Strawberry Island (girlxgirl)

Cruel Party Favors

"Would you go change into something more appealing for the gathering." Ophelia ordered while she applied her makeup. Florence gritted her teeth and nodded, heading back to her room. She peeled off her lavender blouse and threw it in her closet angrily, opting for a more "appealing" article of clothing with a baby blue floral Prada dress. Today was the annual End of Summer Festival that the Ainsworth's held for all the residents of Strawberry Island, Florence always found the gathering to be rather boring.

She turned the corner and presented herself to her mother who was straightening Malcolm's tie. "Much better, Florence. Now, would you start welcoming the guests."

The center of town was bustling with people under and around a large canopy, the kind that served to host wedding receptions, Clara thought it was a bit too big for such a small population. 

Florence stood around a table with a white cloth as she sipped her sparkling drink, staring at every guest who showed up. 

The elderly McKinnon couple sipped tea and laughed at the jokes told by Martin Panek while the rest of the Panek family marveled at the Tuffin couple and their new born baby under the shade of a Sycamore tree.

The Cadwell boys wore their blonde hair slicked to one side as if they were sleazy Frat boys. This made Florence scrunch up her nose while letting out a scoff as she tried to advert her eyes. By doing so, she witnessed from afar the wealthy Armahn family, who were the snottiest the island had to offer, made banter with Malcolm about the most boring of topics.

Florence sent a smile over to the Le Bauer family as they walked past her in their tight designer summer attire. Florence had heard rumors that the Le Bauer's were nearly bankrupt and were only doing their best to keep up appearances. You could tell in the submissive behavior of the family as they tried to make small talk at the gathering, walking a tight rope, avoiding any confrontation. 

A few familiar faces that Florence knew she should be able to put a name to but couldn't. 

The lighthouse keeper, Mr. Clayton walked around to each stray party goer he saw and began inquiring about their summer, this scared Florence off, who loathed small talk. Instead she hurried over to Nunzio, Jasper, and a few other young children, joining in their game of croquet. 

"Who's winning?" She asked. "Well, Evangeline was winning until she ditched us." Nunzio responded with a shrug before swinging his mallet at the ball. 

Florence furrowed her eyebrows, "do you know where she went?" She added, doing her best to not sound too suspiciously invested.

"She's probably with the Cadwell boys." Jasper fanned his sweaty face with his cap tiredly. 

"Figures." She mumbled in regards to Evangeline's boy craziness, however she quickly put two and two together realizing Evangeline could quite possibly be revealing her and Clara's secret relationship to Logan as a way of making sure everyone gets hurt. Florence couldn't disagree with this decision, she would do the same- the betrayal is consuming her cousin. And everyone will have a front row seat to the show. 

Florence scanned the area, quickly spotting Logan and Evangeline hovering around the chess table. She clenched her jaw, indecisive on whether or not she should interrupt their conversation, what could she even say? What if they're talking about something completely unrelated and Florence embarrasses herself? She planted her feet in the sand, it felt as though the sand was weighing her down making it impossible to take a step.

Logan swirled the liquid in his crystal cup, trying to catch glimpse of the tense blonde who stood a few yards away, talking with the older invitees as they told stories from their youth. 

"I'm starting to think that Clara isn't interested in me." He started, which rudely cut off Evangeline's rambling about her upcoming tennis matchups.

"Yeah no shit. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out." A blank look fell upon her face at the mention of her best friend.

"Jeez whats your deal? I know it's not that obvious, you're just being dramatic." Logan retorted, now focusing entirely on Evangeline.

"Don't call me 'dramatic' Logan, its not my fault its taken you this long to take a hint." Evangeline barked.

"Oh really? Because thats real rich coming from you" Logan didn't hesitate.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Evangeline put her hands on her hips and scrunched her nose up at the dirty blonde boy who was tall enough to block the glare of the sun from her eye line.

"Your obsession with my brother." He spoke with the least amount of discretion, doing his best to deflect the embarrassment he felt from being confronted with Evangeline's digs at him.

"You asshole!" Evangeline splashed the drink at the Cadwell brother, drenching him, incidentally drawing the attention of every guest within earshot.

Florence immediately darted her gaze towards Gwendolyn who had an infuriated look on her face as she witnessed her daughter's outburst.

"Shhhit" Florence winced, somewhat in disbelief at the sight. Her feet cut through the sand with ease as she hurried to meet the situation before it reached a head.

Gwendolyn walked over to Evangeline and gripped her wrist, walking her towards the nearest Ainsworth mansion. 

"Teenage drama." Jane shrugged it off to the crowd of people who all let out an uncomfortable scattered laughter.