Party Trouble
“Carmen. Come on. We are late for school.” Camille said. Carmen and Camille Johnson were identical twins and they were 13 years old… “Just coming.. Here I am!” Carmen said grinning. “Ok now, lets go.” said Camille.
As they boarded their school bus, Camille said, “Today is Jenny’s birthday party. We have been invited. Remember? Oh, I have not bought her any gifts. Lets go to Great Gifts shop in the evening Ok?” “Sure, Lets buy her a fairy statue and a bar of chocolates. She likes such stuff.” said Carmen and Camille nodded. They reached their school and went to attend classes. In the lunch break they saw Jenny in the cafeteria. she was laughing and clutching her best friend Angela and saying “Today is my birthday!”. “Boy, she sure is excited.” Carmen commented. “Why should she not be? Its her birthday today.” Camille said. “You know what they say, if you are really or too happy, fate sure has something bad for you coming up. Lets hope nothing bad happens. Amen.” Carmen said with a serious face. Camille giggled.
The day passed quickly. It was evening. the party was at 5:30 and it was 4:00 pm. ‘Great Gifts’ shop was very near to their house. So, right after school they rushed to get there. As they entered the shop a sweet smell of perfume filled their noses. That smell was always there. They went to look at the statues of angels. There were a variety of them. After 10 minutes of confusion, Carmen pointed to an angel. It looked very sweet with innocent eyes and smile, a baby pink satin frock, a tiny silver tiara, silver wings and a star shaped wand. “Purrfect.” exclaimed Carmen. “Yeah, so sweet. She’ll love it very much. And we’ll also buy her Cadbury bar. You know, how much she likes it, don’t you.” Camille said. “Yes now, lets get all this gift wrapped and go.” Carmen exclaimed looking at her watch. It was already 4:30. They ran back home.
They took a quick bath and sprayed their special perfume which their mother had given as a birthday gift. They always wore it to special parties. They wore black jeans and a white shirt with a grey overcoat. They wore their necklaces with the initials ‘C’. “Pretty cute outfit for a teen party.” their mother said when they showed it to her. “Okay now hurry up. Its already 5:20.” Jenny’s house was the tenth house in their lane. It was a kind of mansion as the Atkins were very rich. Her father was one of the top businessmen of the country. Her mother owned and managed a spa and beauty resort. Being an only child Jenny was quite spoiled and so she bragged a lot.
Carmen and Camille climbed onto their bikes (bicycles) and rode off. They were just on time. Jenny was waiting with a couple of friends and Angela on the lawn. The gift was kept in Carmen’s basket. They went forward and wished her but did not give the gift because they planned to give it when she blew out the candles. “Hi Jenny. Happy Birthday!!!” The twins said in unison. “Thanks a lot.” Jenny said. “Anyway, lets go for a little walk by the pool. I guess, by that time, all the others will come.” “Yeah. Great idea.” Camille said. “Hey Jenny, I’ll just go to the toilet. I’ll join you guys later, Okay?” Angela said. “Sure. The toilet is near the dining room.” Jenny said. Angela walked towards the door. The others walked towards the pool. After a while Angela returned. “What took you so long?” Jennifer asked. “Uh. I just had some trouble finding the toilet.” Angela said. That was true because Jenny’s house is so big its difficult to find the rooms. “Okay anyway. Lets carry on. Yeah.. So, you guys know Jake from the next section? He’s such a bully. Today I saw him almost hanging a child.” Jenny said. “Yup. We know him.” Carmen said. “Jenny! All the others have come. Come inside with the others.” Mrs.Atkin shouted. The new guests were sitting on the benches on the lawn. “Hi everyone. Lets go.” Jenny said. All of them went inside. There were stairs above the dining room. As they neared the table, Water just dropped on everyone from the stairs. “Mother! What happened?” Jenny exclaimed with shock. “I think that careless Doris must have left it over there after cleaning and now it must have tripped. I’m really sorry children. I’ll talk to Doris.” Carmen looked at Camille as if to say “Remember what I said, bad things might happen, I think its becoming true.” Camille shook her head. Mrs.Atkin said “Close your eyes everyone, I’m gonna open the cake box.” Everyone closed their eyes. Mrs.Atkins opened the box and said “Surprise!!” Jenny opened her eyes, looked at the big wonderful cake and screamed. “Mom, someone has eaten half the rose and has kept it there.” Everyone looked at the cake. She was telling the truth. “Mom, something bad is happening right on my teenage girl birthday.” Jenny said. “Don’t say like that sweety.” the mother tried to console her. “Wait Jenny, we’ll find out who this evil prankster is. First, lets uncover all the tricks to avoid any more shocks.” Carmen said. “My guess is the next trick may be in the gift balloon. Lets break it and see.” Camille suggested. “Some one give me a long stick.” Camille went near the balloon and hit it with the stick. As it broke, crumbs of stinky and rotten bread fell to the ground. “To think that I was going to stand under the balloon and poke it with a nail. It would have fallen on me. Oh God! Who is that idiot prankster? What’s that person’s problem? I curse him or her to have all kinds of bad luck.”Jenny exclaimed angry and upset. “Don’t worry Jenny. We’ll find out who did it. You just wait.” Carmen said. Camille scanned her eyes on everyone’s face. Angela looked tensed. “Angela, do you have something to do with any of this?” “No.. Uh. No.” Angela looked frightened. “C’mon speak up Angela. Why do you look so scared? Own up now, that’ll be better for you.” Carmen said sternly. “Okay! I did it! Its all her fault! I hate her! All those bragging about her money and her clothes. I felt so angry. She is such a snob. I totally hate her.” Angela said angrily and then she came back to her senses and looked as if she would burst out crying. “Angela, of all the people?” Jenny exclaimed.”Oh my god! I am shocked. How could you do this to me? I thought you were my best friend.” “Well, that’s how people are sometimes. Now Angela, how did you do it?” Carmen asked. Angela was sobbing. “When I told told (sob) that I wanted to go to the toilet, I was actually making my tricks ready. I connected a sort of invisible thread to the bucket above the stairs and after we entered, I (sob) pulled the thread and moved back.. I ate half the rose, actually that was not in the plan, I was tempted. Do you know, I didn’t even have a party ‘cuz I couldn’t afford it. And you, you were just bragging about yours. Of course, I felt jealous and I knew I had to wreck your party.” Angela said glaring. “And the fungus bread balloon was easy. I just took it from the garbage bin. I still hate you Miss Prissy.” “Why don’t you call Angela’s mother Mrs.Atkins?” Camille suggested. “Yeah, I think that’s the best.” Mrs.Atkins called Angela’s mother and she was taken away. Jenny was still shocked. “And all this had to happen on my teen birthday. I’m doomed.” “About that I think I have an idea. Doris had baked a cake in the morning with all icing as a birthday gift to you. Its really lovely. Everything else is here. Doris, Doris! Just bring the cake over here and some candles too. Now darling you can still have your dream birthday celebrated.” Mrs.Atkin said. Seeing the beautiful cake Jenny said “Oh.Thank You Doris. You are the best maid I have ever had!” She blew out the candles and everyone sang the birthday song and gave her the gifts. “This has been a wonderful birthday except for that Angela problem. Anyway I have learnt a lesson too. ‘Do not brag’. Now onwards I will stick with good friends like the twins over here.” Jenny said. The twins smiled. “Hey Carmen, you forgot to say that after every bad incident a happy one comes.” Camille said. The party ended at 7:30 after all games and all the other programs.
And what happened to Angela is that she moved into a totally new city to her aunt to avoid all the scolding and bad names she would get if she were to live there itself.
And everybody lived happily ever after.
“Bad beginnings are followed by happy endings”
