A Night in Paris

chapter six

So my parents heard everything, including the part about me starting the dance so that I could get a sweet sixteen and they were... not the happiest.

"The deal was a shopping spree or a sweet sixteen, not both!" yelled my mom.

"I know, I'm sorry!" I pleaded.

"Are you? Are you really? Or are you just saying that because you got caught?" asked my mom.

I thought long and hard about how I was going to answer this. I was going to lie but I decided I'd be honest.

"You know what? I mean this with all due respect but I'm not sorry. Sure, I was sneaky and went behind your back but the deal was you would throw me a sweet sixteen, you said nothing about me throwing it or the school. I take responsibility because I can see how what I did may seem disrespectful but I am not sorry for doing it. I think it was very smart and shows that I am able to take initiative and demonstrate leadership, two very important characteristics in life," I said.

My dad looked impressed but my mom was furious. Not over the dance, but because she could see my point. She let out a loud sigh, "ugh, how did we raise such a smart girl?" she asked.

"She gets it from me," my dad boasted, giving me a fist bump.

"Am I in trouble?" I asked.

"For the dance? No. How you reacted to your friends, yes! River, that was so not nice of you. We might of raised a genius but we did not raise you to be a bully!" she exclaimed.

"I know it was harsh but it was true and I was mad and they said some mean things too!" I said.

"You all said some things but it's up to you to be the bigger person so you girls can squash this!" said my mom.

"Up to me? Why?" I asked.

"Because I said so," my mom said folding her arms.

I sighed, "But–"

"River!" yelled my mom.

"Mom!" I whined.

"River!" yelled my dad. 

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'll apologize!" I shouted. They smiled, nodded then left my room.

"Eventually," I mumbled.

For the first time in years we went a whole weekend without hanging out at all. None of the girls even texted me. I mean, I could've texted them too but still. They definitely have a group chat with just the three of them. The thought of it makes me shudder. I can't believe I was in a fight with my best friends. We've fought before but over petty stuff that usually got resolved by the same day but it was now Thursday, the day before the dance and still nothing. I know I could easily squash this by apologizing so I figured today at lunch I would.

I stopped by my locker to grab my lunch box and as I was walking down to the hall that led to the lunchroom I was stopped by a large cheering crowd. I tried to squeeze my way through to see what was going on and it was Jet with a large sign that read "Formal?" underlined with a red carpet and a giant sparkly question mark. Kaia looked embarrassed but she said yes. The entire crowd started cheering especially Khalil who was standing with Tara and Ahni who were smiling awkwardly. I tried to fake a smile and just accept the fact that Jet doesn't like me but it was so hard to. I put my head down and tried to walk around the crowd but then I heard an even louder commotion. I looked up to see what it was and was mortified! Jet and Kaia were kissing! On the lips! In front of a hallway full of people! All of the guys started getting really loud. As for me, my heart had just shattered into a million pieces. I looked over to Ahni and Tara who were looking over at me. They looked just as shocked as I was. Instead of doing what I initially had planned which was to apologize to my friends and rekindle our friendship, I went into my period bag, grabbed the pre-signed early dismissal slip, signed my name, put today's date on it and went to the office so that I could go home.