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The Eclectic Pen - Popularity
By: Danielle K. (wintersqt4ever) + 4 more
Date Submitted: 1/2/2007
Genre: Children's Books » Literature & Fiction
Words: 4,333
Rating:
| Chapter 1: The Invite “Hey, Lu, phone for you!” yelled Lionel, Lucy’s brother. Lucy grabbed her fuzzy purple phone off it’s stand in her room. “Hello? Lucy here” Lucy sighed; waiting for the click that signaled her brother was off the phone. Good, there it was. “Hi, Lucy, it’s Anna, I was wondering if you could sleepover tomorrow?” whispered Anna, the shy girl in Lucy’s 8th grade class. Lucy pondered the question, if she went it wouldn’t hurt her image, but it wouldn’t help it either. It would be a waste of time, unless she’s inviting some other cool people. “Oh, hi Anna, are you inviting anyone other than me? I like to go to group sleepovers.” Lucy slowly replied, letting each word drop out of her mouth with her southern drawl. “Um, sure… Can you hold on, I’ll go get the guest list and read it to you? I’m still debating on a couple of people.” Anna whispered quickly, she didn’t want her mother, who was in the next room to hear her. “I guess I can hold, just hurry.” Lucy practically screamed she hated waiting for anybody; it was a horrid waste of time. Lucy pressed her ear hard into the phone, trying to make out what Anna was saying to what Lucy assumed was her mother, something about inviting more people. Wait a minute, I see a connection, she was just going to invite me, but since she wants me to come so badly she pretended and decided to ask her mom. *************** “Mom, do you think I could invite a few more people to my sleepover, that way it will be more fun!” Anna asked quickly, trying to hurry up the conversation so she could get back to Lucy. “How many more people, Anna?” Anna’s mom briskly asked as she continued dusting the living room. “Uh… maybe 5?” Anna paced, hoping her mother would say yes. “Make it three more and you can, so that’s a total of four, five with you, I’ll work on the recipes, just make sure you clean your room. Everyone needs to bring there sleeping bags as well.” Anna’s mother seemed to be caught up in her own thoughts and simply answered Anna’s question. “Thanks so much mom!” Anna almost screamed with delight but she remembered Lucy on the phone and after quickly hugging her mom she ran down the hall to there tiny kitchen. *************** “Hi, Lucy, are you still there?” Anna asked into the phone, she was so overjoyed her voice didn’t come out in a whisper, for the first time she was talking to Lucy, normally! “Yah, I’m here.” Lucy answered after fumbling with the speakerphone button; she screwed on her nail polish cap and turned on her special fan. “Ok, well I got the guest list, sorry it took so long, it was under my bed. So, on the list I have Cathy Enders, Michelle Vanders, Laura McSeed, Ashley Bates, Serena Toben, Jessica Graph, Sara James, and Missy Temples.” Anna tried to talk slowly so she wouldn’t have to repeat it. “Ok, so how many can you invite?” Lucy asked patiently, she had finished her toe nails in the time it took Anna to find her so-called guest list, she was defiantly lying about it. “I can invite 3 other girls, not including you. So four total but one spot is taken.” Anna slowed herself down after a few words; she needed to work on her speaking. “That’s not very big. But I would suggest inviting Ashley Bates, Missy Temples, and Serena Toben. They’ll liven up the party and you won’t even realize it’s so small. If any of the other girls are invited I won’t come, and believe me, I’ll know.” Lucy whispered, mimicking Anna, without her even realizing, holding in a laugh Lucy continued, “I can call them if you want me to, I have there phone numbers on speed dial.” “Ok, that’s great, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Anna said, and then immediately heard a click on Lucy’s end, she hung up and sighed, hoping they would all come. Four popular girls all in her tiny house, this was going to be interesting. ************* As soon as Lucy hung up she went four-way with Ashley, Missy, and Serena. They were her best friends, what did Anna expect her to say, invite you little weasel friends, I’ll be there. What a laugh… ‘I bet Anna thinks she can become popular by inviting me to her sleepover, fat chance of that, she so shy, she wouldn’t even know what to do with the popularity if she got it’ thought Lucy. “Hi Luc” Ashley, Missy, and Serena answered all at the exact same time, causing all of us to crack up. Once she composed herself Lucy replied. “Hi Girls” Lucy laughed “You’ll never guess what your next assignment is going to be!” Lucy let her southern drawl take over again, she had just moved from a small town in Texas to New York City, she had quickly become Queen Bee of the Populars at her new school, Casey Country Day Junior High. “Well what is it?” Serena questioned, she hated not knowing things before the others. “Anna’s sleepover.” Lucy replied dantily; she tossed off her slippers and sat up. Satisfied when she heard three gasps, she giggled. ************* After the surprising call from Lucy, Serena went to her walk-in closet, the closet was the best place to think things out, because her parents had sound-proofed it and put in a silent air-conditioner and lock. Serena twirled around feeling all her clothes; she climbed the ladder and sat in her hideout, at the top of the closet. She peered out the tiny circular window and looked at Lucy inside her bedroom; she was painting her fingernails, probably getting ready for tomorrow. Serena quickly ran through a list of to do’s for herself. Paint Nails, Pick Outfits, and Pack… Realizing she had barely anything to do, and a day and a half to do it she selected a book and curled up in the pillows opposite the small window, she needed to relax. Ashley rolled over, she was moaning, after the phone call from Lucy she had nothing better to do. She hated Lucy! Ashley had once been the queen bee of the group she created The Populars, it was her original creation, yet nowadays it was like that had never happened and Lucy had always been here. Ashley strolled into her bathroom, and grabbed a pillow from her ceiling storage net, it was like one of those things where you put stuffed animals in and then hang it up. She crawled into her window seat and glanced over at Lucy’s house. Lucy was writing in there slam book; another idea of Ashley’s that she got no credit for. Missy had hopped into the shower immediately after Lucy ended the group’s conversation. She needed time to think and with hot water running was the best time. No brothers. No sisters. Just herself, completely alone. She made sure to lock door once she got in there too. Missy had 3 brothers and 3 sisters, she was the oldest girl, and her brother Mark was the oldest boy, he was actually the oldest overall. She needed peace and quiet to be able to think this through, although she wasn’t the smartest of the group, she was defiantly the prettiest and her appearance made all the difference. This sleepover, lacked something, she didn’t know if it was class or details. That’s it! She would call Lucy back and ask where the party was, and then she would get details, that would settle the whole ideal. She turned the shower off and slipped into her satin pajamas. “Hello?” Lucy answered in her normal bored way, she didn’t let her southern drawl slip once. Missy easily figured that she was on her phone because it didn’t have caller ID, like the other ones in there mansion. “Bitz o’ Ritz. I need info!” Missy answered urgently, each girl in the group had there own phone and IM password so they could never impersonate another, nobody knew anyone else’s other then Lucy, she always vertified the password’s before speaking to another in the group. She held the master book. “What sort of info Miss?” Lucy asked reluctantly, glad she was speaking to one of her own. “Anna’s sleepover, I need party details and where it is. In order to make any appearance I need to be properly dressed and ready for whatever it is were doing. We are doing something right? This isn’t just a night out, Correct? ‘Cuz Anna, well you know.” Missy replied quickly, if she was going to get information she needed to be on Lucy’s good side. “Ok, well let’s see, Anna’s townhouse is in Queens on Sasberry, on the west side of school, I’m assuming she is one of the scholarship kids because all of those townhouses are tiny and normally reek of something dead. I suggest we all bring air freshener; we can spray it around when Anna’s not looking. It’s tomorrow, of course, at 6 and I don’t know anything else. I want to surprise shy little Anna, so bring everything you have, the books, the hair stuff, the shorts, and the games. Don’t forget anything! Also, like I said before, go along with anything I say. That enough?” Lucy asked, her southern drawl taking over completely and leaking out on every word. “Sure. Thanks. Missy out.” Missy listened for the click and then hung up. ************** The next afternoon, Lucy, Serena, Ashley, and Missy met on the corner of their street. Together they went over what they needed and what they had and then in the scorching September heat they carefully maneuvered their way out of the high security neighborhood where they lived. They waved to the guard on duty, as there tradition upon leaving the suburbs and hailed a taxi. They climbed in and settled all the stuff on top of them, Lucy told the driver to take them to 17689 Sasberry Street in Queens. Serena and Ashley gasped and questioned Lucy about where they were going, Missy of course, already knew from the phone call. Once arrived they individually stepped out of the taxi, first Lucy in a stunning mini-dress the color of lilac, she pushed her lovely shoulder length strawberry-blonde hair over her shoulder and bent over to pay the taxi cabbie. Next Serena stepped out her long black curls pushed up into an elegant bun with Chinese sticks that perfectly matched her knee-length jean skirt and wildly patterned sling back shirt. Then Missy jumped out her simple knee-length Capri’s and designer v-neck tee looking fantastic with her thin blonde hair braided into two equal French braids. Last and according to her not least, was Ashley in silver leather pants and a black poncho with silver cami underneath, her brown hair with blonde highlights strewn perfectly around her head in a different sort of face frame, these were the girls everyone wanted to be! The cab pulled away and the girls did a quick make-up check and marched up to the house, Lucy knocked and a tall boy answered only a few seconds later. Lucy smiled; he looked about 3 inches taller, meaning he was in high school, probably over at St. Percy’s Country Day, for boys only. Lucy assumed this was Anna’s brother, the one she had said wouldn’t be bothering them, why in the world would they not want to be bothered by him? Serena, Ashley, and Missy let out nervous giggles and looked to Lucy for direction, after Lucy took a picture in her mind she walked in with her stuff and set it down, she strolled over and began questioning Anna discreetly. “Who is the boy?” Lucy whispered. “My brother, his name is Nate, he’s a pig!” Anna whispered back, excited Lucy and her were having there first whisper conversation, even if it was about her brother. “You’re calling someone that fine a pig?” “He’s my brother!” “How old is he?” “He’s 15 and starting 10th grade at St. Percy’s.” “Oh.” Lucy sighed, her eyes sparkled with the new information but she was disappointed all the cute guys were older, young boys were always so immature. Oh well, she would have to work on him, and that meant keeping Anna under her wing, oh well, Anna wouldn’t ruin there rep. She looked like a charity case in her simple t-shirt and jeans anyways. *********** Missy, Serena, and Ashley were huddled in the corner. “Why didn’t Lucy tell us about Anna’s brother?” Missy asked. “She probably wants him all for herself.” Ashley replied. “Well, she could have at least told us! I feel like a complete idiot.” Serena debated. “Why is she talking to Anna?” Missy asked. “I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if there secretly friends” answered Ashley. “Then why would she tell us to bring all of the stuff?” asked Serena. “I don’t know.” Missy replied. The girls stopped there conversation abruptly when they saw Lucy coming there way. “You can stop whispering about him because we’ll do that tomorrow, right now we’re in square one of this little sleepover,” Lucy answered, with a devilish grin. Chapter 2: The Sleepover Lucy stood in the middle in the circle of girls. They were devouring the fat free chips and ice cream bars, while Lucy was talking, “Tonight we are going to have as much fun as humanly possible. Missy you brought the games and music, right?” “Of course,” Missy answered without even flinching, she continued eating the handful of chips she had extracted from the bag. “Serena, boy shorts, make-up, nail polish?” Lucy continued down her list. A little gasp came out of Anna who was sitting in between Ashley and Missy. “Duh,” Serena answered, and moved her bangs out of her eyes. Lucy could tell she was already bored with this scene; she liked it when people admired her, and that definitely wasn’t happening right now. “…and Ashley, you brought the magazines, books, and pillows?” Lucy glanced at the ceiling as she ticked off each item on her list. “Ya-huh,” Ashley replied, glancing at Anna to see how she was taking the list of supplies, and held back a laugh at the girls’ surprised face. “Great and I brought the curling irons, hair stuff, and uh, supplies,” Lucy finished. Everyone nodded, and Anna looked stunned. Lucy wondered if the shorts were taking it a little bit far. ‘Oh well, to late,’ she thought. “Um… and my mom got tons of food. I think she was making cookies too,” Anna squeezed out nervously. She stood up, looked at the girls and quickly scurried to the kitchen. All four girls hurried to their luggage and grabbed Lucy’s cans of air freshener. They sprayed the stuff all over the room like mad and quickly stored it back in Lucy bag. They each sat back down on the couches and continued eating. A few moments later Anna came back into the living room and sniffed. “That’s odd, it smells like oranges in here,” Anna said as she looked around the room. Lucy looked at Serena, Serena looked at Missy, Missy looked at Ashley, they all looked at Anna and burst out laughing. “Uh, that’s Ashley’s new perfume. She, uh just bought it while we were shopping yesterday,” Lucy replied quickly covering up the air freshener lie. “Yah, don’t you like it?” Missy jumped in, “We helped her pick it out, it took hours!” Missy glared at Ashley. “Uh… Yah,” Anna said in reply to Missy’s question. “Thanks,” Ashley said nervously, she didn’t like to lie if she didn’t need to, and this was definitely not a good reason. There was a silence in the room, but not for long. “Ok, so shall we start decorating the boy shorts, if you people are done pigging out? One day you’re all going to be fat, from that junk food!” Lucy asked as she strolled towards the towering pile of bags the girls had brought. “Definitely,” replied Serena, jumping up to help Lucy get the five new pairs of shorts she’d purchased yesterday, out of her messenger bag. She’d guessed on Anna’s size, assuming it was close to her own and the other girls, as they were all quite skinny. “Of course,” said Missy, also getting up and grabbing her decoration bag. She re-filled it weekly with new paints, pencils, glue, and such for when the group decorated their clothes to be unique. Lucy hated it when people copied her clothes, and everyone else just seemed to agree with her. “I guess,” pondered Anna. “Whatever,” responded Ashley, seemingly bored and unenthused with the idea. Serena and Missy scurried to set up the supplies while Lucy took out her drawing board and set it up in front of the old TV. Anna looked on in admiration, and Ashley continued to munch on the chips. Anna’s brother, Nate, came down the stairs looked at the flurry of girls, the shorts, and the decorations. He turned around and bolted back up the stairs. In the distance Lucy heard a door slam, which she assumed was the one to Nate’s room. Lucy finished setting up the drawing board, looked at Serena and Missy who were now sitting in front of the supplies and shorts on the coffee table. Lucy grabbed a pencil from the table, and directed Anna and Ashley to sit across from Serena and Missy. This left a place at the end of the table for her. Lucy tapped the drawing board and drew a pair of the shorts, carefully making the lines straight with a piece of paper. Everyone stared at her, giving their full attention to the drawing. “Ok, so how should we decorate the shorts?” Lucy asked the group once she finished the portrait. Lucy was quite the artist, she wasn’t known for it though, it was just another thing she could add to her list of talents. “Uh…” Serena pondered aloud; she was the designer of the group and frequently came up with eloquent ideas for clothing that looked good on all of them. “I suggest a different color pair of lips in the corner of each pair. The lips should be small, but large enough to see from a distance. The colors will differ because we don’t all look good in the same one, and it has to match our shorts,” Serena glanced down at the table, looked at the multiple colored shorts, found a pair of lips that could be sewn on and placed them against her shorts as an example. Lucy began drawing and Serena continued “On the butt of each pair we could either sew on our names, or a phrase we all agree on.” Lucy paused from her drawing. “Let’s vote… who wants to wear names?” Lucy asked, she waited while Anna, Serena, and Missy raised their hands. Lucy glimmered, and decidedly raised hers as well. “Sorry Ashley,” Lucy added and went back to work drawing the shorts. “Names on shorts are lame,” Ashley grumbled. “No, their unique!” Missy argued both in defense for Serena’s idea, and because it was true. The other girls nodded while Ashley glared at Missy. Lucy could tell she was on the verge of tears, but turned back to her drawing anyways. Lucy finished the shorts, and sat down across from the board. Serena handed out needles from her sewing kit, and they set to work. *********** Lucy stuck her needle back in the package and held her shorts up; she liked the looks of them. Now for the front, everyone watched as Lucy carefully turned her shorts over and smoothed them onto the table. Aimlessly Lucy’s fingers floated across the supplies and she studied the shorts then grabbed at the glitter glue. Everyone quickly turned back to their work as Lucy looked up at the board and then at everyone’s progress. “Ashley, in and out, in and out, get the rhythm going or your going to be sewing all night. Excellent work Serena. Missy I think you second s is a little crooked. Anna, have you ever sewed before?” Lucy goaded aloud. She got up and walked around the table to Anna grabbing the needle from her hand, and picking up the shorts. She quickly pulled out the a and n, careful not to rip them or the shorts. “Um… no. Not really,” Anna mumbled “Just a little seam repairing on my pants. I was going to take home ec this year.” Anna quivered as she watched Lucy destroy her hard work and thread the needle again. “Ok, then watch carefully,” Lucy huffed as she redid Anna’s work, “In, and out, you just have to get the rhythm down and it’s easy. Here you try.” Lucy handed the work back to Anna and watched as Anna tried to follow Lucy’s lead. Shaking her head Lucy got back up and sat down at her spot, once again taking the glitter glue and drawing a few flower outlines on the corner of her shorts. Once she was finished Lucy left her shorts and went over to the pile of bags in the corner, sorting through her things and then pulling out the miniature drying rack she’d bought the other day because it was so cute. She pulled off the plastic wrap and set it up next to the TV. The delicately placed her shorts on top. The other girls finished one by one and placed their shorts underneath Lucy’s. Chapter 3: The Party While they we waiting on Anna to finish Lucy’s cell phone rang, letting off a piercing shriek of the new Gwen Stefani song. Lucy fumbled in her purse and pulled out the phone, flipping it open with her chin. “Hello?” Lucy asked into the phone, the other girls moved closer so they could hear both sides of the conversation. ”Lucy Goosey? Where are you? Some boys just showed up for the party,” Lucy’s mom’s shrill voice came through the phone. “Oh yah, I forgot to cancel that. Well I don’t want to be rude, send them over here. You have the address right?” “Of course honey, I’ll call them a cab.” “Great, Smooches to Devin for me,” Lucy snapped the phone shut and through it in the direction of her purse. Serena quickly caught it and put it inside. All the girls stared at Lucy waiting for the verdict. “They’ll be right over,” Lucy said with a smile. “Who will?” Anna asked, looking worriedly towards the kitchen where her mom was making snacks for later. “Well the boys of course. We have a party every Saturday night, but seeing as I forgot to cancel I didn’t want to be rude, we’ll just have the party over here,” Lucy answered cheerfully. Lucy dove in the pile of bags and began searching for her ipod and laptop. After a few minutes she surfaced successfully and plugged them into a wall outlet. Once the music started cranking she pulled out some clothes from the pile and flung them at her friends than she ran to the bathroom and changed. One by one each of the girls went in and came out looking like party people. Anna ran up to her room with Lucy and the sufficed a decent outfit from Anna’s modest closet. As soon as the last girl had changed the doorbell rang and 5 guys spilled into the room. “Hi!” everyone seemed to yell over the music and then the party started. Lucy grabbed Devin and they started dancing and everyone followed suit. Anna ended up with Derek her personal match, only more popular. About 20 minutes after the guys got there Anna’s mom came into the living room to refill snacks when she saw the guys there she immediately put on a protective mother face and marched over to Anna. She pulled her away from Derek and demanded to know what was going on and what Anna was wearing! Anna quickly explained that the guys had just shown up and that Lucy had helped her put together a cool outfit. Anna’s mom shook her head. “They have to go! I allowed you 4 girls at your sleepover. No Boys! If you don’t get them to leave, I will, you have 10 minutes,” Anna’s mom ruled and then marched back into the kitchen. Anna quivered from the confrontation and then walked over to wear Lucy was dancing with Devin. She tapped Lucy on the shoulder, and stood on her tiptoes to whisper in Lucy’s ear. “My mom said the guys have to be gone in 10 minutes or else,” Anna shrugged. Lucy looked down on her and shook her head. “If they leave, we leave,” then Lucy went back to dancing. Anna knew she had to do something so she walked over to the Lucy’s laptop and disconnected it. Everyone stopped dancing and looked at her. Then she walked back over to Lucy. “Can we move the party to your house?” Lucy pondered the question. “Fine, but your not invited,” Lucy replied quickly and then started to pack her stuff up, mumbling all the while about what a hassle it was. Serena pulled out her cell phone and ordered three taxi’s to pick them up. The boys helped bather the bags and take them out to the curb, while Missy stood out on the street corner watching everything. Anna broke down into tears and ran up to her room. Ashley hesitated and then followed Anna. “Anna, I am so sorry. I know what it feels like for them to reject you,” Ashley spilled out after sitting down next to Anna on her bed. “You, you do?” Anna stuttered, looking up at Ashley. “Yah, ever since Lucy moved to town, I’ve been pushed aside, no one even notices me anymore. Do you mind if I stay the night?” “You mean you’d rather stay with me than go to Lucy’s party?” “Sure, their always the same anyways. Someone gets mad, lots of drama, and blah blah blah. Neither of us need that. Know what I mean?” “Yes. I think. But we better go get your stuff before they load it in with everything else.” “Your right, want to help me?” “Definietly!” With that Anna and Ashley walked back down the stairs and gathered Ashley’s stuff on the other side of the room. Then together they confronted Lucy and told her how mean she was, and that everyone deserved to know. Then they went back upstairs and had the best sleepover ever, without anyone popular or not to ruin it. |
The Eclectic Pen » All Stories by Danielle K. (wintersqt4ever)
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Really liked your story and I usually don't read this stuff. A little contrite though. Love to see more depth to the characters. Reads a little too much like TV Disney episode. But well written. The flow was good, and sentence structure was good. Good pace. Kept me reading. You ended rather abruptly. Did you rush it? Is this a chapter? Could continue with no problem.
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