Starry Eyed

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Seven

If I had asked Star what the ideal way to celebrate a close friend being arrested for murder was, she would have said a party, no matter what. This was terrifying in any circumstance. So the party she planned for the school changed its disguise.

"It's almost end of term anyway," Star explained as I followed her to the school hall, the afternoon humming along with the setting sun. "So this isn't just some regular party. It's also a there's-no-killer-on-the-loose-anymore celebration. Who doesn't love one of those?"

In truth, it was definitely just Star's method of coping. She was pretending that she felt happy to be safe now, rather than upset over what happened to Finn. It was a dangerous rope to walk, but we were both playing games with ourselves. I couldn't bring myself to think of James, even nearly a month later. Instead I decided to focus on tonight.

"It's got to be the biggest celebration of the year," Star declared, twisting the key and throwing back the double doors to the hall. All of the chairs had been cleared away already by the detention delinquents yesterday afternoon; having a principal for a father gave Star more breathing room than anybody could ever need. She sure knew how to pull the right strings.

"You say that now," I laughed. "Until your next party goes down." She laughed, too, and pulled out the packet of balloons from her purse.

"I want every one blown up and strung from the ceiling within thirty minutes," she announced.

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. Anyway, I have some other detention-goers coming round any minute now. You won't be alone. I have four more packets, by the way."

There were a hundred balloons in the packet. And I laughed and started working.

*

By the time Star's special night was all set up, I was feeling kind of pumped up. It was completely bewildering. I'd never been properly excited in any form for any kind of party or celebration before. But five hundred balloons, an hour of 'mood lighting' and checking our playlist wasn't 'overly explicit' sure gave you a bit of a thrill. Plus, Star was still cruising about in a crop top and a miniskirt. The last assistant from detention class brought us a special 'takeaway' meal from the cafeteria, courtesy of Star's dad threatening to cut the canteen cook's pay checks for us. We ate them side by side in the kitchen.

"It's been too long since I hosted something like this," Star sighed dreamily.

"It's been too long since I last had my hair shaved off."

She laughed. "At least Kim and you have that weird sort of truce going on. I'm sure it's better than having her slice your fingers off this time."

"That was a lot more violent than I was imagining," I joked. Star had curry around her mouth from the butter chicken. I didn't tell her, and she wiped it off herself.

"Oh, God, look at the time!" Suddenly, Star leapt up out of her seat, discarding her dinner on the bench. "We only have another half hour before people start arriving." She made her way towards the door.

"Wait, where are you going? Am I just going to have to sit here by myself?"

"I'm getting changed, silly," she answered, peeking her head back around the door. "I can't wear this little number all day. Even though I know you were enjoying it." With a wink, she disappeared, leaving me with my jaw open. Maybe I'd stared a little too much. But she was totally right. If I wasn't so lame about that stuff, I wouldn't be stuck in the damn friend zone.

The friend zone was better than the zone where I didn't ever see Star, though.

I polished off the butter chicken and cleaned up the kitchen, taking the food and drinks out to their respective tables in the hall. I was getting sort of thirsty, but I wasn't going to risk one sip of that punch. A few of the balloons and streamers had already fallen down. I taped them back up as quickly as I could; Star wanted this to be a perfect night, and it would be. God knew we deserved something good. I switched on the music, my eye on the clock, waiting for the first guests to arrive.