The party is on

Lauren couldn't believe her eyes. A surprise housewarming party. Even many of her stupid neighbours were present. To welcome her little sister. In HER house!! What were they thinking? And why had none of them had anything better to do on a Saturday night?

"Oh, geez... I'm so totally surprised." said Vanessa, winking at Bobby slyly. "Hi, everyone. I'm Vanessa."

"Hi, Vanessa!" yelled all the guests simultaneously.

"Welcome to the neighbourhood, sweety." came the old hag from across the street, shaking Vanessa's hand. "So rarely do we get decent folk moving in."

Welcome? Decent folk? How dare she, fumed Lauren. The hag never came to welcome her, who actually had bought the house a year ago. She was mere seconds away from expressing her dissatisfaction with the rabble, when the hag turned to her.

"And who is the little darling?" she asked, eyeing up Lauren in her childish dress and adorable little pigtails. Her size not only diminished bustwise but also heightwise.

Lauren's expression quickly changed from anger to fear. Her social status would crumble if all her neighbours and Vanessa's friends saw her like this. Not to mention Bobby. Tony was not present, but his brother would definitely relay any shocking information to him. "I... I'm Jess..." she stammered, turning a deep shade of crimson as she felt all eyes in her hall set on her in the embarrassing outfit.

Vanessa smiled contently upon hearing Lauren's words. She waited for her to pick a role to play, before continuing. "She is our sweet little sister. She's twelve. Ain't she adorable." she cooed, pinching Lauren's cheek.

"I never knew you two had a little sister." said one of Vanessa's schoolmate.

"Speaking of which, where's Lauren?" asked Bobby. "She never showed up. I thought you said she would be back by now."

"I got a call from her a few minutes ago." improvised Vanessa. "She's staying in a bit longer to finish some boring stuff. You know how she is. Work, work, work." she shook her head.

Because I, unlike you, have a job, asshole, thought Lauren. She wanted to strangle her sister. And Bobby even, for arranging a party in HER place. But first things first, it was high time she became Lauren once again. She only needed to 'put Jess to sleep' in one of the rooms and arrive as Lauren.

While Vanessa was led around, being ontroduced to the various neighbours, Lauren wandered around her quite big home, desperately trying to find an empty room to rid herself of 'Jess', but there were guests everywhere. She saw Jimbo, the nerd from next door, had set up a little DJ booth in the living room next to her hi-fi. She had caught the creep lurking around her bedroom window one night. Never had she imagine he would show his face near her place again after the scolding he had received. She saw Vanessa's high school pals, the Femmes Fatale as they had been calling themselves, chattering in and out of her bathroom. Femmes Immature, more like. Through Vanessa, Lauren'd met them quite often back when she was still living at their parents'. She never liked them, nor did she pretend to act otherwise. That hadn't changed since then. She saw Morticia the hag concocting something revolting in her kitchen. She may or may not have been cooking something for the guests, but she was messing up her kitchen regardless. Not like she had ever used it herself, but still. She even saw Sandra, the young single mom from down the street. The trashy, outspoken tramp had butted heads with her on a weekly occasion. And the stupid bitch had even brought her bratty son, the 10-year-old Zach. The little perv. Who the hell brings such a small kid to a party? She saw many others of her neighbours, walking around, like they were assessing her (Lauren's) value based on the things in her house. The house, none of these losers had ever seen from the inside. Not since she had moved in, at least. And now these mouth-breathers were pinching her cheeks, tickling her chin and cooing at her like she was not someone they should have respected and feared.

After aimlessly walking around her home, Lauren at last had realized what this meant. She no longer needed to play 'Jess' per se, but Vanessa had arranged a big crowd to ensure she couldn't just switch back to being Lauren. Not if she planned to save face.

"There you are!" jumped on her Vanessa. "Come on, have some fun. It's a party."

"Send them away." whispered Lauren angrily.

"What? Why?"

"Because I don't want them here."

"But they are not here for you. They are here for me." she smiled.

"This is my place." argued Lauren.

"Is it?" sneered Vanessa. "I seem to recall you introducing yourself as Jess."

"I..."

"You are enjoying this roleplay, aren't ya?"

"Most definitely not."

"Then why not say you were Lauren?"

"I... You know why."

"No, I haven't the foggiest. Enlighten me, little sis."

Lauren stared daggers at her sister. For all her immaturity, Vanessa proved to be more clever than she had thought. Blackmailing her into spending a day at the beach, tricking her into playing a child, forcing her out of her slutty swimsuit, and now arranging a party in her home, her sanctuary, prolonging her humiliation. Nothing was sacred. She had anticipated her immensely. And now Vanessa was pulling the strings, even without anything to **** her with.

"I could tell them I'm not feeling well, and they would leave." started Vanessa, enjoying the hopeless situation Lauren had gotten herself into. "But the question is: what are you willing to pay me in exchange for that."

Lauren's eyes narrowed at Vanessa's proposal. The insolent little freeloader was toying with her. Just how far ahead had she planned things? If she stooped to her level and stroke a bargain with the little she-devil, she would keep tricking her into newer and newer bargains. No doubt, humiliating her further. She had to carefully contemplate on whether to deal with her or just suffer through the party and be done with it.