Into the Garden (Wildflowers 5)

"We're having it now?' Star said.

"No, I mean with boys," Misty insisted. Star looked at Jade.

"Not until we've got everything the way we

want it," Jade said, as if it was the most obvious fact

of all. "When the time comes, we'll tell whomever we

all decide to invite that Cathy's mother has gone away

for the day and we have the house."

"We don't want to invite too many people," Star

cautioned, "and we better be sure no one makes it

sound like an open party or we'll get all sorts of

riffraff."

"Let's just invite boys. Four of them," Jade

suggested. "Who needs any more competition, not

that I'm afraid o

f it or anything."

Star laughed and drank some more of her

screwdriver. "I'm not! It's just ... not prudent to invite

other girls at this time," Jade insisted.

"Prudent? I like that. What do you think, Cat?

Should we just invite boys?" she teased. "Is that

prudent?"

"I don't know?' I said. "You girls know about

the only party I ever went to, really, and you know

what happened to me," I said, gazing at my drink. They nodded, all looking both sad and angry

for me as they recalled the story I had told them at the group therapy session. I had been given too much rum and Coke to drink and some boys had taken advantage and groped me while girls I thought were my friends

looked on and laughed.

"Nothing like that is going to happen here," Star

assured me. "We won't let it."

"That's right," Jade insisted. "We'll always look

out for each other!'