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Rosalie Mason created a Group Chat
Rosalie Mason renamed Group Chat to Welcome Back Party
Rosalie Mason invited Girl Gang Of Ball-Kickers and Wet Fellas to Welcome Back Party

ROSALIE: Party at my house Friday @ 7PM y'all can park in the street for free. Code to get in the gate is 1456. Bring a swimsuit if you plan on using the hot tub.

ROSALIE: Absolute nO SKINNY DIPPING I HAVE NEIGHBORS.

ALYSSA: O thank god I thought you were gonna bail on us

ROSALIE: What why would I do that
Of course we're having a party.

ALYSSA: I need a drink.

MARK: I can't believe you just invited me to a group chat of over 40 people

Sami text me the deets

SAMI: No wait you'll miss the memes

ISAIAH: You send us memes all the time

SAMI: Because they're FUNNY.

ISAIAH: Yeah they are pretty great.

WOODROW: I can attest to that
Also NO SKINNY DIPPING? For shame.

ALYSSA: Ok can we plz discuss who's bringing what

BRYNN: I'm more into wine, thank you

ALYSSA: Pussy

RAY: Whoa, hey, watch the name calling

JOANNA: What we're all pussies here
Guys included

WOODROW: 🗣👊🏽

JOANNA: 😽👅

ROSALIE: Joanna plz be civil

JOANNA: 💃
Can I invite the football team

BRYNN: YES.

JULIANA: NO.

RAY: NOOOO

ALYSSA: As much as I'd like to turn this into a rager...
plz no

SAMI: NOPE NO WAY

ISAIAH: Can someone plz update me on who this chick is
And why she thinks the football team is invited

MARK: Invite explicitly states "Girl Gang Of Ball-Kickers" and "Wet Fellas"

BRYNN: Ok who named yall Wet Fellas

SAMI: ✋

ISAIAH: 👆

JOANNA: I'm the local gay
(holla 🗣)

JULIANA: I am overwhelmed

LU: I am entertained
Please continue

BRYNN: (hollers back)

RAY: BRYNN DON'T ENCOURAGE

BRYNN: Whaaat I'm just bein honest
Girls are cute

KIM: What. Is happening.

ERIN: O.O

SAMI: :)

___

Rosalie went so far as to walk around in her underwear before her mother left. Exposed underwear was a sure sign of A) being home alone and B) not anticipating company or C) going out. She went to the kitchen to make tea when Jenn Mason hurried in, heels clicking, pinning an earring to her ear.

"How's my hair?" she asked, and Rosalie raised a startled eyebrow.

"Going out?" she said, innocently.

"I know, it's been ages. Bee scheduled an impromptu get together with some Harvard friends in Baltimore," she explained, checking herself in the kitchen mirror. "Hair?"

"Looks good to me," Rosalie said. "Could Sami sleep over?"

"I don't see why not. Just no drinking," she said. "I'll warn Bee about it if Sami hasn't already."

"Okay. Thanks, Mom," she said, and smiled as her mom stepped over to kiss Rosalie on the forehead. "See you...?"

"Sunday. In the morning! Any later than that and traffic will just be a shitshow," she said, waving her hands all over her head. She blew yet another kiss in Rosalie's direction before heading to the door. It was so uncommon for them to go out on the weekends that Khoshekh wasn't even at the ready.

The moment Rosalie heard the front door shut, she checked the time. Six thirty. It wouldn't be long before Sami would arrive. She finished stirring honey into her tea and sipped it on her way to the stairs. She hurried at a half-jog to her room, and scooped Khoshekh up on the way.

"Time for you to go on lockdown," she said, shutting her bedroom door. She pointed a stern finger at him. "No escaping for you today!"

He blinked those owlish amber eyes at her as she set him on the bed.

She turned away, sipping her tea as she sifted through her closet. Despite Bradshaw being a private school with uniforms, school dances were a little less strict, which meant that Rosalie had acquired several dresses for those specific occasions. She rooted around for her swimsuit, but then thought better of it. She wasn't going to actually swim-she'd be too worried about everyone else. Instead, she unearthed her favorite fancy underwear she wore to her first homecoming as if anything would have ever actually happened.

She swapped her lazy underwear with them, followed by a low-cut, red, lace bra to hide beneath her floral crop top. White tassels lined the bottom hem of it, just skimming the high-waisted edge of her black skinny jeans.

She twisted around from side to side, checking herself in the mirror before strapping on her heels. She looked at Khoshekh through the mirror, brow furrowed. "Am I trying too hard?" she asked.

Khoshekh started purring.

"I'll take that as a 'no' then," she said, smiling to herself in the mirror.

The doorbell chimed, and so Rosalie hurried out her bedroom door and shut it to keep Khoshekh under wraps. She'd have to ask for his forgiveness later, but for now, Sami was waiting at the front door with a plethora of goodies in his arms.

He greeted her with a cheery, "Hey! You look incredible! Rose, you know Isaiah."

He nodded his head back, and Rosalie glanced around him to find Isaiah Tatcher a step lower, holding a bowl of bright blue jello. He was a handsome fellow with straight white teeth and dimples on either cheek. His look was topped with a short, cropped haircut many of the swim team sported. The team had recently bleached their hair for the start of the school year, and so Sami looked shockingly different with near-white hair.

"Nice hair guys," she said with a smile, stepping aside. "Come on in."

She followed them to the kitchen where Sami introduced Isaiah to the household. Rosalie shut her mother's office door and hurried off to do the same to her mother's bedroom while Sami took care of organizing the food into proper bowls with utensils nearby. Ten minutes later, Ray arrived with plastic cups and paper plates.

"Juliana's getting extra utensils," she said. "And I think Alyssa's bringing more than just the vodka, but who knows."

"She knows the swim team can't drink," Rosalie whined.

"The jello's spiked," Isaiah said, and Ray's jaw dropped. The bowl was twice the size of her head.

"You're kidding," Rosalie whispered, hand to her face. "If I was Christian I'd say 'Jesus' but alas here we are. Oy vey."

"Oy vey indeed. I didn't know you spiked it," Sami said, and nodded his head in approval. "Nice."

"Sami. We can't have a rager," Rosalie insisted, but was interrupted by the doorbell ringing, and a shrill, excited, post-pregame Alyssa sang at the door. Rosalie visibly paled.

"Girl, it's gonna be fine. Just take a deep breath and know that I can handle the drunk people," Ray said, giving her a firm pat on the shoulder while Sami went to let Alyssa in.

Rosalie could hardly believe that Sami's plan with her mother worked. She hoped that it would last, though, and that the next day they'd be able to clean everything up properly. The girls' soccer team knew how to respect boundaries, and Sami's group of swim team friends were respectable enough. They could handle this just fine. Nothing-absolutely nothing-would go wrong.

Alyssa came in with a backpack full of booze and set it on the counter. Ray sent Rosalie a knowing look before investigating it. Isaiah shared an impressed look with Sami, who then bowed in respect to Alyssa.

"Is Jamie here yet?" she asked checking her phone. "Oh, wait, no. It's seven now."

"Jamie?" Ray repeated.

Alyssa looked up, dumbfounded. "Uh, yeah, I invited Berry. Problem?"

"But that means-" Rosalie started, and swallowed her reservations down. It was too late to panic. "Alright. Cool. Soccer team's coming too. That is... A-Okay."

"I knew you'd be cool about it," Alyssa said, and it earned her a glare from both Ray and Sami.

Isaiah grimaced and hissed a low, "Awkward..." under his breath.

The rest of the soccer team arrived in clumps, and shortly after came the boys' soccer team. Rosalie greeted them all at the foyer, and the instant she saw Lennie, she nabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and dragged him off down the hall. The house was already buzzing with music from Lu's stereo system, and the guys' shouts bellowed across the foyer.

She jabbed Lennie in the chest. "You better keep them in line. I am not dealing with last year's situation at the Hartley's," she said, and Lennie looked downright terrified for a moment.

"I mean, I'll try my best but-"

"No. Promise me they won't vandalize shit," she said, and Lennie agreed out of fear.

Rosalie straightened her shirt with a huff. "Okay. Good. Then I can deal with this. Everything's gonna be fine."

"I brought lemonade for drinks," Lennie said, weakly, and raised up the bottle between them. Rosalie rolled her eyes at it. "Am I free to go?"

She pointed to the kitchen wordlessly, and he thanked her for sparing his life before hurrying off to add to the food pile. She put a hand over her eyes and promised herself that Lennie would stick to his word, and that she wouldn't have to deal with A) being grounded for the rest of her life or B) getting kicked off the soccer team for hosting a party.

She could feel the bass humming in her chest as she staggered into the foyer, only to be stopped at the sight of new arrivals in the open threshold. She looked, and couldn't quite process what was happening until her eyes lifted from a very exposed turquoise bra to a familiar pair of thick-rimmed, black glasses. Joanna stood there, smile and all, but that wasn't the most surprising part.

Joanna was overshadowed and surrounded by a group of the football team.

Dylan Cox waved, side-stepping Joanna to clap Rosalie on the shoulder. "Nice place ya got, Mason. Thanks for inviting us."

"I- Uh- Well-" she started, only to hear her own voice vanish at the sound of Smashmouth blasting through the house, and the soccer guys belting out All Star.

"Oh, sweet, Woodrow's here!" Ashton Hartwood, quarterback of the Bradshaw Knights, stepped in then, hands cupped over his mouth. "PREEEEECE!"

"HARTWOOOOD!" Woodrow belted back. Ashton clapped his hands, laughing as he lumbered past a very shellshocked Rosalie Mason trying desperately to get her senses back in order. She distinctly felt like she could smell textures and see tastes.

Joanna stepped in front of her, clasping both hands on Rosalie's shoulders. "Be cool. I told the guys to behave. I got this," she promised, and Rosalie nodded despite herself. "Good. Also, you look sexy. Keep up the good work."

Joanna walked off, and Rosalie stood frozen in the foyer for a little while later before turning around with an unsteady, "Th-Thanks," before realizing that no one was there to hear it.

I really need a drink, she thought, closing the front door.

The kitchen was a complete mosh pit of burly, oversized men whilst Sami played his favorite role of bartender. Rosalie stood in the kitchen archway for quite some time simply observing the chaos rising. The music bended into 1985 while Rosalie observed Mark Villanueva, butterfly-stroke champion, down three shots of vodka while the football team all chanted, and the soccer girls screamed.

I must be dreaming, Rosalie thought, trapped with no escape from her own home. She stood motionless at the threshold, but managed a smile when Sami looked back at her, grinning like a child on Christmas morning. More of a nightmare, really, she concluded, rubbing a finger over her temple.

A hand fell onto her shoulder, firm and grounding. She glanced beside her and found an angel standing there-Harper Winters, dressed in a simple black jumper and golden earrings. It was no wonder she and Lennie were the perfect couple. They both looked like models.

"Hey! I've been looking for you," she said, and suddenly they were hugging. Rosalie reciprocated it whether she knew it or not, and Harper pulled back with a smile. "Lennie says you two have sixth period French together."

Rosalie nodded wordlessly, swallowing hard and clearing her throat. "Yes. Yeah, we do. How's, um... how's cheerleading? Going well?"

They were interrupted by the sound of a guitar being struck in time with the drums. Harper gasped in excitement, and excused herself to find Lennie, who was watching Jamie and Dylan, back-to-back, rocking out on air guitars in front of the patio windows. Soon the entire kitchen was filled with air guitars, and it washed into the living room where the girls had cleared off the coffee table and were now standing on it, bouncing to the tune of Patrick Stump belting out:

"Am I mo-re than you bargained for yet?!

I've-been dyin' to tell you ANYTHING! you wanna hear!
'Cause THAT'S-JUST-WHO-I-AM-THIS-WEEK!"

Brynn and Joanna were up there striking a fake drum set in quick strokes before the next verse came up. "-I'm just a notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song!"

Joanna flipped her hair back as Rosalie migrated towards the edge of the living room. Sami approached with a drink, and filled Rosalie's empty hand with the glass. He threw his arms around her shoulders as she sipped her drink and accepted the comforting touch.

Alyssa was on the table now, too drunk from pregaming to care, and rolled her hips in time with Joanna and Brynn. She punched her fist in the air, blonde hair tossed back, singing, "We're always sleeping in and sleeping-"

Rosalie was all too aware of Joanna pointing a finger at her for the next line, but the words went over her head since everyone was screaming the chorus at the top of their lungs. Rosalie gritted her teeth and glanced away from Joanna's knowing smirk and downed her drink in a few, swift gulps.

"Easy there, Rosie-girl," Sami said, laughing. "Wanna dance?"

"After another drink," she said, and headed for the makeshift bar.

Due to expectations and consequences, Rosalie wasn't much of a drinker. Her mother compromised once in a while with a glass of wine with dinner, but anything more than that just seemed tasteless and classless. Still, she knew how to pour a shot from hearing Alyssa's stories and witnessing it at last year's party, and that was exactly what Rosalie did with Sami at her side counting down from three. At the zero mark, Rosalie tipped it back fast so that she wouldn't have to taste the raw alcohol burning her tastebuds away.

She hissed, waving her hand frantically in the air. "Gah! Now I know why I never did that!" she whined, face twisted up as though she had just consumed a lemon.

Sami shushed her, rubbing his hands into her shoulders. He gave her two firm pats before saying, "Time to kick back and have fun, alright?"

"Don't let me do anything stupid," she said sharply before reaching for the bottle again.

"On my honor."

"What honor?" she said, liquor sloshing. "Oops! Cheers to that."

"Ooh, ouch," Sami laughed, clutching his heart. "You wound me, Rosalie! How will I ever recover!"

She tipped the next shot back. Might as well get it over with like cough syrup, and wait for the effects to take place. She felt it burning in her chest where her heart raced, thrilled by breaking all the rules. "Dancing heals all wounds," she declared, and grabbed him by the hand.

It didn't take long for the classics to fade away into Fifth Harmony. Ray pushed away the coffee table, shooing Joanna, Brynn, and Alyssa off. Alyssa stumbled in her heels, whining, "Party pooper!"

"Say 'pooper' again so I can record it and save it for eternity," Ray said blandly, and Alyssa shoved her in the shoulder, sounding like a child as she cried, "So meeean!"

Juliana came to the party equipped with a strobe light, which Rosalie stood on the tips of her toes to push above the television. She teetered, and squeaked when Sami squeezed her sides. She flicked the strobe light on, and demanded Ray shut the living room light off.

The living room transformed in an instant. The wide open space filled with the pulse of the bass, and the sound of a dozen people who never took a vocal lesson in their lives. Sami twirled Rosalie onto the dance floor, feet sliding across the linoleum. They spun together, hands clasped tightly together, shoulders swaying. Rosalie's hair caught the flashes of light as she flicked it over her head and back again. The motion slowed, giving the illusion that the dance floor was caught in a vortex, constantly spinning in slow, wide sweeps. Rosalie's head felt like it was filled with cotton, flushing everything out on the edges with warm, happy energy.

She started giggling uncontrollably, the warmth in her chest popping like bubbles as Sami twirled her into Juliana's arms. She wrapped her arms around Juliana's neck and swayed with her despite the fast pace of the song. They separated to jump with the crowd, hands up, before dropping into a low, fast shake towards the ground. Everyone popped up in unison.

Rosalie floated amongst everyone. She found herself dancing with Ashton Hartwood in the middle of the dance floor. They kicked their feet out in synchrony, hands alternating forward and back until their shoulders shimmied forward over one another and back again. She'd never seen his face so up close, or even imagined that she'd be tall enough to, but her heels did her justice. She didn't see the big deal, and couldn't quite understand how Ashton had managed to shag half the cheerleading squad.

And then Luanna was beside her, arm slung over her shoulder. She had a black choker on along with a tight, sheer, black dress displaying her swim bikini underneath. They swayed to the music, free hands in the air. Rosalie closed her eyes to the music and let her anxiety vanish.

She wound up agreeing to dance with Brynn, who was the Woodrow of the soccer team-AKA handsy when dancing. Rosalie wound up giggling so terribly that she became impossible for Brynn to work with, and so Brynn left after giving her a kiss on the cheek and hurrying off to hunt down Joanna.

Rosalie wandered off to the kitchen where she pushed open the patio door to let the fresh air in, and cycle out the stale, sweaty air from dancing. Hayley Kiyoko's music went free to the wind, and Rosalie could hear Joanna screaming the lyrics. She found a few of her teammates standing out there. They were the younger teammates-the sophomores and freshmen who tended to group together. She leant against the railing beside Erin McAllister and couldn't exactly remember what she said or what they talked about, but eventually she convinced them to kickstart the hot tub trend.

Rosalie led the way across the stretch of windows in front of the living room. In the dark outside, they could see in to the dance party, and where Ray stopped to stare at them. Ray pointed in the direction of the hot tub, and Rosalie nodded excitedly. Instant Ray was on her way to the door, chasing after them, and peaking the interest of the soccer guys with her.

Jamie-Lee bolted after them, screaming, "Last one in is a rotten egg!" which, of course, Dylan Cox couldn't let stand,