The rest of the week was a blur. I barely managed to keep my head above water what with my workload from class, practice every evening and coming home late every night.
‘Damn it,’ Remi grumbled when I entered the kitchen on Wednesday evening.
‘What’s up?’ I asked, heading to the sink to grab a glass of water.
‘Can’t have the party here Friday night.’
‘We were having a party?’
‘Well, not anymore. Dad’s going to be home this weekend now. Guess Chris will have to host again. We never had a party here before, I thought it’d be fun to do one before high school’s over,’ she added.
‘Yeah. Maybe in summer? Can’t say I’m not relieved. Cleaning up the house with a hangover doesn’t sound fun,’ I mused, grabbing some carrot sticks and hummus from the fridge.
‘We could just hire cleaners,’ she shrugged.
‘Sounds kind of rich kid-ish,’ I pointed out, leaning against the breakfast bar.
‘Technically we are rich kids,’ Remi replied. ‘We’re just not assholes about it. Well, actually your car is a little much.’
‘Have you seen the size of your wardrobe?’ I snorted, tossing a carrot stick at her head. ‘You’re the one walking around in designer clothes all the time.’
‘Someone’s got to buy ‘em,’ she shrugged, flicking the carrot stick back at me. ‘You’ve been eating far too healthy the past few days. I guess we were pigs last week,’ she said, pushing her nose up in an attempt to look like a snout.
‘You’re in a good mood today.’
‘Excited for Friday. Love watching the football games in person. After will be fun too, especially if you win. You better win,’ she added with a glare. ‘You’ll be all mopey otherwise and you’ve only just stopped with the mopey-ness.’
‘I’m not mopey,’ I scowled.
‘Yeah, not since-’ she paused. ‘Just keep doing what you’re doing,’ she said decisively before jumping up. ‘Raegan and Tara are staying over tomorrow,’ she called over her shoulder as she headed towards the door. ‘We’re making Roadrunner banners!’
* * *
I was hoping for a peaceful evening on Thursday so I could relax before the game the next day. When I parked outside my house though, I spotted Tara’s car on the street and remembered what Remi had said. No rest for the wicked.
Inside, I found the three of them spread out across the living room floor with surprising focus. Remi was cutting something up while Tara and Raegan were painting red onto long cardboard sheets which they’d no doubt be holding up tomorrow. I was never any good at artsy stuff myself. Couldn’t paint or draw to save my life. My hand writing was pretty neat but that was the only skill I had with a pen.
No-one had noticed me yet so I decided to get some petty revenge on Raegan for jump scaring me at my locker on Monday. It was only fair.
I snuck as close as I could manage, shushing Remi with a hand wave because she finally caught sight of me, and leaning close behind Raegan who was concentrating very hard on her painting.
I went with the classic ‘boo’ and grinned when she let out a yelp of sorts and nearly jumped out of her skin. She slowly turned and scowled up at me.
‘I hate you so much,’ she grumbled.
‘No, you don’t,’ I replied.
She wouldn’t hang out with me so much if she hated me. I was confident in that at least.
