"Ugh, everything is so boring around here." The monotonic tone to Jennifer's voice matched her boredom. She flopped on the couch and tipped her head back to stare up at the ceiling. "Where is everyone?"
It had been four days since anything exciting had happened in this place, and she hadn't even been there to see it. She'd been at a friend's house while Jesse and Wren had the battle of the century—or something. Whatever the case, since then she never even saw anyone around anymore. Jesse had disappeared to somewhere in the house, Wren and Simon were apparently in the hospital, Fletcher never came around anymore (not that he was much fun most of the time anyway), and Jack had been a mess, going on about one thing or another to himself at any given point of the day. Something about an accident and that it was all his fault, and what was he thinking, or something.
The thought made a mischievous smirk slowly creep across her face. Jack was out of it, which could only mean one thing: he was twice as easy to mess with. She could probably find him around here somewhere if she tried hard enough. Reinvigorated with a new mission, she leaped off the couch and set to sneaking around the house. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a pretty easy task.
"Dude, seriously?" she asked from the doorway to his room, watching as he sat on the edge of his bed, nervously gripping his staff and muttering to himself. "Jesse can play hide and seek better than you and he doesn't even try."
"Huh?" Jack peeled his wide-eyed gaze from the wall over to where she stood.
"I've got a challenge for you," she smirked. "Let's see how far you can army crawl...without your stick!" She grabbed the staff from his hands and took off back into the kitchen. She expected to hear the thud of him throwing himself off the bed, or at least some cries of protest, but after a moment she stopped when she heard nothing. Her smile faded and she turned around to see Jack just sitting there, gaze turned back to the wall. Her shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Ohhh my gosh!" She groaned. "Is there literally anyone around here who knows how to have a little fun?" She folded her arms across her chest and started tapping her foot against the ground, trying to think of what else she could do. She wasn't even going to bother with Jesse, she already knew he likely wasn't going to want to be her partner in crime today. So what were her options? She glanced at her phone on the counter. Maybe some of her friends would like to get together? Her expression brightened. Heyyyy, yeah! A party was just what this dull atmosphere called for. Jesse wasn't around to tell her otherwise, and their parents weren't due back for a while yet, so who would ever know the difference? Quick as a flash she dropped Jack's staff and snatched up her phone.
"Let's see...Tiffany..." she scrolled through her list of messages on her phone. "Aha!" She opened her friend's contact profile and hit the number on the screen before lifting the phone to her ear. She waited one second, two, three.
"Jennifer?" A stereotypical valley girl voice came through from the other end.
"Tiffany!" Jennifer exclaimed. "My one and only, my girly, my favourite, how are you?"
"I'm surviving this awful town," Tiffany replied.
"Ugh, tell me about it." Jennifer rolled her eyes, shooting a glance at Jack. "But don't worry, our troubles are over. At least for tonight."
"How come?"
"Because you and me are gonna host the party of the year right here at my place!"
A shriek filled the entire room coming from Jennifer's phone speaker. "ARE YOU BEING SERIOUS?"
"Of course! Something of this size would never be something to joke about."
"Girl, you are the best."
