Jeannette put the finishing touches to her smoky makeup and decided she was incredibly lucky her mom had helped her pick out a brand new outfit for the party tonight, she smiled as she twirled in her one shoulder apple green dress that sparkled with delicate beadwork and the ruched fabric that defined her waistline. A layer of tulle peeked out from the knee-length skirt giving an extra boost to the twirl power. Jeannette slipped her feet into her open toed pumps with the 4-inch heels that made her feel tall and willowy before heading over to check her cell phone for messages “come on Victoria! Where are you?” she whispered, perching on the window seat she sent Victoria a quick text then leant back and glanced out the window “what in the world…?” she gasped sitting up suddenly. Two dark figures had come out of the neighbor’s house carrying what looked an awful lot like a body. Jeannette shook her head and laughed at herself “probably a mannequin from Denise’s shop” she thought jumping slightly when her phone buzzed “hey, Victoria” she answered absent-mindedly, looking out the window again.
“Hi Jeannie!” came Victoria’s perky voice “I’m just running a little late, be there in five though! Promise!”
Jeannette grinned “okay, I’ll be waiting out front” she hung up and grabbed a black bolero from her closet in case it got cool later than she hurried downstairs and out the door.
“Hi Jeannette” called Denise waving wildly at her.
“Hello” Jeannette called back.
“Where are you going all dressed up?” Denise asked coming up and standing on the first step of the porch.
“Brantley’s birthday party” Jeannette replied shortly, she didn’t know why she was being rude but her senses were all screaming at her so it was a relief when Denise’s next words were drowned out by Victoria honking her horn as she swept into the drive.
“Got to go!” Jeannette said, practically leaping down the steps and jumping into the front passenger seat.
Denise sighed unhappily as her husband Steve came around the back of their house, he took one look at her and asked “what’s wrong?”
“I think Jeannette saw us” she said quietly.
“What’ll we do?” he asked nervously.
“We’ll have to make sure she doesn’t tell anyone” she replied standing up.
Steve put his arm around her and they walked back to their house.
Victoria spent most of the quick trip to Brantley’s talking excitedly about her new crush Thomas, and Jeannette nodded as though she was paying attention but it was hard when she kept getting a creepy feeling running up and down her spine as though someone was watching her.
The Alice in Wonderland themed “curiouser and curiouser” party was well underway when they arrived and Victoria rushed over to Thomas as soon as she entered the extravagantly decorated mansion, Jeannette wandered over to the buffet table where Brantley was standing, he was rather obviously trying to look as though he wasn’t bored but at least his face lit up when he saw Jeannette and she couldn’t help but be glad yet again for her mom’s excellent style suggestions.
“Thank goodness someone interesting finally arrived!” he whispered in her ear causing her to blush slightly and she bit her lip trying not to giggle as he pulled an awful face.
“Your Mom won’t appreciate that, I bet she worked really hard on this” she reproved him slightly but he just grinned and shrugged. They both knew he had wanted to go to Disney with just a few of his closest friends but his mom didn’t ask so he got the elaborate confection of a party that they were currently ignoring as he showed her the new book his dad had sent him.
“Wow, look at these pictures!” she said in awe at the majestic rain forests that graced the pages of the large book.
“Yeah, I would love to go visit with Dad sometime but Mom thinks it’s to far away” he said regretfully.
“You’ll be graduating next Spring, you could go before college” offered Jeannette.
“Maybe, that would be nice” he agreed as the party whirled on around them.
lindacee 