"You can't be serious, Preslei!" I exclaim as she pulls out her phone from her backpack to call Leanne. As she doesn't seem to pay me any attention, I explain, "I mean, she's quite loud and may cause trouble in the area. And if my parents-"

She immediately puts an end to my objection to interrupt. "Chill out for once in your life, Lucy! It's just a party. And Leanne is only loud when it comes to crashing that stupid bitch's pointless bashes."

Actually, Preslei might have a point. Leanne Lockridge would never crash my party unless I give her a valid reason why to. Plus, I don't think there's going to be any other invitee, besides her and the other three weirdos I accepted to let in a few minutes ago.

"Go on, Preslei. You can call her. But, if she decides to bring some friends, tell her not to bring booze. It's that... We already have plenty of it." Actually, this is a lie. There's little to no alcohol here. Mom would go mad if I bought it, especially behind her back.

But I can't afford to get on Preslei's or Hyunyoung's bad side either. If they (or Leanne) want booze, then let's give them what they want.

***

As Mom and Dad finally get out of their room, they take advantage of my friends' business (yeah, they're too busy binge watching Elite behind my back) to pull me aside. "Okay, Lucy, your friends seem very nice," says Dad, "but, please, try not to get into too much trouble, okay?"

To my shock, Mom hands me a fifty dollar bill. "You'll probably want some snacks and booze for your friends, I guess." Wow, she definitely read my mind. Why else would she give me money? "Anyway, tell Caitlyn she has to be in bed before eleven. In case your little party ends late, of course."

Caitlyn is my fourteen-year-old sister and, unlike me, she loves parties to death. Making her comply to Mom's instructions is going to be hell, especially when she senses that there's a party later on. I must keep her away from the living room.

To make sure this last minute event won't last too little, I ask, "When are you back home? Just to inform my friends, of course."

Mom and Dad don't answer my question. Instead, Dad checks his phone and heads straight to the entrance door, followed by Mom, who has just finished checking her make-up. "Oh dear! It's late! We have to go! Have fun, girls!" says Dad as they finally leave the house.

At last! Now it's time to do the real planning, as well as make sure that Preslei told Leanne not to bring the entire half of the student body who hasn't been invited to Landry's party.

"Okay, Lucy," says Preslei, "I have both good and bad news. The good news is that Leanne is coming in three minutes and that she's bringing Nikki Hollister with her... and some extra booze!"

Upon hearing the word 'booze', Hyunyoung and her cousin literally go nuts. Dad was absolutely right when he once said that Koreans are a bunch of drunkards.

Preslei goes on, "Now, the bad news. They're not coming here alone. They're bringing in some friends. This means that your house is going to be a little... packed, considering that it's not exactly a mansion."

"Packed? That's an understatement." I deadpan, but Hyunyoung replies, "Lucy, come on. The more, the merrier."

"Are you joking? If I make a mess, I'll be grounded for life!" I exclaim out of desperation, hands in my hair and a deadly glare directed to the Korean. It looks like she's taking this party matter for granted a little too much. But this is probably because she must've done parties before, unlike me.

By the way, there's no time for desperation and self-pity, since someone is knocking violently at the door. I hope it's not the neighbor... I don't have time for his insane tantrums. It's not my fault if his fucking dog barks all night because no-one walked him.

As I open the door, I wish it were him as I find Leanne, Nikki and the rest of their little gang, Julie Moles and Claire You, at the threshold. They're all wearing the same pair of checkered trousers, but it looks like they're trying to ditch their usual emo look. Leanne for once is not wearing her black leather jacket, whereas Nikki's messy curls are replaced by tidier, and definitely better looking, box braids.

"Hi, Lu," says Leanne with a grin, showing off a plastic bottle full of cans of beer and Coke. "I brought the booze, and some friends, of course. Nice house." I reluctantly let her and the other girls in, annoyed at her calling me Lu. Personally, I'm not really fond of that nickname, since it's what Landry and her clique sometimes call me to mock me.

Still better than Lulu, which is even more painful, since it's what those bitches use while calling me names, usually paired with insults that are not even worth being repeated.

But I don't want to talk about them, especially now that I want to give Landry a dose of her own medicine, but without stooping to her dead low level.

When everyone is in, Preslei suggests that we order pizza and burgers and set up at livestream on Twitch. "I'll probably tell my brother to watch it and spread the word," she explains. Then, she turns to Nikki. "Nikki, Leanne told me that Landry is streaming her big bash on her personal website. Do you think you can open it, please?"

"I'm sorry, I forgot my laptop at home." As Nikki says this, everyone is shocked until Jain comes up with another idea. "Lucy has one here, though." She points at my laptop, which is still standing open on the kitchen table.

"Let me check it," I say as I open Landry's website (that girl's egotism is getting way over her head—she isn't a celebrity), find the party livestream and open it.

It's exactly as I thought, if not even worse. Her mansion has literally turned into a giant candy package—an explosion of pink, lilac and purple that makes everything unpleasant. She's wearing a ridiculously short sequined silver dress that makes her boobs even more prominent than they already are (but I suspect that we can see something more than just her boobs).

The other invitees have to comply to a strict dress code, being forced to wear pink. Even though I actually love pink, this is way too much. The fact that it's not balanced with more neutral colors and that it's overused creates a bubblegum effect that, in my opinion, is absolutely classless.

Fortunately, I don't need to resort to making everything grand, though vulgar, to impress. If Preslei, Leanne and the others like it simple, then let's give them a simple party, right?

"Okay, people, the livestream is on," announces Preslei. "I've just texted Tom and he told me some friends of his, who are at Landry's party, are going to watch it in secret... Well, if Landry actually lets them."

I can't retain myself from laughter as she says this. Seriously, I can't believe there are people who accepted Landry's invitation but are willing to fool her. If she thinks that everyone loves her, then she might be in for a bad surprise.