AN: Personally, I like a good bit of drama, but it's not realistic to have it all the time, so here's a chapter of lighthearted fun. I tried to add some balance to it too, and not have it concentrating on LiLi. Or ScLiLi if you will!
Anyhow, thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter. To those of you who're just reading, I'd love to know your thoughts too. If people don't review I feel like hardly anyone is interested, and I don't really feel inspired to write.
So, DevilJolie, Natskl, , LazzyMaw and Nichole, thanks for reviewing regularly and inspiring me! (Hope you read through all that to get your shout out!) Oh, thanks to all the 'Guest' reviewers too :)
Chapter 21 – Girls just wanna have fun
Girls, they want, wanna have fun
As the buzzer sounded for the end of time the cheerleaders jumped off their seats and started dancing around and cheering. The basketball team also began their own celebrations and the people on the bleachers stood and applauded as well.
Liam made his way down from the bleacher, along with Michael and Ethan to find their girlfriends. Jim and Chris were on the basketball team, so they were already on the court with their girlfriends. Scott hadn't made an appearance, the school day have been more than enough for him to cope with, let alone watching his ex-girlfriend dance around scantily clad.
"You looked great Lil," Liam told her, kissing her quickly.
"Thank you! We only made a few errors, so it's okay. Besides, they won, so who cares!" Lily replied.
"So, is there a party for us to go to tonight?" Liam asked, his arm around her waist.
"Nope, I vetoed the idea of a party. Midterms start on Monday, and even if some of you don't care, I do, and I'll try to make you all work too!" Lily answered cheerfully.
"But Lily," Liam began.
"No buts, there'll be time to party after midterms, I think you'll survive," Lily informed him.
"Fine," Liam agreed his tone still grumbling. "Can we do something tonight?" Liam asked hopefully.
"We'll see," Lily replied vaguely. "I have to go speak to the girls, but I'll find you soon, okay?"
Liam nodded and Lily moved back towards where her team and friends were congregated, talking and laughing. Some of their boyfriends were still hanging around, but cleared off when Lily walked over commandingly.
"Okay girls! Great work out there! We'll only have practice on Wednesday, because of midterms. So study hard, I don't want any of you to fail your midterms, because I'll have to suspend you from cheering, and I know you don't want that," Lily said, addressing the girls. "See you all Monday."
Most of the girls moved off to gather their things, but Keira, Mia, Melanie and Sophie remained. They were Lily's closest friends and the object of envy of most of the girls in school. Besides being pretty and rich, they also seemed to have genuine friendships with one another. Previous 09er groups had been comprised of people searching for more money and popularity, but under the guidance of Lily, most of the 09ers, or at least her friends, were more pleasant and honourable.
Lily looked at her four friends and said in amusement, "What? What are you waiting for? You can all leave when you want now."
"Yes, but we have something we wanted to suggest," Mia explained.
"We know you shut down the idea of a party tonight, or tomorrow," Sophie continued.
"But we thought maybe we could have a slumber party, just us girls," Melanie finished.
"A study slumber party," Keira added, knowing that this idea would appeal more to her studious best friend.
"Well," Lily said, drawing out the word. "I guess that'd be okay, if we really do study."
"Great!" Mia exclaimed.
"Wonderful," Sophie agreed.
"Done," Keira stated happily.
"My house then, tomorrow night?" Melanie asked.
"Okay," Lily replied. "But I swear, we're studying!"
Her friends grinned at her and she turned and went off in search of Liam.
"You lot looked like you were plotting busily," Liam remarked after Lily had rejoined him.
"We're having a slumber party, study style," Lily informed him.
Liam let out a loud laugh.
"What?" Lily asked indignantly.
"Babe, you can't have a slumber party and study, I know how you girls work," Liam said, chuckling all the while.
"Well, I plan on studying," Lily insisted.
"I know you will, but I doubt the other four will," Liam astutely predicted. "They'll start giggling, discussing boys, then they'll lure you in, and you'll cave."
Lily huffed, but her eyes twinkled. She knew he was right, but so long as she insisted she was going to study, she could justify the indulgence of a slumber party, two days before midterms.
"I thought we'd been over this before, dear," Lily said teasingly. "You don't know what happens when we have a girls' night!"
"And I thought I told you that it's not hard to work out!" Liam retorted.
"Well, that may be, but perhaps you'd be better off telling me what we're going to do now? I'll give you a few guidelines. I'm hungry, my dad and Eva are home and my curfew is midnight," Lily informed him.
"How about we go back to my place then?" Liam suggested. "My parents are home, but they won't keep an eye on us. So we can watch a movie, or make out, or make out while we watch a movie."
Lily giggled and said, "Provided you supply me with food, I think that could work."
"Any specific requests?" Liam asked.
"Sushi and ice cream," Lily promptly replied.
"It's winter!" Liam exclaimed.
"And we live in California, and besides, ice cream is an important food group, whatever the season. You'd best remember that if you want Aunt Veronica to like you," Lily warned him laughingly.
"I want 'Aunt Veronica' to like me don't I? She's Logan Echolls' wife and like a super spy or something," Liam asked in clarification.
"The one and the same, so yeah, you want her to like you, or you might suddenly become non-existent. Plus, she's already familiar with you, she helped my restyle your Porsche," Lily teased.
"Don't worry, I'll be good," Liam replied. "Now, let's get out of here."
They left the school together, making their way to Liam's place. He had picked Lily up before school that morning in his Porsche. His reasoning was that seeing as he had a girlfriend, he should get to drive her around, at least on the days that he drove his Porsche. Lily had a hard time arguing with that logic.
Once at the Armistead home, ice cream and sushi in hand, Lily and Liam greeted his parents quickly then went upstairs to eat and watch TV in Liam's bed. The rest of their evening was very enjoyably, watching snippets of a movie inbetween making out.
When the working day is done. Oh, when the working day is done, oh, girls, girls just wanna have fun
"Aunt Ronica, it's me!" Lily called out as she let herself into the Echolls home on Saturday morning.
"We're in Aubrey's play room!" Veronica hollered in answer.
"Aubrey's playroom?" Lily questioned musingly to herself. Aubrey didn't had a playroom as far as she was aware. Still, she put her things down in the kitchen, then followed the direction from where Veronica's voice had come.
She found Veronica and Aubrey in a guest room, or what was a guest room. It was now a toddler's play land paradise.
"Logan went a little crazy," Veronica said in explanation, seeing Lily's look of curiosity. "He and Aubrey were over at Dick and Mac's and Dick was showing Logan Caroline's play room, and Logan decided Aubrey had to have one too!"
"They're too funny sometimes," Lily said with a giggle. "Still, I think it's lovely! At least she'll never be bored in here either."
"Yes, because at six months our daughter clearly needs all this stuff," Veronica said wryly. "I didn't have the heart to stop him though. He just wants to be a good father, and give his daughter everything. He wants her childhood to be the opposite of his, and I can't argue with that."
Lily nodded understandingly then bent down and caught Aubrey up in her arms. "How's my little Aubrey? You're looking more gorgeous every day, aren't you precious?" Lily cooed at the little girl.
Veronica chuckled and said, "You're as bad as Logan!"
Lily looked around the room pointedly and quirked an eyebrow.
"Fine, you're not as bad," Veronica allowed. "So what brings you here today?"
"I have a bit of study to do, and I thought I'd come do it here to spend some time with you guys. And now that I think of it, where is Uncle Logan?" Lily asked.
"Well, seeing as I no longer trace his whereabouts, I couldn't rightly tell you," Veronica admitted. "He left early this morning, very mysteriously, and went somewhere with Dick. It's been killing me not knowing, especially because you never know what those two will get up to."
As if in answer to this, Veronica and Lily heard the front door open and Logan's voiced yelled, "Ronnie, where are you? Bring Aubrey out here!"
Lily and Veronica shared a look and they walked out of Aubrey's play room, Lily still carrying Aubrey.
They found Logan in the lounge room, holding a squirming bundle of fur.
"Surprise!" Logan exclaimed cheerfully. "Hello Lily-love, I didn't notice your car."
Lily had no chance to reply and Veronica said, "Logan Echolls! What do you mean surprise? What exactly do you have there?"
"A puppy," Logan answered, his tone implying that it was completely obvious.
"Yes, I know that snookums," Veronica retorted dryly. "I mean, what is it doing here?"
"I bought it for Aubrey, and us," Logan explained, beginning to look crestfallen. "He's a beauty! Dick and I heard about them and decided to get them for the girls."
Veronica choked on a burst of laughter, imagining Mac's face at Dick arriving home with a puppy, a few months before they were to have a new baby.
"It's lovely Logan, you just caught me a bit by surprise. I look forward to watching you train him, and clean up after him," Veronica said cheerfully.
Her words had their desired impact, and Logan paled a little. Brightening quickly he replied, "Don't worry Sugarpus, I've got it all sorted. Aubrey, this is your new puppy. What do you think?" Logan asked his daughter.
Aubrey smiled gummily from her position in Lily's arms. The King Charles Cavalier puppy squirmed a bit more in Logan's arms, wagging it's tail all the while.
"What are we going to call him?" Veronica asked. "And don't say Charlie, because that's not happening."
"Well, let's ask Aubrey," Logan replied. "What do you think sweetheart? How about Rex?"
Aubrey's little face was blank, so Logan tried again. "How about, Spot? Fido? Ralph? Jack?"
Lily snorted at the suggestion of Ralph and Veronica took over after Jack.
"How about Clark? Danny?" Veronica suggested. At the suggestion of Danny, Aubrey's face became wreathed with a smile and she let out a delighted gurgle.
"Danny it is," Lily surmised. "Uncle Logan, Ralph, really?"
Logan shrugged, but he looked very pleased with himself. "Ronnie, hold Danny while I get his things from the car, would you?"
Veronica held out her hands for the puppy, and started fawning over him enthusiastically. Lily looked on in amusement, knowing that Veronica would be in love with the puppy within about half an hour, and the mini lecture she'd given Logan had been merely for her own fun.
Lily didn't end up doing much study at the Echolls', thanks to the arrival of Danny. On her way home to gather her things for the slumber party, study slumber party, she couldn't resist stopping at the Casablancas' to see what Mac and Caroline thought of the new addition to their family.
Lily knocked on the door which was opened by a harrowed, heavily pregnant, Mac.
"Hi Aunt Mac," Lily greeted her cheerfully. "How's tricks?"
"Come to survey the damage? Good news sure travels fast," Mac said wryly. "Come on, they're out the back."
Lily followed Mac out the back and they found Dick and Caroline romping around, with the puppy, as only a man-child and his blonde rambunctious toddler daughter could.
Mac and Lily stayed watching through the glass, deciding not the enter the fray.
"I thought he'd gone crazy, bringing the puppy home," Mac remarked. "But it is kind of cute, and they all look so cute together. He's definitely in charge of looking after it thought. I don't even care if he gets someone in to train it and clean up after it, so long as it gets done!"
Lily laughed and replied, "You and Aunt Ronica will be having a lovely chat later on. What have you named your puppy?"
"It's a boy, and Caroline and Dick decided on Wally. Wallace doesn't let Dick call him that, so it shall be interesting to hear what they think," Mac answered. "Did Veronica tell you that he and Amanda are going to have another baby?"
"Yeah she did, today," Lily replied. "I think it's lovely! You'll all have your kids close together and they can be friends. Maybe even Eva and Daddy will have a baby soon," Lily added wistfully.
"I'm sure it won't be long," Mac said comfortingly.
"Thanks Aunt Mac. Anyway, I'd better run, tell those two I said hello!" Lily said cheerfully, then left and made her way home.
She stopped there quickly, grabbing her things and kissing Eva and Duncan goodbye quickly. Lily drove to Melanie's, looked at the time and realised she was a little late. When she pulled up outside the Wheeler's place she noticed all the other girls' cars were there. She grabbed her things, trotted to the front door and rang the bell.
Melanie opened the door and was greeted with the sight of Lily weighed down by her overnight bag and bookbag.
"Lily!" Melanie squealed. "You're late, the others are here already."
"Sorry Mellie. Are we set up to study in the back room?" Lily asked.
"Lily Kane, did you really think we were going to study?" Melanie asked laughingly, the pair moving towards the back room where girlish giggles could be heard.
"Well, I thought we'd at least do a little study," Lily replied.
"You thought wrong!" Melanie replied gleefully. "We have big plans for tonight."
They reached the doorway of the room where Keira, Mia and Sophie were and upon seeing them Lily's eyes widened incredulously. They three of them were wearing some variation of a little black dress, and it was only then that Lily realised that Melanie was also sporting the same odd attire.
"You really do have big plans for tonight," Lily said weakly.
Oh, girls, they wanna have fu-un. Oh, girls, just wanna have fun...That's all they really want
"Lily you were turning into an enormous swat, we decided you needed a break. Besides, if you don't know the stuff now, let's face it, you're probably screwed anyway," Keira told her.
"So we decided we'd have some fun tonight, release all that stress and tension before exams start," Mia added.
"Well," Lily said slowly, taking in the collection of make up and designer shoes around the room. A smile eased across her face and she said, "Maybe some fun isn't a bad idea!"
"We thought you wouldn't let us try out our fake IDs right before midterms, so we planned something else," Sophie began.
"Not a party, we wanted something a little more personal," Melanie continued.
"So what's with the little black dresses?" Lily asked curiously.
"Well, it's a little bit silly, the black dresses part," Sophie confessed. "For tonight we kind of planned something between a night of pranks, dares and a scavenger hunt. We figured you wear black for sneaking around at night, but we're girls, and we're hot, so little black dresses were the way to go."
Lily let out a laugh and replied, "It's so silly that it's genius! I suppose you've been waiting for me to arrive so that you can hand me a dress and some heels and cover me with make up?"
"Yep," the girls all chorused together cheerfully.
"Do you worst then," Lily said, holding out her arms and laughing.
An impressively short time later Lily was dressed in a short, black (of course), figure hugging dress, with lace sleeves. Her friends were still similarly arrayed, their dresses varying from bandage style, to A-line, some fuller skirts, some with cap sleeves, some with scoop necks, some with V necks.
Lily surveyed them all as a whole and exclaimed, "We look hilarious! Like some sort of Catwoman fan club!"
"Yeah, well Catwoman's hot, and so are we," Mia stated matter of factly.
"Where to now then?" Lily asked.
"To the Batmobile!" Sophie exclaimed.
"Wrong movie dear," Mia told her gently.
"Who cares, it's still black," Sophie retorted.
"But really, we're all going in my black Mercedes," Keira stated.
The girls grabbed their jackets, all black leather of course, Lily was handed a spare one, and they ran giggling out to the car, managing very well in their sensible black pumps.
"So, we're starting off with a dare," Mia announced. "Keira's taking care of you I think."
"Yep!" Keira exclaimed from the front seat. "So, we're headed to Harry's house. You remember Harry, your first boyfriend? Yes, well when you get there you're going to go inside, find Harry, who I very much hope will be there, then you're going to pretend that you have amnesia, and his house was the only address you can remember. You will of course have your cell in your pocket so that we can hear everything."
Harry still attended Neptune High, but he and Lily hadn't remained close friends after their break up, and he tended to spend most of his time with friends from his soccer team, rather than the 09ers.
"Keira," Lily protested. "That's hard, and not very fair!"
"Suck it up Lil, because we're here," Keira replied. "Besides, you know revenge is sweet."
"I'll say," Lily muttered under her breath, a wicked plan forming in her mind. She got out of the car, pulled out her cell, sent a quick message to someone, then dialled Keira's number and knocked on the door.
Luckily for her sake Harry answered the door.
"Lily?" Harry asked in surprise.
"Is that my name?" Lily asked dumbly.
"Of course it's your name," Harry replied, confused. "Are you feeling alright Lil?"
"No, not really. You see, I didn't know that my name was Lily until just now. I woke up around the corner from here and couldn't remember anything but this address," Lily said, hoping her story didn't sound too stupid to start with.
"Come on in," Harry invited, looking concern. "I'll call your dad."
"No! Don't do that," Lily said a little frantically. "I mean, I don't want to worry him when I don't even know what's going on or who he is. Can you maybe tell me a little more about me. And who are you? Are you my boyfriend?"
"I'm Harry, your ex-boyfriend," he told her gently. "You're Lily Kane, your dad is Duncan Kane, and you're scaring the hell out of me, so I'm calling him."
"Wait, wait Harry!" Lily pleaded, a wild desire to laugh settling upon her.
Harry noticed that her face had contorted and he assumed with pain. "Are you hurt? Your head maybe?" Harry asked in concern.
Lily shook her head, not trusting herself not to laugh. She then looked closely at the worry in Harry's eyes and the absurdity of the situation hit her and she started laughing.
"Shit, this isn't good," Harry muttered.
"No, it's not," Lily howled in laughter. "I'm sorry Harry, it was a prank or dare, blame Keira! I'll see you Monday."
With that she kissed his cheek apologetically and fled the house. Harry stood there, shaking his head in bewilderment.
"Lily Kane, you chickened out of that quickly," Mia chortled once Lily had rejoined them in the car.
"You should have seen his face, it was awful, how worried he looked," Lily admonished them. "No more mean ones like that," she ruled. "Now, Keira, hope out of the driver's seat, I'm in charge for this one."
Keira looked a little worried, but vacated the driver's seat.
They drove for a few minutes, and as Lily neared their destination she began to speak. "So Keira, this one is for you, my revenge as you put it. We're about to pull up outside Uncle Dick and Aunt Mac's house. You're going to go in there and ask to speak to Uncle Dick, then you're going to flirt with him and profess your great undying love for him. I'd also start praying that Aunt Mac doesn't kill you, you know, pregnant women and their hormones."
"Lily Megan Kane!" Keira shrieked. "That's downright humiliating, just because I said he was hot one time."
"Pay back's a bitch Keira," Lily said cheerfully. "Now, don't forget to have your cell set up so that we can hear."
Keira returned some ten minutes later, her face bright red.
"Lily!" Keira wailed, "Your Aunt Mac is going to kill me!"
"No, she won't," Lily replied serenely. "I warned her ahead of time, it was a little pay back on her behalf for Uncle Dick. He surprised Caroline with a puppy today, he also surprised Aunt Mac, she was pretty frazzled by it."
"Gee thanks," Keira said sarcastically, "So glad I could help you all out and get humiliated at the same time!"
"You'll be fine," Lily said airily. "Go on, you drive again. Where's the fun at now?"
AN: Thanks for reading :) Please review :) If you want to know what happened inside the Casablancas house, review, and I'll send it to you!