Chapter 5 - Party all night?

 19:00 Mooikloof, Pretoria

“Wow” Gina exclaims next to me when we get Amara’s house. The driveway is lined with large pink balloons. The front doorway is decorated with pink roses. The grass has been spray painted pink as well. It’s like someone came and dropped a large pink paint ball in her front yard. And it stained everything.

I love it!

 I know I will never be able to convince my parents to throw me a birthday party like this.

They love me but not this much.

“Wow is right” I say when I we get out of the car. They even have valet. I hand my keys to the guy and he gives me a card.

“I mean, I knew Amara’s parents were loaded but this is next level loaded.” Gina says looking around uncomfortable. She fiddles with her dress, trying to fix it.

I feel her anxiety creeping toward me and I don’t like it. I feel off enough, I don’t need her emotions.

“Why are you surprised? We’ve been here before.” I say confused by her reaction. She’s been to Amara’s house before, why does she look so uncomfortable all of a sudden.

“Yeah , I know. I guess when she said birthday party I thought something she meant something a little more subtle.” She says softly.

“When has Amara done anything subtle?” I ask quietly as she comes out of her house to greet us. She’s wearing an over the top pink gown, proving my point.

“Hey ladies, I’m so glad you’re here.” She says beaming.

“You look so good” I say going in for a hug. She really does, her makeup looks flawless.

“I know right?” she says giggling. “I’m so excited. Come in, come in” she says leading us into the house.

“Wow” Gina says again when we get into the house.

“I know it’s like a castle fit for a princess.” Amara says at Gina’s reaction. The whole house has been emptied out. There is no furniture, just empty rooms filled with large pink balloon floating sculptures. The walls are draped with long flowing pink cloths.

There are floating clouds, Swans, Horses and all kinds of animals. On the floor there are arrows that direct us to the different rooms. There is a room for taking photos, another is where the food and drinks are and the room that has the most people is the balloon pit room.

Every student from our school is in there screaming their lungs out in a sea of pink balloons.

“Have fun ladies” Amara says to us and then she disappears.

“Are you going to admit I was right?” Gina says looking at me with an accusatory stare.

“Okay, you were right” I say admitting this is over the top. This is Kardashian birthday party level.

“I’m getting in the pit” Gina says already taking her shoes off. She hands me her purse and shoes, then gets into the balloon pit.

I head to where the food is. I am hungry and tired. The toll of the past week is weighing me down. I didn’t want  to be a terrible friend and not show up to Amara’s 18^th birthday.

But I won’t lie. I wish I was home. Sleeping!

The smell of food hits me when I get to the kitchen door and I instantly feel better. In the kitchen I find a staff of people waiting to serve food.

I look around and I am drawn to the tacos. The attendant plates up four different flavors for me. My mouth waters at the sight and smell of them.  I thank him and head out to find a quiet spot to eat.

Once I’ve eaten I will feel better and join the party.  Right now I am cranky and mean.

I head through a door I know leads to the back garden. I sit on a bench underneath a tree. Put Gina’s bag and shoes down on the bench and put my car keys in my jean pocket and I enjoy the tacos in silence.

I savor every bite of the amazing food. All I need now is a bed and I will be so happy.

“Hi” someone says behind me and I turn around to see who it is. And it’s one of Leo’s friends. Zach.

“Hi” I say back to him.

“The party is inside.” He states, as if he said something profound.

“I know” I state too. Why is he stating the obvious?

“Then why are you out here?” he asks sitting on the bench, but on the far end. He looks at me cautiously.

“I should be asking you the same thing” I say curious why he sat down.

“I came outside to smoke” he says plainly.

“Well I came to eat” I say wondering where this conversation is going. In all the time we’ve been in school together he has never said a word to me. And today he’s talking to me like we know each other.

“Okay” he says after a long pause.

“Do you want some?” I ask him feeling awkward that he’s sitting there and I’m the only one eating. I find it rude to eat when other people are not.

“You want to give me a taco?” he asks looking at me weird. Then he smiles at me.

“Not really but I feel awkward eating and you’re not. Honestly I would rather not share these with anyone. They’re so good.” I say looking at the last two tacos lovingly but still offer him the one.

He looks at the taco and then at me. He laughs and I can’t help but join in. we laugh together for a moment .

“What the hell” I hear Cole say behind us. I turn around and he walks toward Zach his fists balled up. I stand up quickly and place myself between Cole and Zach.  He’s acted this way when other boys talk to me. I hate this macho thing he does.

“What’s going on here?” Cole says getting louder.

“Nothing is going on. Jeez. I hate it when you do this.” I say my appetite suddenly gone. “You always do this” I say pushing him away from Zach.

“There’s a line buddy” He says pointing at Zach behind me.

“No line was crossed” I hear Zach say. I turn and he has his arms raised but he’s not scared or anything like that.

“Cole, why do have to be that way?” I ask him when we head back to the house. 

“You’re my girl, I need to protect you.” He says words I’ve heard so many times before. Hearing him repeat them sucks the life out of me.

I open my mouth to say omething…

“Golden, where have you been? Where are my shoes?” Gina calls out walking towards me.

“Shit” I say turning back around; I left her stuff on the garden bench.

“Where are you going?” Cole says behind me. I ignore him and head back out into the garden. I find Gina’s stuff on the bench but there’s no Zach.

“What is going on with you?” Cole says when he finds me outside. “I was so excited for today, I thought we’re going to have fun but now that we’re here I’m not so sure. I’m confused.” He says grabbing my arm softly.  “Talk to me” he says so gently, I look him in the eyes and smile.

“I’m sorry, I’m just tired. And when you were rude to Zach, it activated me.” I say apologetic. I really am tired.

“Who’s Zach” he asks confused.

“Zach” I say pointing to the garden so he can make the connection to who I’m talking about.

“What?” he asks genuinely confused. I look at him amazed, then why did he act like he did?

“Never mind” I let it go too tired to even explain the whole thing to him.

“Okay, now can we have a great time at this amazing party?” he says smiling hard.

“Okay” I say and we head back to the party.