Extraordinary

That Was Close

Saturday. My favorite day of the week. This is my day, where I would get to sleep in and just relax. No homework. No chores. Today, I believe, was just to relax and enjoy life...

Until I heard Cameron playing his drums next door.

"Errr!" I moaned, squinting through blurry eyes, all foggy from last night's lack of sleep. Why sleep eluded me until 2AM, I have no clue.

"Cameron! Shut it!" the words blurted out my mouth, coming out all blurred just like my vision. But he seemingly didn't hear me and the noise kept on coming, messing with my exhausted brainwaves. I groaned into my pillow in frustration. Now was not the time I wanted to being hearing this cacophony of cymbals and percussion, which echoed through my brain and made me wince with every beat.

Trying to block out the reverberations was useless, as was any attempt at sleeping. By now, I was wide awake.

Thanks big bro!

Stumbling out of bed, I dragged my exhausted body down the stairs. I had one thing on my mind. Food. Fried eggs and a chocolate milkshake was what I needed now, and soon the kitchen was filled with the aroma of oil and cocoa - an interesting combination, if I may say so myself.

Cameron suddenly appeared at the bottom of the stairs in his boxers, muffled brown hair shooting out in all directions. I can never understand why all girls go crazy for him; to me he's just another gross boy.

"Cameron, put a shirt on over that fat body of yours. Gosh, I might just be scared to go to sleep at night in case the fat cells haunt me in my sleep!" I exclaimed, taking a swig of my delicious chocolate milkshake.

Cameron frowned, scowled and took a step back at my sudden insult, nonetheless grabbing the milkshake straight out of my hand moments later.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Cameron mumbled, finishing my milkshake in one big swig.

This boy! I give up!

"Cameron, you woke me up with your stupid drum playing, and now you've finished most of my milkshake!" I grumbled, pitying the miniscule amount of milkshake left in the glass.

"That was the plan. I couldn't have my little sister sleeping while I was getting ready for the party tonight, could I now?" He said, a sly look marking his face. Next thing I knew he was pulling the hair band half way out of my pony. Now, to add to my frustrations, my hair was drooping... And looked awful.

"Cameron! Do you have to annoy me so much? Jeesh!" I shouted in annoyance, pushing past him and storming up to my room.

One could almost see the smoke coming out my ears.

Steaming, I walked up to my cupboard and yanked my sweatpants and a floppy top out. Throwing them on, along with my favourite pair of pumps, I headed in the direction of the bathroom and brushed my teeth... maybe a little too vigourously. Soon it was my hair's turn to get the treatment, and no time it was looking presentable again. In fact, more than presentable, especially with the colourful headband I added. To top it off, some casual bracelets were added to my arm.

This was considered my lazy look.

"Lexi, you need to help!" Cameron moaned, as I heard the vacuum cleaner switch on downstairs. This would go a whole lot quicker if Cam wasn't here, I thought begrudgingly.

I strolled downstairs and switched the noisy vacuum cleaner off, filling the house with silence.

"Hay!" Cameron moaned.

"This is how its gonna go down. You do the shopping for the food and I will do the cleaning, considering you will take forever." I declared, grabbing the vacuum from him.

Cameron frowned and then smirked, "Fine by me, and by the time I get back, I want that list of things on the fridge completed." He turned on his heel and briskly headed out, turning at the door to call out: "See ya."

I waited for him to leave, then got started. No need to do manual work; I used my mind to work the vacuum cleaner and lift the couches to clean under them. Now this, this is cool.

I looked on the list:

1) Vacuum

2) Wipe counters

3) Clean rooms

4) Put snack bowls out

5) Get food

6) Pack the dishwasher

7) Make mini sandwiches

A deep sigh escaped my mouth. It was a long list. A very long list. But I could do it in under half an hour.

I got started with wiping the counter tops and the TV, dusting off the couches and making the pillows neat.

Making the mini sandwiches was next, all the while the dishwasher was being unpacked with my mind.

It really did resemble one of those Disney shows where the dishes dance to a song while they clean themselves...

After cleaning all the rooms in under only seven minutes, the house was completely ready for the party. If that's not impressive, I don't know what is!

"I'm home!" Cameron called from downstairs.

I lazily got up off of my bed and headed downstairs to help him unpack the food and put it in their right places, like how only a woman can.

Then, out came the iPhone out. It was time to text Kate.

Me: Hi Kate, are you and Oliver coming to the party tonight?

I sent the message and there was an instantaneous reply.

Kate: Yes! Can't wait!

I smiled and knew she was bubbling with excitement.

I then texted Jenna and Amber - asking the same thing - and they both said yes... But only because they wanted to see Cameron.

"Thanks Lexi," Cameron said, breaking my train of thought and giving me a tight squeeze.

"For what?"

"Helping clean."

"Oh. Pleasure bro." I said, pushing him off of me.

---

My collection of dresses lay on my bed, looking on as I tried on dress after dress. Eventually I found one I liked: a plain white dress that hugged my body tightly, coming to about mid thigh. The mirror revealed to me how sexy it looked - I liked it. A lot. I hope the boys will be impressed.

My gingery-red hair floated around shoulder height, let loose from the restrictions of elastics and clips, and some natural make up acted de-blemished my face and 'prettify' it, making my blue eyes stand out. Not that they needed too, because they always did in any case.

I applied the last bit of mascara on and felt satisfied. I was ready.

"Lexi!" Kate squealed, skipping into my bedroom. Her sudden arrival told me one thing and one thing only:

The guests must be arriving.

A massive smile took to my face as I turned to greet my partner in crime.

"Hay Blonde." I said, engulfing her in a tight hug.

"I'm, like, so amped for this party!" Kate exclaimed, leading me down the stairs in the direction of the party. The thumping music coming from the lounge amplified with every step - soon it was overbearingly loud. For no obvious reason, every emotion of mine felt heightened and I was suddenly beyond nervous.

I took the last step, and was about to note the extreme noise in the room when Kate's facial expression caught my eye. A look of perplexion, confusion and shock was engraved on her features, and I couldn't help but take a step back.

"What?" I asked, frowning at her.

"L-Lexi, where is your hand?" Kate inquired softly. A sudden uneasiness filled my bones. I slowly turned my head to look at my right hand, and I could feel panic surging up through me.

Crap.

Adrenalin overflowed from my veins and I bolted upstairs, slamming my bedroom door behind me, making sure the lock was tightly bolted. My hand was still invisible. Trying to return its visibility was futile. Not that I even knew how to do that. But I tried seemingly everything in my panicked state to return it to normal. Absolutely nothing worked

What the hell is happening?

Ok Lexi, just breathe. Deep breaths, in and out. In and out. Relax. Everything is going to be ok.

My heart rate started to slow to the pace of a fast jog. My hand started to reappear, slowly but surely. That was, until Kate came barging into my room, literally tearing the lock out the doorframe, with a terrified expression staining her face. Guess what? My hand blinked out of existence again.

"Lexi, what the hell is going on with your hand?! It's gone!" Kate screamed, voice shaking and high pitched. She was not the type to let things go until she had a valid answer.

I sighed, taking deep, controlled breaths, desperately trying to make it return.

Which, luckily, it did.

"You must have been seeing things, Kate. My hand is right here. See?" I replied, waving my hand in front of Kate's confused face like it was no big deal.

"No Lexi, now is not the time to lie to me! I saw half your fricken arm off! I was not seeing things!" Kate shouted, raising her voice.

I hadn't told anyone about this. And I was petrified to tell someone. What happens if that person tells someone else? Who tells someone else? Who then tells someone else in turn, who comes and experiments on me?

Kate looked at me, pleading eyes begging me to tell her.

How was I going to tell her? Should I show her? What should I do?

"Lexi?" Kate said, softer this time.

"Kate, I just can't. This is happening too quickly for me." I said nervously, shakily getting up from my bed and briskly walking to the bathroom to check my eyes. There was a slight hint of that odd blue in my eyes, the blue that only appears when I use a power.

"It's ok. You can trust me. All I want to know, is that I can trust you." Kate said, sitting on my bed as I came out the bathroom.

"Kate, you can trust me. Just forget about this. I will explain everything. Let's just have a nice evening." I pleaded, desperate for her not to beg an explanation of me.

"Ok, fine, but I am not dropping this." Kate said, stomping out and leaving me alone in my room. Tears stang my eyes and I really had the urge to cry. Damn emotions!

With every effort I could muster, I willed a steady heart rate and controlled breathing from my body, fighting the tears back and keeping my hand in existence. This was tough.

"You alright Lexi?" Cameron inquired, appearing at the frame of my door after seeing the broken lock. "Did something go down in here?"

"Yeah I'm fine. And no nothing happened here. Why?"

"I saw you run up the stairs away from Kate. And now there's a broken lock, which I'm gonna have to fix." Cameron said, tinges of curiosity and frustration evident in his voice.

"Yeah.. I..Uhm... Forgot something in my room. Then I accidentally slammed the door to hard." I said hesitantly, speaking whatever came into my head in the moment. Cameron nodded slowly, letting it slide. "Well, I want you to come say hello to my friends!" Cameron said, dragging me down the stairs and into the crowd of teens, towards a group of largish guys. Cameron's buddies, evidently.

"Hay Lexi!" One of Cameron's friends (from the football team, might I add) said.

"Hi." The nervousness was obvious in my voice. I hated saying hello to people. At the first opportunity I quickly moved past all the team members, but Cameron caught my arm and pulled me to another person; this one I'd never seen before.

"Lexi, this is Kade. He is new, from England, and considering you ditched school yesterday, I would like you to meet my new buddy." Cameron said, smiling brightly.

I chuckled and took Kade's outreached hand. His bright blue eyes sparkled at me, washing away the last few minutes' anxiety, which was a welcome relief.His jet black hair made his eyes stand out, and even I had to admit - this guy was pretty good-looking!

"My name is Lexi. Nice to meet you, Mr Kade." I said, giving him a warm smile.

"Hi Lexi," Kade said in his proper British accent. He seemed genuinely happy to meet me; I instantaneously liked the guy. But I had other things to attend to.

"Well I better go find Kate, Jenna and Amber. I shall see you around, Mr Kade-with-his-British-accent."

I walked away, grinning, leaving Cameron and Kade chuckling to themselves, and searched for Kate. The anxiety was returning and I could not shake it; I was just not feeling myself tonight.

Spotting her within the throngs of people, I trudged up to her, only to see she was chatting to Oliver.

One could almost see the hearts in her eyes.

"Hay Kate." I said, interrupting her attention.

Her bright smiley faced immediately turned into a fearful, smile vanishing.

Our relationship was never going to be the same if I kept this from her any longer.

"Hay." Kate said softly, so inaudibly that I could only read her lips.

"Hay Lexi," Oliver said. He must've sensed the tension between us; his face was a mask of confusion. But I looked over to him and smiled brightly, trying to ease the situation.

"Hay," I said happily.

"Did you want something?" Kate said, harshness and sarcasm lacing her voice.

"Uhm, yes, but never mind. I'll tell you later." I mumbled, taken aback at my friend's sudden comment. Not knowing what else to say, I retreated to the relative safety of my room, where my pillow welcomed my teary face.

Worst party ever!