Lions Pride: Mean Girls Next Generation

13

Clara hated to admit it but even she had never really spent an extended amount of time at Naomi's house. A sleepover between the two could never happen in the past due to Naomi's...spastic tendencies. It seemed as if she had her head on straight at school, perfect grades, smart enough to run an entire country. However, in the walls of her own home...she's anything but.

Sure, her personal library in her room shows her love for learning is very real, but her ability to be cool, calm and collected disappears. Clara remembers the last time the two attempted a sleepover. It was years ago. It was so long ago in fact, Clara is almost certain their biggest plan for the night was watching kid shows and "making fun of them" because the two have totally grown out of them. At least, that's what they told people. In reality, watching "Wow Wow Wubbzy" was ultimately the most mesmerizing thing they could think to do for the night.

Clara remembers arriving and instantly being brought into a soul crushing hug by Naomi's "Mama" Karen. Though Clara is used to Karen now, back then she was afraid of everything...and strangers were pretty high on the hate list. After that, the night went fairly normal. The two played all sorts of games, board games, video games, make believe games. The laughs the two shared were memories Clara still holds dear when she thinks of Naomi.

However, everything changed once it got around the time to go to bed. Clara was used to her own schedule, so following Naomi's for the sake of keeping things fairly simple was strange. The two cuddled down into bed as Gretchen turned down the light and said goodnight.

Rolling over to get some sleep, Clara didn't notice right away that Naomi remained glaring at the doorway as if she was trying to unlock a secret unknown power of heat vision. For a while, Clara ignored it not really sure if she cared, because quite frankly, she was exhausted. Eventually, she felt her friend roll over to go to sleep. It was silent for a good 20 minutes until Naomi awake kicking and screaming.

Clara basically flew from the mattress. She had never been so scared in her entire life up to that point. It looked like her best friend was being possessed. Her eyes were so wide it looked inhuman. Her mouth hung open as she howled for no apparent reason.

"N-Naomi? W-What's wrong?!" Clara asked barely able to get the words out as she wedged herself as tightly in the corner as she could. It wasn't long before Gretchen and Karen both came jolting into the room. Each one stumbling from fear not wanting to stop for a moment even to get their footing.

Clara watched with intense fear as Gretchen carefully checked her daughter over for any apparent injuries or reason she'd be so afraid. When asked what happened, Naomi broke into cackling laughter.

"What's so funny, darling?" Gretchen asked patting her hand in concern.

"Clara's face! You should've seen how scared she was! No, I'm completely fine! I was playing a prank! Got you!"

Needless to say, no one really found it funny. Clara was so angry and petrified all at the same time that a call was immediately made home for Cady and Regina to come pick her up. She would later find out that Naomi genuinely thought she'd think it's funny, because "friends prank friends". Due to her constant apologies...Clara finally forgave her. She however, never stayed over night there again, and apparently...neither had anyone else.

Everything was a lot bigger of a deal back then...

Despite those deep rooting memories, Clara knew it was all in the past. There's no way Naomi would do something like that, she knows better now. Clara hurried home and packed a duffle bag for the night. She didn't stick around to risk another unexpected surprise from Ethan. Once she was all packed, she wrote a quick note for Ithlilen when he got home and hurried on her way.