Chapter 139
Paige smirked, stepping forward with her arms crossed.
"Everyone, this is Paige—my little sister," I said, gesturing toward her.
They all greeted her with a mix of smiles and casual waves.
"Hey, Paige." "Nice to meet you."
"Cool costume," Lauren added.
Paige nodded back with a half-smile, not used to being the center of attention.
"I didn't know you had a sister, Jake," Pippa said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm not," Paige replied. "Not by blood."
"She's just as annoying as one. For a few reasons, she's living with me now. Doesn't look like it, but she's actually really smart," I said.
"You're not one to talk about that," Pippa replied with a grin.
"Pips?!" I gasped, giving her a look of mock betrayal.
Then I let Brit take the controls.
"Three tries each, right?" Brit confirmed, already leaning in to study the machine.
"Yep," I nodded. "Then pass it on. House rules."
Brit's first two attempts were dramatic failures. Her third, though, actually snagged a tiny ghost plush. She held it up triumphantly.
"You see? No cheating. Just Marshmello magic," she said.
Paige rolled her eyes but cracked a smile.
Milly went next and almost got a mummy. It slipped at the last second, and she cursed under her breath while the others giggled.
Lauren managed to grab a mini pumpkin plush by the stem.
Pippa stepped forward. Her first try completely missed, but on the third, the claw actually locked onto a bat plush with sparkly wings. Everyone cheered when it dropped cleanly into the prize chute.
"Finally," she said.
After that, we moved to the giant memory game.
It was a massive wall-sized board with 100 matching pairs hidden behind small square panels. Each team had one minute to view the entire board with the covers open. Then, everything flipped face down and the game began.
Three teams took turns, flipping two squares at a time, trying to remember the positions of each item. Every correct match scored a point, and a staff member stood nearby jotting down scores.
I quickly spoke up. "I'm teaming with Paige."
Cara shrugged and joined Brit, while Pippa paired with Lauren. Milly was okay not to play.
When the countdown ended, the covers dropped, and our minute of memorization began.
Everyone stared at the grid, whispering pair figures and mentally locking in positions.
Then the timer beeped, the board flipped, and round one was on.
Pippa and Lauren went first. They managed to find five matching pairs before they got it wrong.
After, it was our turn. I leaned toward Paige and whispered, "Do your magic."
Paige rolled her eyes—but did the magic.
One by one, she flipped square after square, rapidly revealing match after match. Within moments, she had cleared ninety-five of the remaining pairs with machine-like precision.
The room fell silent. Mouths dropped.
The staff member holding the clipboard stared at the board in disbelief.
I put my hand in front of my mouth, turning to Brit. "Zero points," I whispered dramatically.
Then I looked at Pippa. "Five points," I said with a smirk.
The girls crossed their arms, exchanging suspicious looks.
"You cheat at the claw machine, now you cheat with Paige?" Pippa said, narrowing her eyes at me.
"No way!" I shot back, indignantly. "Paige is legit, she has eidetic memory. And the machine was mine in the first place."
"Seriously," I added. "At home, I don't even ask Mom where stuff is anymore. I just ask Paige."
That made everyone giggle.
After the memory game, we split up.
Pippa, Cara, and Lauren headed off to explore the haunted house.
Brit, Milly, and I went to meet up with Cher and Regina, who were taking photos in the photobooth.
Meanwhile, Paige joined Carly, Sam, and Freddie.
The five of us went to the Fortune Teller.
"I got the best fortune ever," I said, stepping away from the tent with a grin.
"That's because the fortune teller knows you're the one hosting the party," Cher said deadpan.
"Why am I paying a fraud again?" I asked the two of them (Obviously, I never believed in this stuff.)
"People like it," Regina replied with a shrug.
Then she leaned in and whispered to me, "And she might say bad luck to a few people we don't like."
We made our way to the Escape Room next. It was cleverly designed, full of eerie props and tricky puzzles. We solved most of them with only a few hints.
Following that, we played Skull Bowling—yes, literal skull-shaped bowling balls. Surprisingly, Milly turned out to be the best at it, knocking down strikes like a pro.
To wrap things up, we caught up with the others at the Haunted House. Britney hit me twice with her mask while trying to hug me mid-scare. Both times, she jumped at the same moment the animatronics screamed.
"That's the third time you've attacked me tonight," I muttered, rubbing my head.
"I was protecting you from the skeletons," she said, totally unconvincing.
There was dancing, that intensified when the new Marshmello song played:
(Timber – Pitbull)
♪It's going down
I'm yelling timber
You better move, you better dance
Let's make a night you won't remember
I'll be the one you won't forget♪
♪Oh oh oh oh oh
It's going down
Oh oh oh oh oh
It's going down♪
♪The big they are, the harder they fall
This biggity boys are diggity out
I have 'em like Miley, clothes off…♪
Yeah, o took the Cyrus, I didn't find any name to replace it.
And some impromptu karaoke—which Britney clearly wanted to lead but held herself back—and plenty of other attractions to keep the energy high.
By half past midnight, everyone else had gone home. The eight of us—Carly, Freddie, Sam, Cher, Regina, Paige, and Britney—were sprawled out on the couches, barely moving.
"Can I take the mask off now?" Britney whispered to me.
"Yeah, the party's all friends now," I replied.
When Britney took off the mask, everyone froze. Cher and Regina looked like their eyes were about to pop out of their heads.
Carly blinked twice. "Wait. Is that... who do I think it is?"
Paige was speechless, her mouth open.
"No way," Cher said slowly. "You've got to be kidding me."
Britney gave a small smile and a shrug. "Surprise?"
"Oh, yeah. I didn't tell any of you, huh," I said, as if I had simply forgotten to mention it. I almost made a Garp laugh
"NO!" they all screamed.
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