Played By My Best Friend

Chapter 4

A year ago

A: Happy birthday, Em! ♥️

I opened the text up with a smile on my face as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

Half-awake, I texted back a simple 'thank you' before rolling out of bed and trudging towards the bedroom to get ready for school.

"Happy birthday, lil shit!" Beth exclaimed.

I grinned at her, "Thanks, dipshit."

I turned back to my locker to take out my books for first period as Beth leaned on the lockers beside me, watching as students walk past us.

"I can't believe it's been a year since your last birthday party." Beth sighed before turning to me with a gleam in her eyes.

I gave her a wary look, "I don't like that look in your eyes, get rid of it. 马上。立刻。现在。(Straight away. This instance. Right now.)"

Beth cackled, "Oh, you're exaggerating."

"I am not. Nothing good ever happens when you have that look. You always get us into trouble." I whined.

"Okay, hear me out before you completely reject this idea, okay? It's only fair to listen before you judge." She reasoned.

I watched her as she looked at me expectantly before giving her a reluctant nod.

An excited grin took over her face and she immediately started throwing out ideas left and right at me.

"Okay, I was thinking. Since you've turned 17 today, we can mix in some alcohol into the party this year." Beth wiggled her eyebrows at me suggestively.

I gave her an are-you-out-of-your-mind look before completely rejecting the idea. "Okay, I've heard you out and now I'm rejecting your idea, completely."

"Oh come on, Em, don't be a tight ass." It was Beth's turn to whine this time.

As you can see by now, I grew up to be the tight ass and Beth grew up to be the wilder one out of the two of us. I stuck by the rules and tried to avoid trouble but unfortunately for me, my own best friend was a trouble magnet.

I shut my locker and locked it, turning around to face Beth properly.

"Firstly, what party are you even talking about?"

"Duh, of course your birthday party," Beth rolled her eyes as if it was obvious.

"Well, I'm sorry, I wasn't notified about this so-called birthday party of mine." I retorted.

"I figured you were gonna pass all of the event organizing matter to me anyways so I didn't bother," Beth shrugged.

She was right about that, I thought to myself. "Touché."

"Secondly, sneak alcohol? 你疯了吧 (You've gone mad). You know how my parents are, 还要带酒？(You still want to bring alcohol?) 你是要死吗？(Do you want to die?)" I ranted.

Beth gave me a look that screamed 'CHILL'.

"Em, they won't know." Beth waved me off. "你说吧，他们是不是在国外? (Tell me, aren't they out of the country?)"

I huffed and mumbled a 'yes'.

"Exactly! 放心吧 (Relax). You're being paranoid. I'll help you clean afterwards." Beth winked at me.

I shook my head, "I still think this is a bad idea."

"Trust me, I'll make sure you'll have fun." Beth grinned.