Chapter 10: Party Time

Xia's POV

Okay, we were definitely running late. The party was at 7:30pm but it was already 7:42.

Inside, Helen, Lily, and aunties Chen and Ping were stuffing plums in Mei's mouth, talking with me, and passing us many gifts.

"Eat, Mei, you need your strength for the ritual." Auntie Chen said.

"Your hair is so shiny, Xia," Helen complimented. "Have you been using a brand new shampoo lately?"

"Have this gift!" Auntie Ping gave Mei one more present.

"What a surprise that you all came so early!" Auntie Ming smiled as she poured tea in Grandauntie Wu's cup.

"You need all the help you can get, Ming," Grandauntie Wu told her, "So, Mei-Mei, you've been managing to keep the panda in?"

"Yep! Totally!" Mei also lied.

"Really?" Lily scoffed.

"What's that, Lily?" Auntie Ming asked.

"Well, it's a little hard to believe that Mei-Mei could control such a beast," Lily replied, "She's just a child,"

Me and Mei started to get nervous.

"It's true," Auntie Ping agreed, "And if Mei-Mei's panda is anything like Ming's?"

They all shuddered, causing me and Mei to become confused. The only thing Auntie Ming had told us about her panda is that she had it, she never told us what it was like. It must've been bad due to their reactions. But I decided not to ask questions about it.

"Mei-Mei's better at any of us at controlling the panda," Auntie Ming smiled, quickly changing the subject, "She passed every trigger test. Even the kitten box."

"It's true," Mom replied. "Chiang, Jin, Xia, and I were there to witness it and we've never been more proud of all the effort Mei-Mei did."

All four aunts and even Grandma seemed impressed.

"And Xia here is also very good at comforting her," Auntie Ming smiled.

That wasn't exactly true but I smiled because at least I was complimented. All four aunts and Grandma smiled in approval of me.

"Mei-Mei just thinks of our love for her and it gives her the strength to stay calm," Auntie Ming explained happily.

"Exactly," Mei lied while smiling. I checked the clock, it was 7:45. We were fifteen minutes late! I swiftly nudged her and looked up at the clock to show her we were very late.

She gave me an "I know" look and then started fake-yawning.

"Anyway, thanks for all the gifts," she told them, "But I think I'll go to bed early. Keeping that animal locked down sure takes a lot of energy."

"I'm feeling quite tired as well so I might go to bed as well," I lied.

"Okay, you two, get some rest," Auntie Ming smiled at us.

"Goodnight!" we both said to them then swiftly walked to our room.

We were running very late and if we were much later, we knew that Tyler wouldn't be very impressed.

Mei and I both shoved our gifts in our drawers then we grabbed a bunch of our stuffed toys and shoved them on our beds and put the blankets over, just in case anyone checked on us. We grabbed our shoes and threw them out the window since we'd put them on when we got outside. Just as we were about to hop out the window, we remembered to bring our tram passes so that we could take the tram to Tyler's house. While we were getting our tram passes off the desk next to our bunk bed, we accidentally knocked a photo of Mei and Auntie Ming off the desk.

Just as we started to climb out the window, there was a knock on our bedroom door. We panicked and jumped back in and turned our lamp on, acting innocent. Grandaunt Wu opened the door.

"Girls, can I have a word with you two?" she asked us.

"Um, sure! What's up?" I replied nervously. Grandaunt took a napkin from her pocket and inside was a tuft of red fur. Crap, she was onto us!

"I found this," she told us, "Strange for a girl who hasn't let her panda out."

"It's, uh, it's not mine!" Mei lied, about to take it and throw it in the bin but Grandaunt stopped her.

"Mei-Mei, Xia, I know what you two are doing," she explained, "I know how hard it is to keep the beast in. It feels so good to let it out. So free. But each time you do, the stronger it gets. And then you'll be bound to it forever and the ritual will fail."

"Has that ever happened before?" I questioned anxiously.

"Not a single one. And it cannot happen," Grandaunt sighed, "Mei-Mei, your mother and I were close once, but the red panda took that away. I couldn't bear to see that happen to you, Mei-Mei. So no more panda. You are your mother's whole world, Mei-Mei. I know you'll do what's right."

When Grandaunt left, me and Mei looked at each other. We had to get to that party. So the two of us hopped out the window and put our shoes on.

"Mei, you have to be the panda at Tyler's party but you can't! What should we do?" I whispered, stressed out.

"Um, wait, remember the cardboard panda suit we wear when giving people tours?" she reminded me. "I could wear that to make up for it?" Mei suggested.

"What?! Everyone will be disappointed that there's no actual red panda!" I whisper-shouted but then thought about it, "But it's the only choice, I guess..."

We both got the costume and we took the tram. It was extremely awkward going on a public tram with my sister wearing a cardboard panda costume, but it was a short journey. Soon enough, we arrived at the address on the invite. Tyler's house was huge, he must've been very rich!

As we walked up to the door, I internally prayed that he wouldn't be mad at us for not having Mei's actual red panda form. We knocked on the door anxiously. Tyler opened the door smiling when he saw me, but when he saw Mei's costume, his smile turned into a frown. I was scared this would happen.

Everyone looked annoyed when they saw her.

"Yo, what's up, peeps?" Mei grinned, trying to cheer everyone up. Oh no...

"What are you wearing?" Tyler exclaimed, annoyed.

"Hey, Tyler, happy birthday!" she smiled. This wasn't working out well at all.

"I'm paying for the red panda! Not this garbage, deal's off!" he yelled.

Mei panicked hearing that.

"Wait, can garbage do this?" Mei asked him, trying to save the deal.

She started dancing badly and awkwardly. I cringed and shut my eyes, she was embarrassing herself in front of everyone!

"Or this? Stir the porridge, come on guys, stir the porridge-"Me, Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby dragged her away to the corner of the room so that we could privately chat.

"Girl, are you feeling okay tonight?" Kendra asked Mei, concerned.

"Guys, it's hard to explain but just, just trust us on this," I sighed, "She can't panda anymore. We're sorry."

"Okay, okay, okay, it's fine," Miriam obviously fake-grinned, "You don't have to do it. We'll just, uh, figure something-"

"I won't go," Priya sighed sadly.

"What? Priya, you can't not go! Jesse's your soul mate!" Mei told her.

"But we only have enough for five tickets," Priya replied.

"Then I'll stay home!" Abby sadly suggested.

"Abby, no! I'll stay home," Mei told them.

"No, you all deserve to go. I'll stay," I protested.

"Guys, if we can't all go, then none of us should go, right?" Miriam sighed.

Me and Mei exchanged sad looks and we saw that the four of them were on the verge of tears.

"Just one last time," Mei groaned.

"Are you sure, Mei? You heard what Gradnauntie said earlier about the ritual," I said.

"I know but I'll be fine!" she responded, smiling.

Mei walked over to Tyler, who was standing, looking annoyed.

"Hey Tyler!" she yelled, "You want the panda? You're getting the panda!"

She then poofed into her panda form.

"Now let's hear it for the birthday boy!" Mei screamed as she picked him up.

Everyone started cheering including me, Miriam, Priya, Kendra, and Abby. We started blasting music and everyone was dancing and having fun. At one point, Tyler got pushed into the middle and he danced shyly at first but as people started cheering him on and hyping him up, he was confident.

At one point, something amazing happened. So, Miriam and Abby told me and Mei that Priya had befriended the goth girl before we arrived. Apparently when playing Charades, Priya did mortality and the goth girl guessed correctly! But when we looked at Priya near her, we noticed that she was going slightly red. We knew there was chemistry between the two of them so Mei shoved Priya to the goth girl and they started dancing together.

At one point, Tyler asked me to dance with him for a short amount of time. We just danced happily hand-in-hand, and it was really fun. Afterwards, Mei started giving us rides and she jumped over one of the flags. We eventually snapped a photo of us all on Mei and having fun!

It was undoubtedly the best party ever! Well, so far...