Flora

Needless to say I was quite astonished when Sean asked me to co-chair a surprise party for Linda, but I saw the pure genius of it very soon.

What better way to start off high school with a bang than a kickass party? It's a surefire way to climb up the social ladder, make a name for oneself, and put behind whatever douche ex-boyfriends one used to have.

Sean came to the right person too. If there was one thing I knew besides fashion and spa treatments, it was parties. I had always wanted to throw one, but my apartment had a strict zero tolerance policy for noise, therefore I was forced to throw mini-scale sleepovers for my BFFs. I had been to enough parties to know what made them work though, and I was eager to put my knowledge to good use.

However, as the discussion with Sean went on, I started to see we had very different expectations.

"I'm going to throw Lindy the best birthday party ever! The kind of party that only exists in dreams and one wakes up sobbing over."

Sean was already starting to look apprehensive. "That's great, but I have some ground rules you should be aware of. I want a sweet beautiful party without booze and drugs, and no one having sex in my parents' bedroom. I also want no puking, crying or fist fights."

"You mean you want a lameass party where no one wants to go," I corrected.

"Any party can be fun when people are wasted and high," he reasoned, "but don't you think it takes real talent to throw one where everyone is sober? It'd be nice if people can remember to tell it the next day."

"You sound like you're challenging me. These days I'm all about challenges."

"It's not a challenge. I know you can do it."

I folded my arms across my chest. "If you want my help, then I'm going to be calling the shots here. I don't want you breathing down my neck and shaking your head like I'm a rich, spoiled girl with my head up in the clouds."

"I hope that's not what you think of me. I just want to step on the brakes a little in case things get out of hand."

"You're allowed to voice your opinion once in a while," I said graciously, "if you raise your hand first and ask in a nice polite way."

"This is already starting to sound like a bad idea."

"Look, do you want my help or not?" I frowned.

"I do. I do. But maybe I should let you know my budget first."

"Budget?" That's one word I really hated, along with garage sale, secondhand clothes and economy class, but I didn't want Sean to think I was flaunting money in his face. "Okay, how much are you willing to spend?"

"Do you think we can keep it under five hundred bucks? That's all I have. Anything more than that I'd have to ask my parents to chip in."

"Five hundred? I can probably drink five hundred dollars' worth of champagne on my own."

"Yeah, but since we're not serving alcohol, I thought we could save some money."

"But a good DJ costs at least a hundred per hour, plus we have to hire a caterer, and decorations can be expensive too..." I trailed off seeing the expression on his face. "Dear god, you're not thinking about just opening a few bags of tortilla chips and playing music from your iPod, are you?"

His silence proved me right. I couldn't believe this. Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory could probably throw a better party than Sean ever could. "With all due respect, what are you going to attract people with? Your charisma? I think maybe five girls will show up."

"That's insulting, Flora. I'd estimate about a dozen."

I laughed. "Sean, you're charming, but that's not enough." Unless you show up naked. "An awesome party requires a lot of investment and great efforts."

"You just do everything so over the top," he said fondly.

"I have to! You give me very little to work with, you know. I almost thought we're planning an Amish village gathering," I said. "Remind me again why this is the most amazing party in the history of Riverside High?"

"I never aimed to set a record or to establish myself as the party king. I just want Linda to have a good time and get her mind off the rumors."

"Then maybe you should just invite a couple of girls over, have them braid each other's hair and call it a night."

"Actually, that's a pretty good idea. I know I can save a lot and spend it on college application instead." He smiled at me. "Fine, Flora. Do it your way. Work your magic."

That was quite a nice smile there. No, I mustn't get distracted. "Wait a second, why am I doing this for you?" Seeing that Sean wanted a favor from me, I needed to put his desperation to good use.

"Because...you care about Linda too and you want to help?"

"I do, but this is going to take up a tremendous amount of my time. I'm actually preparing to take the SAT for the third time, and between studying, cheerleading practices and the history presentation, I'm obscenely busy. If you want to hire me, you have to pay a price."

Sean's eyes widened. "You want to charge me? You can take your wage out of the five hundred dollar budget, but I don't think that's going to be enough to afford you."

"Sean, I'm not asking to be paid in cash. That's so vulgar," I said, shaking my head. I didn't want to take advantage of his measly budget. He probably worked many summer jobs for it. "I want three wishes. You have to do the things I ask of you without objection."

He studied my face to see if I was kidding. When he realized I wasn't, he said, "You can get one, Flora."

"Fine, I'm out. Ask someone else to help you. Raymond Corbett can plan a good party too."

He exhaled. "Okay, fine, you get two wishes. Take it or leave it. I don't want to throw Linda a party that bad."

"Okay, deal." I held out my hand so we could shake on it, but he was wary.

"It can't be those wishes that multiply into a thousand ones like I have to do whatever you say for the rest of the senior year."

"It goes without saying." I nodded.

He mused for a while. "It can't be illegal or get me expelled like cheating on the SAT for you."

I rolled my eyes. What did he take me for, anyway? I could ace the damn SATs on my own.

"It can't be something humiliating like asking me to wear makeup," he went on. "I don't want to lose the five fans I have."

"Fine, nothing that will get you in trouble and no public embarrassment, okay? Jeez! I don't know why you're asking me for help if you don't trust me at all!"

He grabbed my hand and gave it a quick shake. "Forgive me for being so particular," Sean said sheepishly. "I tend to be cautious when I'm making deals with the devil." 

***

Sean said he didn't care who we invited as long as it included Linda's friends from middle school, so I held full responsibility in drawing up a guest list which spanned across the whole student body.

Carmen had already talked to Linda for me and asked her to give a list of the fifteen people she liked best in her classes, telling her it was a project for her Sociology class. Later Daniel would take some photos of Linda, telling her it was for a photography contest he was entering. This secret party had brought out everyone's hidden talent of telling creative lies. 

Sean and I were sitting alone in a corner table at lunch and I had just given him an update. "If only we weren't keeping this a secret! I could make those freshmen pledge to come to our party. They need to prove they're worthwhile," I said, chewing on a vegetable stick. I couldn't seem to break off a bite because it was so soggy.

Being the goody-goody he was, Sean said, "I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this cool-people-only attitude. I don't want people to think we're stuck-up."

"Sean, don't be ridiculous. Of course only cool people are invited to my party. I'm not throwing a charity event, for god's sake." A party is only as cool as the people who attend anyway. "However, you may be surprised at my definition of cool people."

"You mean you're not only inviting people who are good at sports?"

"No! Of course not! I'm going to break the stereotype cliques and invite people from all walks of life, regardless of race, religious beliefs, and whether they like Obama. You'd be surprised at just how politically correct this party is. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like there will be a lot of people. How many are we talking about, really?" 

That's just how he was. He couldn't be happy with my decisions for one second before he had to rain on my parade. 

"Around a hundred," I said airily.

"A hundred?" His eyebrows shot up. "I thought I said thirty!"

"Please." I scoffed. "If you don't invite a lot of people and create a tight dance floor, I don't know how you can get people to let loose without alcohol. I'm not going to host a party where 30 people just stare at one another soberly and awkwardly across the room."

He took a long sip from his apple juice and appeared to be considering how to phrase his next sentence. "I'm just curious how you can keep this a secret with a hundred people involved. And you seriously know a hundred people well enough to invite them?"

"You have to know a person well before you can invite him to a party?" What kind of question was that?

He leaned back and looked at me. "You're not using this as an excuse to invite all your crushes, are you?"

I put down the celery stick I had been chewing unsuccessfully for the past five minutes and turned to face him squarely. "Sean Foster, you're truly the most ungrateful human being I've ever known. I'm working my ass off to make this a memorable event and you don't even appreciate it. I don't know which is more insulting, you think that I'm using this for my own benefit, or the fact that you think I need to throw a party in order to attract a guy." If there was any guy I was hoping to attract it would be Sean himself, but now I really thought why I bothered.

He apologized right away. "I was only kidding, but it's not funny. I'm sorry."

"If I don't have such a strong work ethic I'd quit right now and walk right out of here," I snapped. He acted like he was doing me a favor by letting me throw his party. That was Mighty King at his worst, being condescending while I lent him a hand.

"I apologize. Please don't be mad at me."

When I didn't smile, he tentatively tugged on my sleeve like I used to do to him.

I chuckled uselessly. "Okay, that's kind of cute, coming from you."

"Come on, I'm a guy. I say stupid things. I know you're working really hard and I'm grateful. I'm just a little bit concerned about the budget," he said with an embarrassed smile.

Working on this thing together brought out all our differences. He was controlling, patronizing, sensible to the point of boring, and on top of that quite broke, but the weirdest thing was that I found all his flaws endearing. The King obviously could pull anything off.

"Anything over five hundred dollars I'll chip in," I said. Most of the expensive ideas were mine anyway.

"No! I can't let you pay. You're already doing me a huge favor by agreeing to help me. Maybe we can invite less people?" he asked. "You know, with less people it'd seem more elite, don't you think? Like a private club."

I shook my head, pretending to be disgusted. "Now who's being stuck-up?"

"Please?" He held his palms together and peered at me like a little boy asking for candy. 

Not fair. Too cute. The way he tiptoed around his suggestions made me smile. I got super cranky all the time and he was afraid of infuriating me. I bet the question he asked himself every night before sleep was why he chose me to co-host the party with him.

"Fine, okay, I'll try cutting a few more people." 

He smiled. We talked a bit more and was having a good laugh when Daniel appeared. He had already taken a few photos of us together.

"We're doing some shots of the planning committee," Sandra said beside him smugly as if she was his agent and Dan just won the National Geographic photo contest. She lowered herself to the seat next to me and allowed Daniel to take her photos for maybe fifty times.

Fancy Sandra had the cheek to call herself one of the planning committee. The only thing she managed to plan was what she'd wear to the party. I wasn't complaining though, because she did a great job hanging on to Daniel for over a year, and in times of need it was considered a huge accomplishment. I had my doubts about Daniel, but I was just grateful they were still dating because I could use some great photos to decorate the party.

Daniel was quirky and eccentric, and I often didn't understand what he was saying, but Sandra excused everything by explaining he was an artist. I remember he once rented a tiny exhibition space downtown and Sandra dragged us to see his artworks. All of his paintings were abstract ones, which could be best described as Picasso gone wrong meets a little bit of cocaine high.

In one of them, Sandra very secretively yet proudly announced that she was his muse and she had posed nude for him. Me and the girls almost wet ourselves laughing.

"I feel so much closer to Daniel now," I said, blinking away tears. "He's just a normal teenage boy after all, —"

"Who would say anything just to get you naked," Janet finished my sentence. Not even Carmen could hold back her laughter which was just how hilarious the whole thing was. We pointed at random circles and kept bugging Sandra to tell us which one of them was her nipp1e, and she stormed off majorly pissed while we took selfies with the painting and tagged her.

Ah, good times. But I digress. Back to the cafeteria.

Linda had come in and Daniel casually strolled over to take her photo with his massive DSLR, telling her how photogenic she was, which could be sort of true. Linda was Sean's sister, after all. Gorgeousness ran in their blood. They had the same dark hair, piercing blue eyes and long dark lashes which I always thought was a great combination.

If Daniel was any good at the job he did, this party was going to be fabulous.

.