A/N: All excuses forgiven, Esme's Daughter:-D

Anyway, here's a new chapter. It's a…party?

The Party

At about 11, Pebbles tiptoed out into the hallway, and looked downstairs.

Her brother was asleep.

Then she looked upstairs, into her parents' room.

They were asleep.

Smiling, she closed her door until it was open just a crack, then she walked back down the hallway to her own room, and closed the door.

"Okay, all clear," she said.

Amanda stopped shoving M&M's into her mouth and said, "That's really good, so now I can eat all the food, right?"

"You've had plenty," said Erik, gratefully snatching up the candy bag and starting to eat.

"Well, don't eat it all," Pebbles laughed, bringing out the beds from the closet.

Victor, who, of course, was such a gentleman, (squee!) hurried over. "Can I help you with those?" he asked politely, reaching out to grab a pillow.

"That'd be awesome, Victor, thank you!"

Cricket ran over and held up Victor's arm. "And Victor is the first to be a gentleman; he beats the What's-His-Face of the Whatever!" she exclaimed in a announcer voice.

"He deserves a medal!" Holli giggled, throwing a Tortilla chip at Cricket.

"Come on, girls," Willy laughed, smoothing out his blanket.

When the beds were finally up, everyone got comfortable. Pebbles snuggled in between Victor and Erik, Holli sat next to Willy, who sat next to Cricket, who sat next to…well, YOU finish the chain.

But Pebbles had to leave her spot to face the group. "What should we do?" she asked. "Watch a movie? Eat food? Dance?"

"That! That!" Willy cried, bouncing excitedly and pointing at Pebbles.

"What, Dance? Yeah, we can do that! But," she whispered, leaning over, "We have to keep it down, 'kay?"

Victor looked squeamish. "I'm…not a very good dancer," he mumbled.

Willy turned quickly to Victor and said, "Mumbler!"

"Aw, come on, Willy, don't pull that on poor ol' Victor," Pebbles said as she flipped up the lid of her laptop and pressed the "On" button.

Erik shifted uncomfortably. "I can't dance, either," he said.

"That's okay. It's just us," Holli said, putting an arm around Erik. He frowned, but after a minute relaxed a little.

"Now, let's see…" Pebbles mused, flipping through the songs. "'Happy Phantom?' No…'Let Me Go?' Negative..." As she searched, Cricket caught a scratching at the door. "Um…Pebbles?" she asked, tapping Pebbles' shoulder. "Something scratched your door."

Pebbles brightened as she exited her seat. "Be careful," she whispered, pulling a serious face, "This girl can be vicious."

"V-vicious?" Victor stuttered, starting to tremble again. "Just HOW vicious?"

"Vicious enough to bite your leg off," Amanda whispered menacingly, understanding what Pebbles was doing.

"So be careful," Pebbles said, narrowing her eyes.

She opened the door…

…and in came Dello, panting as she ran over and leaped into Willy's lap.

"That's not vicious!" Willy laughed, petting Dello as she tried to lick his face.

"Cute!" Cricket and Holli said together as they knelt by Willy's side.

Victor smiled shakily. "Reminds me of my dog," he said, scratching behind Dello's ears. She barked.

"Yup, that's my dog, Dello," Pebbles giggled, walking over and ruffling Victor's hair. "By the way, how do you get your hair to do that?"

"Water and hair cream," he replied, arranging his hair back to normal.

"Man, I gotta try that sometime," Willy said, examining Victor's hair.

"Music!" Pebbles remembered, giving Dello a kiss before hurrying back to the computer. She kept looking.

Erik walked over and joined her. "These songs have some strange names," he murmured, pointing at "Hollaback Girl" and "Jaws Theme Swimming".

"Well, of course," Pebbles said, still browsing.

After a moment, she cried, "That's it!"

Holli emerged from under the blanket with the bag of marshmallows. "Whazzit?" she asked, her mouth full of marshmallow. Willy tackled her and grabbed a marshmallow, giggling.

"THIS is it," she said, clicking on "Lollipop" by Aqua.

The cutesy piano began to play, and Holli rocketed out. "I love this song!" she said, starting to snap her fingers.

Amanda and Cricket joined in, and eventually all the girls were dancing and singing together.

Willy was silent until the boys' part. Then he actually sung it out, going over to the girls and dancing with them. (HOW is my family sleeping through all of this?)

Erik frowned, but listened carefully to the lyrics. When the second boys' part came along, this time HE belted it out, joining the girls and eventually starting to dance.

So, all in all, everyone was in a giant group, singing and dancing, and Victor was standing a few feet away, looking uneasy and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

When the quieter part came along, Cricket bounced out and grabbed Victor by the wrist. "Come on, just TRY dancing, silly!" she said, yanking Victor into the crowd.

After looking about a few seconds, Victor started to snap his fingers, still looking uneasy. Then he started tapping his feet, too, a grin creeping onto his face.

When the chorus started up again, he really started to dance, moving his body smoothly and even using some of Pebbles' dance moves.

"Well, it's not too bad," he laughed as Cricket hugged him.

The song ended.

"Awww…" Amanda moaned, gazing at the computer screen in disappointment.

"Don't worry, I can get a new song," Pebbles said happily, walking over to the computer screen and browsing again.

"Here," she said, gesturing for Erik to help her.

Erik walked over. He said nothing for a minute as he watched Pebbles try and find a song. When she had highlighted one, Erik covered his mouth in disgust and said, wide-eyed as he spoke, "Oh GOD no!"

"Oh yes," Pebbles giggled as she clicked on the song "My Humps" by The Black-Eyed Peas. (YES, it's a gross song, but it's extremely addicting and good to dance to!)

The trumpet music played. As Erik slunk over to the group, growling, Willy asked, "What did she pick?"

"My Humps," Erik spat in reply.

"…ew."

"Cookie to anyone who'll dance to this!" Pebbles exclaimed as she began moving her hips.

Amanda joined in, singing with Pebbles. Cricket bounced in at the chorus, but Holli sat, saying that she'd rather rest.

Victor, looking uneasy again, said, "This is rather…"

"Disgusting? Yes, we all know that," Pebbles sighed as she did a body roll.

Willy shrugged and began dancing again. "Well, it could be worse!" he protested as Erik shot him a dirty look.

Victor sat down next to Holli. "Um…hello," he said hesitantly as the dancing group began belting, "She's got me spendin'…"

"Hey," Holli said quietly, taking a chip from the bag. "Crispy wheat snack?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Chip. You know…"

"Oh. Yes, please."

They began a quiet conversation about school, life, their home stories, etc. as the song wrapped up and Amanda suggested that they watch a movie.

"Which one?" Pebbles said, peering into her movie and video game cabinet.

Willy joined Pebbles in looking. "A Series of Unfortunate Events?" he asked hesitantly, pulling out the movie.

Holli looked up. "Yay! Great movie!" she squealed, pointing to her shirt.

"Well, then, let's," Cricket said. "All in favor, raise your hand.

Willy, Pebbles, Holli, Cricket, and Amanda raised their hands. Erik, starting to cheer up, said, "Well, I guess we can watch it…"

Holli explained the plot to Victor while Amanda booted up Pebbles' Ps2 and TV and popped the movie in.

After a brief argument about sitting spots, Erik let Amanda cuddle up to him in the corner. Willy and Holli sat together, each keeping their distance. Cricket didn't want to sit next to Victor (for reasons that even I, the Authoress, do not know), so she lied on the bed alone. Victor, cringing a little, let Pebbles lean her head on his chest.

After watching the movie and cleaning up the food, everyone bade goodnight to each other and crept into their homemade beds. After an hour, everyone was asleep, except Erik, who kept watch and read some of Pebbles' books, relying on his own night vision and the full moon shining clearly through the clouds.


A/N:
What will happen in the morning? And what's up with the Holli/Victor relationship building here? We will have to wait, now, won't we? –cackle-

So…isn't that a weirdo partay? I made a weird drawing illustrating it, but it was before I wrote this chapter, so it's different. And it also contains a character that will be introduced MUCH later…

Wow…three pages in MS Word I wrote…