A/N: Sorry guys, it's been a while, and I just got off holidays and am back at school. Sorry if this chapter is a little long, and it might be full of realistic fluff, but there are hidden meanings and hints in there! Enjoy! And I'd love it if you would review!

Chapter 31 – You Won't See Me

Saturday the 11th of February had arrived. Tonight was Anna's sleepover for her birthday. I was elated that we had all made up after our short fight. Over this past week, everything had been normal (including the full moon on the 9th, which went swimmingly and without incident). Before going over to Anna's, Max was coming over here. He worriedly texted me, saying that he hasn't seen me in so long and that he was having 'Sadie withdrawals'. That sounded borderline creepy. Anyway, that morning he arrived at our house in a good mood.
"Hey," he beamed his heart-fluttering smile as I answered the door.
"Hello, you," I greeted in return, smiling sappily.

We spent the morning chatting about random stuff - our powers only came up a few times, mainly because Max kept changing the subject whenever they did. He was starting to worry me, in that respect. Maybe he was like Prue and didn't trust me with his secrets. The thought of that made me feel hurt. I told him about the fight and what Patrick thought. I was expecting him to be all 'oh no, Sadie, you're nothing like that!' but he dodged around giving an opinion until I coaxed it out of him.
"Well, he's right - you do overreact," he said.
"Yeah, I accept that," I said, "I know I do. But what about the trust thing? You trust me, don't you?"
"Of course I do!"
"You'll tell me things?"
"Yeah, of course. Not that I have anything to keep from you."
He clearly avoided my eyes then, looking away. I suspected that he was hiding something and the tears that came were uncontrollable.
"Oh, no, don't cry!" he soothed, "What is it? What's wrong?"
"It's another girl, isn't it?" I shot, without thinking.
"Uh, Help! and, what are you talking about?"
I couldn't believe he was still playing our little game at this serious moment, but I remembered to give him a point later.
"That's your secret! You're cheating on me, aren't you?"
"Sadie! How could you think something like that? I am truly
offended, absolutely offended that you would think so!"
"Secrets, secrets and more secrets!" I raged, not really realising how out of control I was.
"What are you talking about?"
"If it's not another girl, then what is it, huh?"
"I can't believe you."
He did the unthinkable and stood up.
"Where are you going?" I demanded.
"I'm not hanging around if you are going to act like this, ACCUSING me of cheating on you!"
He looked at me disgustedly and then left. I was disgusted with myself afterwards. I seemed to calm down a lot after he left. It was strange.

I packed and got ready to go to Anna's and then Dad dropped me off at her house. Patrick and Molly were already there. Anna's parents were good friends with Patrick's parents, so they trust him to have a sleepover with four girls.
"So, what are we going to get up to?" I asked enthusiastically.
Sleepovers were always fun, exciting, eventful and mischievous. We always got up to no good. I predicted it was going to be event more eventful with a guy there - this was Patrick's first sleepover with us. Usually we never even thought it was possible, having a sleepover with a guy, as we thought our parents wouldn't allow it (for obvious reasons). But ever since last year, when Patrick became a steady and permanent member of our tight little group, we just naturally thought of him as one of us. And both his and Anna's parents agreed, so all was good!

"Loads of stuff!" Anna replied in answer to my question.
"I'm scared," Patrick quivered.
"Don't worry, sweetie, when we're done with you, you'll be brand new!" Anna patted his arm.
"You're not going to give me a makeover or something, are you?"
"Puh-lease! We're not twelve. This is my SIXTEENTH birthday - I think you'll be safe."
"Still, your plans sound evil."
"Oh they are, my hairy friend."
"That wasn't very nice! Oh, wait… NO! You're not going to wax my legs or anything, are you?"
"Didn't even think of it, but thanks for the idea!"
At that moment Prue arrived. Patrick jumped behind her for cover. She didn't offer much protection as she was so short and Patrick was so tall.
"Prue, save me! They're planning evil things to do with my beauty!"
"Oh, silly boy, she's on our side!" Anna continued to mockingly taunt.
"What's all this?" Prue asked sceptically.
"Just Anna playing with boys again," Molly smirked and I sniggered.
"Anyway, happy birthday, An," Prue beamed.
"Oh, yeah!" I had forgotten to wish her one when I arrived, "Happy birthday, Anna Brielle!"
"Everyone here then?" Anna's mum came into the entry hallway, "Nicholas is going to go and get the pizzas soon, so you better decide what you want."

The five of us sat down and decided that we were going to get five pizzas (Anna's brother Nicholas and her parents would also be eating). We decided on two BBQ Meatlovers, a Hawaiian, a Super Supreme, a Cheese and a Chicken Deluxe. Nicholas went to get them.
"So, what's on tonight's agenda?" Prue asked as we all sat around the lounge room.
"Well, I was thinking that first we could set up the beds and everything in here and we'll have dinner whilst we watch a movie - shot not choosing - and after dinner will be cake, of course!"
Anna outlined our night.
"And you get to open your presents, of course!" I added.
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about those."
"How could you forget your presents?" a sudden deep voice amongst the female ones rumbled, "I mean, come on!"
"Trust you to care most about that," Anna shot back at Patrick.
"Well I shot not choosing the movie as well," Molly interjected.
"Shot not!" Prue, Patrick and I exclaimed at the same time.
"Ah, Patrick was last!" Anna pointed at him.
"I was not!" he denied, "Prue was!"
"No, actually, you were," testified Molly.
"Looks like you're choosing," I told him, showing fake pity.
"Fine, but you won't like it!"

He crawled over to the TV cabinet where all the DVDs were kept. I had my camera handy, as I always did at outings and parties, and took a photo of him with his bum in the air. I got photos of the girls laughing - it was nice to see Prue laugh for once. Nicholas eventually came back with the pizzas (and Patrick was still deciding on the movie when he did). We all trekked to the kitchen to grab plates and get our pizza before we retreated back to our hole.
"Have you chosen one yet?" Anna asked.
"A-ha!" he dramatically whipped out Saw from the cabinet.
"No!" us four girls rejected in unison.
"I told you you wouldn't like what I chose."
"Hurry up," Anna urged.
Watching those two fight… there was something about it that screamed 'best friends forever'. I still had no idea why they broke up - maybe best friendship suited them better.

I continued to take random, pointless, cool photos - eating pizza with the cheese stretching from mouth to slice; making silly faces; fake wrestling; Anna kissing Prue's cheek, etc. I even conveniently left my camera lying around so that I was in some of them too - we all played photographer. We all eventually agreed on a movie Patrick had chosen - The Avengers. I liked that movie. We sat eating our pizza and watching the action-packed movie. About halfway through, Anna's mum called us into the kitchen for cake so we paused the movie and took our plates from our finished pizza into the kitchen. All eight of us (Anna, her mum, dad and brother, Prue, Molly, Patrick and me) stood around the birthday girl as she sat in front of her cake. I ran to get my camera and her mum offered to take a photo of us all around Anna. The sixteen candles (ha) were lit and we all sang happy birthday to her.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Anna, happy birthday to you! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!"
She blew out every candle in one blow and cut the cake.
"Ooh, you touched the bottom, have to kiss the closest guy!" her dad quipped.

I thought she would do the traditional and kiss her brother or her dad but instead she turned around to the redhead directly behind her. To my surprise, he didn't move away, he just smiled at her. I waved frantically to Anna's mum to get a photo of this. Patrick leaned down and quickly kissed Anna on the lips. She quickly turned her head around to face her family with a screwed-up face which was a look of pure jubilee and excitement. Patrick couldn't see it, standing right behind her. Her mum got a picture of that face. That Face. I needed a name for it. She already had Denise, her pedo face. This face was epic. She looked like a little girl who'd just been told that Santa was going to leave exactly what she wanted under the tree. Excitement. The question was, why was she so excited at the peck? Didn't they break up? I was starting to think that their 'relationship' was made up. Why, I didn't know. Her mum must've seen something at that moment because her face molded into one that said 'aw, my baby!'

Anyway, we all got cake dished out to us and we ventured back into the lounge room to eat it as we continued watching the movie. The cake was delicious - chocolate mud. My favourite. I kept sneaking glances at Anna as we ate and watched. She was still smiling to herself. Oh, darling.
"What was that, you two?" Prue asked the question that was burning on my mind but I didn't dare ask.
"What?" Anna's smile switched to mock confusion.
"Oh, you know what I'm talking about."
"I guess I'm just irresistible," Patrick shrugged and sighed as he watched the television.
Well, that remark caused an outbreak of laughter from the four of us - he was clearly offended.

I got more photos (including some artistic, low angle ones of cake slices) and soon the movie finished. It was about nine by this point. Anna's parents came into the room and we gave her the presents we got her. First she opened Prue's - a new handbag and some other little things. Molly got her a gift card and a cute little top. My present was the Hunger Games books, which she had mentioned in passing that she would like to read. Patrick's was last. It was a locket. A gold locket. A gold heart-shaped locket. A gold heart-shaped locket with a picture of Patrick in it (I knew that was supposed to be humorous). Anna looked aghast as she took it out of the box and opened it. She laughed when she opened it to reveal Patrick doing his stunned mullet look.
"I picked it out myself," he announced proudly.
I could practically feel Anna swooning. A guy had bought her jewellery - a best friend. Relationship-defining moment. They were practically BFFLs. It seemed like Anna was getting friendzoned, if that's even the way she felt about him.

After the present opening in which - yep, you guessed it - I took more photos, I pitched an idea to the gang.
"Guys, I have an idea," I told them, "The cake gave me the idea. Why don't we watch Sixteen Candles? It's just too appropriate."
"Yeah!" my gals agreed.
"A cult movie?" Patrick complained, "Really?"
"Yes, really," I confirmed.
We ended up all snuggled up in our beds this time, having no food to be eaten. There were four mattresses set out on the floor (just enough to fit in the room) with pillows and quilts covering them. They were all joined to make one giant mattress. As we were watching the movie, Anna was in Patrick's arms, Prue was on the other side of them, and Molly and I were snuggled up on this side.

The movie finished and it was about eleven-thirty, nearly midnight. This was where the fun in the dark happened. We turned off the lights, got into bed, and lay there talking. The idea was that Patrick was going to be on the lounge, but he ended up being at the end, next to the lounge. The mattresses were set up in a two by two fashion and we all lay in a row. Patrick, Anna, Prue, Me and Molly, closest to the TV.
"Patrick," I started, "Enlighten us. You now know what goes on at a girls' sleepover - tell us, what happens at a boys' sleepover?"
"Do we want to know?" Anna said, disgusted.
"No, no, nothing like that," Patrick laughed, "In all truthfulness, it's not much different. I thought you guys would be giving each other manicures and pedicures and stuff."
"I told you, we're fifteen," Anna said.
"We just eat and watch movies basically. Occasionally we get up to no good."
"Oh my god!" Prue suddenly exclaimed and yanked the quilt over her face.
"What?" we all asked.
"Oh my god!" Anna exclaimed too, looking out the window.
Creepily, there was a figure standing outside in the pitch darkness, looking in the window.
"What's he doing here?" Anna asked furiously.
Did they know who it was? Was it Prue's stalker/attacker? How did they know she was here? As we all stared at him out the window, I thought I recognised him - oh, shit. It was just as I had feared. He ran away as soon as he realised we were staring at him.

"Was that who I thought it was?" I asked. No one answered, confirming my suspicions.
"The coast is clear," Anna told Prue, who surfaced.
Molly scrambled out of bed to close the blinds on the window. We were all sitting up in bed now and Patrick and I shared a look. We eventually all laid back down and resumed conversation. After chatting about pointless stuff until about one in the morning, everybody eventually drifted off to sleep. Except me. I was still stewing over the events earlier with Max. I felt guilty for accusing him of that. Lying on my stomach, I grabbed my phone, which was under my pillow, to send an apologetic text to him.
'Sorry about yesterday :( I didn't mean it, I don't know what came over me. Forgive me? xx'
I hit send and my phone's light caught Molly's face right next to it, which scared me half to death - she was awake.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"Texting Max," I replied and continued to tell her about our little fight.
"Is anyone else awake?" I asked the whole room and no one stirred. I wanted to make sure no one was going to listen in on our little conversation. At that moment I got a reply from Max: 'it's ok. I'm sorry too'.
"He forgives me," I told Molly.
"Oh good," she replied, "It would be devastating if you two broke up. You're too good for each other."
I got comments like this a lot.
"Um, since you're telling me all this, perhaps I should tell you something," she said in a low voice.
"What?" I rolled over so that we were face to face.
"Des and I are… kinda going out."
"Oh my god!" I squealed as quietly as possible.

Des was one of Max's friends we met up with when we had that huge meeting, remember? Destry Jones.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yep," she replied.
"How did this happen?"
"Well, people probably didn't notice because Riley was goofing around so often, but we sat with each other and got to know one another. It was nice. Then we bumped into each other, just by chance, and he asked me if we wanted to date and I said yes."
"Oh, wow. Us two are friends and then those two are friends."
"Yeah."
"Cool."
We laughed. I didn't get to have these rare chats with Molly often. She was my least friend (if you know what I mean) out of our little group, but she was still my friend. To learn that she was going out with Des, that was just oh-so cute. After talking about random stuff for a bit longer, we both finally drifted off to sleep.

At about three-thirty, we were woken by Prue.
"What?" I grumbled as she shook me awake.
"We've got work to do," she whispered, a mischievous smile visible in the darkness.
"Huh?"
I looked and saw Anna sitting cross legged next to sleeping Patrick, a makeup case in her hands. Oh no. They were staging their 'beautification'. He'd hate us for this. But it would be so fun to do! Eagerly, I got up. Molly was getting up at the same time as me.
"Anyone know how deep a sleeper he is?" Anna asked quietly as we all kneeled around him. We all shook our heads.
"We'll just have to risk it."
Anna held the phone and shone the light on his face so that we could see what we were doing. We each plunged our hands into the makeup to grab various objects: eyeliners, eyeshadows, lipsticks - lipsticks were a favourite. I grabbed a smoky eyeshadow and eagerly applied it. We couldn't stop laughing as we turned our boy into a lady. We were lucky he didn't wake up. Anna passed the phone to Molly so that she could have a turn. In the end he turned out pretty good. He had eyeliner (applied horribly due to his eyes being closed), eyeshadow, blush and bright lipstick. Pretty boy! Anna took a photo and uploaded it to Facebook, captioning it: 'the consequences of having sleepovers with girls! xx'.
Giggling, we went back to sleep as if nothing had happened…

I was the last to wake up (to no one's surprise) at eight-thirty. I didn't know where Molly was but Anna and Prue were talking, trying not to laugh. Obviously Patrick hadn't discovered his overnight makeover yet. He was propped up groggily, his red hair sticking up in all directions. A bit of the makeup was smudged but it was still oh-so good. I could smell delicious aromas coming from the kitchen - breakfast! At that moment Anna's mum called us for breakfast.
"It's bacon and eggs," she told us.
"Yum!"
We all scrambled (haha) to get up and we trudged into the kitchen. Molly walked in from the toilet.
"Oh, Patrick, had a deep sleep did we?" Anna's mum asked, seeing his face.
"Huh?" he mumbled.
"Yes, we discovered that he is a very deep sleeper," Anna commented and we all smirked to each other.
"Alrigh', what did you to me?" he demanded.
"Nothing," Anna replied in an innocent tone.
He narrowed his eyes at us but then gave up. We were all served our breakfast (no eggs for me, ew) and we sat at the kitchen table to eat.

"An, can I check my Facebook on your phone, please?" Patrick asked.
"Uh," Anna didn't want him to see the photo, "I don't have internet on my phone."
"Anna, don't be silly," her mother scolded, "Patrick, you're welcome to use the computer."
"Thanks Mrs R. I mean, Cathy."
He logged onto his profile and scrolled through his news feed, but didn't come across it. Maybe he scrolled past it, thinking it was nothing interesting. Anna breathed a sigh of relief when he logged off. After breakfast we fell back into our hiding hole and watched morning cartoons.

At around eleven, after we had done miscellaneous activities, we were picked up by our parents.
"Oh, Patrick, got very involved did you?" his Mum Karen commented when she came to pick him up. Surprisingly, all four parents arrived simultaneously.
"What is this all about? Why has everyone been so weird all morning?" he demanded.
We all suppressed laughs. Somehow, he had managed to not go to the toilet all morning, and therefore avoided mirrors.
"Oh, honey, come here," Karen dragged him to the mirror next to the front door (another one he managed to avoid). The look on his face was priceless. The four of us girls couldn't hold back our laughter anymore.
"What did you do to me?" he screeched.
"We didn't do that!" Anna lied.
"Yeah, what makes you think we had anything to do with it?" I added.
"You girls defaced me! In my sleep! That's a crime!" he shouted.
"Oh, don't be ridiculous."
"I can't believe it's taken you this long to notice," Prue said.
"Yeah, even when you checked Facebook you didn't," Anna added.
"Did you post a picture of me?" he asked incredulously.
"Maybe."
"Right! That's it! I'm never coming to a girls' sleepover ever again!"
We all said our goodbyes to each other ("See you at school tomorrow!") and went home. It was a very fun and interesting weekend.