The summer we turned thirteen (Published)

Chapter nine: An outdated, unfortunate party game

James

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"Do you see Rachel around here, James?" Evan asked me for the seventh time since we'd arrived at Farrah's party.

It was the Saturday after school ended, and it seemed Farrah had invited nearly everyone on the seventh-grade hall.

Everyone except Rachel Krenshaw, that is.

I'd been helping Evan try and scope her out, but so far, neither of us had spotted her yet. I figured she was probably too shy to come to an event like this alone, but maybe Harlee had brought her along.

That was the other reason I was helping Evan out.

I needed to try and find Harlee.

So I could apologize for the way I'd treated her the other day.

But our search was put on pause when Farrah and her friends spotted us entering the backyard. They greeted us like we were celebrity guests at the party. Well, Hyland and Farrah greeted us that way. Amy kind of just stood there, glaring the way she always did. I couldn't help but notice she looked even more scornful than she usually did. I waved to her, but she pursed her lips at me then looked the other way.

Oh well, I tried, I thought to myself.

"It's about time you two showed up; the party can't start without you, you know!" Farrah exclaimed, grabbing Evan in a hug.

Evan's arms stayed at his sides the entire time she was hugging him.

Farrah didn't seem to notice or mind at all.

The girl really could not take a hint.

"We've actually been here for ten minutes," Evan informed her. "We just spent that time looking for someone."

"Aww, for me? Sorry, I wasn't able to greet you at the door. I was too busy receiving this marvelous gift from Harlee. Do you like it? It's a dolphin hairpin, and in my favorite color, silver!" she said, pointing to the silver dolphin barrette in her hair. Evan and I looked her over, and I noticed then just how dressed up she was. She looked more like she was hosting a fancy ball than an end of the school year party.

My eyes wandered to her friends, and I realized they were dressed fancily too. The other guests weren't dressed that way. Evan and I definitely weren't. Didn't they feel out of place in those outfits?

Evan corrected her after a moment.

"Um no. We weren't looking for you, Farrah. We were trying to find Rachel Krenshaw; did you invite her to this party?" he asked.

Farrah's nose scrunched up like she was deeply offended.

Maybe, because of the fact we weren't looking for her.

Or maybe she just didn't like Rachel Krenshaw.

Her response was too vague to give us a clear answer on which one it could be.

"Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't, but she's not here," she said.

"So let's not worry about her. We have lots of things to do tonight; did you bring your swimsuits? The water slide awaits."

Evan's eyes lit up at the mention of the water slide.

I raised my eyebrows but didn't say a word.

What a master she is at changing the subject, I observed.

"Of course, we brought our swimsuits with us. What else are we doing today?" Evan asked, seemingly forgetting about Rachel completely.

"No...no kissing games, right? Like there were at Madeline Roschee's party? That was so awkward," Evan said, blushing.