New experiences can sometimes be nerve wracking. While they were not usually as scary or breathtaking as sky diving or falling in love, talking to boys for the first time can be just as terrifying.
And so she scheduled a practice session in the privacy of her room with a couple of trusted accomplices. Since they stayed over almost every week, none of the elders suspected anything unusual.
"Hi, my name is Victoria Fannington." she said bowing slightly and curtsying at her audience. "Nice to meet you."
The response to her words were not what she expected. Gary paused bouncing the football on his knee to scoff rudely while Jason looked up from his unfinished painting and sighed.
"You are too formal Vicky." said Jason as he watched from the plushie cushion he was sitting on. He tucked the wet paintbrush behind his ear, looking at her with an assessing gaze. "You need to be cooler."
"Yes, you need to be waaaay cooler than this." chimed in Gary, turning to shoot a knowing look at his brother. His black eyes instantly found his brother's identical ones, his mouth tilting into a playful smirk.
Jason shook his head in resignation, the paintbrush falling down with the movement. Once Gary decided he was going to do something, there was nothing anyone could do to dissuade him.
"Haven't you seen any teen movies? There has to be a super chill dude who doesn't care about anyone and is hot AF..." started Gary enthusiastically.
"Gary!" hissed Vicky, looking around hoping her mother hadn't heard them. "Mind your language."
"As I was saying, there will be a hot dude, his minions and a group of super hot girls who picks on everyone and yet everyone thinks they are the best." plowed on Gary ignoring her. "You need to survive amidst all this bias. You need to learn slang, be comfortable with provocative clothes and be okay with detention."
Vicky suddenly felt very very nervous. It wasn't as though Gary was saying something out of this world. She'd seen plenty of movies. She knew how the Mean Girls plot line played out. She knew that the hot guy was usually a player and would eventually fall in love with an innocent girl. But not before the innocent girl beat all her opponents and came out stronger.
She never thought any of this could ever happen in real life. But now she had to rethink. What if they did? If things like that truly happened to her, did she really have what it took to fight back and make it through?
The realization shocked she so much she had to sit down. Maybe she shouldn't do this. Maybe she couldn't do this.
Vicky had never broken a single rule in her life...no that wasn't true, she had done a bit of unethical hacking...but she'd made sure it affected no one...and she was careful not to cause any damage to anyone. That didn't count, did it?
"Vicky," said Jason, his voice cutting through her thoughts as he resumed painting the canvas on his lap. He was the quieter, shyer sibling, who reveled in artwork. While he was more of an observer than talker, heaven knows he was just as destructive as his louder, blunt older brother.
"We are only middle schoolers but you can count on us to protect you. No one will be able to hurt you as long as we are there. I know you have your own reasons and uncle Axky said it's probably because of some boy, but whatever it is you can go ahead with your plan. Gary and I will back you up." he said reassuringly.
"We also promise not to rat you out to any of the adults." said Gary as he balanced the football on his forehead with deep concentration.
"Thanks guys." said Vicky as she fell back on her bed and buried her face in a pillow.
"Why is it so hard?" came her muffled voice.
"It's not hard." said Gary, sensing a meltdown and quickly abandoning his football. He sat down beside Vicky, his shorter legs swinging by the bed. "What you need is some confidence. How about Jason and I take you to out tonight?"
Vicky had to laugh at that. "What? Where do you want to go?"
Jason, the go-to person for all kinds of plans, got up from the floor, his artwork forgotten to sit on Vicky's other side. "Let's go to the hottest high school party this year."
Vicky sat up so fast she almost cricked her neck. After staring at the slightly shorter boys for several seconds, she laughed, rubbing the sore muscle with her palm. "Stop messing around guys. For a moment I thought you were serious."
"We are serious." protested Jason from her left. "You need to practice. If you really are transferring school's to impress some guy, you must do everything to make sure things go smoothly after you get there!"
"Yeah." agreed Gary from her right. "You're not going to snag the guy if you're too scared to face him. You need a little bit of experience speaking to boys."
Vicky opened her mouth to challenge him, but Gary cut him off.
"I meant boys your age. Jason and I don't count." he said curtly.
"It's about 7 p.m. now, so that means supper will be ready soon. We can sneak out after everyone thinks we've settled in for the night." said Jason calculatively as he glanced at his wrist watch. "If we take a taxi from Averly Crossing at 9 we'll make it there in forty minutes. The party doesn't really start till after 10 anyway."
Vicky looked at them like they'd grown horns and tails. "Have you guys gone mad? There's no way we can leave without mom noticing. She can sense suspicious activity miles away. And even if we did somehow reach this party, what makes you think we can enter? It's not like I was invited, and you are too young to be where drinks are served."
Gary let out a low whistle. "Whoa whoa. Hold on," he said. "I will sneak Jason and you out safely and maintain pretense at the house that everything is normal. Jason will transport you to the venue and wait at our friend Kyle's house. He lives pretty close to party venue, and his place is a safe haven for both of you in case of an emergency. Keep your cell phone with you at all times and when you want to come home, just call one of us. Jason will pick you up and you can both travel back together."
Vicky's lower lip trembled with trepidation. Should she do this? She would have to deceive her parents. She could never lie to them without feeling horrible and confessing shortly after. Was this really worth the mental turmoil?
"Kyle just texted me to say kids from plenty of popular schools will be there. Here see for yourself." said Jason handing his cell phone to Vicky.
She looked through the list her heart almost stopping at the sight of Clemondale High School.
"Do you think I can do this?" she asked softly, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes flipped to the list once more.
She loved her mom and dad, but she was sure they would not let her go. Seeing Clemondale on the list made her insides completely flip out. At the same time for some inexplicable reason she felt her inhibitions slip away.
She suddenly wanted to go. She wanted to see what high school was really like. And she wanted to find him, the boy who held her heart for so long.
Who knew? Maybe he would be at the party and his eyes would find her own once more. But of course this time she would recognize him and he would have no clue who she was.
"I want to go. Jason, Gary do you think we can ---" she asked looking at the boys. They were only twelve years old, and she was being horrible by asking so much from them.
"Sure."said Jason with finality, cutting her off. "Don't feel guilty for us Vicky. What we're doing tonight is pretty tame compared to what we are capable of."
"Won't you get in trouble if aunt Brielle finds out?" asked Vicky fighting her second thoughts.
"Mom's just grateful aunt Paula lets us stay over sometimes. God knows she and Dad need a break." pitched in Gary with a laugh.
"Okay." said Vicky taking a deep breath. "So then this leaves just one thing for us to decide."
"What?" asked Gary and Jason their voices harmonizing, just Vicky's mother's voice rang out.
"Food's ready kids! Come downstairs before it gets cold."
"We need to find something for me to wear." finished Vicky. Her stomach was doing backflips and she was so nervous she didn't know if she could hold down any supper. But she knew one thing was certain...
She was going to meet some of her future classmates tonight.
A/N: Hi everyone!
What do you think of unsupervised house partied? Have you ever been to one? How was your experience?
Vicky, for one, is in for plenty of surprises. Stay tuned for the next happening update!
Thank you for reading and all your support for this story.
You make me so very happy.
Lots of love,
Andy