Friendship Mirrors

Chapter 5 - Shopping Surprises

1 YEAR LATER

It was a surprisingly sunny October afternoon in Florida and my parents and I were taking advantage of the sun. We had all the windows and even the conservatory doors wide open so the warmth could enter our house. I had stripped down to a vest and shorts, enjoying the American heat. The heat in London’s summer couldn’t even compare to America’s autumn. That’s how cold London was.

Wow honey, I can’t believe it’s been 1 year since you’ve been attending Cedarwood!” Dad exclaimed.

“And it’s also been 1 year since you and Ariana had that huge fight. You must be so thankful that Mr Donovan didn’t kick you out of the school. I still can’t believe you and her haven’t made up yet!” Mum sighed.

“Mum, it wasn’t that big of a fight, it probably lasted for about 2 minutes. It wasn’t even my fault, you don’t know Ariana! I hate to say this, but she is one big B.I.T.C.H.” I protested.

“Language young lady! But I understand. But there was no need to get physical was there?”

“She was asking for it!”

“You know what? Let’s forget about this. Now, what were you saying about that Halloween party Dana?” Dad said, trying to change the subject.

“Yes! So as we know, Halloween is coming up. I really want to throw a huge party here since our house is quite big and spacious, and invite pretty much everyone who’s a Junior.”

Mum let out a sarcastic laugh. “Ha! Yes love, our house is quite big, but we can’t have around 300 children partying hardcore here! Who knows what could happen? Drugs, alcohol, sex, even vandalism. It’s really not ideal and it’s only been a year since we’re here, we don’t want to get kicked out already because of complaints made by the neighbours!”

“But Mum, I’m an adult now. Well, nearly an adult. I am mature enough to keep a house party under control. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens so the police won’t have to hunt us down.”

“Look darling, your Mum has a point. How about you only invite the people you actually know? That way, there’s less chance of our house practically being destroyed.”

“Okay, but I’m not gonna lie, I do know quite a lot of people already.”

I hate to boast, but I had already made so many new friends at Cedarwood. My closest mates were Taylor Brooks, a short, quiet girl with a pixie haircut, and Cheyenne West, a tall, loud girl with red hair. As you can tell, they are total opposites. But as they say, opposites attract. Even though we all looked so different, we had one thing in common. We all had bad experiences with Ariana. Taylor started Cedarwood at the same time as Ariana and Ariana hated her the minute she set eyes on her, just because Taylor is mega pretty. Obviously out of jealousy though, because Taylor is such an awesome girl to be with. With Cheyenne, Ariana disliked her because she had a fling with Charlie before they started going out. Damn, Cheyenne is one lucky girl.

I had already made an invitation list and it had amounted to about 200 people. If I took all those people into consideration and only invited the ones I talked to, then it would probably cut down to about 120 people. I don’t think my parents would be satisfied by this.

“Since October 31st is in less than 2 weeks, I suggest we start shopping for decorations and whatnot before it gets too late.” Dad advised.

“And since it’s my day off today, we can all go shopping together!” Mum smiled.

We drove to Party Town which was situated in NB Outlet Mall. This shop was just insane! There were fake cobwebs hanging from the ceiling with fake spiders dangling down from them. They looked so realistic, because they could crawl about too. The lights occasionally flickered for the spooky effect, and there were skeleton streamers hanging high above our heads. Fake ghosts were popping out of closets and blood masks were being pumped by shop assistants in the corner. The whole atmosphere was so unnerving and I felt uneasy at first. But we were soon welcomed by a cheerful girl in a witch costume who worked at Party Town.