PARTY WITH THE PRINCESS: OPTIONS

"Why are you still wearing your coats?"

I'm not sure why, but I had expected some kind of reasonable explanation. Like maybe "I'm feeling cold." or "The draft comes in every time the main door swings open." Or maybe a lazy reason like "I'm too lazy to take it off cos we'll need them again on the rooftop." Or even something out of the blue like "I want to keep my outfit a surprise till we get to the party."

If my friends gave any or all of the above reasons, I wouldn't have batted an eyelash.

But Krystal started glaring at everyone, "It's all HER fault."

"I want to kill her!" Zara resumed cracking her knuckles, "I'll kill her and all her stupid skinny friends with her!"

"Not all her friends are skinny." Leia just had to point it out.

There was a pause as the girls pictured in their heads who were the not skinny ones.

Because the girls were so hopeless at explaining themselves, and the other guys were not exactly forthcoming with explanations either, Ivan took it upon himself to explain on their behalf. Thank goddess for Ivan's good thinking - except that he had to explain everything while being interrupted by the girls. He also had to do it in the most annoyed way, as if having to talk to Henry was a huge pain, "Basically, Abigail set the girls up..."

"She found out we were all wearing LBDs!" Leia cut in. This did not surprise me in the slightest, especially since our outfits had been discussed rather loudly in class today. But what had that got to do with anything?

"And then she was so EVIL!" Zara said.

Because this was how the cool girls explained things when they were upset.

"She basically sent a message to all the other female guests to wear white." Ivan explained on Zara's behalf. He put a hand on his date's shoulder as if to calm her, or restrain her, I wasn't sure which.

"ON PURPOSE!" Zara raised her voice. Ivan winced. Jasmine tried to shush her.

"Yah, and she conveniently forgot to tell us." Leia made a face at that.

"ON PURPOSE!" Zara felt she should point out again, in case we missed it the first time.

"Just like she forgot to tell us about the indoor pool." Krystal added.

"ON PURPOSE!" Zara emphasized.

"I'm going to spill red wine on her white dress." Leia concluded.

Zara opened her mouth, "On..."

"No Zara, BY ACCIDENT. I'm going to accidentally get some red wine and splash it on her dress." Leia said. I'm not sure which drama she was enacting in her head.

"You can't." Krystal said, "We're underage."

"I hope they serve chocolate cake all over her white dress." Leia was suddenly smiling again, but it wasn't a good thing. Not for Abigail anyway.

"S*** happens." Zara grinned now.

This was why I think Krystal was right about us really being the angry-eyed jelly background characters in the pages of those mangas with pink covers. Sometimes, my friends really seem to fit the role too well.

Marcus sighed deeply and summarized for Henry and me like the good beta he was, "Our girls got played. They're dressed in the wrong color and none of them brought their swimsuit."

Janice was very quiet. Her hand was on her mouth and she looked ready to cry.

"Are you okay, Janice?" I asked.

She shook her head, and then she nodded, and then she shook her head again. Henry looked over to the girl he was holding hands with as if just noticing her distress.

And then Janice said in a whisper, "Abigail didn't tell me either."

Oh.

"Haha. Even you weren't spared." Zara said.

"That's the price you pay for dating HER Henry." Leia laughed.

"Don't cry." Krystal instructed, "You can't give that b***** the satisfaction of seeing your tears."

This only made the tears in Janice's eyes well up. I don't think nice girls like Janice were used to being hated. Okay, so this was a first for me too, but I was the Alpha. I could take it. And also because I really didn't think our situation was that critical.

"Abigail's probably planning to embarrass us at the party." Krystal said.

Well, then she wasn't doing a very good job, I mean, it wasn't like she told us it was a pajama party or costume party or bikini party - now that would be really embarrassing. Look at us! We were gorgeous!

"What should we do?" Jasmine worried.

"I say we just go up to the party anyway!" Zara said, "We can just keep our coats on all night."

Jasmine looked crestfallen, "I can't believe this. I even paid full price for this dress!"

"We can't let Abigail get away with this." Krystal said.

Leia put her hands together in prayer, "Please let her birthday cake be chocolate."

"You girls are so full of it." Ivan grumbled, "Can't we just get through tonight without the drama?"

"NO!" More than one girl yelled at him.

Janice's tears fell despite her best efforts to put on a brave front.

"It's no big deal." I tried to draw perspective into our situation for my friends, "So what if our dresses are the wrong color? Let's just go up and have a good time together. That's what we came here for, right?"

"Oh God, no." Leia gasped, "I'll just die of embarrassment."

"I'm never going to take off my jacket." Zara clutched the lapels of her jacket to herself.

"I want to go home." Jasmine told Liam.

"No!" Krystal was surprisingly firm, "Nobody's going home. We are going to make Abigail cry tonight."

Ivan sighed. And then he told EJ, "She's your date."

EJ nodded, "Right! Okay! Let's make Abigail cry!"

Ivan facepalmed. That was not what he meant for EJ to do, "Idiot. Talk some sense into your date before we all get thrown out by security."

"Alright." Krystal ignored the naysayer in our midst, "Cake cutting is always at the end of the party. That'll give us plenty of time to figure out how to make Abigail pay for all the s*** she's ever thrown our way."

I hated to admit it, but I was actually on Ivan's side on this one.

"It's okay." Henry decided, "I've got this."

You did? I turned to see Henry handing Janice a packet of tissue he got from his beta and waited expectantly for him to take charge and boss everyone, or at least try to, but it seemed that even the great Young Alpha Henry was at a loss when it came to the appeasing the seething teenage girl vengeance that surrounded him, "Pete. I need options."

Wait, was that allowed? WTH. It was one thing to get tissue from your beta, but options? That was cheating!

Beta Pete stepped forward, his magic phone in hand, "There is still time. Perhaps the young ladies would like to be re-outfitted at the stores."

"But it's almost closing time." Jasmine worried.

It was nearly 8 pm, but I felt quite sure that the concept of store closing time did not apply to the Young Alpha of Silver Mountain. It was like how the candy shop happened to be open at 7 am in the morning for Uncle Louis to take little Eddy (and the rest of us) after Grandpa Alpha's funeral. But I didn't fancy another shopping trip. I crossed my arms, "I like my outfit."

Beta Pete quickly offered option 2, "Alternatively, I can have the platinum lounge opened for your own private party."

Because just as the heir of The Langston had a gold membership to this club, the heir to the Silver Mountain Pack had the platinum membership. I wasn't even surprised at that revelation, nor was I in any way impressed by the suggestion, "We didn't do anything wrong. Why should we have to hide away from the party?"

"I don't care. I'm going to the party just as I am." I decided. It's not like I was asking my friends to swim in their undies, but with the way they gasped at me, I might as well have.

"What the hell, Sam." Henry said, "Even if you don't give a s***, at least be sensitive to the other girls."

Said the one who didn't even notice his date was about to cry until I asked her if she was okay.

I flared properly at Henry, but he only waved it off, "Fine. You tell me what you want to do, then."

Oh, how magnanimous you are, oh most majestic young alpha!

I took a quick glance at Harvey. Should I demand options from my good beta too? His forehead was creased as it was. I decided not to stress him too much. I didn't want him to think he had to compete with Beta Pete's "magic phone."

Or perhaps I should ask Fluffy? Except that I felt quite sure Fluffy's plan would be far more complicated and melodramatic than necessary.

I wondered what the future alpha and representative of my pack should do? What would Wolfgang have done? I had no clue. How should I know what an old-fashioned professor in ancient lycan culture would do? It's not like I could use my gift of insight, especially since I was currently self-conscious about using it in front of others.

Wolfgang had entered my life suddenly, but within 24 hours, my life was changed. I wouldn't say he turned my world upside down. It was more like a tectonic plate shifted and changed the face of my world completely. I still couldn't tell if it were in a good or bad way. Most of the time, I just feel slightly stunned at his constant lessons. For some reason, I flashbacked to how he had dropped his warm coat over my shoulders last night and said in parting - in perfect lycan because professors in ancient lycan culture couldn't speak in English all the time like a normal wolf, "Those who dance do not need coats to keep warm."

"I want to dance." I decided. Even as I said it, I realized I was probably not applying the quote correctly, but wth. It wasn't even that I wanted to dance, but that I wanted to just wing it - to be free - this was the way I had always ran, I grinned at Henry, suddenly feeling like fun was just at the next turn, "Who's paying?"

"What the hell, Sam." Henry shook his head, "Fine. I'll pay."

"Then I choose option 3." I smiled widely at my friends, "All of the above."

"What the hell, Sam." Henry growled.

"Beta Pete, please open the Platinum Lounge for us." I tilted my head toward him, "Do you think you can get the store to come here?"

"Of course, Alpha Sam." Beta Pete picked up his phone.

Yeah, I expected as much.

"Okay!" I resumed unbuttoning my heavy coat, it was really too warm, "Pre-party at the Platinum Lounge! Come on, let's head up. We can go to Abigail's party when we're ready."