Montana Mansion

The Loft

Charlene's POV:

"Char?" Willa called as she walked into my room.

"Yeah?" I replied from my balcony. It was expansive, with a beautiful view of the mountains. A two person table sat behind me as I rested my fore arms on the crisp, white railing.

"We were gonna play Truth or Dare in about an hour, want to join us?"

I spun, excitement lighting my eyes. "Truth or Dare? Really? They actually wanted to play that?"

"Finn came up with it."

I clasped my hands together. "Where?"

"The family room."

"Wrong!" I exclaimed. "We are going to play Truth or Dare in my favorite place in this house."

"Where?"

"You can't tell anyone."

"I haven't told anyone your real age yet, have I?"

"Yes, and I thank you for that."

"You could tell them, you know. They wouldn't care that you won't turn 15 until next week."

"They already have a hard time treating me like one of them when they think I'm 8 months younger. They'd treat me like a baby if they knew it was two years."

Willa shrugged. "Whatever."

"I am going to take you guys to 'The Loft'."

Willa's eyes nearly popped out her head. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yep. Best place in the house. I haven't touched it since last year when you and I decorated it, remember?"

"Oh yeah. We did amazing. It looks amazing up there."

I grinned cheekily. "We are pretty amazing ourselves, you know.

"Mhm." Willa agreed, flashing an equally cheeky smile back at me.

"I have to change," I exclaimed. "I want to look perfect. We have to dress up, Wills. Like we did last year."

Willa face-palmed. "Seriously, Char?"

"Yep." I smiled. "It's be so much fun!"

"Like gypsies?"

"That's right!"

Willa stomped her foot in mock protest. "But it's embarrassing! You're only 14 and you have the best figure of all of us. I'll look stupid next to you."

"You won't look stupid. And hopefully everyone agrees with you, except for the 14 year old thing, of course."

Willa pursed her lips. "Fine. But we have to hurry if you want to do all that makeup."

"And the face gems!"

Willa threw her head back and sighed. "I'm going barefoot."

"Fine, but I'm still going to wear my lace up flats."

"Whatever."

                                                                                         One Hour Later:

"Do I really have to do this, Char?" Willa twisted the corner of her short dress nervously.

"Yes," I said, grabbing her hand and dragging her down the hall. "Philby will love it."

"Philby can go die in a hole as far as I'm concerned."

That stopped me in my tracks. "What? You had a crush on Philby just this morning. What happened?"

"Uh..." Willa stammered. "The Lord of the Rings vs Harry Potter thing, of course. That boy is dead to me now, girlfriend."

I didn't believe her. "Oh, okay. But still, his eyes are going to pop out of his skull."

"I'm not that pretty, Char. And I could stand to loose a few pounds."

"No way! You are gorgeous. And to be honest, Wills, if you loose any more weight no one will be able to see how beautiful you are because you will be a skeleton."

Willa smirked. "Thanks, Char. You're the best friend ever."

"I try," I smiled, but inside I was thinking, if I'm such a great friend, why is she keeping something from me?