The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter eight: The party

Harlee

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Farrah's party was definitely going to be as epic as she wanted it to be.

The rented water slide had everyone hyped. It was set up to have you land right in the pool after you slid down. Mini lanterns adorned the patio connected by a string of lights, and there was a huge snack bar with all kinds of frozen summer treats next to the grill area.

Whoa, I thought to myself. Mrs. Harrington let her go all out.

I'd never been to a party at the Harrington's before, so I was quite awestruck by the lengths Farrah had taken (especially in such a short amount of time) to put together an unforgettable start of summer blowout. No wonder the girl was so popular around school.

As I entered the backyard that Saturday evening, I noticed that nearly everyone in the seventh grade had come to the party. I saw Jasper and Mike goofing around by some picnic tables and rolled my eyes at their immaturity. Just the sight of those two was enough to annoy me, even though James and I were no longer friends.

My eyes scanned the area for a different familiar face, specifically Rachel's. I had asked her if she was coming to the party on the last day of school, and she'd told me she wasn't invited. That didn't surprise me, given the fact Farrah seemed to have no idea who she was when I mentioned her.

But I'd given her Farrah's address and told Rachel to have someone drop her off so that she could be my plus one to the bash. I had a feeling she might make some friends at this party, plus I really didn't want to tag alongside a bickering Farrah and Amy all night long.

But it looked like she hadn't taken me up on the offer, because I didn't see her anywhere.

"She was probably too shy to meet me here," I muttered to myself, feeling disappointed.

Either that or James scared her away from us both, I thought bitterly remembering our argument in front of Rachel on the last day of school. During dismissal, after I introduced Rachel to Evan, he and James were both rude to me for absolutely no reason causing me to lash out at them in front of Rachel. It was then I realized my wave at Evan during lunch that day hadn't gone unnoticed. It had just been ignored.

I was infuriated with James.

He seemed to be acting more and more like a jerk each day. Not only did he hate me with absolutely no explanation, but now he'd run away Rachel, and he'd turned Evan against me too.

How he had run Evan away, I didn't know yet. But after the way Evan had treated me, I figured James must have conjured up quite a lie to tell him.

After Evan became friends with James and me, he always gravitated more towards James than he did me. I didn't mind, though, because I felt it was good for James to have a close guy friend.

But I'd never expected both of them to toss me aside so cruelly while remaining good friends with one another.

The fact that James had been my friend first made it hurt even worse.

I tried not to mull it over right then.

I sure had been wrong about male best friends, though.

They brought just as much drama as female friends did.

"I ought to look into becoming a recluse," I muttered to myself.

"Harlee Darling!" Farrah's voice called out to me from across the lawn.

I looked over my shoulder to see her parading out of the back door of her house in a sparkling blue party dress. Her blonde curls had been straightened, and she had on what looked like a pound of eyeshadow, tons of mascara, and her lips were coated in shimmery lip gloss. There were two black barrettes shaped like bows in her hair, and she was carrying a fluffy fur handbag.