Carly stared back at the grimy bathroom mirror as she tried to salvage her running mascara. Every now and then she would sniffle and try to keep the tears from falling again as she thought of what an idiot she had made herself to be in the cafeteria today. She should have seen that cheerleader stick out her leg to trip her as she walked with her tray full of spaghetti. Now it was all over her, along with her soda. She started to cry again but took a deep breath instead. Just one more week of highschool. She was already 18, all that was left was to graduate. She couldn't wait to get out of this place. Away from all the bullying, drama, and peer pressure. All her life she had been picked on and treated like shit. But that would all change once she got to college, at least, she hoped. She had a small fear in the back of her mind that college might be the same exact situation as highschool, but she kept that thought buried deep where she wouldn't think of it.
Jasmine opened the door of one of the stalls and strutted up to the sink next to Carly's as Carly blinked heavily to conceal her tears. Jasmine had her Carly crying ever since she got in that stall though. She had even waited hours for Carly to leave, but eventually she got tired of it and just burst out, hoping to avoid a confrontation with the village loser.
"Hi" Carly softly whispered as she slowly looked over at Jasmine.
Sigh, she wasn't going to get out of this without acknowledging its existence, Jasmine thought.
"Hey" Jasmine answered nonchalantly as she wiped her hands on disposable, brown sheets.
"You're Jasmine, right?" Carly asked as she suddenly realized she was talking to the girl that tripped her.
"Uhh, yeah, that's me, and you are?" Jasmine guiltily answered as she tossed the wet towels away.
"I'm Carly, it's incredible I've gone to this school all my life and never talked to you before," Carly said without a hint of anger, mostly awed at meeting this popular girl.
"Yeah, well, big school, um, I gotta go, talk later?" Jasmine said as she grabbed the door handle.
"Wait! Don't go!" Carly yelled as she leaped forward and stopped her from opening the door.
This was the moment that changed Carly's life. Maybe if she had just let Jasmine walk through that door everything would have changed. Her whole life wouldn't be what it is today. But that was the day Carly decided to change her fate and stop Jasmine.
"I'm, um, having this party after school, sort of a pre-graduation thing, would you come?" Carly asked out of breath from all the social rules she was completely breaking.
"Wow, uh, ok, sure, I guess, I mean, I'm pretty busy, but, yeah, I'll see if I can stop around, what time?" Jasmine blanked as she totally did not see this coming.
"Around 7pm," Carly said, feeling pretty confident as Jasmine seemed taken aback.
"Well sure, see you then," Jasmine said, stunned as she walked away.
Carly just stood in the doorway, shocked at what she had just done. She had invited the most popular girl in school to her party. A party that didn't even exist. Didn't exist...Oh crap. There was no party. She had to throw a party. What if Jasmine brought some friends? They would expect more people to be there, omg, she was freaking out now. What was she going to do?
--
Carly felt her phone vibrating at 7:15 as she quickly got up from the sofa she had been dozing on and looked around her. She had tried the best she could to ready her house for a party, there were snacks and party decorations everywhere. She was glad her parents were on a business trip in Europe because they would have never approved it. But they would never suspect it either, Carly had never thrown a party in her life. Much less been to one. The only clue she had about them was from tv and movies. But she thought she had gotten it down...The doorbell rang. She quickly ran to a mirror to check her hair and opened the door. Outside was Jasmine shivering from the cold, but no one else.
Jasmine had come for two reasons. One was because she had been feeling guilty over tripping Carly in the lunchroom earlier, and the other because of something hardly explainable. It was almost a raw animal attraction she felt towards Carly the moment she saw her. It wasn't a caring one though, no, not at all. It was a sort of lust for abusing her, watching her fall and fumble around in humiliation made her day. She knew it was likely no one would show up to Carly's party, so she made certain she was the only one there, and brought a few things with her.
"I'm so glad you came! What's in the bag?" Carly asked at the same time as she was almost disappointed no one else had shown up even though she had called dozens of "friends".
"Sure, oh, don't worry about it, just a change of clothes, I can stay over, right?" Jasmine said as she threw her duffel bag to the wall and jumped on the couch.
"Uh, yeah, sure," Carly tried to hold in her excitement at having the most popular girl in her class wanting to stay over at her house.
"Lively party," Jasmine commented as she ate a chip.
"I'm sure everyone will be arriving soon," Carly said as she looked at the clock.