Halo Of Fire: An Angel In Trouble

Birthday Girl

Cecily met us outside the school standing by her usual fancy car and driver to take us to her house to get ready for her birthday. "My sweet 16 last year was depressing so it needs to be perfect this year." She said as we filed into the car and she sat in the front seat of the sedan.

"What do you need help with? I'm really good with decorations." I said, musing about any other skills I might've forgotten about.

"Oh, nonsense. That's all been taken care of," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "I'm worried about what to wear."

"Taken care of?" I asked confused.

"Yeah, the caterer and florist are at the house already."

"What kind of party are you having?" I asked, feeling a sense of inadequacy rise within me. I'd never been to a birthday party that used a caterer or a florist. Granted, I'd never been friends with rich kids before either so this was all new to me. It dawned on me that technically, because of my aunt's job, I could be considered rich too and that made my hands sweat uncomfortably.

"Well, I decided it was going to be a 1920s theme which is why the invitations for it said 1920s theme," she said looking back at me from the front seat.

"OK don't hate me but depending on whether or not you'll get mad at me I may or may not have forgotten that it was a costume party and I may or may not have forgotten to get the costume for it."

I could see her eyes roll to the back of her head even without being able to see her. She huffed, "Ok, well, I have a couple extras, you can use whatever I choose not to wear."

I nodded my head, "ok."

When we arrived at the house, people were bustling in and out of every room, organizing, decorating, calling for this or that, here and there. "Wow," I said, looking around myself.

"Come, we don't have a lot of time," Cecily said, grabbing both myself and Jordan by the arm. Ophelia trailed behind with her costume bag slung over her shoulder.

She did a whole walk out of her closet thing Sex and The City style, going through the five dress options she had for the evening. We all agreed that the mid-thigh length black and gold Charleston flapper dress fit her best. Her blond hair and green eyes accentuated by the dress, looked incredibly bright and alive that evening. She looked absolutely stunning.

I wore one of the others, a lavender purple piece that reminded me a lot of something Daisy from the Great Gatsby would have worn. It definitely looked better on Cecily, since the piece was tailor-made to fit her figure. But all in all, it didn't look bad on me and I found myself admiring my legs, peeking out of the dress, much longer and slimmer than I had always seen them until that day. Mirrors were not my friends.

Jordan had chosen a white suit and tie piece that was absolutely astonishing on them. The piece hugged them nicely and highlighted their broad shoulders. For the first time, I saw them in a non-uniform outfit, which caused a complete shock in my brain since they looked so much different than what I had always seen them as.

Ophelia had a longer piece stored in her clothing bag. Pale pink with sequins and bell sleeves to the elbows. The piece reached her ankles and highlighted her dark complexion and long neck. She paired it with a pair of closed shoes and wrapped her hair up to make it look like a short bob. She looked absolutely exquisite.

When we had finally completed our makeup and all our hair, we went to the main floor living room. Cecily had instructed the butler to lock all the bedrooms and rooms that might have valuables, just in case someone of poor taste, namely Damian and his goons, showed up and tried to cause trouble.

At nine the first guests started to arrive. All their costumes were well-made and original-looking. None of these looked like costumes from a costume shop or from a Spirit of Halloween store like the many I owned which were currently stuffed in a box in a storage unit that we hadn't had the time to empty yet.

"I don't recognize all of these people," I said to Cecily after we had greeted twenty or thirty guests.

"They're not all from the Academy. Some are children of friends of my parents that I know or friends from camp and stuff like that," She explained.

"I see. So should I just fake I know everyone or just present myself every time?"

She waved her hand in the air, "They'll forget your name anyway, just fake you know them, worst case scenario we just re-present you." She winked at me and greeted yet another person.

"I wonder why we have to help her greet everyone?" Jordan said in a whisper so just myself and Ophelia could hear.

Ophelia snickered, "Because it's our jobs as friends."

"I mean I guess," Jordan looked around themself, "Give me a sec, I'll be right back." They stepped back and sideways and walked away with a sly grin on their face.

I immediately had a bad feeling and instructed Ophelia to wait there, that we'd be right back, and followed Jordan to the food table that nobody was paying much attention to. "What are you doing?" I asked in a whisper as I pulled on their jacked sleeve.

"Shh, don't be a party pooper," They said, as they poured the entirety of a flask into the punch bowl.

"They're literally serving champagne to the guests, there's no need to spike the punch," I hissed at them.

They gave me a side glance, "You have to be kidding me," they said, putting the top back on and slipping it back into the inside pocket of their jacket, "It's non-alcoholic. We're all minors, remember? They'd never purposefully feed us alcohol unless they were trying to get their licenses revoked or lose their business. Even IF Cecily's family is hella rich."

"Good point," I said, looking at them and then at the punch and then back at them, "You have a bad track record though of not following the rules for someone who wants to become a lawyer."

They raised their eyebrows at me and gave me a sly smile as a response. Then Jay grabbed me underarm and walked me back to the greeting line, "Not a word."

I rolled my eyes and agreed with a small smile of my own.

Hello hello Reader! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please vote and comment! <3
Veronique