Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 205(@250wpm)___ 171(@300wpm)
Sighing, I pressed the doorbell.
The door swung open within seconds.
“Hello there, Taylor!” Audrey’s mom beamed. “You’re super early.”
“Huh?” I held out my letter. “I’m just here to drop this off for Audrey.”
“Nonsense.” She ushered me inside. “You can personally give it to her—since you’re best friends.”
“We are not best friends,” I said. “We’re not even ‘basic’ friends…”
“Audrey!” she called over her shoulder. “Your first party guest is here!”
Audrey rounded the corner in a bright yellow dress, with curls that were half as long as they were yesterday.
Her eyes met mine and her smile instantly faded.
“Ugh.” She crossed her arms. “What could you possibly want?”
“Nothing from you,” I said. “I came here to apologize to your parents.”
“Why? I don’t recall you treating them like trash.”
“I treat you how you deserve to be treated, which is pretty good since I don’t like you.”
“I don’t care.” She shrugged. “You weren’t invited to my birthday party, so you can leave now.”
“Gladly.” I started to walk away, but her mom carried a fudge tower past us, setting it on the dining room table.
The scent of the chocolate stopped me dead in my tracks.
Fudge was my favorite dessert, and my parents weren’t buying me anything sweeter than an apple while I was grounded.
“I think I’ll stay a little while,” I said, eyeing the tower. “When are you cutting that?”
“When someone I actually like gets here.”
“I’m not waiting years for a slice of chocolate, Audrey.”
“Whatever.” She walked over to the gift table and fiddled with a bouquet of yellow balloons.
I took a seat and watched as her mom and dad continued setting desserts on the table.
Watching them was like watching one of those old sitcoms my grandparents put on late at night. They hummed and danced like an old couple, kissed each other’s cheeks every few minutes, and stared at each other like they were taking notes.
No wonder Audrey is so weird…
When I counted the fiftieth cupcake, I realized I was still the only kid here.
“Did we write the right time on the invitations?” Audrey’s mother stepped into the hall. “It’s been over an hour.”
“Couldn’t have.” Her father smiled at me. “What time did your invitation say, Taylor?”
“I don’t remember.” I looked at Audrey.
She really didn’t invite me to her birthday party?
“We’ll give it a little more time and I’ll make some calls,” her mom said. “In the meantime, let’s get a picture of the two best friends!”
“Who?” Audrey and I said in unison.
“Very funny.” Her mother tugged Audrey toward me. “Now, smile on three. One, two—”
We both stared blankly ahead when she hit three.
She counted again, and we did the same thing.
“I’ll take what I can get.” She laughed.
“I just got a call from Nicole Calloway’s mom,” her dad said. “She had no idea her daughter’s party was the same day as Audrey’s, so she said we can bring the cake over and make it a joint thing since they have a pool.”
“You can leave now, Taylor.” Audrey frowned. “I’m sure they’re all waiting for you to get there anyway.”
“Probably,” I said. “Nicole hired a DJ and she has four huge inflatable slides.”
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?”
“Yeah…” I walked to the sweets table and picked up a cupcake. “You should open your presents while I’m here, though. I want to see what you got.”
“So you can destroy everything later?”
“I’ll hold off for at least a month. It’s the least I can do since it’s your birthday.”
She rolled her eyes and walked over to the table.
I watched her unwrap dresses, a golden journal with matching glitter pens, a habitat for her ridiculous insect collection, and a new laptop. And then she saved the biggest box for last.
Untying the pearl ribbon, she flipped the top off and revealed the newest PlayStation—the one I’d been begging my parents to buy for months, the one that was still sold out everywhere.
I stared at it, trying not to get jealous.
“Thank you so much!” she hugged her mom before revealing the video game they’d gotten her.
“Is that really Black Ops 7?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I beat all the others.”
“By yourself?”
“Duh.” She tilted her head. “Did you have to use a team?”
“No.” I lied. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be the type to play video games. At least not ones like that…”
She looked at the game, then at me. “Want to lose to me right quick?”
“I’ll happily beat you if you’d like.”
She rushed to the living room and I followed, helping to set up the game.
Before I knew it, we were deep into our tenth round, and she was actually good.
Okay. More than good, but I refused to admit it.
I also refused to leave.
The doorbell rang just as we started a new round, and I heard a familiar voice.
“The kids are done swimming and it’s not a party without Taylor, I guess,” Nicole’s mom said. “Mind if everyone comes inside?”