Ten New Friends

You walk over to the dessert shop and pick out the fanciest and most decorated cupcakes they have at the shop for the beach party that one of the popular girls is throwing tomorrow. You really hope that the girls will like them because they are very expensive but hopefully worth it. You are really surprised that you are invited because during school you would usually not classify as one of the ‘cool’ people, because of this, you are really nervous. It was kind of a last minute invitation but you are so grateful that you were invited. Maybe when you get back to school, you won't have to eat lunch all alone, maybe; just maybe they will include you. 

You walk over to the checkout counter and pay the twenty five dollars for only twelve cupcakes even though you know that they are way overpriced. Including yourself there are going to be eleven girls at the party so you hope that this is enough because there is no way you are going to pay for more. You are hoping that if the girls see that you are willing to spend that much money on them that maybe they will want to hang out with you more. At this point, you are pretty much desperate for friends, it’s hard being alone all the time and for once it would be nice just to have someone to talk to. 

You get in the car and drive to the shoe store to pick out some flip flops because yours are old and definitely not cool. You decide that the plainer they are the less you will be judged so you pick out some light blue ones with white stripes that the girls will definitely think are cool. They are only ten dollars so you pay for them and walk to the car. 

While driving home you expose yourself to some popular music that the girls that are going to be at the party are probably listening to. This is definitely not your style of music but you really need to fit in and you’ll do anything. Once you get home you put the cupcakes in the fridge and walk up to your room to decide how to do your hair. You are stuck in between the choices of a simple ponytail or a braid. You think that the braid would be better in case you go in the ocean so your hair doesn't tangle because it would be very embarrassing to have your hair a mess, so you decide to go with the braid.

After picking out a swimsuit to wear as well as some jean shorts and a shirt you walk downstairs to find something for dinner. Your dad is downstairs and he is making chicken so you decide to eat some of that when he is finished making it. As he is cooking you tell him about the party and how nervous you are. He interrupts you as you're going on for the third time about how nervous you are and tells you that you need to just be yourself. He says that if the other girls don’t like you for who you truly are then they are not real friends and will probably ditch you soon. This makes sense to you and you decide that what he says is right but there is no way you're ditching the cupcakes and the sandals because they were a lot of money. 

After dinner you walk up to your room and put all your clothes, a towel, and some sunscreen and sunglasses in a beach bag and you write a sticky note to remind you to get the cupcakes. After all of this you are exhausted and decide to get a good night's rest because you have to get up early to drive to the beach tomorrow. As you fall asleep you think of how amazing the party is going to be and how the girls are going to love the cupcakes and invite you to their other parties. Tomorrow you might have real friends, the thought of that makes you fall asleep with a huge grin on your face. 

In the morning you started to panic about if you should arrive early right on time or a little late. Feeling horrible about waking her up you silently creep into your parents room and ask your mom. Still not fully awake she says that she liked to arrive fashionably late to parties like that. You thanked her and quickly ran back up to your room to google how late fashionably late was. There were many different answers but most said five to ten minutes so you decided that you would be about seven, so almost in between. 

The drive is about an hour and a half and the party starts in two hours so you have a few more minutes before you should leave. Suddenly, you remember the cupcakes and you find a cooler to put them in. You fill the handheld cooler with ice so that they stay cold and you put the cupcakes and some water in. Then you decide to put your bag and cooler in the car. Before you start driving you text the party group chat saying that you're excited and immediately two people respond saying that they are too. You turn music on but this time not the kind of music that you think the popular people listen to, but the music that you like. You decide that what your dad said was right, these girls should like you for who you are not when you're pretending to be someone else.  

Surprisingly the drive is quick, and you are there before you know it. Before getting out of the car, you check the time. Perfect. As you intended, you’ve arrived fashionably late. You were exactly six minutes late. Perfect.  You get out of the car to see that most of the girls are there already. They greet you with smiles, and some even give you a hug. You already know that you are off to a great start. As the day goes by you become closer to the girls and you realize that they don’t want some fake version of me that's trying to fit in, they love me for who I am. Today you made ten new friends and you haven't even got the cupcakes out yet!