Chatoyant College Book 7: Upon What Soil

Chapter 17: Party Time

Despite what she had just said to Dawn, Corrie tried to put her worries out of her head as they followed Naomi and Tom at a slightly more sedate pace. They were going to a party, after all. She was there to have fun. And eat candy. She would have to be alert to any possibility of changes from the faerie court, but there was nothing she could do about them tonight, and she was thoroughly certain that none of her friends would be going anywhere near there.

There was a girl by the door sitting cross-legged on a tall stool and working on a painting held up by an easel. She grinned and waved her paintbrush at them as they approached. "You're Naomi's friends, right? Oh, hi, Dawn."

"Yeah," Corrie said, grinning back, "I guess she has our entry tickets." She couldn't tell what the girl was working on; it mostly looked like random streaks of paint to her, though there might have been a figure eight in the middle.

The girl nodded. "She took them over to the candy table." She pointed with her paintbrush, splattering a little paint on her already paint-covered pants as she did. "Feel free to eat as much as you want. And have fun."

"Thanks. We will." Dawn didn't sound terribly enthusiastic.

Corrie took her by the arm. "Come on. We'll feel better after we get some candy."

Dawn didn't protest as Corrie pulled her along. Corrie hadn't been able to see where the girl was pointing before, but now that they passed her she could. There was a long buffet-type table against one wall, and it was piled with candy. She could see Naomi there, talking to someone and ripping open one bag of candy. As they approached, she turned the bag upside-down to dump it onto the pile.

"That is a lot of candy," Corrie said, letting go of Dawn's arm.

Naomi turned and grinned at them. "I don't know. It might not be enough. The night's just getting started." She tossed the plastic grocery bag, apparently now empty, under the table, where piles of bags already floated.

Corrie stuck her hand randomly into the pile and came up with a packet of SweeTarts. She ripped it open, stuck one in her mouth, and said around it, "I guess I'll pace myself, then."

The person Naomi had been talking to—Corrie had thought they were a girl, but it was actually a guy, shorter than her—laughed. "I think we'll be all right. We still might have more people showing up and who knows how much candy they'll bring. A few people have brought more than one bag."

"Where'd Tom go?" Dawn asked Naomi.

Naomi shrugged and pointed into the crowd. "Over that way somewhere, I wasn't paying attention. I couldn't get him to try any candy."

Dawn shook her head and grabbed some candy off the table. "I'm going to find him and make sure he's not getting himself in any trouble." She headed off in the direction that Naomi had pointed.

"Sounds like the kind of guy we like at our parties," said the short guy.

"That's what I said! Oh, that was Dawn, and this is Corrie. Corrie, this is Jerry."

"Nice to meet you," Corrie said around her SweeTart.

"You too," Jerry said. "I was just telling Naomi that Dory is upstairs showing off the new potting wheel, if you want to join us..."

Corrie shook her head. Watching someone demonstrating a potting wheel sounded like one of the most boring possible things she could do right now. "No thanks. I'm not really an arty type."

"Come on," said Naomi. "Just because you think you're not arty doesn't mean you wouldn't be good at art. You should give it a try."

"Maybe some other time."

"Okay." Naomi shrugged. "I guess I can rely on you to introduce yourself to people."

"Don't worry. I'll be fine. Actually," she said as she spied a familiar head of pink-dyed hair, "I think I see someone I know."

"Right. See you later, then."

Naomi and Jerry turned and walked toward the stairs at the back of the room. Corrie watched them for a minute, wondering if they were dating or something. They seemed quite flirtatious as they walked together. Then she grabbed another candy and jogged through the room. She grinned as she reached the pink. "Hey, Wendy! Gareth! I thought you guys would be at the theater party."

Gareth slowly turned toward her and shook his head. There was a lollipop sticking out of his mouth. Wendy grinned. "Hi, Corrie! We'll probably go there later. We like to hit all the parties. How've you been?"

"Oh, good. Busy. You know." Corrie glanced around. She still couldn't see Dawn or Tom. But she was pretty sure she didn't have to worry about them. She'd catch up to them later. Maybe when they were all full of candy and had relaxed a little more.