Chapter 8: The Fear Factor Fun Sleepover
One cold last Saturday of October 2020, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri for a pre-party at the Pittsburgh's Perfect Parties office in Monroeville before Lauren Bennett's Fear Factor Fun Sleepover at her house in Cheswick. "Hi, guys, and happy Halloween!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. "Happy Halloween to you, too!" Everyone was dressed up in their Halloween costumes. I was a goddess, Sarah was a beach babe, James was a spooky vampire, and Henri was the Black Panther. At the pre-party, there were the games of Taste the Rainbow Race, Nail Art Contest, a Recipe Scavenger Hunt for a Brownie Sundae, Pin the Glove on Michael Jackson, Glow-in-the-Dark Makeovers, and Who Knew?, along with Tuxedo Cookies to eat for another snack. Then, after dinner, we met some of our other best friends at the apartment lobby in Plum Borough on the corners of Saltsburg Road and New Texas Road. We played Taste the Rainbow Race, Food Face-Off, Who's Got Talent?, and Candybar Race, and for snacks, we had pizza with the works from Pizza Care, Pac-Man Cake, and Fruity Dippers. Then, we headed over to Lauren's house for her slumber party. The room was decorated with rubber bugs similar to what was seen in the invitation, giant skulls, mildew in the fish tank, bloody "handprints" all over the mirror, and even a black and yellow sign reading "What Is Your Fear Factor?". We began with Ticket or Cricket, in which James helped supervise. Emily won for pulling the most tickets out of the tank with crickets. Then, we moved on to Worm Pie, which was supervised by Sarah. India won for finding all 3 of her gummy worms under the whipped cream "pie" and eating them. Then, it was snack time. Sarah helped serve the Kitty Litter Cake, James helped serve the Diaper Surprise, and Henri helped serve the Brains. "The Brains look good," Henri stated, licking his lips. "Especially with the kale leaves, gummy worms, and red food coloring!" "Don't mistake the Diaper Surprises for poop, girls," James told everyone. "They are actually chocolate treats designed to look like poop." "Sarah, do you think that you would want to make a cake out of kitty litter for your birthday next month?" I asked my best friend. "Absolutely not, Angel," Sarah replied in a shocked tone of voice. "Although, I remember eating marble cake for my 15th birthday, and it was pretty delicious." "I can't believe that you are going to be 31 years old next month," I told Sarah. "Maybe, we could bake a cake and have your two cats, Silky and Buttercup, on top of it." "That sounds like a good idea, Angel," Sarah agreed. Then, we moved on to more games, including Iron Toes supervised by Henri, Egg Roulette supervised by James, and Baby Food Challenge supervised by Henri. Fiona won Iron Toes for pulling the most marbles out of the ice cold water with her toes, Lauren got the raw egg and Emily lost the game for letting her fear get the best of her cracking the egg open, and Lauren won the Baby Food Challenge as she identified the most types of baby food. To close out the night, we made Super Slime, in which Sarah helped supervise. Lauren made green slime, Emily made red slime, India made purple slime, Fiona made blue slime, and Juliet made yellow slime. "Okay, everyone," Sarah announced. "Is everybody ready to play with their slime?" Unfortunately, Juliet ended up coughing and losing her breath. "Oh no, Sarah," I whined. "This is terrible. What are we going to do?" "I don't know, Angel," Sarah replied. "This is almost as bad as when your boyfriend, Benedict got suspended from school due to drugs and alcohol," I told Sarah. "You need to call the hospital and let people know that Juliet came down with the coronavirus!" As a result, the party ended early. "I am so sorry that this happened, guys," James remarked. "I don't know if she uses drugs or alcohol at a very young age because it seemed like she was healthy, and it was probably the activities involved in the party that got her the virus," Sarah added. "Oh no!" Henri exclaimed. "Another slumber party done and gone." "I can't wait until they find a vaccine for this stupid virus," I told my friends. "What is going to happen now?" We were heading back to our hotel in Harmarville as ACCESS was taking us. "Thanks for a great day, anyway!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"