Change of Plans

My fifteenth birthday party started out normal. It was the same as any other birthday. I had invited five friends over for a sleepover on a Friday night, and they all arrived within fifteen minutes of the start time. As usual, over-achiever Lindsey was the first to arrive, ten minutes before the party had actually started. Typical Lindsey.

“Did I miss anything?” she asked, her big brown eyes open even wider in her earnestness. 

“Well,” I replied, “You are the first to arrive, so it would be hard to have missed anything.”

Lindsey exhaled in relief. “Thank goodness. My biggest fear has always been that I’ll arrive late and people will already have inside jokes and they’ll talk about them a ton and I’ll feel left out.” Knowing my friend, she probably would have kept talking if she hadn’t had to stop for breath. 

I put a hand on her shoulder. “Save the confessions for midnight.” 

My best friend Haley arrived next and helped to calm down the already over-excited Lindsey. Madison and Addison, the twins, showed up promptly at six, and Chloe squeezed in fifteen minutes late. Typical Chloe. 

It had been the same crowd at my sleepover every year since the sixth grade, so we didn’t even have to stop to think about what to do next. All six of us immediately went downstairs to watch Lilo & Stitch, as we did each year. It was, as you might say, our collective favorite movie. Each and every one of us could quote the whole movie line for line, and we all did. At the halfway point, we paused it, warmed up pizza, and continued to watch, laughing and crying at all the right parts. Addison, though, burst into tears when none of the rest of us were even close to crying. Typical Addison.  

After the movie, we switched gears into video game mode and played Mario Kart until our eyes practically went square from all of our staring at the television. Madison, of course, beat all of us easily, sliding into first place every round she played. Typical Madison. 

This lasted until precisely 11:04 when we went to my room and locked the door. My pesky little brother had interrupted before, and I wasn’t about to let that happen again.

“Okay,” I announced, double-checking the lock. “You all know what time it is.” 

“Confession hour.” everyone else replied in unison. 

“Indeed it is.” I cracked my knuckles and lay back on my bed, looking around in anticipation. “So… who’s up first?” 

“I’ll go,” Chloe answered, surprising me. Normally Chloe didn’t have anything to confess. We always had to pull it out of her, and half of the time I wasn’t sure that what she said was true. She probably made up most of it to get us to stop bothering her. 

Madison shut the blinds and Addison set up the flashlight so it was shining directly on Chloe’s face. Her pale skin glowed in the glint of the flashlight, and she had a mischievous glint in her eye. I felt a growing excitement inside of me. I could just sense that this, whatever Chloe had to spill, was going to be good. 

“Well, you see, I agreed to do something,” Chloe began. “I can’t say what it is, but I do know that it is going to damage my friendship with a very close friend of mine. But… I’m also kind of looking forward to it. I know it makes me a terrible friend but I don’t really mind.” 

Madison coughed. Addison began chewing her nails- a habit she’d tried to break years ago-  and Lindsey suddenly became very interested in my wallpaper. Now, it may have been just my imagination, but as Haley and Chloe’s eyes met, I thought I saw them exchange a smirk. 

“Why can’t you tell me?” I protested. “Everyone else seems to know what it is. This is confession hour. We’re not supposed to be keeping secrets!” 

“We don’t know.” Lindsey innocently replied. “This, this… thing just sounds… wrong, and that’s why we acted weird, right?” 

Everyone else nodded, in seemingly too-perfect unison, but I was still doubtful. “Why can’t I know?” 

“Don’t worry,” Chloe assured me. “I’m sure you’ll find out about it. After it happens.” 

“I’ll go next,” Addison announced, taking the flashlight. 

Now, everyone besides me seemed to be at ease, talking and acting naturally. Eventually, their easy moods settled me. Maybe I’d just imagined the whole thing. Chloe’s confession may have been about simply cheating on a homework assignment- nothing to write home about. Soon I was laughing with the rest of them at Haley’s animated story about seeing a boy in our grade at the mall.      

Our “confession hour” was over at midnight, and we went to my table tennis set and began a tournament. After four hours of hitting little balls back and forth, laughing and blaring music, we all decided to at least try and fall asleep. 

At first, I couldn’t relax my mind and fall asleep. I was still wondering about Chloe’s confession. She’d said that I would find out about it. When? Should I tell someone? These questions blared in my mind until I reassured myself that it had all been my imagination. 

You just imagined it, I thought as I began to drift off into sleep. You just imagined it. 

About five hours later, I awoke to the smell of pancakes frying on the griddle- my dad’s doing. The twins and Lindsey were already downstairs, so I stepped over the sleeping forms of Chloe and Haley to join them. After a breakfast of delicious pancakes drenched with syrup, it was my favorite time of the day- presents. 

Haley went first, shoving a card into my hand. “Open it,” she urged. I slit the envelope open to reveal the most money I’d ever gotten for my birthday, even from my grandmother- $200! Also stuffed in the envelope was a handmade card, complete with a gift card to my favorite restaurant- Olive Garden. 

“Wow, thanks, Haley!” I cried. “This is so generous. You didn’t have to.” 

“Anything for my best friend,” Haley replied, giving me a huge, movie-star smile. Typical Haley. 

The rest of the girls then proceeded to give me their gifts. To my surprise, they were all very generous amounts of cash, though none were as generous as Haley’s. It was the first birthday I could remember where I hadn’t gotten any actual items. If that seemed weird to me, I shook it off. When I’d opened all of the envelopes, I had $350 and two Olive Garden gift cards. 

“You guys are so sweet!” I cried, unable to contain my excitement. “This will really help me save up for the new phone I’ve been wanting.” 

Haley looked at the rest of my friends and smirked- the same smirk I’d seen her give to Chloe last night. 

“Change of plans, Penelope.” she spat out, pronouncing my name with a distaste that I’d never seen from her. “You’re just too oblivious to realize it. For this birthday, you’re not going to use your birthday money. We are.” 

I began to protest with confusion, but, before I knew it, something hard hit me on the head. The world went black. 

I woke up about two hours later. My hands and feet were bound in ropes and a gag was tied over my mouth. It took me a second to register what had just happened. They double-crossed me! I thought, clenching my fist in anger. Of course. Why hadn’t I realized it before? They’d all been acting so strange at Chloe’s confession last night, then there were the unrealistic amounts of cash they’d given me. They were all going to divvy it up amongst themselves and escape. 

“Help!” I called, but my cry was muffled by the gag. Tears began to stream down my face. They were the best friends I’d ever had. Why stab me in the back now?

People change, I realized. And sometimes you have to be careful who you trust.