The next day...

"Even a full day of recovery isn't enough for me." Jacqueline stifles a yawn, reaching her arms high above her head. She's still wearing her pajama shorts and tank top.

"OH! OH! I have an idea," shouts Clair, jumping up from the sectional and about punching my face. "We should have a sleepover tomorrow."

"I'm down with that," I say, scooting out of harm's way. I'm pretty sure I hear Ashley shuffle about upstairs.

"Are you sure," Jacqueline asks, sliding a pleading tone into her words. Nonetheless, I can tell she's excited.

"It's happening, so I suggest you get your beauty rest, sister." With a grin prominent on her face, she sits back down on the sofa.

"So," I prompt, trying to get Jacqueline to crack. "What do we do at this sleepover of yours?" Jacqueline leans forward a little bit.

"Well, it's not a sleepover without ice cream and pizza. Oh, and Truth or Dare! I haven't played that in ages!" I can see the gears in her mind spinning as fast as her bouncing leg.

"Saaaammmeeee."

"Could we, I don't know, watch Harry Potter, too?" Jacqueline nonchalantly fingers a stray hair from her go-to ponytail.

It's actually pretty funny that she says that; when we were younger, it was all we could to to bring up the topic of HP to her. She would always just brush it off with a few retorts. Now, of course, she's also a Potterhead.

"Great minds think alike." Clair taps her skull, allowing the conversation to fall silent as we think through the planning.

Thud. Thud thud. Thud. Thud thud thud.

Looking in the direction of the stairs, I see Ashley appear a few seconds and thuds later.

Scrubbing vigorously at a mark on her face from whatever she's slaving over, she walks over to our trio.

"What's up," she questions. I, too, would have thought our little gathering a tad bit suspicious.

"Nothing much," Clair starts, "but we had... an idea." I can vaguely hear Jacqueline quietly scoff in the background.

"Go on." For the time being, she seems mildly interested.

"Since we just moved here we should have a slumber party type thing."

"We live together."  Never mind; her arms are crossed and her eyebrows are ever so slightly raised.

"I know, but like, a stay up all night, truth or dare, eat pizza and tubs of ice cream and watch Harry Potter all night, like the fangirls we are," Jacqueline explains. Ashley's stoic expression reveals a small smile at these words.

"Great... idea." Her arms fall to her hips.

"Should we invite the boys," Jacqueline inquires, ever the thoughtful one. All traces of hating this little event have disappeared from her attitude.

"No," Clair says, quick to respond. "But, we should tell them we're having a slumber party so they don't bother us."

Apparently eager to get back to her project, Ashley fires off a, "K," and trots back up the stairs.

While her footsteps fade away, a lightbulb goes off in my head, and a poorly hidden yet somehow unnoticed, mischievous grin flickers to life on my face.

Grabbing my phone, I open a text chat...

The second the swoosh sound declaring my sent texts rings out, I flip open my notebook to the next available page and begin a provisions list.

Slumber Party Supplies:
•pizza rolls
•individual ice cream quarts
•pizza
•...

The "big" day...

Surveying our handiwork (trays of throwback pizza rolls, HP and the Deathly Hallows part 2 on command, and tubs of ice cream- vanilla, strawberry, chocolate, and cookie-dough, respectively belonging to Jacqueline, yours truly, Clair, and Ashley), I rapidly tap my foot, waiting on "our guests."

Ding dong. Ding ding dong.

It took them long enough.

"I got it!" Shooting up off the couch, I manage to reach the door before they can pound the button any more.

Taking a glance at their appearances and raising a quick eyebrow, I usher them inside.

The one girl has blonde hair resting on a pink shirt over purple sweatpants.

Another one has orange pants underneath a blue Nike shirt.

A different girl is wearing denim booty shorts (seriously? GROSS), and a blue shirt that reads Whip (again, bleh). The truckloads of tag team makeup aren't helping her impression, either.

Lastly, a girl is donning jeans and a blue sweater.

"Oh dear lord," I mutter under my breath as we come to a standstill in front of my housemates.

"I forgot to tell you. I invited a few people." I'm straining to resist the urge to fidget under their questioning stares.

"Ooookkkk...." Clair trails off. "Who?" Oh. Right.

"Crystal. Nicole. Samantha. Lily." I gesture to them all in order.

Words are on the tip of Ashley's tongue, but fall off when her lips part. Jacqueline's screwed up face conveys her confusion as well.

"Oh, hey." Nicole waves, desperately trying to move past their... awkward "first" impression. Her job at disguising her real tone of voice is only okay.

Clair, completely ready to move past all this monkey business, shouts, "OMG! WE SHOULD PLAY T OR D!"

Lily, completely oblivious, asks what the other three are also thinking.

"Wat?"

"Truth or Dare," Jacqueline supplies, a pleasant expression on her face.

"O-ok." Crystal looks completely unprepared.

Grabbing a pizza roll, I plop down on the mint-green rug.

Let's do this thing.

"Ok," Clair begins, getting the ball rolling. "Ashley, truth or dare?"

"Errr... Truth." The safe option. With Clair, that's a pretty good choice, compared to dare.

"Ok, if Gavin, remember, Cooper's brother, wasn't soulless, would you think he's cute?"

"Oh, ummm..." She's stalling as best she can, but it won't last.

"Oh, Gavin is such a hottie," Jacqueline mildly swoons.

I bite my lip to stifle my laughter at Jacqueline's word choice.

"Ummm."

Ding dong.

"Oh, thank god. The pizza's here." Darting towards the door in a manner reminiscent of my earlier dash, Ashley talks to the delivery guy. I witness her slip the man a ten dollar bill before closing the door and yelling, "PIZZA'S HERE!"

Taking a detour, she sets the box down on the table and returns to the living room.

"So. You still haven't answered my question." Clair's devilish look says she has Ashley right where she wants her.

The corner of Ashley's tongue pokes out of her pursed lips as she contemplates her answer.

I'll have to admit it- Jacqueline was right. His strong jawline (always a plus in my book), and his deep, infinite, revealing eyes are pretty handsome bait.

"No. It's impossible to imagine him with a soul, so yeah." Classic Ashley. So, in other words, yes, he's upsettingly attractive.

"Ok." A slice of disappointment cuts through Clair's flat voice.

As Ashley searches for the next victim, her eyes fall upon Crystal.

"Um... Crystal, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Ok, who do you have a crush on?" Really, Ash? Really...?

"Oh, that Cooper is pretty cute."

"No. That Nicolas is SO hot." Oh. My. Gosh. Could this get any worse?

"Let's be honest." *sigh* I stand (or sit) corrected. "Sam is THE best."

"WHAT," Oh dear. *internally face-palms* "No, Logan is."

"Wait...," realization dawns on Jacqueline's face. "Sam and Samantha sound a lot alike..."

Logans looks at me with a panicked face. To be as equally helpful, I smirk.

In a flurry of motions in my peripheral vision, Ashley spies Sam's real hair and yanks off his brown wig with a vengeful flourish.

Crystal's cry of, "WE'VE BEEN FOUND," reverberates in my brain as she whips off her wig for the living room to see Cooper's dirty blonde hair.

Following suit, Logan rips off his own wig, dashing towards the dining room after yelling, "I'LL GET THE PIZZA!"

Oh. Oh, no, he doesn't.

"I GOT LOGAN! DON'T LET THEM GET OUT OF HERE WITH THE PIZZA!" Sprinting as fast as I can after Logan, I body slam him to the floor, right in front of the table.

"Oh! Ooooohhhhhh...! You got me!" He moans, trying to clutch his stomach, but failing, seeing as my knees are pinning his arms on either side of his head.

"Dang right I did," I taunt, getting my nose level with his. A few tendrils from my bun whisper across his cheeks.

"You're pretty close right now, ya know." He flicks a smirk and a cocked eyebrow my way.

Scoffing, I begin to fail at roasting him. "You... you-you wi-."

Good thing for me, though, that Ashley interrupts my stuttering spiel and jolts me back to reality.

"GOT COOPER!"

"GOT LOGAN!" Looking up, I see an uninterrupted Sam dart out of the room, box of pizza in hand.

Cursing my existence, I call out again.
"SAM HAS THE PIZZA!"

"Mission accomplished," Logan mumbles, smiling to himself.

"Forget you." Flicking his forehead, I jump up and off in the direction of the front door.

Skidding into the entrance hall, I catch sight of a harried Nicolas.

"Not so fast!"

"But not faster than me!" With that, he bounds outdoors.

Without losing stride, I rocket after Nick, a few feet away.

I reach the doorway in time to see Ashley give Sam's floppy red hair the smack down when she grips his shirt. The pizza skims the lawn as he crashes down.

Cheering her on inside my head, as not to lose precious breath, I gasp, wasting my previous efforts. That boy just scooped up the pizza box.

Running as fast as my feet will go, I gain a few inches on Eaton (Nicolas).

But, with a chance glance behind him, all is lost. Apparently, Nick kept some energy pent up. Now, it's propelling him forward further. Across the street, through the boys' front yard, and in the front door.

I stop myself mid stride on the last step before the door.

"DANG IT," I screech, giving the door a half-hearted punch.

Evidently, my morning run game needs to be stepped up.

Trudging back to my own turf, I feel the breeze from Sam, Logan, and Cooper as they streak past me to safety.

Touché.