IC Time: October 18, 2007
Location: Robertson Residence
Synopsis: A sleep over at Carly's turns into a battle of courage between two guests.
Submitted by: Carly
The Robertson household is full of girls from all social circles tonight. The doors to the garage are open, as is the door to the kitchen of the house. A veritable buffet of different snacks is laid out on the island and Carly's parents have sequestered themselves to their bedroom for the night. Her two brothers, after mingling a little, have been locked in their basement to play video games, though a few of the younger teen girls have been sneaking down there to play a little as well.
Carly is in the garage, greeting and showing people around. She is in a pair of pink 'Hello Kitty' pajamas, big fuzzy slippers, and her hair is braided into two tails at the back of her head. "Hi!" she calls to another arrival, "Make yourself at home, there's drinks in the fridge and snacks in the kitchen, help yourselves!"
A far too spiffy car for a girl from Forks (nevermind La Push) pulls up, and out steps a somewhat tall, muscular girl. A quick glance around is cast before she grabs her bag and keys and locks the car before walking to the door, taking care to knock (or ring, whatever she's supposed to do), and wait to be permitted into the house. She can already pick up the sound of the girls inside, and the video game downtairs, too.
Ree walked over already bedecked in her slumberparty best, courtesy of living just up the road. She's currently in the aforementioned kitchen, pulling out a bag of cool ranch Doritos and a six-pack of Coke from the plastic Thriftway bag she'd used to cart the goodies over. One of the sodas is secured for herself after they're shoved in the fridge, then it's over to the nearby couch where she curls up against one arm of it. "We could probably feed a small country with what's in there. Half of these girls don't even eat," she remarks to no one in particular, popping the tab on the Coke can.
The door that Piper knocks on is wide open, but the teen jumps from the little crowd she is in to greet the other girl anyway. "Hi, I'm Carly," she says, grinning widely. "Don't need to knock, just come on in!" She ushers the girl into the garage and make a few introductions of the girls already there before turning to the shifter and raising her eyebrows. "Oh, I forgot to get your name!"
Tambrey is anxious as she arrives, mostly due to the fact she's a new kid in school - and showing up to a public slumber party after riding a bear out of the cafeteria and spending two hours in the woods lost before wandering back in disheveled. But at least she wasn't /eaten/. That said, she walks up with her PJs in hand, chewing her lower lip nervously. She is, yet again, holding her clothing against her torso protectively. Seeing people walking right in the open front door, she pauses a moment there as if thinking she might just turn and run the other direction instead. But what could possibly go wrong, right? No bears here… no nothing, in fact, but a bunch of females.
Piper offers a nod and smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Carly, nice place," she gives in a chipper fashion as she greets those she's introduced to. "Oh, sorry," she gives after awhile, "it's Piper," she offers as an introduction before casting her gaze around the room, looking for anyone familiar.
Following just behind Piper is Holly. She's tried to stand out, as usual, and currently dons a messy bun, lots of black eyeliner, and a strange concoction of an outfit: an old, formal white nightgown that's been added to with leather sting in mockery of a corset, cut, trailing sleeves, and added lace. Underneath she wears a pair of white leggings and ballet flats. She flashes a tenative smile toward Carly, but frowns toward the couch, where Ree sits. She lingers near the door, which could be unfortunate for Tambrey, since the newcomer serves as a most excellent gossip-receiver. "Hey! I'm Holly. You might want to steer clear of /her/ though, if you want to keep any potential love interests." It's said in a murmur, and a bitter one, at that. Someone's had a /bad/ day.
Ree sips from the can she's holding, gaze wandering idly over the collected females. She seems content to remain where she is. For now. A slight tightening of the eyes might be noticed when Holly's arrival comes, however. It isn't a *glare*, per se. More the start of a frown.
Carly is much too busy showing a couple of girls the upstairs room, so they can change into their pajamas. "Be careful to change behind the screen, there's a guy that lives next door… I heard he likes to watch." Then she turns on the stairs and makes her way down. "Hey Holly! Nice jammies!" Skipping over to the fridge, the bubble blonde pulls out a bottle of Coke Zero and cracks it open, taking a swig. Then she sits on the arm of the couch closest to Ree, "Hey girl, turn that frown upside down!"
Tambrey blinks and slides her dark eyes towards Holly. She shifts a little uncertainly and then glances towards Ree on the couch. The girl from the cafeteria. She wanted to ditch that day too. Ditching school. Stealing boyfriends. "Um. K," she replies with an uneasy look. And Ree doesn't look happy to see Holly either. "What am I doing here?" she mutters half to herself in despair.
Piper hears a familiar name and spins around. "Holly! Excellent, a familiar face," she gives in a bright fashion, flashing a smile towards the goth girl. "Didn't expect to see you here," then again, she didn't expect to be here either, so…
"Oh — Hey, Carly!" Holly looks a little taken aback to have the perky blonde talk to her, especially since she's beside Ree. She gives a slight wave and then turns back toward Tambrey and Piper, as she arrives. "Piper, hey! Good to see you here, too. I thought Charlene was coming, but…" She shrugs her shoulders loosely. Eyeing the door to the inside of the house, Holly moves her body so that she blocks the view of anyone coming from the house — especially parents — and then removes a baggy from her pocket. "I know what you mean," she says to Tambrey, a bit warily. "I brought a little something, if you guys can keep it down?" It's probably not her best judgement call, but it's a good way to distract her from potential teenage-girl drama and instead propel her into the world of real-life drama and consequences: "Just let me know if you want one." It's an assortment of joints, clearly. She speaks lowly, though surely anyone could approach over her shoulder or perhaps even see what's going on, from a different angle.
"Huh? Oh! I wasn't. I had something in my eye." In a twinkling, Ree's face is lit with a grin and she reaches up to tap her can against Carly's bottle. "Cheers! How was the movie? Did Nicolas get you home safe last night?" she goes on, casting her gaze back out into the happy crowd. It isn't that the teen is keeping an eye on Holly, exactly. But notes are certainly being made of who she's speaking with, their posture, their expressions.
Blushing furiously, Carly just nods to Ree. Her lips are pursed tightly together as though she's trying not to smile but the corners of her lips upturn ever so slightly. She completely misses the baggy in Holly's hand, good thing though, considering the blonde is a complete straight lace. She sees a few other girls making their way outside, slipping past Holly and looks toward them frowning. "Be careful out there and stay in the yard! There's wild animals in the woods and vampires in the cemetery!" The last bit is really just an amusing joke to herself, there's really no such thing as vampires.
Tambrey just… stares. Holly can't just have brought out what she's seeing right now. Noooo way. "I'll keep it in mind," she says quietly, glancing around with horror and more than a little fear of being caught. No way is she going down for this one! "Scuse me," she says as she slinks off to find some little place to perch and pant anxiously at all the people she doesn't know.
Piper eyes Holly's bag and shrugs. She's not exactly concerned with the kind of trouble Holly's up to causing, so long as no when gets hurt. "Charlene?" she questions, the name sounds very familiar… oh right, Jacob's girl. "Oh, right… So out of it, not being from Forks an all," she gives with a shake of her head and a smile as she looks around the crowds, undoubtedly looking out of place, at least she feels out of place… a gaggle of teenage girls that she doesn't know.
Ree's head whips around, a startled look being directed up at Carly before she realizes it was a joke. Almost as surprising is the blonde's lack of chatter on the subject of Nicolas. "Hey, is everything okay? What happened? Something happened, didn't it? Tell me!" A light tug on the leg of Carly's pajama bottoms emphasizes the request. "I thought you liked Trevor!" It just goes to show what happens when you allow yourself to be distracted by relationship drama; you miss all the juicy tidbits *other* people are living. She glances up briefly, giving Tambrey a distracted smile as the new girl wanders by.
Holly can't hide the disappointment she earns from the lack of reaction from the other girls. She musters a shrug, "Eh. I'll save it for Charlene, then. She appreciates it. In the meantime," Holly stuffs the baggy back into her purse in favor of a cigarette and a cheap lighter, "this'll tide me over."
She pauses just long eneough to hear Carly's comment about vampires, reacting with mild alarm and immediately seeking out Ree's eyes. "Um, hold on. 'Scuse me, girls," she says quickly to Piper and Tambrey. "Carly? What happened in the cemetary?" She laughs nervously. "I mean, I know you're joking, but — did something happen?" She's being a little obvious about it, maybe. Can't help it though, she's on edge anyway.
After a tense moment she nods to Piper, relieved to have something to go back on: "Yeah, she mentioned she was dating someone from La Push. Seemed like they were on the rocks though, you know anything about that?" Holly exhales some smoke in Piper's direction.
Piper shakes her head towards the girls. "There's no such thing as vampires," she states with a firm nod of her head. "Charlene and her boyfriend on the rocks? I don't know, I try not to pry into the personal lives of my friends," she gives towards Holly with a faint little shrug. "I just live there, nothing more, nothing less," except, y'know, turn into a wolf every once in awhile.
Tambrey smiles faintly at those who look at her or greet her, but otherwise does the wallflower thing. She's still wound up tight as a spring on her perch, clothing held against her front. She's not exactly sure what it is she's supposed to be doing here, really. Usually it's not so…. open… for her, a sleeping party. All the ones she's ever been to have been with friends she's known her entire life.
"Trevor's nice," Carly agrees and nudges the petite brunette on the couch with her elbow, "Why do you want to know so bad, huh? You like him or something?" She laughs a bit, albeit nervously and then turns to Holly as she comes over. "Oh, no.. I just watched a freaky movie last night. Have you seen the previews to 30 Days of Night? After watching that, I don't know if I can handle living in this garage by myself next to a cemetery!" She glances in the direction of said piece of property and oooo's, "Hey! We should get really stupid and go out there at midnight!"
Maybe it'll be noticed, maybe it won't, but Ree gives a very, very slight shake of her head when her eyes happen to (by seeming coincidence!) meet Holly's. There might be bad blood between them, but the teen appears to recognize priorities. Wait, what? "Huh, Trevor? No…" Choosing not to delve into her romantic entanglements, given the audience, Avery settles instead for taking another sip of Coke. "Sure!" she says after swallowing. Normally she'd be the first to demur, but it's a night for living! "That could be fun!"
"Well, I don't know. Don't spread that around or anything," Holly responds to Piper, a bit uncomfortably as she takes another puff off her cigarette. "Sorry," she adds a bit lamely, and then eyes Tambrey. "Hey, you want a light or something?" She's noticed the other looks uncomfortable, though she isn't sure what the solution might be. As for the talk of Trevor? She leaves it open for discussion, not adding her bit, or perhaps, keeping the inner workings of her love life to herself. Until the cemetary is mentioned. "I don't know. Tiago'd be upset if I was there alone, at night, knowing the creepy stuff that's been going on."
Charlene is fashionably late, but this is nothing new. There is a rather large duffle bag slung over her shoulder, and she's peering down at her hand written invitation with some hesitation as she ambles into the open household. Brown eye flash around the unfamiliar terrain before her hand lowers to her side weakly. "Uhm…hi?" She calls out, heading towards the low chatter of female voices. "Hey everybody! Where's Carly?"
Ree's eyes flash back to Holly, betraying a brief glimpse of hurt. Just that: brief. What comes next does a fine job of concealing it. "Tell me what happened with Nic, Carly, and I'll tell you how the rest of *my* night went. After we got done with the movie," she remarks while leaning against the blonde, smiling a little. No more of the cringing, delicate flower Avery. The gauntlet has been thrown.
"Whoah now gals! Let's reign back on that pony. You two were friendly before a guy got in the middle…" Carly jumps up from her seat, getting between the two side of the love triangle and places her hands on her hips. "You're obviously not seeing the real problem between the two of you. It's /his/ fault. You both like him? You told him? What's he doing? He's taking advantage of the fact that he can get play at either place. 'Oh my god, he's so conflicted, he likes you both!'" Dramatically she places her hands over her heart and swoons. "Whatever, he's playing it up. It's like Archie comics! He likes the stuff on both sides so he doesn't even see a reason to make the tough decisions!" She then shakes her head in disgust and throws her hands up in the air, "Guys are NOT worth it!" Then she skips over to the doorway and gives the latecomer a giant hug. "Charlene! Boy am I glad you came! I've been wanting to meet you /forever/ I even hung out with your brother and Beverley one night because I was waiting for you to get home!"
Piper slinks away when the discussion turns to boys and the like. Oh, typical teenage girls, though she is one, of course, but all the boys she'd argue over are back in Cali. "Seriously, boys in this l'il town, are so far from worth it, that it's not even funny, that, or it's hilarious," she states.
"Charlene, hey!" Holly pipes up, in interest of having something to distract her from the impending argument between her and Ree. Ree's comments, however, earn an intake of breath before she begins on a rant, which… ends quickly. In fact, it ends when Carly explodes. The dark haired girl simply stares at her as she continues on, blinking a few times then shaking her head. "I see your point, but, not really. /I/ liked him first! Me and him were going to be together until she just decided to give up all her cookies the second time she hung out with him. He can't resist that. I don't even blame him. I mean, I… well, that's another story. Anyway, fuck it. I'm not interested in fighting either. Let's do it. Let's go to the cemetary, right now."
Cemetary? Tambrey just /stares/. That's all she's doing right now. "You want a bunch of girls in their panties and PJs to go to a /cemetary/?" she demands. "In OCTOBER?" She squeezes her eyes shut and just shakes her head. "Oh, hell, Mom, why'd you move to a town full of crazies? Even the BEARS are nuts here!"
Ree spares a glance for Carly but is unabashed by the blonde's dramatic lecture. Setting the can of coke on a nearby table, she slides to her feet and sets one hand on her hip. The look she gives Holly is flat, even with the smile lingering on her lips. "Don't blame him? What, you like me too, Holly? He'd *love* that I bet…maybe for his birthday." Then she twiddles her fingers at the other girl and moves to trail after her best friend. You know, the one that just yelled at her. "See, I was good? Are we going to the cemetary, like she said?"
Piper shakes her head. "No one should go out to the cemetary, no matter how small and quaint a town this may be, cemetaries are not a safe place for a gaggle of girls, especially at this hour," she states, crossing her arms and moving to stand in front of the door.
Charlene doesn't know about all the intense boy drama bubbling in the sleep over, therefore Carly's pro-girl exclamation is taken with a grain of salt, the innocent blinking of her orbs. However, when she's greeted by the host, her expression brightens in an amiable way. "Hi! It's nice to - oh, we're hugging now?" She narrates, allowing a laugh to escape her. "Hey, where can I drop my stu-…" Needless to say, as she pulls away, her attention swivels over to the catfight in the middle, brows arched with slight interest. "Wow…I guess I missed quite a bit, huh? Hi, Holly. You…um. You okay?" She's too busy to deal with the cemetery bit.
The intercom blares from the other side of the room and the voice of a teenaged male crackles through the speaker. "Hey Flabbasaurus! Mom and dad want to know if you guys want pizza. They're ordering a bunch." Then it quiets down. Carly, is /very/ red faced right now, "So… uh… anyone for pizza?" she emits tentatively.
Holly snorts in Ree's direction. "No thanks. I just meant that I can see why he'd prefer you at times. I didn't give it all up yet… so after he's done hanging out with me, he's frustrated, then he comes to you." She licks her lips, not feeling real great about knocking the other girl down, but feeling the need to do so anyway, if only to get the last word. "I don't even have a /mom/ and I know you're supposed to try and keep them interested. I don't think Tiago will be very interested in you though after… well, whatever." She loses her stamina, and her courage. Contrary to what it may seem to the girls that don't know her, she's not actually a mean girl. "Seriously, let's just drop it. And… what do you guys have against the cemetary? You scared or something?" Hol smiles playfully at Piper and Tambrey. "Nothing can hurt you, c'mon. It's just across the street."
Ree pauses to glance over her shoulder; instead of cringing at that scathing review of her own charms, she gives Holly a quelling look. "Whatever makes you feel better, I guess." The other girl's expression is studied a moment before Avery turns back to join in the group activity. Pizza or dead people? "We can get pizza any night, the cemetary's a lot cooler," she opins. "Cmon, lighten up. We can go and get back before the pizza gets here." That last is directed at Piper, guardian of the doorway.
Tambrey waves one hand a little. "I took a ride on a freak polar bear my first day of school," she explains dryly. "Fear isn't the word I'd use. More like… self-preservation." At least she's not dressed in her nighties yet. Woot. "And you know, if someone says it's not a good time to wander around out there, I'm likely to believe 'em." A look is cast towards Piper at that. She so has your back on this decision. But if that girl goes, well… Tam's not usually about peer pressure, but she IS curious as to why anyone wants to go to a graveyard. Just not about to admit to that curiosity.
Piper shakes her head. "There is, undoubtedly, creatures in this town that you don't want to run into, friendly and not. Do you really want to risk going out there with nothing to get between you and.. a freak polar bear," she states, referencing Tambrey's ride. "Carly, I'm sure we'd all love some pizza," is responded with a pleasent, if not slightly forced, smile.
Charlene looks from Holly to Ree, before arching her brows slightly. "Well…I brought a flashlight, just in case. The graveyard isn't that scary - I live right by it. Besides, it's not a sleepover if we don't get scared at some point." Beyond that, it looks to be the only way to satiate both arguing girls. "We can always get pizza later. I'm totally for the graveyard." She turns to toss Piper, then Tambrey a curious look before tossing her duffle bag to the floor, bending over to ruffle through it.
"Oh come off it! You guys are fighting over a dude that nicknamed himself after alfalfa sprouts that grow out of a terra cotta dog!" Carly shakes her head and sighs loudly, "There's plenty of other guys. NICE ones that don't rush after all the pooty they can in one night! I'm going in the house to tell mom and dad to order one of each and to get the ouija board. If the cemetery spirits can't give us an answer about Chia Pet, then we'll just text him and tell him to crash the party. Okay?"
Holly makes her way toward the door as well, but freezes at the mention of a polar bear. "Huh? Are you for real? A polar bear?" She has to laugh. "What, did it like escape from the zoo? That's just /weird/. There are no polar bears in the cemetary, c'mon. Those things sleep a lot, anyway. How 'bout this." She glances at Charlene and Carly, and even Avery — the ones that seem to agree with her. "The people that want to go, go. People that want to stay, save pizza for us. Alright?" With that, she marches out. Mostly because in the cemetary, she can also light up a joint with less people noticing, and man does she need one right now.
Ree laces her fingers together at the small of her back and shifts her weight to one leg, adopting a casual and mostly unconcerned posture. "Oh come on, Carly. He's definitely just a one girl a night kind of guy." Is that…a grin? Maybe the girl popped something before venturing over to the slumber party. "Flashlight, ouija board! Sounds like we're set, let's go! I'd *love* to see him tonight." Then she's ambling after Holly, in those ridiculous bunny slippers, slipping out of one of the many egresses available in a garage.
Piper sighs and moves out of the way. "We'll be back," she gives to those who may be staying behind, and she moves to follow the rest of the group out. It's not like she wants to go to the cemetary, but she'd be a very bad wolf if she didn't keep the humans safe while they went to play amongst the tombstones.
Grabbing her cell phone from the soundboard, Carly begins to dial quickly. "Hi, I'd like to order about… ohh… ten pizzas? Two of each, cheese, Hawaiian, pepperoni and mushroom, vegeterian, and some other meaty kind. Oh you have a ultra meaty? Two of those!" Kicking off her slippers, she instead dons a pair of canvas deck shoes that are next to the door. "Can you deliver to a cemetery? Yeah, I'll have my parents' credit card." And then she flits out the door, waving to Tambrey to join in the fray.
Tambrey just gives Ree and Holly a /look/. "Oh God. Chia Pet. Note to self: do not breed with retards," she says under her breath as she watches everyone marching out. Go. Stay. Go. Stay. She knows she should be staying. She KNOWS. With a little growl, she sets her jammies down and stomps off after the crew. "Shit, someone needs to be the voice of reason in there," she growls in irritation. "Obviously they share one braincell between 'em…"
Charlene fishes through her bag, letting out a cry of triumph as she produces the industrial-strength flashlight. A second of thought is put into the situation, and she also pulls out an extra sweater, shrugging it on, which leaves her quite behind the crowd. And also ensures that she manages to catch Tambrey's growl. She follows out, although she tosses the new girl a quelling sort of look. "Don't be a bitch," she tells her without hesitation. "You don't /have/ to go anywhere. If you want to go home, you totally can. But don't go around talking about my friends like that. Hey, hey Holly, wait up!"
Tambrey snorts softly. "Right. You have a point. Take care of them. And hope to God that wounded bear doesn't come wandering back looking for an easy meal." She halts in place and wheels on her heels. Grabbing up her clothes, she heads out. Apparently she's just walking home at this point. "And tell your FRIEND that the joints she's got stashed will probably get her ass kicked by Ree and Carly when they find out, mmkay?" Great. Charlene already moved off to catch up to that friend of hers. "Thanks, Moms," she sighs as she rolls her eyes. She'll take her chances, apparently.
