Chapter 9- The Surprise Guest
“My mom said that we get to make our own tacos for dinner. She’s going to have all the ingredients out for us, and we can stuff our shells with whatever we like.”
Lindy and I were talking to each other on our cell phones.
“Yum! I love tacos,” I said.
“Me too,” agreed Lindy.
“What should I bring?” I asked.
“Just the basics. Pajamas, clothes, toothbrush…Oh! And bring your favorite nail polish. We’re going to paint each other’s nails!”
“I know exactly which one to bring. I have this purple shade that has glitter in it,” I said.
“That sounds cool,” said Lindy, “Dinner is at six then the cake will be served after dinner.”
“Cake?” I asked.
“It’s my birthday this weekend. Did you forget?” she asked.
“Of course not,” I lied, “See you Friday!”
“I can’t wait!” said Lindy.
Oops. With all this hustle and bustle of the fashion show I had forgotten my best friend’s birthday. We said our goodbyes. I went looking for my mother. I found her in the kitchen making tuna noodle casserole.
“Mmm…smells good. Did I ever tell you you’re the best cook in the world?”
“You don’t even like tuna noodle casserole. So what’re you buttering me up for?” she asked, getting to the point.
“Well…Lindy’s sleepover is this Friday. I just found out it’s her birthday. Can you give me some money to get her something?”
“Ouch!” said my mother, “Pay day is not until next Friday.”
I whimpered like a sad puppy.
“But I do have some emergency money in the cookie jar. Take one of the tens out, and we’ll go to the bookstore after dinner.”
“The bookstore? Not the mall?” I questioned.
“Goodness no! Lindy’s got more clothes than Selena Gomez! We’ll pick out a nice book for her.”
“A book could be cool,” I said, pondering the idea.
“A book will be very cool. You’re going to pick it out so you have complete control of the coolness,” said my mother.
***
Finally, Friday arrived. I thought it would never get here. It was time to get ready for the sleepover! I put on my favorite shirt, a hot pink T-shirt with black musical notes on it and my dark rinse blue jeans and some black Vans shoes with hot pink stripes on them.
I wrapped Lindy’s book in pink cupcake wrapping paper. My mother waited in the car as I rang the doorbell to Lindy’s extremely large house. It looks like The White House! When the maid answered the door, I turned around and waved goodbye to my mother. She waved as well and then sped off.
“Hello Ana. I’m here to see Lindy,” I greeted.
Ana gave me a weird look as if she didn’t remember me. Maybe she didn’t. She let me in anyway and took my coat for me. I thanked her, and she disappeared down the hallway. It was so quiet. For a moment, I had this horrific thought that I got the wrong house! Then I heard shrieking. That’s how I knew I got the right house.
“Omigosh Jen!” screamed Lindy.
“Omigosh Lindy!” I screamed back.
We were bouncing up and down like complete lunatics. We acted as if we hadn’t seen each other in years. Lindy looked totally pulled together. She had a periwinkle blue cardigan on with a light pink tank top underneath. She wore a light pink ruffle skirt, white tights and pink ballet flats. She wore a string of real pearls. Her blond hair flowed down her back in perfect ringlets. I wonder if her mother took her to the salon or if she curled Lindy’s hair herself… probably the salon.
“Are you hungry?” asked Lindy.
“I’m starving!” I growled.
“Awesome! Ana, could you please put Jen’s bag in my room?” Lindy asked sweetly.
“Ana?”
“ANA!” she shouted.
“Lindy, it’s ok. I can do it,” I said.
I ran upstairs and tossed my bag on Lindy’s queen size canopy bed. The sheets were decorated with gorgeous peach roses on them. The roses looked real. The canopy bed was draped with a matching peach awning. Lindy had about eight pillows on her bed. Her room looked larger than ever. I think it grew! I looked at her shelf. She definitely had more dolls this time. I’m not really into dolls so much anymore, but these dolls were so interesting looking that it made me want to start my own doll collection. One of the dolls caught my eye. It had brown shoulder length hair and brown eyes that seemed to twinkle. Her eyebrows were full and dark. Her nose was slender, and her lips were small. She seemed to be laughing at me. Wow. She looked like…gulp...me! I shuddered. Creepy. I took a peek at her description tag. It read: My name is Jennifer. I took a step backward. Now I was totally freaked out.
“Jen? Are you ok?”
Lindy poked her face through the doorway.
“I’m good. Let’s eat!” I said.
My evil twin on the shelf laughed at me. I, happily, left the room.
“Help yourself,” said Lindy.
We grabbed plates and napkins then we attacked the taco table.
“Lots of cheese!” said Lindy
“Oh yeah!” I agreed, piling on the cheese.
“That’s not good for you,” chimed in Mrs. Masters, Lindy’s mother.
“Who are you? The cheese police,” I thought.
I respect my elders so I did not say that out loud.
“Well, it’s a special occasion so it’s ok to overdo it,” I said.
“True,” said Mrs. Masters, smiling.
“We should try putting a candle in the taco,” I suggested.
“Don’t be silly,” said Mrs. Masters.
Great. Now we had the birthday candle police in addition to the cheese police. Just what kind of party was this?
“Let’s!” agreed Lindy.
“But those are for the cake!” protested Mrs. Masters.
“Mom! Chill. It’s just one candle. Let’s do it!” said Lindy.
I grabbed Lindy’s plate before she could say “Happy Birthday” and stuck a light blue candle right through the soft shell. Lindy laughed.
“Get the lighter,” she ordered.
It was conveniently next to the cake so I grabbed it and handed it to her. Lindy lit the candle.
“Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear…”
We were cut off by Mrs. Masters.
“Girls! We’re supposed to sing happy birthday during cake time, and I don’t even have my camera ready!” she wailed.
The woman was losing it. Lindy and I were frozen like statues. We just looked at each other like what do we do now?
“Oh Nancy! Let them be girls!” said Mr. Masters.
Yes, let us be girls. Excellent idea!
“They’re just having fun. They only used one candle. There are plenty of candles in the box, and you can still take pictures when we cut the cake.”
Mr. Masters counted the candles.
“We have plenty. We need thirteen, and there are nineteen candles left,” he said.
Mrs. Masters huffed and puffed. I thought she was going to blow the house down.
“Well…” she said, “She’s completely ruined her taco shell.”
I rolled my eyes. Lindy stifled a giggle.
“Oh mother! It’s my birthday!” she said.
Mrs. Masters kissed her on the cheek and then kissed her other cheek as well. Are we in France or something? We made our way into the living room where we proceeded to chow down on our tacos. “Aquamarine”, one of my favorite movies, played in the background.
“I just love this movie,” I said between mouthfuls.
“The boy is an absolute dream!” Lindy gushed.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” I said.
Just then the doorbell rang. I jumped up.
“I’ll get it!” I offered.
I ran to
the door and swung it open. I just stood there in shock. It was Francesca.
“Selling girl scout cookies?” I asked.
Why else would she be at Lindy’s doorstep? Just then I noticed Francesca was holding a present. It was bigger than mine. What in the world is going on here?
“Francesca! So glad you could make it!” Mrs. Masters raved, interrupting my thoughts.
While Lindy’s mom chatted with Francesca I ran to the living room to warn Lindy.
“I hate to rain on your parade, but Francesca is here! She has a present for you. I think she invited herself to your party!” I practically shrieked.
“It’s ok. Calm down. I was going to tell you, but I didn’t think she was going to show. My mom made me invite her. She said I needed to make it up to her after my poor behavior at the skating rink.”
“But you dumped your hot chocolate on Scott Parker not her,” I pointed out.
“I know. But my mom is a coworker of Francesca’s mom, and she had to hear about it, and she was totally furious with me. Look. I don’t like it any more than you do. Let’s just try and make the best of it ok?”
I pouted. I stamped my foot for extra emphasis.
“Please…for me,” she pleaded.
“Well…ok, but only because it’s your birthday,” I groveled.
Francesca entered the room. We all said some awkward hellos and then just sort of looked at each other. I turned my attention to the television set. We had about five minutes of awkward silence.
Luckily, Lindy’s mom chose that moment to bring out the most magnificent cake. We needed something to break the ice, and this was it! Buttercream icing. Mmm…
“Happy Birthday to you!” sang Mrs. Masters.
We all started singing. Mr. Masters started snapping pictures. Lindy blushed. The cake was beautiful! It was white cake with chocolate frosting. There were pink and yellow roses all over the cake. Lindy’s name was iced in pink cursive. It was just as delicious as it was beautiful.
“I think this will be our midnight snack,” said Lindy.
“Definitely!” I agreed.
Lindy opened her presents. She loved the book I got her. She also loved the video game Francesca got her for her DS. Her parents went all out. They got Lindy three outfits, a video game, and a necklace with Lindy’s birthstone and some zebra print stick on nails.
“Where’s the pony?” I thought.
We went upstairs to paint each other’s nails. Francesca and I used the lavender glitter polish on each other, and I helped Lindy put on her zebra print sticker nails. Lindy’s nails looked so cute! I wanted a pair of zebra print stick on nails.
“Your nails look fabulous. I’d love to have a pair of these!” I said when we were all finished.
“Thanks!” said Lindy, “So what should we do now?”
“Let’s finish Aquamarine,” I suggested.
“That’s boring! Let’s play Truth or Dare,” suggested Francesca.
I raised an eyebrow. Miss Goody Two Shoes wanted to play Truth or Dare? Inside I groaned. I hated Truth or Dare. The truth was I was terrified to pick “dare”.
“Jen never picks dare,” Lindy pointed out.
“That’s not true!” I protested.
But it was.
“Ok then. Truth or dare?” asked Lindy.
“Well, now I have to pick dare. Dare,” I said.
“I dare you to call Scott Parker and call him a nerd,” she dared.
My stomach twisted in knots. Was my chocolate cake going to come back up? I didn’t know, but I knew for sure that Scott Parker would recognize my voice. He had called me a few times when we went out for like a week.
“That’s not fair. We kind of have his cousin in the room. She’s going to rat me out,” I said, trying to worm my way out of the dare.
“No I won’t. I promise,” she swore.
“What’s my punishment if I don’t do it?” I asked.
“Hmm…let’s see. You have to eat a bite of chocolate cake…” Lindy started.
“That’s not bad,” I said.
“Drenched in hot sauce!” finished Francesca.
“Yes! Drenched in hot sauce!” agreed Lindy.
“You guys are going to give me heartburn. But…go get the hot sauce,” I said.
“Really? I would’ve taken the dare,” said Lindy.
Francesca brought me back a small piece of cake with hot sauce just as she promised.
“Down the hatch!” I said.
I plugged my nose and took a bite. Immediately, my mouth started to burn. My taste buds were on fire. My eyes watered.
“AGHHHH!” I yelled.
I waved my hands around frantically. I started running around in circles.
“Water! Water!” I yelled.
Lindy laughed hysterically. Francesca ran down the stairs to get some water. My eyes were burning so bad. Francesca raced upstairs with a glass of water. I downed the whole glass in three seconds flat.
“Where was that hot sauce from? Mexico?” I asked when I was finally able to talk.
“How’d you know? My parents brought that back from their trip to Cancun.”
“Omigosh! I think I need like five more glasses of water,” I said.
“I’ll get you some more water,” Francesca offered.
I didn’t stop her. Hey! If she wanted to go get me a glass of water that was her prerogative.
“It’s kind of nice having your own personal maid,” I remarked when Francesca was out of earshot.
Lindy didn’t respond. She was still laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I think you should stick with truth,” she hooted.
“I think you’re right. And you! You’re lucky it’s your birthday,” I said.
Lindy grinned.
“This is the best birthday ever!” she said.
I smiled.
“I’m glad I could entertain you,” I said, “I’m also available for weddings and bar mitzvahs.”
I didn’t sleep a wink that night. Lindy’s “Jennifer” doll stared at me all night. I tossed and I turned, and she just sat there and laughed at me. I changed my mind. I did NOT want a doll collection of my own.