A group of rich girls

Thia wasn’t the most popular by any means. She’d only moved to Seattle a few months into junior year and by then almost everyone had ingrained themselves into their friend groups. It wasn’t helped by the sideways glances she noticed every time she spoke. It wasn’t her fault her Georgia accent slipped through her words, but the judgement was thick all the same.

Over a year and a half later, she’d still not found her place. Even as she walked the graduation stage, she was just ready to put this all behind her. It’s why it surprised her when Sydney Crompton came up to her and invited her to an afterparty. Sydney was everything Thia wasn’t. Smart, rich, popular. The student council president, she had just walked off her valedictorian speech, so why Thia?

She almost laughed it off as a joke, but the invite stuck in her head. If it was some cruel prank, screw it, it’s not like she’d see any of them again. Might as well risk it and see what comes of it.

Sydney hadn’t given a dress code or anything, but seeing as it was being held at her mansion, Thia figured she’d dress nice. As nice as she could, comparatively at least. That meant a nice blouse, green to contrast her red hair, and a long blue skirt.

Pulling up, the mansion was quiet, only a single other car in the drive. Double-checking the address, which was correct, Thia knocked on the door.

“Oh shit, what’s up?” Julia answered the door. She was Sydney’s sister, the other half of the Crompton twins. While both were absolutely smart, Jules was more creatively focused when compared to her sister’s academic excellence. “Glad you could make it. You look great. Come in, grab a drink… shit, where are the drinks?”

Thia gave a meek smile as she stepped in, the size of the entrance hall shaking her. It had to be as big as her entire house. “Wow… cool house.”

“Yeah, yeah…” She chuckled. “Everyone’s in the living room. The door on the right.”

Seeing Thia’s hesitance, Jules just took her hand and guided her through. Sydney was on the couch with a plastic solo cup already in hand. “Hey Thia!” She waved.

“What’s she doing here?” Val raised an eyebrow. She was the stereotypical goth of the school, not that Thia had ever gotten a chance to know her before. At most they shared passing glances in the hall. “I thought you said it’d just be us?”

“You said this was a party, right…?” Thia mumbled to herself. “There’s like… four people here.”

“It’s an afterparty. Just for close friends and stuff.” Sydney shrugged. “And like, Thia always seemed cool. I wanted to get to know her before… we go our separate ways.”

Val rolled her eyes. “How sentimental. Where’s Dani? She said she’d be back an hour ago.”

“Probably got lost trying to find more booze. I’ll go get her.” Jules laughed.

Thia awkwardly shuffled over to an empty sofa near the others and hung her head. “Jeez, perk up. No need to be all pouty.”

“Be nice, Val.” Sydney sighed. “She’s a friend now, okay?”

“Whatever. So… what, do we play Truth or Dare? Seven Minutes in Heaven?”

“I… hadn’t thought about that yet. Um… here, there are board games.” She pulled open a compartment under the couch. “Let’s see. This one’s just got a closed eye and… vines? Doesn’t even have a name.”

“Lame.”

“Okay, uh… Monopoly, Sinner’s Edition?”

“I like the sound of that.” Val smirked.

“Oh please, you’d throw a fit if we played Monopoly.” She set it aside. “This one’s called ‘Fourth Wall’. It’s like… you draw a card and do the dare? I think… This font is hard to read.”

“Sure, sounds fun. You think we can get Dani to skinny dip in your pool again.”

“Maybe… if there’s a card like that.” Sydney giggled. “It does say 18+ only, so…”

“Hey bitches! Who’s ready to partayyyy!”

Danika Daily was… well, at least she was popular. The kind of girl who would date her way through the football team multiple at a time, until every guy was too busy fighting each other to focus on winning any actual games. Well, she’s not the kind of girl who would. She very much did do that.

The picture perfect dumb blonde stereotype almost tripped and spilled the booze immediately, but Thia managed to jump in the way and catch her.

“Well, thank you, ma’am.” Dani smiled.

“See, this is why Thia being here is good.” Jules laughed while pouring herself a drink. “So, what’s the game plan?”

“Fourth Wall. Have you ever played it?”

“Nope. When’d we even get that?”

“No idea. You up for some dares?”

“Hell yeah.”