Chapter 1  

    The Big Invitation 

I walked out of my second-period class, holding hands with my best friend Gabrielle, on our way to lunch. Suddenly, I heard someone calling my name. I turned to see Chad Jorndon, someone I knew, running towards us. "Hey, Theresa, hey Gabrielle," he said as he approached us. We both replied with a friendly "Hey". "So, how can we help the famous Chad Jorndon?" I asked, smiling. Gabrielle giggled. Chad seemed nervous as he asked, "I was wondering what you and Gabrielle are doing this weekend. I'm hosting an end-of-the-year party at my house to celebrate making it through three years of high school."

"Oh, yeah, we're not doing anything this weekend," I said calmly, looking at Gabrielle for approval. "We will come to your party." Although I remained calm on the outside, I was jumping for joy on the inside. Chad responded with excitement, perhaps even more excited than me. "That's great!" he exclaimed. "Well, I will send you the time and address later. Can I give you my number?" He asked, handing me his phone. "Sure," I replied, taking the phone from him. As I did so, I felt his hand brush over mine, and I immediately felt the electric shock that I had felt the first time he touched me. I entered my phone number and gave the phone back to him. He put it in his pocket and said, "Well, thank you, Theresa. I hope to see both of you at my party." 

"Wait! You don't mind if I bring the other girls, right?" I asked him. He smiled and said, "No, I don't mind at all," before leaving. 

"Well, well, well," Gabrielle said mockingly. "I never thought I'd live to see Chad Jornden act so nervous, especially for a girl." She laughed. 

"Me neither, but girl let me tell you, it took all my strength not to jump in his arms and scream 'yes' or something. If I did that, he would think I was crazy like one of those popular girls you see on TV shows," I replied. "Oh, girl, you're not crazy. And you will never be," Gabrielle said with a smile. As we walked towards the lunch table, my friend Gabrielle abruptly stopped and exclaimed with surprise, "Wait, T, you just got invited to the most exclusive party of the century! And guess who's hosting it? None other than the most popular boy in our grade and the captain of our football team." She was in shock, and I could see the realization sinking in. "We need to go shopping after school!" She continued as we reached our table with our plates of food. Ava, Clara, and Abigail, who were all our best friends, were curious about Gabrielle's sudden excitement. "What happened? Why is Gabrielle acting like she just had a bunch of her favorite ice cream?" Ava asked. After sitting down, I greeted my friends, and Gabrielle told them the news. "We got invited to Chad Jackson's end-of-the-year party!" she said, out of breath. "Say what?!" The others exclaimed in unison.!"We are the most popular girls in our school, so it wouldn't be surprising if we always get invited to extravagant parties," Clara pointed out. "But here's the thing, Chad stopped us in the hallway, acting all nervous in front of T," Gabrielle said. "Well, well, that's not something you hear every day," Abrigable said while eating her food. "That's what I said! At least we know one thing," she continued. "And what is that?" Ava asked. "That we all have to go shopping and that Chad Jordan has a thing for our best friend," the group said in unison. "Agreed," they all said again.

"But before we do that," I cut in, "we have to go meet with Coach Breana after school. She said we have to meet her, and I have to meet with Coach Jackson about the last swimming competition next week." "See, I don't understand how you can manage both being captain of Cheerleading and the swim team," Ava said with amazement. "Well, that's because she is amazing," Clara, Abrigal, and Gabrielle said in unison. We all laughed.

"Ring, ring, ring," I said. "Well, that's the end of lunch break. See you after school, girls." Me and the girls went and dumped our food out and went our separate ways.

Since I had different classes with all four of them, I was always alone for the last two classes: Algebra II and Money Management. Don't get me wrong, I love those classes, but I just hate the fact that I have to be in the same space as my arch-nemesis. I don't know why she always wants to pick a fight with me, but ever since ninth grade, she has been on my case. I remember when I tried out for the cheerleading team, Isabella, at the time, was the captain of the team. Although I was good at cheerleading and even the coach was impressed with my skills, I could tell that Isabella wasn't happy that I was there. So, she tried everything to get me to quit Cheerleading. But one thing she didn't know about me was that I was always one step ahead of her. Her plans never succeeded. During the cheerleading competition, Isabella cut everyone's outfit, including hers, except mine. She then framed me for the incident. However, what she didn't know was that I had installed a camera in the locker room which captured her in the act. Consequently, on the day of the competition, she was kicked off the team, and I was appointed as the new captain. From then on, our relationship turned sour, and we were never civil to each other again. I've heard that she tried out for the swimming team, but Coach Jackson refused to have a backstabbing person on her team. I believe that my promotion to captain of the swimming team was a significant blow to her.“Good afternoon!” Mr. Hunter greeted us. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hunter,” we replied. 

“How was your lunch break?” he asked. 

“It was okay,” we replied. 

“That's great. Class, let's jump right into it. I have the best lesson plan for us today.”

Three hours later, both of my last classes were over, and it was time to meet the others after school. 

I made it to the gym where the others were gossiping about what happened during third and fourth-period classes. 

“Hey, girls,” I interrupted the conversation. 

“Hey, Theresa,” they all responded. 

“Theresa, can you believe what happened during the fourth period?” Ava exclaimed. 

“What happened?” I asked, putting my bag down. 

“Well, one of Isabella's minions was gossiping about how they were invited to the Chad Jackson party,” Ava said in frustration. 

“WHAT!” I said in shock. 

Well, I should have been new to this since Isabella is dating one of Chad's teammates, Morio, so it makes sense. 

“Well, I guess we have to avoid them, won't we, girls?” I asked them with a smirk. 

The door closed, and Coach Breana walked in. 

“Good evening, girls,” she greeted us. 

“Good evening, Coach B,” we all responded. 

“Theresa, come here,” Coach Breana whispered to me. 

“Do you want to tell them the good news?” Coach asked me. 

“Sure, I…”I said excitedly. I turned to the girls and said, "Well, girls, the coach and I have an announcement for you today. I recently found out that we have been invited to perform at the Thanksgiving parade in Ocean City during our senior year. One of the judges on the committee saw our performance last month and loved it, so she thought we should perform. Since my family and I go there for the break, I thought this would be a great opportunity for us. So, what do you guys think?"

The girls responded, "We think we can't wait!" all at once."I'm glad you girls are on board," the coach said. "But from the beginning of your senior year, none of you can be in any trouble. If you are, we will have to withdraw. Do you understand? Especially when we are presenting in front of a lot of people."

"We understand," the girls and I responded.

"Okay, well have a nice summer break, and I will see you all in September. Bye, Coach," I said, checking my Apple watch. It was 4:40 pm. I picked up my bag and told the others that I had to meet up with Coach Jackson and would meet them in front.

"Okay, see you there," they replied. I waved goodbye and jogged out the double doors to the pool area.

"Hello, Coach Jackson," I called out in the empty room.

"Hey, Theresa, I am in my office. Come on in," she replied. I opened the door to her office and sat down on one of the chairs.

"So, I called you in today because I want to make sure that you have everything figured out for next week's event."

"Yes, Coach, I am ready for this event and ready to lead the team to the championship," I replied.

"That's good to hear, Theresa. Well, on that note, I hope you have a nice weekend and that you rest well. See you next week," she said.

"Yes, I will, and I hope you do too, Coach. See you next week," I replied. I got up, grabbed my school bag, left the office, and went to meet up with the other girls out front.

But, as I walked down the hallway that leads to the front of the school, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and saw none other than Chad.

"Oh, hey, Chad," I said, trying to calm down. "It's going to be okay." 

I couldn't believe it. Chad Jackson just touched me again! I had a crush on Chad since tenth grade since he could stand up against Isabella when she tried to spread lies about me. That was when he first touched me. When he saw me crying because of the chaotic mess that the lies had created for me."So... he continued, "I want to ask you something else besides coming to my party. I was wondering if you'd like to go grab some ice cream with me tomorrow?" 

"OMG! Is the great Chad Jordan asking me out?" I teased.

"Oh, I'm not that great, but I guess I am asking you out," he replied. "So, what do you say?"

"Of course, I'd love to go out with you," I said, giggling.

"That's awesome," he said, excitedly. "Anyway, I'm sending you the details about the party right now, and sent!" 

"Ping!" My phone vibrated in my pocket. I took it out and read the message. It read, "Sunday 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM at Lakeside Avenue Maryland pool party."

"Got it, this is a pool party, cool!" I said excitedly. 

"Well, I have to go since my ride is here. See you tomorrow!" he said.

"Okay, bye," I replied calmly.

As soon as he left, I hurried to the front of the school where my friends were waiting.

"Teresa, slow down!" they called out.

I came to a sudden stop, out of breath, and blurted out, "Chad asked me out!"

"Say what?" they all exclaimed.

"I know!" I said, finally catching my breath. "So, when is this date?"

"Tomorrow," I replied, pulling out my phone to send the party invitation to our group chat.

"Ping!" All their phones vibrated as they received the message. They all pulled out their phones to read it.

"Well, this is going to be fun. The party is a pool party," Ava commented after reading the message.

"BEEP, BEEP. Oh, that's my ride! Girls, come on," I said as I headed towards the car.

As the girls and I greeted my mom and the chauffeur Mr. James, He pulled out of the school and drove us home.