She was stationed in front of the small mirror in my room, attempting to do her makeup. As Alex predicted, Cole was able to convince Will to let him have the party. From what I had heard, it hadn’t been too hard, considering Will was the original creator of the Walter end-of-the-year bash. Also, Cole reminded Will of how many times he’d covered for his older brother during high school when he had snuck out of the house.
“Have you ever been so excited about something in your whole life?” Heather asked, being her usual dramatic self. She was rummaging through my closet, looking for something to wear. “Jackie, are you planning on wearing this, or can I?”
In her hands was a shirt my mother gave me from one of her fashion shows. The flashy colors weren’t my style, and back home it sat in my closet untouched. Like my sister’s dress, it had somehow gotten from New York to Colorado.
“Knock yourself out,” I told her with a nod. Then I added, “So what’s the big deal about this party?” My friends were acting like they had been invited to Cinderella’s ball, but it was just another party.
“Oh, Jackie,” Skylar said, looking up from a Cosmo. He rolled his eyes and dropped it on the ground before getting up out of my computer chair. “Sometimes I forget how little you know.”
When I hung out with the girls and Sky, I was always asking questions. They knew so much more about the Walters, and boys in general, which was ironic since I was living with what felt like a million of them.
“The big deal is that we’re friends with you,” Riley said.
“Okay?” I still didn’t understand.
“You live with the Walters,” Heather said.
“Yes,” I said, starting to feel frustrated. “We’ve covered that before.”
“So, that means we’ll get an invite to the VIP party,” Skylar explained.
“There’s a VIP section?” I asked in surprise. I could see Cole being exclusive and only inviting a select group of friends to a better party, but it didn’t seem like something the rest of the Walter boys would do.
“Everyone from school is invited, so a crazy amount of people show up. The backyard fills up until the place is packed. Last year, you could barely move around the deck because it was so full. There’s not really room for everyone, so the guys always invite their friends out for a more private event,” Skylar told me.
“My older sister, Dee, was friends with Will when they were in high school,” Heather added. “She’s told me some insane stories about how amazing it is.”
“What’s to stop people from crashing?”
“From what she said, I think they go somewhere else on the ranch,” Heather explained as she pulled the top I’d lent her over her head.
“It’s at the waterfall,” Kim said suddenly. Like always, she had a colorful comic grasped between her hands. “The guys use four-wheelers to take guests out.”
“That makes sense,” I said, nodding my head. There was plenty of room on the beach for a small group of people.
“How do you know that?” Riley asked as she spun around in a circle, checking herself out in the mirror.
“Alex took me out last year,” she said sheepishly.
“And you never thought to tell us?” Heather gasped, insulted. Kim just shrugged and went back to reading.
A knock on the door interrupted the conversation before Heather and Riley could attack Kim with another round of questions. “Jackie?” Alex asked, sticking his head in.
“Yeah?” I said, looking over my shoulder at the door.
“Oh, I didn’t know you guys were already over,” Alex said, and he swung the door all the way open.
“I texted you,” Kim said, her eyes still glued to the page.
“Sorry, I’ve been getting ready for the party,” Alex said. “I came up to grab Jackie. We need help putting up decorations.”
“We’ll all help!” Heather said, volunteering the entire group. “What’s the theme this year?”
“There’s a theme?” I asked.
“Yeah, we all take turns picking one. I wanted to do a super hero costume party, but the guys shot me down,” he explained. “This year we’re having a luau. Danny just got back from the store with about a million different-colored leis, tiki torches, and a blowup palm tree.”
“Bikini party!” Heather giggled.
“Yeah,” Alex said, rolling his eyes. “Guess who picked the theme this year?”
I didn’t need to guess.
Chapter 15
The clearing was lit up with torches and the trees lined with Christmas lights. The water sparkled as the flames danced across the surface, and the pumping music gave the whole scene a hypnotic feel. As people jumped into the pond, water droplets sprayed across the surface, making it look like they were swimming in diamonds.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.
“Thanks,” Danny said, coming up next to me. “Worked on it all afternoon. Had to bribe Jack and Jordan into climbing the trees to wrap the lights.”
“It was worth it.”
“Good. It cost me two weeks’ worth of allowance.”