Worth It

The party don't start 'till I walk in...

I don't remember much about April, but I do know it passed, slowly. Everyday was a blur; wake up, school, eat, sleep, wake up. A repeated series of events that was my life.

My friends immediately noticed my change in attitude. They tried to pry the information out of me, but it was hard when I barely talked. A part of me had died that night at Kandi's house and I doubted I would ever fully go back to normal.

"Hey Ava." My friends glared at Kristie and she didn't flinch, as usual. The only difference was that she wasn't so loud. "I wanted to remind you of our meeting tonight."

"What meeting?" My friends all turned to me. It was the longest sentence I had said in weeks.

"The..." She paused, confused. "...the homecoming dance meeting. We're going to discuss ideas."

"Oh...that one." I still didn't remember anyone telling me it was happening in the first place. But I felt I had already met my word quota for the day.

"She'll be there." Alice filled in. Kristie nodded and walked away, only stopping to glance back once or twice. Once she was out of sight, my friends all zoned in on me. I didn't think it was because I had spoken.

"Ava, this is getting out of hand. Why are you letting him get to you?" With that sentence, I knew that they had found out what happened that Friday night.

"How long have you guys known?" 

"Since a week ago." Elliot admitted. "We were just waiting to see if you'd tell us your side of the story."

"Yeah. We only heard trashy Cathy 'Shae Summers' tell her side of the story." Tory put quotation marks around Shae's name to symbolize the fact that she was more fake than a Barbie doll.

"But, you can tell us later." Elliot and Tory were about to protest but Alice held up a hand. "We can wait, because right now you need to get your life together. I know you might not like being on the dance committee, but you never forget a meeting." She was right again.

"I know. I...I trusted him."

"Okay, I lied. Tell us everything, then you can get your life back." My friends huddled close to hear the tale and that's when I knew that we were back to normal. I even smiled. "Oh my gosh! That's the smile I missed." Alice shouted. I decided to tell them everything because they had been pretty patient with me and they deserved it.

"Oh no! He didn't!" Tory reacted. Her voice carried through the schoolyard and people turned to stare at her, and me. Most people had heard versions of the story, all spread be Shae and her friends. So, most people were glaring daggers at me.

Her story wasn't true if you couldn't tell. She told a horrible story that involved her and Nate being best friends and she was head over heels for him. They dated and broke up, but she was planning on asking him out again at Kandi's party. But I 'stole' him or something. And then at the party, I tripped and ran like a baby.

The part I loved most was the fact that nobody but my friends had bothered to confirm with me. That was the way the world worked, you were big for one week and the next, you were as good as yesterday's trash. That was also the power of a lie told by Shae Summers.

"He's going to die for this! How should I kill him?" Asked Elliot. She reverted to the dark side for revenge, but I wasn't feeling the revengeful mood.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I feel better having talked it through with you."

"Ha!" Alice waved that off. "You hear that guys? Master of pranks Ava O'Connor isn't up for the challenge? I mean it would be difficult even for Ava but...yeah, there's no way."