Mean Girls need Love too

The Party Preparation

One fact Skylar hadn't given enough consideration when she invited Lexi over directly after school was her mother.

"Oh, who's this?"

"Mom, meet Lexi. She's new at school."

Lexi gave a small wave and a smile which Skylar's mother accepted with the same boredom a queen would have at a subject's bow, despite being dressed in only a high-end sport-bra and yoga pants. Her blue eyes, so like Skylar's own, wandered over Lexi's hoodie-and-band-shirt combination and there was a clear tick of ridicule in the corner of her mouth.

"Well, as long as you're not here to do drugs or rob us ..."

"Mom." Skylar's voice wasn't loud but as sharp and quick as a scalpel.

"Please, I'm just joking, you're always so sensitive. I guess I'm not used to the way some young girls dress nowadays."

"No worries, Mrs Thompson," Lexi replied, stuffing her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, her shoulders lax. She looked calm. "Trends change with generations after all."

A muscle in her mother's cheek twitched. "Delightful."

Skylar grasped Lexi's elbow, tugging her towards the staircase. "We'll be in my room."

Her mother didn't bother watching them leave but couldn't help getting the last word in. "Remember what I told you on how to pick your friends, Skylar."

Skylar closed and locked her door behind her, banishing the words outside in the cold corridor where they belonged, as sterile and emotionless as the white walls and modern, nonsensical artworks framed under bright lights.

Lexi looked at the turned lock but didn't comment, instead pivoting around to take Skylar's room in.

"Wow. This is what the inside of Barbie's dreamhouse must look like."

Skylar felt her fingers uncurl when Lexi didn't say anything about her mother. Taking a deep breath she walked across the plush carpet, throwing open her closet doors and letting her fingers run over the different fabrics spilling forth, soft cotton, slippery silk, rough denim, light crepe and fine lace tickling her skin and calming her nerves.

"You're living like a fairy tale princess."

Skylar was used to people's reactions once they saw her house, the high windows, spiral staircase, marble pillars and polished hard-wood floors. They always fell into one of two categories: obvious awe or poorly hidden jealousy.

Lexi seemed to hover in the first slot, though there was something softly mocking to her words, as if being a fairy tale princess was something she had never aspired to be.

"And of course you have a walk-in wardrobe."

"Where would I keep my clothes otherwise?"

Lexi smiled. "Is there an entrance to Narnia?"

Skylar ignored her in favor of plucking one of her favorite tops from the closet. The shimmering, dark fabric was reinforced with a slim corset made from flexible material, Skylar's pick for whenever she wanted to feel a bit bad. It skirted the edge of too much but combined with the right make-up it had a certain impact and there certainly wasn't anything 'tame' or 'boring' about it. In other words, nothing that would allow Lexi to keep up her reputation as an innocent wallflower.

She would look debauched.

"You moonlighting at a burlesque club?"

Skylar scoffed and pressed the top into Lexi's hands. "It's for you."

The other girl blinked. "Yeah, no way that's happening."

Skylar shot her a look.

"You can glare at me all you want, I'm still not wearing it."