Sorry I haven't updated in so long guys! I was away on vacation w/ my family in Europe, which was awesome, but didn't really leave me time to update.
There's not much plot in this chapter, save a little bit towards the end. Next chapter will probably be the same.
I'm off to camp in like, a week, and I won't be updating then either. I'm really sorry! Please don't hate me for it! But if you do, it's understandable):
Thanks to Alia Mehra, Kyramellark7, and HestiaAbnegation11 for being amazing reviewers!
Riley's POV
Riley finished shading in the last balloon being held by the penguin on the card she was making for Summer, and stood up from where she'd been bent over the table.
The Great Room looked fantastic. It wasn't too fancy, but it looked great for a birthday party, with the fanciest balloons she'd ever seen. She grabbed the card and a pen, and took it over to the area where all the nice girls were in small groups chatting.
First she took it to Shaylienne, Sally, and Holly, who were closest to her. Shaylienne and Sally had managed to engage Holly in conversation and were laughing, which was nice, because although Riley thought she was nice from the bit she'd interacted with her, she was very quiet.
"Will you guys sign this?" She asked them.
"Yeah!" Sally said. She took the pen, signed her name, and passed them to the other two girls.
"I love the drawing." She said, smiling.
"Thanks!" Riley said. A few of the other girls were trickling over, seeing the cards, and before long, they were passing it around, getting all of their signatures on it. Soon all of their signatures were on it, along with smiley faces and little notes from many girls. Well, all of the girls that were nice. The mean girls crowd was looking at them with disdain, with Imogen saying something to the other girls in their group, and in response, all of them raising their eyebrows. All the girls were watching them. After a few more exchanges, she stood up, and, to the rest of the girls surprise, walked away from them and towards the other girls.
As she approached the other girls, she looked sheepish, and many of them crossed their arms in an unimpressed manner. They stepped aside to let her pass, and then closed again, leaving her in a closed circle. She sighed.
"Guys, I know I've been a bitch. I'm really sorry. Can I sign the card?" She asked, looking at the floor. Many of the girls exchanged surprised and unsure glances. The mean girls looked smug at her vulnerableness. Riley finally cleared her throat and spoke up.
"Sure." She said, coming forwards with the card and pen. She signed, and put a little note on, then handed the note back to Riley.
The girls went back to chatting, although Imogen didn't go back to her group. Instead she sat on her own, nobody talking with her.
Summer's POV
Summer woke to the faces of her three maids waiting in front of her bed.
"Happy birthday!" They chorused enthusiastically as she sat up. She smiled.
"Thanks guys." She said. Natalie grabbed a tray and brought it over for her.
"They sent breakfast up." She said, setting it down on Summer's lap. Summer smiled at her, then thought about it.
"Wait, how late did I sleep?" She asked. She looked at her clock, and saw it read 9:30, an hour after breakfast was usually served. Then she looked down at her tray, and her eyes widened.
"Yes! Doughnuts! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She exclaimed. She grabbed one and stuffed her face with as much as she could fit in her mouth in a very unladylike manner, causing chocolate frosting to get all over her face and her maids to start giggling uncontrollably.
She stuffed a few more bites in, and threw some powdered sugar at them, and then ran off giggling. They grabbed the water jug, and started chasing her around the room with it as she threw powdered sugar back at them. Finally, they got her, dousing her in the water. They all collapsed into a laughing pile, covered in water and powdered sugar.
"Let's get you cleaned up." Said Opal, her head maid.
45 minutes later, there was no trace of their mini food fight. Her maids had gotten clean uniforms, and she no longer had frosting on her face. Her makeup was done, simply, but beautifully. Her hair was in a bun at the nape of her neck, with a little tendril hanging down at the front, and a thing of fake flowers going from the bun to the front.
And the dress. It was dbeautiful. It was a full length, Grecian style one-shouldered dress, white chiffon, with a gold belt in the middle, topped off with metallic gold ballet flats and aquamarine drop earrings. It wasn't anywhere near her typical look, but it looked great.
"Now head on down to the Great Room." Opal said, shooing her out of the room. She went down the stairs, marveling at how quiet it was with just her instead of her and the shoes and chatter of the other girls.
She heard it before she saw it-the low chatter of voices coming from the Great Room. She kept on going and saw the doors to the Great Room were open. She peered in, and was astonished.
The already grand room was decorated, with the girls, as well as Queen America, King Maxon, and Princess Emmaline all milling around. There were tables laden with food and drink, tables and chairs for sitting and eating, a dance floor, and a lot of the fanciest balloons she'd ever seen. Several of the girls noticed her head peeking around the door, and rushed towards her.
"Happy Birthday!" They yelled, throwing confetti on her. She laughed, blowing a piece of gold confetti off her nose.
"Thanks guys." She said, smiling. She walked into the room with them, chatting, and saw several girls staring at her jealously.
"So how old are you turning?" Asked Silva.
"Seventeen." She said, popping a truffle she'd picked up from a nearby table into her mouth.
"Holy shit those are good!" She exclaimed quietly, running over and grabbing a plate and a few more.
"Those are fattening." Remarked Colette, who was standing near the table. Summer looked up at her with severe irritation.
"I don't care. I do a swim workout every day. And even if I didn't, I wouldn't care." She said coldly without looking up, and pointedly adding a few more to her plate, as well as some of the other sweets. Bitch, she added to the end in her head. She could see the hatred and jealousy in her eyes as she retreated towards the other girls. They cocked their heads questioningly, and she just rolled her eyes. They laughed, girls taking some of the sweets from her plate, not that she really minded.
"Oh look, there comes Noah!" Said Anastasia.
Noah entered the room, and walked over to Summer.
"Happy birthday, Summer." He said, handing her a small parcel wrapped beautifully, with a nice bow. She suspected the maids were to thank for that.
"Thanks!" She said, smiling. Queen America looked at the room, nudged King Maxon, and said something to him. He stood up.
"Um, since everyone's here, how about we have some cake because it tastes good and is awesome." He said to the whole room, causing everyone to laugh. Everyone went over to the three enormous cakes-one chocolate, one vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, and one red velvet. Summer joined the line, but the girls in front of her shooed her up and handed her a paper plate and plastic fork.
She looked at the cakes, took the cake cutter, and served herself a relatively big slice from all of the enormous cakes. She also took another plate, because hers was so full, and took some chocolate dipper strawberries and mini cupcakes. Then she went and sat down with her two plates, and was joined by the other girls, who laughed at her two heaping plates.
"Summer, you're going to go into, like, sugar shock from that." Said Shaylienne, laughing as she shook her head. Grace came over with similarly laden down plates, making some of the girls acquire a camera from somewhere and take a picture of them with their food. They laughed.
Once everyone had gotten their cake and other food, everyone sang happy birthday. Then, she finally got to go into her food. She was very methodical. First, she ate her cupcakes, then the chocolate strawberries. Then the red velvet cake, then the vanilla cake, chocolate buttercream frosting, and then the chocolate cake, chocolate buttercream frosting. By the time she was done, she'd eaten all of her food, and many of the girls whistled their impressment.
"Would you like to go on a walk in the gardens with me?" He asked her.
"Sure." She said, standing up. They walked out of the party, towards one of the doors that lead towards the gardens. The voices and noise of the party faded.
"So you're turning seventeen?" He asked her.
"Yep." She said.
"How did you eat all that food?" He asked her.
"What?" She said, smiling.
"All the food. How did you eat it all? My dad and I were wondering." He said. She laughed.
"I'm a swimmer, so I swim for a while every day. And I can eat a lot of food." She said. He nodded, but then looked puzzled again.
"Wait, but how did Grace eat all her food?" He asked.
"She's a dancer." She said, smiling. He nodded, and they walked in silence for a little while before she broke it.
"Can I be perfectly honest with you?" She asked.
"Of course." He said.
"I'm not sure I really feel attracted to you at all. I mean, you're a nice guy, but I feel like I would have felt some sort of spark or something, but it's not really there. I think you're a great guy, but I couldn't ever be anything more than your friend." She said. He looked at her, and instead of all the reactions she'd imagined, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank god. That's about where I am too. I mean, you're a great girl, but we wouldn't work out." He said. She nodded.
"Yeah." She said. They walked in silence for a few moments.
"So do you want me to send you home, or do you want to stay? Because I was thinking if you want to stay, you could maybe help me, and we could be like, normal friends." He said. She nodded.
"Like a spy?" She asked.
"Sort of, except less danger of death." He said.
"You underestimate the viciousness of girls." She said, smiling, somewhat jokingly, except with the exception of a few of the girls, who actually did make her a bit nervous.
"So buddy, whatcha want to do today?" He asked her. She grinned evilly.
"You play sports?" She asked.
"Yes, I play tennis, and I do some archery, and I ride. And I play croquet." He said. She laughed.
"Come with me. It's time I introduce you to football." She said. He stood there, mouth hanging open.
"Football?" He repeated.
"Yeah, you scared?" She called back to him. He followed after her.
"No." He said. She laughed.
"And killer croquet." She said.
"Why are you heading back inside?" He asked her, stopping. She turned around.
"First, I can't run or do anything in this dress and shoes. Second, football will be more fun if there's more people. And thirdly, who wouldn't want to catch the prince and his first time playing football and killer croquet?" She asked, grinning evilly. His eyes widened, and he started chasing after her. Swearing, Summer tripped over her dress, grabbed a nearby watering can, and dumped it on him. They both ended up sputtering and laughing.
Well, there's that chapter! Next chapter will be killer croquet and football, which should be really fun to write, though not very important to the plot. It was nice and long though.
Kyramellark7-Cool!
HestiaAbnegation11-Europe is awesome! And maaaybe you are...Or maaaybe you aren't...
Alia Mehra-Thanks! There's not really any cure for it, although sometimes I take meds to manage symptoms
RQOTD-Visual Arts, Drama, or Music?
Probably Visual Arts, though I love playing cello too. I have sketchbooks full of drawings I've done.