Third person's POV
Jade heard her door swing opened and her ears perked up.
She wondered who it was. And the face she was growing to dislike with a passion, appeared before her.
It was Sophia, again!
Jade closed her eyes briefly, then opened them, like Sophia would disappear by doing that, but that didn't happen.
Jade exhaled sharply at the realization.
"Somebody is getting emotional in here!" Sophia stated, her smirk still in intact.
"What do you want, Sophia? Aren't you done paying me back? You have made your point, haven't you?" Jade gritted at Sophia. The latter chuckled, feeling amused.
"I told you I love to add extra coins to my payments!" Sophia reminded her, and her eyes twitched with mischief.
Something flashed in Jade's eyes... Like anger or frustration, or maybe both.
"What else do you want to do now, Sophia?" Jade asked her, feeling defeated. Her voice was low and sad.
"No, no. Don't let us go down that lane. You shouldn't be acting like you are a victim here. You started this first, I am just paying you back. Don't make me feel like a bitch." Sophia told her, clearly enjoying herself.
Jade huffed in annoyance.
"You already are a bitch, don't you know?" Jade slammed at Sophia. The latter just burst into laughter.
"I would take that as a compliment! Now, you owe me an apology, let us start with that." Sophia pointed out, referring to what Jade's mother had ordered Jade to do.
Jade scoffed and shook her head in disbelief.
"An apology over what you did to yourself? You must be out of your mind, Sophia. Now listen, you have to stop pushing me. There is a limit to what I can take." Jade retorted.
"Really?" Sophia asked and was about to press further when Jade's door swing opened again, and that time, Selena walked into the room.
"Girls, I need your help downstairs. We are running out of time for the preparation." She told the girls, and without waiting for their response, walked out of the room, briskly.
Jade heaved a small sigh and stood up to leave the room.
"This isn't over!" Sophia promised her before sashaying her way out of Jade's room.
Jade rolled her eyes and walked out after her.
"I am going to be ready for you, whenever you decide to continue your display of stupidity." Jade mumbled under her breath.
~
"So girls, I need you both to help me with inviting Andrew's friends to the party. You two definitely know better about his friends." Selena said to the girls as they got downstairs.
Sophia narrowed her eyes on Jade.
"Jade would be your best call for that. I don't go to the same school with them." Sophia informed Selena.
"Oh, I thought you do. Okay, then." Selena replied Sophia and faced her daughter.
Jade was a bit flustered. She wondered how her mother expected her to know how to get in touch with every of Andrew's friends.
"I don't know how to get in touch with them." Jade told her mother with a shrug of her shoulders.
"At least you know somebody who knows somebody that knows somebody who knows how to get in touch with one of his friends. Get to work, immediately, Jade." Selena commanded, firmly.
Jade groaned in discomfort.
"Okay." Jade agreed reluctantly and took out her phone from her pocket, then started dialling Jaunita's number.
"Girl, I need your help. Your twin brother is Andrew's best friend, isn't he?" Jade said into the phone, immediately her best friend accepted the call.
"Yeah ..." Juanita replied from the other end.
"I need him to help me mobilize other of their friends to come down for Andrew's surprise party, tomorrow. And the birthday boy must not know about it. It won't be a surprise anymore, if he does." Jade explained to her friend.
"Oh, being the devoted crush as usual, aren't you?" Juanita teased her friend.
"Silly! Just do what I ask of you, will you? And remember you have to be as discreet as possible, about it." Jade replied her friend, ignoring the tease as she didn't want people in the room with her, to know anything about that.
"Alright, I will get right to it." Juanita replied her and the call ended.
"Somebody seems to have quite a connection!" Sophia commented and winked at Jade.
The wink meant something and Jade wondered what the mischievous girl could be planning again. She looked at Sophia, with malice in her eyes and grunted.
"It is going to be a long day, isn't it?" Jade wondered inwardly and inhaled deeply.
"Girls, let us hurry with these preparations before Andrew would come back home. We have less than 30 minutes to do that." Selena told the girls, with a tone of urgency.
~
Jade's POV
It was the D-Day!
Andrew's birthday party.
"You didn't do any shopping for the party? Why?" My friend inquired, shock written all over her.
She had arrived earlier before the party would start, and was in my room to help me get ready. We were in the middle of picking my dress.
"No reason. I just didn't. What is the purpose, anyway? It is of no use." I replied her, dismissively as I felt her reaction was exaggerated.
"Why not? Don't you have to look good for him? Have you decided to end your lifelong crush for him? " She asked me.
"That is what I should do." I replied her, flatly. And my heart skipped a beat at that statement.
I knew that would be a tough decision to make for my heart.
"Or what you are going to pretend to do!" Juanita pointed out and I shrugged, trying to not show any emotion.
"Anyhow!" I stated, wanting her to just drop the topic, immediately.
It was hurting me. My heart.
Juanita looked at me with pity and I shook my head and gave her a small smile, pretending to be fine.
"This!" Juanita exclaimed with excitement as she pulled out a pink floral dress from my wardrobe.
In no time, we were done getting dressed and had headed down stairs for the party.
I had a small makeup on my face and Juanita had styled my hair simply but nicely. With that little effort, I knew I looked beautiful but when I got outside and saw some of Andrew's female friends, my little confidence about my looks flew out of the window.
The girls had made much efforts to look gorgeous, and they had succeeded in that. But a particular girl stood out the most.
Sophia!
Before I could start checking her out, the reason for the gathering drove into the compound. His best friend, Juan had dragged him out of the house earlier before the visitors' arrival.
Andrew alighted from the car, looking absolutely great in his casual wears, and we all shouted 'happy birthday' according to the plan.
Andrew was totally taken by surprise. He stood still staring at the decor in surprise.
We all waited for him to recover from the surprise but he had another look in his eyes.
Shock!
Confusion!
I could see it clearly as it seemed I was the only one he was staring at, at that moment.
"Why is the birthday boy looking that bewildered instead of being happy?"