Fashionably late, per expectation

“So, anyways, I ended up having to retreat to my car, grab a spare set of clothes, and all miraculously being seen.” You continue a story that you’d been telling for a couple minutes. By now, the house was beginning to fill, but knowing teenagers, a lot of the expected party was gonna be late.

“No way. The cameras got you.” Mia says, looking to get real theatrical with her movements. Her hand had moved to her hip, her other moving around in the air.

“Mm-mm. Nah. Thanks to you guys threatening me with them, I made sure to stay well out of sight. The big deal was the bushes beside the school. You move right, and you can’t be seen at all. And then I’ll admit I got lucky with a car being empty and parked out front before I snuck to the parking lot.”

“Well… I guess it’s believable enough. With the amount of run-ins we had, you musta picked up an idea or two on remaining unseen.” Rachel says.

“Yeah. I still can’t believe you guys didn’t actually check the recordings.”

“Oh, that? That was all bullshit. My mom may work in the office sometimes, but I don’t have a spare key to it. Not unless I ask and give it back with brevity.” Rachel comments.

“See her? Only a school-mom student uses words like brevity.” Mia pokes fun. “Oh shit, issat the door?” She turns at the sound of a ding dong. Before we can all turn around, the door is already open and in comes the red head, Rebecca. “Come join us! Sam was just reminding us of all the times we bought him a zero-expense paid trip to the clothing section of the store.”

“Sounds like fun. Who knows. Maybe, I’ll finally get to hear about the length he’s got down there.” Rebecca says flirtatiously.

“What do you mean ‘finally’?” You ask.

“We all knew you by name in the locker room.” Mia points out. You watch her stop a moment and readjust her open button down shirt over her tank top, still off-put by that night. “We are all girls too.”

“I getcha. But, I’d like to keep my secrets, what few I have.”

“Not too fast there, Gonzales. You still gotta keep your appointments.” Rebecca moves closer to you, cutting between Mia and Rachel.

“Real sly.” Colleen comments from behind you.

“I know, right?” Amanda replies, revealing herself from her corner of the room. Colleen stares at her a second, then rolls her eyes. You can’t help but dry laugh.

“Anyways…” Rebecca breaks the newfound silence, “where’s our beautiful, redhead host?” You detect a hint of sarcasm or distaste.

Mia directs our attention to the back patio. “Last I checked, back there. Checking to make sure everything’s alright. But that was before there were even six of us, so….”