Shuffled: When the Cards Talk You Must Listen

Chapter 10 Penelope Dreamweaver

Upright: Inspiration, Magical Dreams, Visions

Reversed: Working to hard, Creativity Blocked, Thinking too hard

We probably stayed down in that basement for another hour, maybe two before they let us out to go home. I don't really know because I ended up pillowing my head on my backpack and falling asleep. The stress of moving and everything adjust warn me out. I do vaguely remember someone saying
"See I Told you it's her."

But then I drifted off completely and when I did wake up I was one of the last ones moving. I was covered in someones jacket. I don't know who's but I'm sure if I have 5 guess I'll get one right.

I smelled it, and was greeted with the musky, smoky, woodsy smell of man. I breathed deep and smiled. I'd always liked the smell of boys, and this boy smelled good!

I shrugged the jacket off my shoulders as I stood up and stretched my aching cold muscles. I did not want to know which boy smelled so good. That would just not be fair to my little heart.

The basement was empty and cold, and silent, I shivered and trudged up the stairs to an equally silent school. How on earth had this place cleared out so quickly? Part of me wanted to investigate the school some more. I've only been here two days and I feel like I'm constantly playing catch-up. It would be good to know more about my surroundings.

Part of me just wanted to go home, so that's what I did. I went home. But not before dropping the jacket off at the office. Like I said, I did not want to know who's it was. This way was safer.

The next morning I woke slowly to a day that was 180 degree different that the day before. The sun was shining, and birds were singing, and I had a whole day to do homework before the girls came over to get ready for the party.

Fast forward. I woke to the girls pounding on my bedroom door and a piece of algebra stuck to my face. See how boring algebra is? I can't even do my homework without falling asleep in the middle of it.

Once the girls got me shoved into "appropriate party cloths", and I stashed some more comfortable clothes in a bag they whisked me off to the "CABIN". party was winding down and I kinda felt like I had survived some kind of weird teenage initiation. It was loud, crowded, smelly, and cliche.

I lost count of how many drunk-ass boys wreaking of alcohol and testosterone, all grabby hands and putrid breath tried to make a move on me. I never even tried to count the number of red solo cups that had been shoved into my face or the clouds of skunk-y smelling smoke I'd had to walk through.

Ugh! I really hate skunk-weed.

I had never gotten to tell MeiLei about my failed party game experience. So when she pulled me into a semi dark room with a bunch of kids playing Truth-or-Dare I was slightly petrified. If I had been inebriated in some way it could have been fun. Instead I just felt awkward and avoided as many questions as possible. I NEVER took a dare, that just sounded plain dangerous. As the game went on, I just kept scooting backwards, until I was able to melt into the background. I was OK with that. I enjoyed watching everyone else have fun and learning so many secrets that most would forget they even asked let alone answered.

I wasn't mad at the girls, but at some point my friends became so wound up in the party that they kind of forgot about me. I was OK with that too. I used this opportunity to begin to understand the different groups and dynamics.

You Know that thing I always tried to do, and that I didn't get to do because of those boys. Although I found people watching to be entertaining it was also draining. I knew I was running out of spoons. All my energy for interaction was dwindling. I needed to get out of there and soon. I needed to find quiet, and space, and air. I really needed to breath. So I started to explore.