They Say Love Hides Behind Every Corner. I Must Be Walking in Circles! 

Chapter 6

After we got downstairs, I peeked into the room where the party was being held. I was awestruck by what I saw. The walls were covered in seashells and seaweed, giving it a truly fishy look. The lights were a blue-green shade, and everything somehow made you feel like you really were underwater. There was shrimp at the sides, and there was even a pool installed. It was a good thing we advised the guests to bring their best swimsuits.

Jasmine had already disappeared to make the announcement that we were coming, and sure enough, her voice echoed loud and clear through the house. That’s how good the sound system we’d gotten was.

“Hey, guys!” she greeted. “Welcome to Shay and Maddie’s fabulous Sweet Sixteen Party!”

A lot of people started cheering, and Jasmine had to wait until everyone calmed down before she began again. Even though we lived in a fairly big place, there weren’t many party throwers around, and this was probably the first great one they’d been to in a while, where they didn’t serve Party Pizzas, and where there was live entertainment.

“I’m not gonna ramble on and on quite yet,” she said. “I’ll save that for the toast-thing later on. But I will announce that the birthday girls are here and ready, so give a round of applause for Shay and Maddie!”

We strutted into the room, with an air of confidence that only your birthday and a nice down of tequila could give you. Everyone started cheering, and we grinned and waved at them.

We went onstage, and Jasmine handed me the microphone. “Before we get to the fun stuff, we’ve gotta get through the mandatory stuff.” I frowned. “The toasts and words of love and whatnot. So come on, Mom and Dad. Let’s just get this over with.”

My mom, Maddie’s mom, Damien, and Bianca came up. But there was no sign of our dads.

“Mom, where’s Dad? And Maddie’s dad?” I whispered to my mom.

She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure. They were here a second ago. But we’ll have to go on without them.”

I frowned, but accepted it. After all, this was such a typical move from them. They were probably getting drunk or something.

“Hello!” my mom greeted. “I’m Shay’s mom, and because I promised her I wouldn’t do too much damage, I won’t break out the baby pictures. But I will say that I am so proud of my daughter. She has grown up to be a beautiful young woman, and I couldn’t ask for better. But I wouldn’t mind it if you wore those dresses I buy you all the time once in a while.”

“Mooom!” I whined. Everyone laughed at that.

“I’m sorry, honey. I’ll pass it to Damien, who hopefully won’t embarrass you as much.”

I think he’d be worse, actually.

“This isn’t easy for me, little sis,” he began. “This means you’re pretty much all grown up. I was even thinking of giving you The Talk already.”

I’m pretty sure I turned beet-red at this moment.

“But I won’t, at least not publicly. All I wanted to say was, that now that you’re all grown up, I hope you’ll continue to be the same, witty, funny and unique person you’ve been your whole life. Don’t you ever change, no matter what people say. Because we all love you for who you are, not the blond bimbo who’s trying to make you be like her. Oh, sorry, I’m not talking about you, Maddie, I swear, because you’re just as special as she is.”

I had to laugh at that one, as did everyone else. Maddie huffed. “Well, then.”

Bianca took the microphone and said, “I don’t have anything embarrassing to say, I promise. But now that you’re a woman, it’s time I show you some of the perks of being grown up. Both of you, of course. So don’t be surprised if I pop in someday at three in the morning, and expect you to get up… beware!”

“Could you make it three in the afternoon, maybe?” I asked. I needed my sleep.

She laughed along with everyone else. “No can do, sis-in-law.”

I sighed, but nodded. “Alright. But it better be fun! And illegal!”

When my mom and Damien gave me a look, I gave them an innocent shrug. “Kidding!”

 Ceci ran up. She was actually late to something important for once! I was so proud. “Sorry I’m late! I had to go do something. But I’m here now! Is it my turn to talk?”

When my mom nodded, she took the microphone. “Oh, Shay. What’s there to say? You are definitely the funniest person I know, and the best sister in the world. It’s hard to believe you’re already sixteen. I remember when we would eat toothpaste out of the tube. You convinced me to, and I was hooked. Even though you’re technically all grown up, you’re still a kid inside. And that’s what makes you unique. It’s what sets you apart from everyone. I hope you never lose touch of who you are, because I happen to love who you are, even if you’re a little annoying from time to time. Or all the time, actually. But you’re my sister. You’re supposed to drive me insane! What I’m saying is, happy birthday, Shay!”

She turned to Maddie. “Don’t think you’re off the hook, Maddie. Because you and Shay have been best friends since toddlers, you’ve been one of my best friends, too. And even though you’re the strangest person I know, like Shay, you’re still the person to call when I need cheering up, and Shay and Jasmine are in jail for trying to kidnap Orlando Bloom. Again.”

Jasmine had a nervous look in her eyes when Ceci said this, as did I. That was told to her under confidential circumstances!

They narrowed their eyes at me, but didn’t say anything. Maddie’s mom took the microphone. “Oh, Maddie, I can’t believe my baby is growing up! It seems like just yesterday I was helping you put the head back on your Barbie after Shay accidentally tore it off.”

People laughed. I swear that was an accident!

“Mom!” Maddie complained.

“I’m sorry, honey!” she apologized. “But now you’re a woman, and I’ll have to accept it. Just don’t you dare go and get yourself engaged just yet! Or pregnant!”

“Mom!” Maddie repeated.

“Sorry. I just want you to know how much I love you, and how proud I am of who you’ve become.”

Maddie smiled, and everyone clapped.

Jasmine snatched the microphone into her own hands. “Oh, no, no! Don’t think you’re gonna get away with forgetting about me!” she sang. Oh, dear Lord. “Okay, guys, there’s a lot I could say. I mean, you guys’ are my two best friends in the whole wide world. Almost all of my memories, you guys are in them. And while I could tell a lot of embarrassing stories, like the Orlando Bloom incident, I won’t, because those are between us four. All I’m gonna say is this: firstly, I’m gonna rub those things in your faces later today, when I’m not speaking into a mic, and secondly, that I hope you guys have the best birthday ever! Even if your birthday isn’t until tomorrow, Maddie.”

Everyone clapped at the end, and as we all hugged onstage, I was just glad that part was over. Whew.

 ()*()

“Awesome party, guys!” Random passerby’s shouted this to us constantly. We thanked them with smiles, and high-fives.

We had just come back from changing again, this time into our party outfits. Mine was a short, and I mean short, black dress with sparkles all over and a blue belt. It was strapless, reached above my knees, and gave me the hourglass-figure look. It had ruffles at the bottom. Maddie’s was of the same style, but it was a lavender color with a white belt on the waist. It was lacy. Jasmine even changed into a sparkly, sequined silver dress with spaghetti straps, which reached just above her knees.

“Omigosh, look who’s here,” Jasmine whispered suddenly as I finished thanking Elaine, the nice girl in my World History class.

It was Forrest and Paul.

“What is he doing here? He was not invited!” I muttered angrily. “It was for a reason he didn’t get invited!”

Maddie twirled her hair nervously and muttered, “I wonder what he’s doing here…”

I whirled around to face Maddie and her cheeks were red. “You invited them?!” I asked incredulously.

“Well… they… they… they seduced me!” she spluttered. “I couldn’t help it! One look at Paul, and I was pudding! Pudding, I tell you, pudding!”

I rolled my eyes. “Glad to see you’ve got your hormones in control there.”

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay…” I sighed. Maddie gave me a grateful smile. “But what am I gonna do now?” I asked miserably. “I don’t want him here!”

“Really, Shay?” Jasmine asked.

“Of course not!” I snapped. “It’s for his own good, anyways.”

“How?” Jasmine asked

I didn’t get to answer her question, because Forrest spotted us and began to walk over, beaming. “Well, hello there, Shay. Glad you invited me,” he said with a grin. “This party is kicking.”

That’s lame-cool-guy for awesome. I think.

First, I thanked him. Then I glared at him five seconds later. “I didn’t invite you. You see, my best friend Maddie here was high when she invited you guys. She wasn’t thinking rationally. So I’m just going to ask you to leave.”

He shook his head. “But we just got here.”

I smiled through gritted teeth. I grabbed a gift bag from behind me.

“Here’s a gift bag. Now you can at least say you were cool enough to attend our party!”

He chuckled lightly. “Fine, fine. Looks like I got all dressed up for nothing.”

Maddie looked at Paul, who was the guy she’d been pining for, in a forlorn manner. I sighed. If she wasn’t my best friend, I wouldn’t be doing this.

“Okay, you guys can stay as long as you stay out of my sight. If you come within three feet of me, I will taser you.”

Forrest chuckled, but nevertheless agreed. “You know what, Shay?” he asked. “If it was any other girl, I’d take their threat with a grain of salt. Because, truly, what other girl, besides you, would actually have the guts to do that?”

I shrugged.

“No one. That’s what sets you apart. But a deal is a deal. I guess I’ll leave you alone.”

He walked off.

I slapped Maddie on the arm. “Dude! You need to get your hormones in check, Maddie! The only reason I let them stay is because you so obviously only asked because of Paul!”

She looked down at her feet guiltily. “I’m sorry! I just… I like him!”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, he’s here now. Get your ass over there and talk to him!”

Maddie nodded decidedly and marched over to Paul.

“Hey,” she said in a small voice. She cleared her throat noisily before continuing. I had to contain my laughter. “I’m really glad you came.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to taser me, are you?”

Maddie laughed nervously. “No, no, why would you think that?”

He shook his head. “Nah, it’s just your friend, Shay, looked pretty serious when she said she’d taser us.”

Maddie laughed openly now. My viciousness was one of her favorite subjects. “Don’t worry, that’s just Shay. She swore she’d taser you guys if you came near her. I never swore anything. But seriously, I wouldn’t recommend going near her.”

Paul’s lips curved upward in a smile. “Well, you know, she didn’t seem so glad we came.”

Maddie shook it off with a wave of her hand. “Shay doesn’t know what she wants! Well, what she does know is that it’s not Forrest, I can tell you that much.”

Paul laughed. “Yeah, I think she’s made that much obvious. What he doesn’t understand is the mixed signals she’s sending.”

“I wasn’t aware she was sending any signals,” Maddie told him. “What signals are you talking about?”

I was ready to punch Maddie. Yeah, I told her to go talk to him. But I didn’t say that I had to be the topic! Especially not Forrest and I, together, as a topic! Oh, was she gonna get it later.

“I guess how she’s sort of flirting. At least he thinks she is.” Paul looked as if he were deep in thought. “Like when she steals something of his every time she sees him, since that first encounter, where she stole his milk and asked for Nesquik. Man, was that funny.”

Maddie laughed. “It was funny.” But then she turned serious. “But Shay isn’t flirting. She’s just impulsive. Or at least, she’s not trying to flirt. Maybe her subconscious self is telling her something different, though.”

Why, I oughta!

I didn’t get to hear the rest of their conversation, but by their smiles and actions, I could tell there was some serious flirting going on. Westley had shown up wearing a black tux, and he looked great, as usual. A little too great. 

“Hey,” I greeted.

 "Happy birthday, baby.” He wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and I hugged back. I did like him, just not in that way. But I didn’t want to break up with him on my birthday, at my party. I would break up with him, of course, but now was definitely not the moment.

“Aw, thank you,” I said after he let go.

He smiled at me.

Suddenly, something occurred to me. It hadn’t occurred to me what Forrest’s presence here might cause. Westley was still pretty mad about the whole almost-fight thing.

“Hey, are you okay with what happened on our first date?” I asked nervously. “You know… the Forrest thing?”

 “Yeah, I’m fine.” He nodded. “But if I ever see that jackass’s scrawny ass ever again, I swear, I’ll kill him.”

I nodded with a frozen look on my face. “Uh-huh…” Shit. I had to do something about this, and fast. Or else there could be blood shed at this party. “Oh, I totally forgot, my mom asked Maddie and me to meet her in the kitchen to decide which cake to cut first!”

Westley nodded. “Do you want me to come with you? I can help.”

I shook my head desperately. “No, it’s okay, just enjoy the party. My brother’s over there, you can go talk to him.”

Westley and Damien, my brother, got along well, surprisingly. At first, Damien didn’t like Westley, because Damien was overprotective of me. But after that, he decided Westley was a pretty cool guy.

 I ran to where Maddie was still flirting with Paul. I grabbed her by the arm. Paul reflexively took three steps back. At first, I was bewildered, but then I remembered my threat and I couldn’t help but crack a smile.

 “Maddie, my mom needs us in the kitchen,” I told her breathlessly, growing serious.

 Maddie frowned. “But we were talking…”

 “Maddie, now!” I barked.

 She nodded and followed me into the empty kitchen. “What’s up?”

 I ran a hand through my hair. “Okay, remember the almost-fight between West and Forrest?”

Maddie laughed. “Duh! How could I forget?” 

I nodded. “Well, West is here and so is Forrest. West swore if he ever saw Forrest again, he’d kill him. Do you get it now?”

Her eyes grew wide as she nodded. “Oh, God, okay, what do we do, then?”

“I’ll go warn Forrest, okay? You make sure Westley stays away, okay?”

She nodded. “Got it!”

We split and I went out in search of Forrest. He was flirting with a girl from my Algebra Two class. I walked over and shoved the girl aside. “Sorry, but I gotta talk to him urgently. And it’s my party. So go talk to your friend over there.”

She frowned but left. I felt a little bad, because she was a nice girl, but when I remembered the deadly glint in Westley’s eyes, I felt better.

Forrest grinned. “So you changed your mind and want to sneak up to your room and do it?”

I slapped him in the chest. “Can it, Rivers. This is serious. You being here is not a good idea.”

“Wait, you aren’t gonna taser me now, are you?” he asked with a worried expression, checking my arms for any devices.

I laughed lightly, but shook my head. “No, now focus! You can’t be here!”

He raised his left eyebrow in amused surprise. “Mmm?”

I sighed loudly. “Look, Westley, my boyfriend, is here, and he doesn’t like you at all after the almost-fight,” I started.

Forrest scoffed. “He’s just being a sissy because he knows he would’ve lost! And he doesn’t want a chance to take me again, especially not in front of you!”

“Whatever, that doesn’t matter!” I growled. “The point is he’s about ready to kill you, and he’s a really vicious guy. Who knows? He might not kill you, but he sure as hell is capable of stabbing you with my cake-cutting knife,” I continued, “and I was seriously gonna let you stay, I promise. But I totally forgot about West, and I don’t want any blood in my pool.”

Forrest laughed out loud. “Aw, Shay, are you worried about me?”

I frowned. I wasn’t worried about him! Was I? “Just get out of here before its too late, okay?” I said hurriedly. “And no, I’m not worried; I just don’t want a blood-shed Sweet Sixteen! Besides, there could be blood stains, and this is my favorite part of the house!”

He laughed. “Oh, sure, Shay.”

 “I’m serious!” 

“Sure you are.”

 I rolled my eyes and side. “This isn’t important, all right? What’s important is that you need to get out of here, now.”

 “Alright, fine.”

He was about to leave when I grabbed him by the neck. He had a striped red tie on, as an accessory for his white dress shirt, and it wasn’t tied. It just hung loosely around his neck. Either it was a fashion statement, or neither he nor Paul knew how to tie a tie. Whatever the reason was, it was a good thing for me, because when I grabbed it, it slid up and off his head. He burst out laughing, and was about to make a comment over my insane custom, which I believe, has now become a habit, but I didn’t give him a chance. I just pushed him out the door.

I sighed in relief. This could have ended really badly.

I went out in search of Maddie once more. I found her telling a confused West about the importance of immigration in our community.

Yeah, I don’t know.

“Hey, guys. There was an annoying bird perched on our fence, but he finally left.”

Maddie nodded, getting the message. “About flipping time.”

I grinned. “I say we go dance, and actually party!”

“I second that!”

The band had finally arrived. My mom had hired one of those cheesy-but-actually-good boy bands, with a bunch of too-hot guys in it. But they probably weren’t even real. In my mind, almost every guy was good looking. Okay, not almost every guy, but there aren’t many I would call ugly. These guys were famous for a reason, I’ll give them that. The day I want to go through some crappy relationship with a narcissist boy band lead singer of guitarist, I’ll just go shoot myself. But I did enjoy dancing to their catchy music, and the girls loved them.

Emily, the star of the basketball team, came up to me. “Hey, Shay, first off, great party! Seriously!” She grinned. “But now I have some sort of bad news.”

I raised my left eyebrow. This couldn’t be good. “Bad news?” I squeaked.

“Don’t freak out, alright?” Emily said nervously. “It’s just that these girls from Ridgeway are here, and I doubt you invited them.”

"Ridgeway?” I spat. “I would never, over my dead body, invite somebody from Ridgeway to my party!”

 “Forrest and Paul go to Ridgeway,” Maddie whispered to me.

 “And did I invite them?” I asked, putting emphasis on the “I”.

 Maddie looked down guiltily. “No… I’m sorry!”

 “It’s aright,” I whispered.

 “Well, they’re over by the pool, if you want to do something about it,” Emily told me, and started dancing along with Jasmine two seconds later.

“You wanna come with me?” I asked Maddie and Ceci. Jasmine was too busy partying to pay any notice.

Maddie and Ceci nodded, and we walked towards the pool. Sure enough, some girls that I recognized to be on the Ridgeway basketball team and volleyball team were standing there, talking, laughing and flirting with the boys I had invited.

“Is that Serena Magnus?” Ceci asked.

To some people, that name was Taboo. Serena Magnus. People just assumed she was an evil bitch. She might have been, but it was still unfair. She had the blond hair and everything, but there was something off about her. I didn’t understand what. I’m sure all Ceci saw was the evil bitch, but I knew there was something off. She was more than that, I thought. But that didn’t matter at that moment. I walked in front of the Ridgeway girls and raised an eyebrow.

“Having fun?” I asked casually.

They eyed Maddie and me warily.

“Yes…”

“That’s too bad,” Maddie interjected with a small smile.

“Imagine how much fun you might have had if you had actually been invited,” I said.

“Why would it?” a girl with straight brown hair and bangs asked. “Crashing is so much more fun.”

I knew they resented me for the barking incident, which must have helped trigger their will to crash my party.

“Not when you’re kicked out publicly and rudely.”

“And who’s going to kick us out?” Serena asked with a barely visible sneer.

“I am, or my huge security guard I hired,” I answered with a fake smile.

I knew that Serena was probably just looking for a little fun, but I wasn’t in the mood for crashers. This was Maddie and my party.

“And what if we want to stay?” she inquired.

“Then I suggest you change your mind,” I told her honestly. I casually took my phone out of the strap on my thigh, under my dress, which carried all of essentials. It looked like I was just texting a friend, but really, I was texting Ceci, asking her where the pool’s thermostat was. She answered that there was a panel a few feet away from where I was standing that controlled it.

I casually strolled towards it. It looked as if I were just circling them, in the normal manner in a situation like this. But Maddie and Ceci knew better. I acted like I was just toying with the panel; but really, I was adjusting the temperature to freezing. I was glad there was no one in the pool yet.

“And what if I don’t?” she continued.

 “I seriously suggest you change your mind,” I insisted.

 “Listen,” she began. “I’m really not in the mood for this. All we want is to party, and if it’s at your party, and maybe we’re crashing it, so be it.”

 “And truthfully,” the brunette interjected, “you should be happy we’re here. Don’t you wanna say the two most popular girls in this town came to your party?”

 The brunette was all wishful thinking. If anyone was the It Girl, it was Serena, not her and Serena.

 “No, actually,” I began with a small smile forming on my lips, “I want to be able to say that I pushed the ‘two most popular girls’ into my pool when they had the nerve to crash my party, and be bitches about it.”

And then I pushed them in my pool. They screamed at the cold. And you know what I did? I cracked up alongside Maddie and Ceci. Serena and friend got out of the pool swiftly, so no damage was done. Except for maybe their egos. No one crashes Shay Barron’s party, and gets away with it!