrible and gruesome.

"Dancing isn't so bad." Jill said.

Well not to you, of course." Eustace said as if it was the most obvious thing in the whole world. "You're a girl. It was probably a girl who invented dancing in the first place."

"Now that's the most stupid and immature thing I've ever heard anyone say." Jill said. "Plenty of men dance, mature ones."

"So, I don't obsess about trying to be "mature" like you do." Eustace said.

"I don't obsess about being mature." Jill said indignantly.

"Yes you do." Eustace insisted.

"I think I would know if I did." Jill said. "And I don't."

"Oh no." Eustace said to himself in a sudden frenzy. "Edmund's coming this way." he said. "You didn't see me." he told Jill before he disappered into the crowd of people.

'That was certinaly odd.' Jill thought to herself.

Just then a handsome, older boy came through and looked around. He groaned, and noticed the girl looking at him curiously. "I swear I just saw a boy around your age standing herea second ago." he explained to Jill.

"Oh, Eustace? I was just talking to him." Jill told him.

"You know him?" the boy asked her.

"Yes he, well, my name is Jill Pole." she introduced.

"Jill?" he asked. "I've heard all about you, I'm Eustace's cousin Edmund Pevensie." the boy introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you." Jill said.

"You too." Edmund said. "We, well we really should get together one time to discuss things. All of us, you, me, Eustace, Peter, Susan, Lucy, and have you met the Professor?" he asked.

"Um, I'm afraid not." Jill said.

"Well we'll introduce you to him sometime." Edmund said. "Peter and Susan are away for the summer, studying in the United States, but Lucys around here somewhere."

"I'd like to meet them." Jill said a bit overwhelmed with the thought of all these new people.

"Anyway, back to present matters." Edmund said. "Have you seen my cousin, he's a sneaky fellow, that one."

"He went that way." Jill pointed, having no difficulty giving Eustace's location out after he had just said she was "obsessed with being mature.".

"Thank you." Edmund said before setting out.

"No problem." Jill assured him. It was really rather easy.

"Jill." A voice said.

Jill turned to her mother behind her.

"Come on Jill, it's time to introduce yourself." Mrs. Pole said.

"To who?" Jill asked.

"To, Mr. Shipman, Jill, remember the whole reason we're here?"

"Oh, yes." Jill said.

"Now, he's right over there." Mrs. Pole said as they walked over. "Remember, be polite." she reminded Jill.

"I know mum." Jill said in the exasperated way that teenagers have when parents remind them of the most elementry things, like not to open the door to any strangers when they're staying home alone, or to be careful when crossing the street.

Mr. Shipman looked just like Jill had thought a business tycoon to look like. Average height with white hair, and a white mustache.

"Mr. Shipman, this is my daughter Jill." Mrs. Pole presented her.

"It's nice to meet you." Jill said extending her hand to the business man.

"Well! It's nice to meet you to." Mr. Shipman said with a hint of surprise in his voice. "I didn't know you had any children." Mr Shipman said to Mrs. Pole.

"Yes, this my oldest, actually. I have a younger daughter named Lillian." she told him.

"That's great. You should bring them both to bring your daughter to work day in the fall." he told her. "Family is very important, you know young lady." he said turning to Jill.

"That's what my dear mother is always telling my sister and I." Jill said in a slightly sarcastic tone, which went unoticed by Mr. Shipman, but earned her a reprimending look from her mother.

"And she's quite right." Mr. shipman said nodding sagely. "I guess I'll see you on work on Monday." he said to Mrs. Pole before leaving.

"That was good Jill, I really think you made an impression on him, despite your little remark." Mrs. Pole said.

"Sorry mum." Jill said. "Can we leave now?"

Mrs. Pole looked at her watch. "Remember our deal, we have ten minutes left.

"All right." Jill said before walking off to the side of the dance floor.

She watched the people on the floor as they moved this way, and that way, always so graceful. She didn't think she could dance like that. She would probably trip over how own two feet if she even attempted to.

"Hi." a girl's voice said to her.

Jill turned happily, thinking it was Eleanor, but was suprised to see an older, brown haired girl.

"I'm Lucy." she said. "My brother Edmund pointed you out to me." she told her.

"Oh, well I guess that you already know that I'm Jill then." Jill said. "Are you two still looking for Eustace?" she asked.

"Still, we thought we found him once, but he escaped by walking around a big group of businessmen." Lucy told her.

"That's funny." Jill said.

"Well, Eustace is a bit of a funny person anyways." Lucy said.

They both laughed.

"So did you parent's bring you here?' Lucy asked. "We're here with Eustace's parents."

'Oh, my mum's right over...there." Jill said pointing our her mom, who seemed to be talking to someone.

"Is that your father she's talking to?" Lucy asked innocently.

"Um..no." Jill said looking closer at the person. It was a man, who looked like he could be her father's age. He probably worked with her mum, or something.

"My parent's are divorced." she told Lucy in a matter-of-fact way. She had learned to say the words as if they didn't bother her. She remembered how she had repeated them over and over again inside her head when it had first happened. "My parents are divorced...My parents are divorced...My parents are divorced." she had thought with a bit panic and sadness, but she had learned to say the four words easily. "My parents are divorced."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Lucy said.

"That's Okay." Jill assured her.

'Well, I have to get back to finding Eustace and getting him on the dance floor. It may take all night." Lucy said before walking off.

"Good she's gone." Jill heard someone say. She turned to see Eustace behind her. "Have you been standing there the whole time?" she accused.

"No, only a minute, I saw you talking to her, and I thought if I stayed here she probably wouldn't come back and check again." he said. "Pretty clever, don't you think?"

"You should dance at least once." Jill said instead of answering. "If you don't, than what was the whole point of all those gym classes where we learned to waltz, and foxtrot, and the lot?" she asked. "It's not like we really had a choice." Eustace reminded her.

"My point is, what's the use of having a skill if you're never going to put it to use?"

"Alright, then." Do you want to dance?" Eustace asked her.

"Huh?' Jill asked caught off guard.

"Do-you-want-to-dance-with-me." Eustace said really slowly as if he were talking to a five-year-old. "You know, so I can "put my skills to use." he said. "They're playing a waltz." he added.

"Alright." Jill said as nonchalantly as she could as she and Eustace walked onto the dancefloor. It seemed to happen so fast. She tried her best to remember the steps to the waltz as she had learned in gym class. At first she looked down at her feet the whole time, trying to make sure she didn't trip or stumble, then she realized that she could take her attention of her feet and looked up at Eustace.

"See, it's not so bad is it?" she asked him.

Eustace was about to shrug but then remembered he couldn't since he was dancing. "I guess not." he said. "Um, you're a pretty good dancer." he complimented akwardley, suddenly shy for some reason.

"Thank you." Jill said.

Pretty soon the dance was over.

"Aren't you glad you got that over with?" Jill asked.

"Actually, I wish i could do it again." Eustace said. "Do you want to?"

Jill was about to except.

"Jill." she heard her mum say. "I saw you two out there, you both dance very well." she told them.

"Thank you." Jill and Eustace both muttered.

"It's been ten minutes Jill, we can leave now." Mrs. Pole told her.

Jill suddenly wished she had not been so resistent about being at the party and wanted to beg her mum to let her stay another half hour.

"Okay." she said instead.

"Bye Eustace." Mrs. Pole said.

"Bye." he replied. "Bye Jill."

"Bye." Jill said even though she wished she could stay and dance with him.

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The Party was over and Mrs. Pole and Jill had returned home.

Jill and Lily were sitting in the living room, both having bathed and in their pajamas. Jill was sitting on the sofa, whiles Lily laid out sprawled on the carpeted floor, looking at a book.

"Well you did your part Jill, there's no denying that." Mrs. Pole said as she came into the room. "Well I'm going to bed now. See you girls in the morning."

"Goodnight." Jill and Lily both said.

Once Mrs. Pole was completely on the steps, and they heard her bedroom door shut Lily sat down next to Jill on the sofa. "So how was your day?" she asked..

"It was okay." Jill told her.

"Really?" Lily asked, her head cocked to the side in an earnest, interested kind of way.

Jill thought about it."Well-"

Before she could even get past one word Lily was off.

"My day was great!" she exclaimed with the kind of hyper excitment that only a carefree and innocent nine-year-old girl could posses. "Grandma baked double chocolate chip cookies, and then she let me lick the spoon, and then we went to the park, and then I watched TV, and then we listened to records, and then we took the cookies out of the oven, and then I had some cookies, and they were really good, and then she gave me some milk to dunk them in, and then-"

Jill tuned her sister out and began to think about her own night. It had been...interesting. She had met Edmund and lucy for the first time, and she had liked them too. And then she had gotten to dance with Eustace, which she had to admit she rather enjoyed.

'Maybe I like him just a little bit.' Jill silently admitted to herself, but she wasn't going to admit to anyone else anytime soon.

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And that was Chapter Eight: The Party. I think there was some movement in the plot there. Chapter Nine: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner will be up as soon as possible.

Riley 35