deception - original story [3]

chapter five

CHAPTER FIVE
labyrinth

"You threw a fucking rager," Olive says, trying to raise her voice a bit more, because a surprising amount of people are at Alana's party.

Alana hasn't spoken to most of them, so she assumes her invite got out, "Thanks. It wasn't my intention."

Olive furrows her eyebrows, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm..." Alana trails off, looking at something behind Olive, "Fuck. Who invited him?"

Olive gives a confused look and turns around.

"Holy shit," Olive widens her eyes.

Standing before the two of them, entering Alana's home was exactly who she didn't want to see.

Lincoln Ledger.

•••

"The shit are you doing here?" Olive furrows her eyebrows, "Alana doesn't want you at her birthday party."

Lincoln crosses his arms, "I'm not here for Alana. And I was invited."

"By who?" Olive narrows her eyes.

"Riley."

Olive has no idea who Riley is.

"Okay, well, you know Alana doesn't want you here," Olive shakes her head, "You're being an asshole. Like usual."

"Are you still bitter about what happened at Spring Fling last year?" Lincoln rolls his eyes, "Dude, get over it."

"I don't give a shit about what happened last year," Olive scoffs, "You're here just to ruin Alana's day and that's what I'm bitter about."

Lincoln says nothing, walking past her and purposely bumping into her shoulder to annoy her.

Olive narrows her eyes. Motherfucker.

•••

Tara is outside, in the exact spot that Shawn and Alana had their moment in at Alana's last party.

It's the back of Alana's house. Tara hears footsteps, so she looks up.

It's Gina.

"Hi," Gina raises her eyebrows, "I didn't expect to see you here. I mean, I knew you'd be here, but I didn't expect to see you outside. You seem like a party animal...?"

Tara chuckles, "No. Not really, actually."

"Is everything okay?" Gina asks, her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"What?" Tara shakes her head, "You can't ask me if I'm okay. I'm not the one that disappeared for almost a week. Are you okay?"

Gina sighs, "The truth is... my mom, she kicked me out of the house."

"Seriously?" Tara pauses, "Do you... why?"

"She found about me and you," Gina shuts her eyes, "The kiss. She doesn't like that I... that I kissed a girl. She thinks I'm a lesbian."

"Are you?"

Gina gives a speechless look, "I... I don't know."

"I'm so sorry," Tara says, "You don't deserve that."

"Can I get a hug?"

Tara nods, "Yeah," And Tara hugs Gina.

For a little bit, Gina isn't worried about anything.

•••

"I need your help, like, desperately." Alana says, "My ex is here. Your ex best friend. He was a total asshole to my best friend, your sister, so I kinda wanna make him mad."

Shawn nods, "Right. Make him mad how?"

"I don't want to turn around right now to make sure," Alana explains, "But is Lincoln looking over here right now?"

Shawn looks up, and looks back to Alana, "Yeah."

"Good." Alana stands on her tip-toes, kissing Shawn as Lincoln watches.

Lincoln obviously doesn't like this, because he leaves almost immediately.

"You kissed me," Shawn acknowledges.

"Yep."

"With people around."

"Exactly."

"So that you could make your ex boyfriend jealous." Shawn furrows his eyebrows, and he looks kind of hurt.

"Well, yeah, but I also kissed you because I like you..." Alana tries to say, but is cut off.

"No, you kissed me to get a reaction out of Lincoln," Shawn denies, "Whatever, Alana. I get it."

Alana chuckles, "No, shut up, I didn't--"

"Don't tell me to shut up." Shawn says.

"I wasn't..." Alana shakes her head, "No, I was just..."

"You know what?" Shawn narrows his eyes, "You're the same petty girl you were last year."

"No, listen to me, you're not listening to me--" Alana begins to feel overwhelmed.

And in the middle of her own birthday party, Alana Dhawan gets so overwhelmed that she vomits.

She's so stressed that she vomits in front of the guy she likes.

This felt like the worst birthday ever.

A/N: ignore that that last part exactly mirrored cady's party in mean girls