"Sweet 18" Badgirl style
Disclaimer: I do not own ANY of the characters I am about to write about. Damn.
ROAD TRIP
"LIZ!" Jessica bellowed at the top of her lungs. Where was her sister? The Wakefield house was only so big. "Elizabeth!" She screamed, slightly softer this time. She frowned. She knew she was getting older, but her eighteenth birthday isn't exactly going over the hill and she hadn't expected not being able to yell as loudly as she used to. Jeez. Jessica began to march up the stairs, meaning to barge into her sister's room, but suddenly Elizabeth emerged, looking as fresh as a rose on top of the landing. Jessica stopped abruptly three steps below her sister and let a breath of frustrated air. Must Elizabeth be so clean and dressed, and she, who just slaved away two hours in her last cheerleading practice look as if she'd been dragged backward through a keyhole?
Jessica could see her sister take in her haggard appearance, but right now, she could care less about appearance. "Liz, ohmigod, did you not hear me calling you just now?"
"Yeah, I did, but I was on the phone. It was Tia. She had to talk to me about some last minute stuff for the party." Elizabeth walked with Jessica to Jessica's room. "What's up, Jess?"
"You will so not believe this. You know that road trip Tia and the guys are always talking about? Yeah, well...Andy just told me the greatest news. He said that since Tia wanted to take Trent along, and he wanted to take Dave, they've decided to take two cars." Jessica paused for breath. "So two cars can fit ten people right? So, they other than Conner, Tia, Trent, Andy and Dave…it's going to be Evan, Jade, Jeremy, me and you!" Jessica finished with a squeal. She watched her sister's face turned from shock to excitement. Then, the two of them grabbed each other's arms and began screaming and jumping around the room. Finally, Jessica collapsed on the floor in a sweaty heap of giggles.
"It's going to be so fun," she murmured dreamily. Suddenly Elizabeth's expression changed.
"Ohmigod, Jess, Mom and Dad." she said.
"Oh, them." Jessica sat up straight. "Don't worry about it. I asked, and it took some pleading, and a lot of reminders about how hard we worked all year, us getting accepted to all the schools we wanted, you and Oxford, blah, blah, blah. They said yes."
"You are kidding me. Don't lie to me, Jess. They said yes?" Elizabeth sank down onto the floor beside her sister. "They said yes." She proclaimed.
"I know." Jessica turned toward her sister, sitting gypsy-style. "Just imagine, Liz, me and Jeremy curled up in the back seat…sleeping under the stars, how romantic!"
Elizabeth giggled. "Yeah that is going to be romantic. Just don't kill us all with your love fest."
"Maybe we will." Jessica sighed. "That way, I'll have him all to myself."
"Ew." Elizabeth screwed up her face. "I can just picture it. You and Jeremy in the backseat of one car, Tia and Trent in the other."
"Don't forget about Evan and Jade." Jessica said pointedly. "Oh, and Dave and Andy."
"Oh, my God! Why are there so many lovebirds on this trip? How will I survive?" Elizabeth feigned terror.
"Don't worry, Conner will be your comfort." Jessica coughed. "Talk about lovebirds," she said in a rush.
"Whatever, Jess." Elizabeth got up from the floor.
"Don't whatever me, Liz. We all know what happened on prom night. That kiss,"
"Jess, Conner and I are over. We both know that. Now it's just time for the rest of you all to play catch up."
"You may think that Liz," Jessica smiled innocently. "There are some of us who know better."
Jade Wu
Senior Will
To Jessica I leave – the broom to HOJ and the top of the pyramid
To Elizabeth- a fun time whenever you need it.
To Jeremy- a cappuccino at the coffeehouse- to you I dedicate my belly-button ring.
To Conner- some helium to help you lighten up
To Lila- the Mademoiselle magazine I borrowed from you last year
To Melissa- I don't want to start
To Evan- frequent-flyer miles, the keys to my heart, my everything
Party!
Elizabeth surveyed the Riot. She couldn't believe her eyes. It was her and Jessica's birthday party, and the entire senior year had turned out to help them celebrate and also to release stress from finals. She could also spot some juniors in the crowd, obviously happy to be included in the fun.
She sat down on a stool in front of the bar, exhausted from the non-stop dancing she had enjoyed. She had left her friends on the dance floor, after having finally convinced them to allow her to take a break. She laughed at the memory of Tia threatening to handcuff their hands together. She scanned the throbbing crowd for her sister, but Jessica was no doubt in the middle of the action with Jeremy. Elizabeth smiled. She was glad that they were all having fun.
Glancing at her wrist-watch, she could tell despite the dim light that it was past midnight. She spared a brief thought for the fact that she had to get up early enough for graduation the next day, but then she pushed it to the back of her head. It wasn't every day your turned eighteen and threw a huge bash.
"Hey," she heard a male voice say softly. She turned around to see Conner standing a couple inches away from her in a clingy green tee and cargo pants. He looked amazing.
"Conner, hi," she waved a hand to invite him to sit next to her and he quickly obliged. " Enjoying the party?"
"It's great. You guys did a good job." He nodded. "Enjoying your birthday?" He lowered his head and looked at her.
"It's the best."
"Good." He put his hand in his pocket and retrieved a small rectangular box. "I didn't want to leave this on the gift table too. I saw Aaron Dallas standing around there a lot." He gave a throaty laugh. Elizabeth glanced at the gift table which was stacked with presents of all shapes, sizes and colours. Conner cleared his throat and began fidgeting with the box in his had. Elizabeth caught herself thinking how cute he was when he was nervous.
"Besides, I already put a present for both you and Jessica there." Conner coughed. "This one is just for you." He placed the velvet-coated box into her hand gingerly. "Happy Birthday, Elizabeth. I hope you like it."
Elizabeth opened the box to reveal a gorgeous necklace that bore dazzling blue topaz stones wrapped intricately with sliver in a vine-like design. Elizabeth released her breath without even knowing she was holding it. She traced her finger on the stones gently. Finally she tore her eyes away from the necklace to look up at Conner's anticipating face.
"Conner, it's beautiful. You really shouldn't have,"
"I know. I wanted to." Conner looked away as a sweeping blush rose up his face.
"I love it Conner. Thank you," she pulled him in a hug. When they released, Conner was smiling.
"Well, Liz, in the movies, when a guy gives a girl a necklace, she never has one on already and he always puts on the one he bought for her onto her bare neck." He motioned to Elizabeth's lavaliere necklace. "But I guess they can't all be perfect, right?"
Elizabeth laughed. "But then in the movies, someone always dies or the guy turns out to be an abusive husband or stuff. So, I guess, we're making our own storyline."
Conner chuckled and then his face turned serious. "Would you like to dance?"
Suddenly Elizabeth felt energized. She bounced up from her seat and put the necklace in her purse. "I thought you would never ask… but first give me a minute to talk to the DJ."
Elizabeth maneuvered through the crowd until she was at the DJ's table. She whispered into Cedric's ear quickly, and he mock-bowed to her. "At you command, milady," he said. Elizabeth laughed and moved back to where Conner was standing. He took her hand and led her on to the dance floor. He held her close and she buried her face into his chest inhaling his musky scent. She smiled contentedly into him as the opening strains of "This I Promise You" by N Sync began. Elizabeth lost herself in him and in the dance. She held him closer, wondering what it was that made them let go of each other. Everyone else faded away, and all there was in the world was she and Conner. Suddenly she felt his hand release her and move up to her chin. He lifted her face up to his, and they stopped moving. She looked into his green eyes and she could feel herself melting into him. He lowered his face toward hers. Their lips touched gently and pulled back so he could look at her.
"Liz, if I kiss you now, I don't think I will ever stop," he murmured. Elizabeth smiled. Then she put her hand behind his neck and brought his head down to hers as she kissed him. Their lips melded and she could feel it throughout her body. His hand went under her hair and he pressed his body to hers. Elizabeth never wanted it to end.
"Elizabeth!" Elizabeth jolted out of her kiss with Conner as she heard her sister's frantic voice. She looked around, trying to catch her bearings and locate her sister in the crowd. Suddenly someone pulled her violently by the upper arm and began literally dragging her through the crowd. It was a flushed Jessica. Jessica led her twin into the girl's room.
"What were you doing!" Jessica asked loudly as she plopped down on the tiled countertop near the sink.
"I was kissing Conner until you interrupted me!" Elizabeth said shrilly. She could barely focus on Jessica's face. She may have been in the bathroom with her sister, but her mind had remained outside with Conner. "Why did you interrupt us Jessica?"
"Well if you would stop focusing on you and your on-again off-again guitarist, you would notice something." Jessica said urgently.
"What?" Elizabeth asked impatiently.
"Jeremy's gone!"
"Why?"
"That's what I wanted to tell you!" Jessica practically screamed. Suddenly Tia barged into the girls' room. She faced Elizabeth.
"You were just kissing Conner!" she said accusatorily.
"Yeah," Elizabeth said, feeling a blush creeping up her face. "I was." She began fingering her hair, a dreamy expression settling on her face.
"Wow," Tia said, sitting down next to Jessica. "That's amazing. So many eventful things have happened tonight. You guys turn eighteen, Jeremy leaves, Elizabeth and Conner hook-up again, Melissa and Will break up, Lila falls in front of everyone, someone spikes the punch-" Tia was cut short in her recap.
"Lila fell?" Jessica asked incredulously.
"Melissa and Will broke up?" Elizabeth said at the exact same time.
Tia frowned and motioned to Jessica. "Didn't she tell you?"
"Tell me what? Jess, what do you have to do with Will and Melissa?" Elizabeth folded her arms. "And why did Jeremy leave?"
Jessica wrung her hands together. "Well, first, Jeremy gave me this amazing ring, and on the inside he engraved Jessica and Jeremy forever-"
"Really? Conner gave me this amazing blue topaz necklace, and he said-" Elizabeth began.
"Liz! Come on, stop interrupting!" Jessica said.
"Really, Liz you should listen. This part gets juicy." Tia said, a smirk across her face.
"Ok, anyway, so Jeremy gave me the ring, and as he was putting it on my finger, Will came up and asked if he could talk to me in private. So then Jeremy steps in between Will and me and he's all like, 'whatever you need to say to Jessica you can say to me.' So, then Will says, 'Jessica, Melissa and I broke up." So I was all, 'And?' Then Jeremy was getting really angry right about now, and he said something like 'How dare you talk to Jessica about this in front of me? What are you trying to say Simmons?'" Jessica paused for breath and then raced on. "And Will with his cocky self was like, ' Well, I told you to leave, Aames,' I swear he was drunk because then he went on, 'Besides, now she can come back to the one she wants and the one who wants her,' And of course Jeremy got angry with that stupid statement and he was about to punch Will and then-"
"Jessica tried to stop him. And then Jeremy thought that Jessica was taking Will's side, he must have been drunk too, and then Jeremy just walked off." Tia finished triumphantly.
"Yeah," Jessica said softly, her eyes filling.
" Don't worry Jess. It is going to be okay." Elizabeth put her hand around her sister's shoulder.
Tia walked to the door of the bathroom and looked out to the party. "Ohmigod guys, you need to see this. Andy, Dave, Maria , Jade, Evan, Cherie and some other girl I don't know are over there dancing on that table!"
Jessica laughed in spite of herself when she saw what Tia was talking about. "Look at them!"
"We have to go join them." Elizabeth said determinedly. "Come on, Jess, we need to get your mind off of your troubles. It's not every day you turn eighteen! Let's go, you'll sort out everything tomorrow." She grabbed Tia and Jessica each by their arms and pulled them toward the tables. It was time to have some serious fun.