Loser Lessons

If You Don't Get Caught, Everything is Legal

“Carson, I don’t think this is a good idea,” I hissed as we walked towards the humongous house. There were people everywhere, and they were all dressed in fancy outfits. I was wearing a dress and I still felt underdressed. I looked over at Carson who still hadn’t responded, he was smiling widely, looking around excitedly. For the first time I realized he was wearing a navy dress shirt with a black tie and black dress pants. He looked very handsome.

                And for some weird reason, I decided to tell him that.

                “Uh, thanks,” Carson smiled down at me. I nodded, blushing slightly. Why was I embarrassed? “Okay,” Carson said, stopping us where we were, about five feet from the doorway. “Stop looking so freaked out, all we need to do is walk in confidently, they won’t suspect a thing.”

                Suddenly, a light bulb went off in my head. “Are we crashing a party?” I asked in disbelief.

                “Took you that long, huh?” Carson chuckled.

                “We ARE?” I gaped. I looked around again, people were still pouring into the building, and some were lounging around with champagne glasses. “We’re crashing a fancy party?”

                “It’s a charity event,” Carson explained. He smiled at someone who was eyeing us suspiciously.

                Oh man, we didn’t fit in at all! We’re just kids! We don’t belong at a charity event!

                “Calm down, Annie,” Carson reached out and held my face in his hands. “It’s going be fine. Fun, even. The worst they can do is kick us out.”

                “And call the police,” I muttered.

                “That too,” he grinned. Why didn’t he care that authorities could get involved? What happened to the Carson who would have been telling me that this was a stupid idea?

                “As I said before,” Carson continued, as though he was reading my thoughts, “I’ve wanted to do this before. I know what to do, it’ll be a blast. Trust me.”

                I was looking into his pretty eyes as he spoke, and I suddenly couldn’t look away. I found myself nodded mechanically, and Carson grinned happily. I found myself smiling, too. Carson turned on his heel and dragged us towards the door again. “Remember, just look confident.”

                I can do this, I thought to myself.  

                I sent a dazzling smile to the next person that looked at us. Then another one to the guy who was standing by the door, he did a double take as we passed easily through the door but didn’t come after us because the next group was coming in the house after us. I laughed as Carson cheered when we made it in.

                “This is so awesome!” Carson stared, wide eyed at the amazing building. There were long white tables along the wall with expensive artwork, or items that you could put your name on for a silent auction. There was a big, open dining area in a room to our left, and there were people drinking wine and expensive drinks while eating what looked to me like fancy hot dogs. In the middle of the room was a bubbling fountain, with people gathered around it socializing as though they didn’t have a care in the world.

                “Let’s go talk to people!” I said, suddenly excited to be here.

                “Do you think that’s a good idea?” Carson asked hesitantly.