We were once 5

The 'mistake' (1)

22nd September 2021

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSE!" Claim my friends in unison.
Ayyy it's my birthday! My favourite day of the year, the day I get all the attention, the one day my parents give me as much attention as my brother, even though I didn't get some brilliant grade or saved a puppy on the side of the road (that actually happened, my brother is a fucking saint compared to me).

As we all walk up the stairs to our English class, we talk about our plans for today, all focused on me.

"Hey girls, do you want to ditch school and go eat somewhere nice?" Asks Rachel.
We all look at her with surprised eyes. We never ditched school before, never, even Em and Rachel.
"What are you talking about?" Asks Jane, a little worried.
"Come one, Rose, don't you want to eat edible food for your birthday?" Asks Rachel looking at me.
"Um... well yeah, but I don't think we should do that. What if we get caught?"
"Oh little baby is scared to get caught." Rachel says, sharing a mocking glance with Emily. "Nothing will happen, no one will see us. Don't you want to have a little fun? We never do anything, life is boring with you guys."
As I'm about to reply what I think is a tough reply but acutely sounds like a puppy begging for food, the bell rings.

We all enter the English class, Emily is sitting next to Jane, I'm with Rachel, and Helena is alone as always. I kind of feel bad for her, maybe I should go and sit with her, I mean, I don't really want to sit with Rachel after what she just said. Some times, she's the sweetest person on earth, but sometimes, she's just pretentious and annoying like 5 minutes ago. But as im about to grab my books and settle down next to Helena, a girl gets there first and asks if the seat is free.
"Sorry, I'm sit..." but before I can finish my sentence, Helena moves her books on her side and nods to the new girl with a smile.
"Hi, I'm Helena, I've never seen you here before, are you new?"
No she isn't, Olivia Green has been at Paloma forever, and Helena never even spared a glance at her.
"Um no, not really. I've been at Paloma for a long time actually." Says Olivia with an awkward smile.
"Oh! I'm sorry! Well tell me about you, you'll see Mrs Eve, our history teacher, is veryyyy boring."
"Yeah... I know." Answers Olivia.
"Oh of course you do! Sorry lol." Answers Helena with a laugh.

I look at Helena and Olivia and take in a deep breath before returning back to my seat. I know it's selfish, but god I'm jealous.

"Hey so I had this great idea," Says Rachel, pulling me out of my thoughts, "why don't you come my house tonight with the girls and we have a little party before you have to head back home. So you get to have a little party with us."
"You know I can't, my mom grounded me." I say with a sad smile.
"She won't know a thing!" Exclaims Rachel. "Come on! It will be fun!"
"Okay but I have to be home at 06:00 pm. If my parents get home before I do, I am dead for sure."
"Promise!"

So after school, we were all heading to Rachel's house, checking our watches every 5 minutes to make sure we wouldn't go above 06:00 pm. Once we were all sitting in her living room, a glass of apple juice in our hands, we started our 'little party'. We put some music on ('Heart Attack' by Demi Lovato) and started to dance and sing.
An hour later, it was 05:30 pm and we were all laying on the ground laughing.
"Girls, do you want to do something funny?" Asks Rachel with a mischievous grin.
Each time Rachel had this face on, it meant she was about to do something she would regret later and that we would all be involved in it. But what the hell, it's my birthday, let's have some fun!
"Rach..." Starts Jane, the only more or less sane person in our group.
"Let her Jane." Whispers Helena so low that only Jane and I can hear. "I want to see where is her limit. Let her have fun, she'll regret it after, and we can finally start our plan."

I look at Helena with a shocked face. What is she talking about?
"What do you want to do?" Asks Emily at Rachel.
"Well, while we ladies we're having our share of fun, I heard my sister come home and go up to her room. But she wasn't alone. And I'm sure my parents wouldn't be please if they—um let's say—accidentally fell on a picture of Anastasia and a boy in her bed.
We all look at each other. Wasn't this a little over the limit? Anastasia was allowed to have a bit of privacy and she's really nice and I don't really want to give her away if she really is—in a room with a boy.
"I don't think..." Starts Jane but before she can finish her sentence, Rachel is already climbing the stairs one by one.

Well there we go, following one of Rachel's crazy ideas, again...