Things progressed exactly as Autumn predicted they would. The very same evening after Autumn and I went shopping together, I received an invitation to Jasmine's birthday party from Jasmine in my inbox. 

I purposely waited an hour and a half before replying, pretending I had a life outside of refreshing my inbox every five seconds while lazily watching Netflix shows on my bed. I figured that was what Autumn wanted me to do; have a bit of an attitude. The eventual answer was obviously, however: yes, I will be there. 

I relayed the information about the invitation to Autumn and shared the details with her, and she warned me to show up at least an hour later than the indicated starting time because everyone would be late. 

Jasmine's birthday party already sounded so different from the ones I was used to. With Bailey's birthday, for example, if you showed up an hour late you'd miss all the snacks. The birthday cake would be gone. Even that slice Bailey tried to save for you in the fridge would've been found by one of her hungry nephews by that time. 

I had a feeling there wouldn't be any cake at all at Jasmine's birthday. Only chips, beer, and cocktails. And it'd run late. Probably into the early morning, and I'd have to make up another excuse about staying over with a friend if I wanted to go. 

I didn't want to use Bailey again (too risky), so I had to make up something else. For a brief moment I considered asking Autumn if I could use her as a cover, but quickly decided against it. We didn't know each other well enough yet for that. 

That's the excuse I told myself, anyway. The truth was that I didn't want to ask Autumn and then suffer a crushing rejection from her. The thought of her laughing in my face and telling me no made my stomach squeeze and twist. To be honest, thinking about Autumn in general seemed to have that effect on me. Even when she was giving me compliments.

Eventually, after mulling for a while in bed, I decided the problem of excuses could wait until tomorrow morning. Maybe I'd gather up the courage to ask Autumn for advice. Her family had seemed like the typical middle class kind — surely she had experience with sneaking out and/or lying to her parents. I'd get it done somehow.

Or, so I thought.

The next morning at breakfast I finally realised my mistake when Mom took a seat opposite me with her cup of morning tea. 

"So, Bailey's birthday party is coming up soon, right? When was it again, and did you already buy a present?" 

"Uh..." I poked at the scrambled eggs on my plate. "It's always on her birthday itself, and no, but I'll get to it" 

Mom raised a brow at me and shot me a stern look. "Look up her birthday now and get a gift today. Remember last year?" 

"Oh yeah, I remember..." 

I cringed at the memory, which came rushing back to me the moment Mom mentioned it. Last year I'd forgotten the date, and by the time the afternoon rolled around I got a sad, teary-eyed Bailey asking me why I hadn't wished her a happy birthday yet. Of course, that also meant I'd also forgotten about her party later that day, hadn't bought her a gift, and Mom had to rush to pick me up from school and bring me to the city to get her something in time. 

Bailey took her birthday so seriously I was willing to bet our friendship would've been severely dented if I hadn't shown up at her party. Given the tension at school about me hanging out with Jasmine, I imagined that counted double if I messed up again this year. 

"I'll ask her when we go pick her up, alright?" I said, mostly to get my mom off my back for now. 

I wasn't a morning person. Bailey, on the other hand, absolutely was. 

I didn't need to ask her anything. Before I could open my mouth,  Bailey threw the car door closed behind her and grinned widely at me. Any friction we'd had earlier seemed to be forgotten. For the moment, at least.

"Only seven more days!" Bailey called out, grabbing my arm and shaking me. "Seven days and then it's my birthday!" 

I shot Bailey a faint smile at her enthusiasm, not quite awake yet any time before ten in the morning. 

"Yeah you are," I replied, not quite managing to match Bailey's happy tone. 

I caught Mom looking at me in the rearview mirror with raised brows, and then I remembered I was supposed to ask her stuff. 

I turned to Bailey. "So, what do you want for your birthday anyway?"

"Oh, yes, I should start sending the invitations." Bailey took out her phone. "I mean everyone knows when my party will be, but there's also a link to gift ideas site in there." 

That remark did make me genuinely smile. Often people didn't know what gift they wanted and you'd have to scour through the city, hoping to find something they'd like. But not Bailey, she always had multiple pages of items she wanted to have, ranging from books, to random cutlery, or even a cute pair of pyjamas. With her huge-ass family, she often got more than half the items on the list. Lucky bastard. 

"Alright, I sent you the invite." Bailey looked up from her phone to eye me expectantly. 

I felt the pressure to take out my phone and check. Like Bailey had said, I'd received her invitation in my inbox and I tapped to add it to my calendar. Better get those notifications than be sorry again. 

When I tapped add, however, and looked my calendar next week, I felt the color draining from my face. 

Shit, it was on the same day, or rather, the same evening, as Jasmine's birthday. 

"What's wrong?" 

Bailey leaned over to look at my screen. I hastily opened her invitation to hide the appointment clash, hoping she didn't see.

"Uh, nothing's wrong," I lied. "Looking forward to the cakes and games." 

"Yeah, me too!" Bailey was smiling again. Whether she bought it or not, she was far too excited about her birthday anyway. 

"I was wondering if you and Farah wanted to come over the day before to help with the cakes." 

"Oh yeah, of course, sounds like fun," I replied automatically, though my mind was completely somewhere else. 

How was I going to make this work? Could I go to Bailey's first, pretend I was feeling sick and then head over to Jasmine's around ten and make that fashionable late entrance? No, but Bailey's mom would likely talk to my mom and ask if I was better, and shit. Having interwoven families sucked. 

"Of course, you'll end up standing in the kitchen playing videogames while Farah, my family and I do the work," Bailey teased me, gently elbowing my arm. 

I blinked, so faraway with my mind I didn't understand what she was saying at first. Oh, right, helping with the cake. 

I let out the word's fakest laugh. "Oh yeah, haha, I'll probably be paying games on my phone while you plan. And then I'll just be the grunt taking orders, as usual." 

"Are you sure you're alright?" Bailey tilted her head to the side and raised her brows at me. 

"Oh yeah, it's just too early." To emphasise my point I fake-yawned. Then I quickly changed the topic to draw attention away. 

"So, are you inviting Spencer this year, too?" 

My diversion had the desired effect. Bailey promptly blushed and averted her gaze. "Uh, I guess I could?" 

"Mm," I hummed. "I'm sure he would like it if you at least invited him. Even if he can't make it, he'd get you a gift."

"Uhuh," Bailey murmured. 

Bailey was too shy and self-conscious now to think about my behaviour. Since I was no longer under close scrutiny, I took out my phone.

"And I guess I'm a bit grumpy because  I need to text Autumn about this, uh, history assignment today. Not looking forward to that." 

Bailey pulled a face. "That bad, huh. Is she acting like a complete," Bailey glanced at my mom in the front, "b-word about it?" 

"Eh, she's not that bad, I guess," I said. "In fact, I'll text her right now." 

"Did she give you her number though? Wow," Bailey remarked, and I felt heat rushing to my cheeks.

"Uh," I stammered. "Yes, it seemed convenient after all to exchange numbers. In case something came up." 

"Sure," Bailey said, clearly not entirely buying what I was selling. 

She left me alone, however, when I took out my phone to text Autumn. Bailey started talking to my mom about her party and the kind of cakes she wanted to make, while I texted Autumn about something completely different than the history assignment. 

Me: Is there any way I can miss Jasmine's birthday and not mess up our plan?

Autumn jumped online a few seconds later.

Autumn: No, unless someone died. 

Autumn: Why? 

"Crap," I muttered under my breath. Thankfully, Mom and Bailey were both too engaged in their conversation to hear me.

Me: Jasmine's birthday is the same day as Bailey's

Autumn: You knew this would happen sooner or later. You have to choose. 

I could picture the way Autumn would shrug if she'd been in front of me. I didn't expect sympathy from her, but, damn, I was hoping she had a different answer. Maybe some wisdom to share after being in the same situation as me... Perhaps, saying I had to choose was her wisdom. 

I put my phone away, not wanting more bluntness from Autumn while I figured this out. Maybe I didn't have to choose between two friend groups, or having a boyfriend or not. 

I could spend time with Farah and Bailey the day before while making cakes, and cut Bailey's birthday party short by leaving early. In a way Bailey or Bailey's mom wouldn't be concerned and wouldn't talk to my mom.  

All this planning to please other people was already giving me a headache. It annoyed me that Farah and Bailey didn't seem to want to make new friends in school, but I didn't want to lose them either. 

And I definitely didn't want to lose the chance to date Jem. I shouldn't forget to text him — Autumn did mention he liked getting attention. 

Okay, there was nothing I could do about the overlapping parties, or the fact that Farah and Bailey didn't like Jem, Jasmine and the others, and Autumn said I should choose. But I could definitely help Bailey by making sure Spencer would at least acknowledge her special day, and making sure Jem would become my boyfriend. 

I breathed in and out deeply and took my phone out again. Time to make this double life work.