[Fiction] The sleepover that changed my life

[alli55]

The sleepover that changed my life


Author’s note


This is my first attempt at a story.

I have been lurking anonymously for quite a long time, and have enjoyed reading some of the TorD stories. That inspired me to have a go myself.

The story I have written is a ‘slow-burner’, and will probably be too slow for some people. But I saw some advice on here that said you should write a story that you’d like to read, and I like stories where you have a chance to get to know the characters and empathise with them. Hopefully my story will allow you to do that.

One thing I find really frustrating on this site is the number of stories that start really well, get me hooked, and then just stop. I was determined that mine wouldn’t do that. So, I forced myself to write the whole story, from beginning to end, before I allowed myself to post anything. I’m really glad I did, because it meant I could go back and change little bits and pieces that made no sense in the light of how the story developed later.

Since I have already written the story, I could just post all the chapters one after the other. But the way I have written it, I don’t want to do that. Instead, the first chapter will appear in the post immediately following this one, and then I will post a new chapter every two or three days. Hopefully that will keep the story moving on, but allow people to stay with it at the same time.

Like I say, this is my first attempt, but I really enjoyed it! I think I might have got the writing bug! So please, whether you like it or not, I’d love to hear what you think.

I already have one or two ideas for another story. So, if people seem to like this one, maybe I’ll get writing again!

Thanks for being patient and reading this post.

alli55

[alli55]

The sleepover that changed my life


Chapter 1 Four girls and an uncle


Hi! My name’s Megan, I’m 22 years old, and I’m from Canterbury.

No, it’s not my introduction on some tacky TV game show! I just want to let you know who’s writing this story: me. It’s my story.

I’ve called it the sleepover that changed my life because that’s what happened. I know it sounds dramatic and maybe when you’ve read the story you’ll think I’m overplaying it, but to me that’s how it feels and that’s how it was.

In many ways it seems so long ago now – it is nine years after all, and that’s a big chunk of my life – but I can still remember it vividly. Not all the details of course; for some of those I’ve had to look back through my old diaries. But lots of it is still as clear as if it happened a couple of hours ago.

But that’s enough waffle! Let’s get on with the story!

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Abi had been planning her sleepover for weeks, so it was a really big deal when she was told the week before that it couldn’t happen. She came to school that Monday morning with a face like thunder, snapping at everyone. Eventually she calmed down enough for me to pluck up the courage to ask her what had upset her.

Abi was my BFF (in fact, she’s still my closest friend). We had known each other since pre-school and been best friends since we were six, and in all that time I don’t think I’d seen her that angry about anything.

It turned out there was some important mental health thing over the following weekend that her parents wanted to take her sister to and so Abi had to go as well, which meant that the sleepover couldn’t happen. Abi’s sister, Jade, is three years younger than her and had (still has, actually) some mild mental health issues which her parents thought this weekend thing might help with.

It seemed fair enough to me, but when I said that to Abi she exploded again.

“It’s not fair!” she raged. “It’s always Jade this, Jade that, Jade, Jade, Jade! No-one ever thinks of me!”

“Can’t we just re-arrange it?” I asked.

“The whole point of it being this weekend was that she wasn’t going to be around, because she was going with my Dad and my Uncle Ryan to some football thing in London. Otherwise she’s always in the way, so it won’t be the same.”

“Oh,” I said, “right.” I decided to drop the subject.

But a smile crept over Abi’s face, and she looked at me and said, “I think I’ve got an idea.”

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The day of the sleepover arrived and, yes, it was going ahead. Abi’s idea had worked. Her parents had taken Jade to the mental health thing, but since her Uncle Ryan had had his weekend plans wiped out, Abi had reasoned with her parents that he would be free to supervise the sleepover. They had agreed to it so long as he was willing, but had told Abi that she had to ask him herself.

“That was easy!” she had told me. “He can never say ‘no’ to his eldest niece. I can wrap him around my little finger!”

I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to decide what to do with my hair. I normally wore it in a ponytail, mainly to keep it from getting in my way, but also, being a redhead, if I wore it loose it tended to be a bit too in-your-face for my liking. I wasn’t particularly shy, but I wasn’t really out-there either, if you know what I mean.

So ponytail it was as usual, and also as usual I was wearing a baggy t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans. That was my standard look.

I leaned closer to the mirror and peered into my own eyes to see what colour they were. That sounds ridiculous I know, but I have really weird eyes – some days they look nearly green and some days they look nearly blue. Today was a nearly blue day.

I turned away, grabbed my bag and headed downstairs.

Abi only lived about a five-minute walk from me, so I was soon ringing the doorbell.

She answered the door and let me in. She was wearing a blue sleeveless top that seemed to shimmer when she moved and a navy skirt that ended just above her knees. It looked good on her, since her arms were much more tanned than mine. She was taller than me and had the look of someone who was sporty and fit, whereas I was just small and skinny. Her shoulder-length brown hair suited her, though she didn’t like its colour and had got into trouble the previous summer for dyeing it blonde. She could be a bit of a rebel sometimes!

“This is going to be so good!” she said, as we took my bag upstairs to her room. Her smile disappeared, though, when she confided, “But I’m just a bit worried about including Paige.”

Paige hadn’t been to any of our sleepovers before, mainly because she was in Year 8 and we were Year 9s. But she was a long-time friend of Bethany, who had suggested we invite Paige along. Bethany had moved into our tutor group at the start of this year, and we had become really good friends with her. So when Bethany said Paige was nice we trusted her judgement; she also said Paige was a really good laugh.

We talked for a while, the normal BFF things, until we heard a car door shut outside and then a car drive off. Looking out of the window, we could see a girl standing on the pavement, with a bag next to her, looking first at the house and then up the road. She seemed to be waiting, unsure what to do.

“There’s Paige,” I said.

“What’s she doing?” Abi asked. “Why doesn’t she come to the door?”

“She’s probably waiting for Bethany. Remember she doesn’t really know you,” I pointed out.

Paige looked really quite young. She had blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail and was short, maybe even shorter than me. She was wearing a red dress with some sort of black pattern on it. It looked a bit too much like something you’d wear to a children’s birthday party. It wasn’t a look that was going to ease Abi’s worries about her.

Just then another car drew up, and out got Bethany. She immediately hugged Paige and then grabbed her bag out of the car and waved it off. We watched as they turned to start coming to the door, then ducked down out of sight and headed for the stairs. Abi was halfway down the stairs when the doorbell went, and she quickly opened it and let Bethany and Paige in. After hugging Abi and me, Bethany introduced Paige, and I gave her a hug to welcome her into the group and Abi did the same.

Bethany looked stunning, as always. She was mixed race, and her darker skin colour allowed her to wear things that just wouldn’t have looked good on someone paler. Today she was wearing an orange crop-top and blue denim shorty-shorts that showed off her curvy figure really well. She was about the same height as Abi but she seemed to have really long legs. It was no wonder that she got so much attention from the boys at school.

I could only dream of being like her.

Once we had dumped everyone’s bags upstairs, we headed back down to find out what the plans for dinner were. When Abi’s uncle gave us the option of ordering pizza, there was never going to be any other choice. We all made our selection, left him to order it, and went back upstairs. Amidst the usual girly talk, we decided to all paint our fingernails and set to with equal amounts of polish and remover as we tried this colour and that.

Before we knew it, the doorbell rang again and Abi’s uncle was shouting, “Pizza’s here girls!” up the stairs. We piled downstairs, waving our fingers about wildly and blowing on them to try to dry our nails. We each found our pizza and were going to go back upstairs when we were stopped in our tracks.

“You know the rule, Abigail!” said her uncle. “No hot food allowed upstairs. You’ll have to sit down here and eat it.”

There were two sofas that could seat three each, so we three guests piled onto one sofa and left Abi to sit with her uncle on the other.

She gave us a ‘look’ and said, “Thanks guys, desert me why don’t you!”

Paige answered, “Sorry, but we don’t know your Dad.” I suppressed a giggle.

“Oh my God, he’s not my Dad!” exclaimed Abi quickly. This time I couldn’t keep it in.

“Well there’s no need to be that embarrassed about the idea!” said her uncle, appearing put-out. More giggling from me.

“No, it’s not … I didn’t mean …” began Abi, turning bright red. By now I was creased up.

Her uncle put his hand on her knee. “I was only teasing,” he said to her as she flapped her hands in front of her face to try to fan the heat away. The three girls on our sofa were all in fits of giggles. Abi could also see the funny side and began to laugh with us.

When we had all regained our composure, Abi introduced everyone.

“This is my Uncle Ryan,” she said to us, and then pointing to each of us in turn she told him, “and this is Bethany, Paige and Megs, … um, sorry, I mean Megan.”

I should think so! Only Abi is allowed to call me Megs.

We talked as we ate, and now it was our turn to be embarrassed. I mean what do you call someone else’s uncle? You can’t really call him “Uncle Ryan” because he’s not your uncle, but you definitely can’t keep saying “Abi’s uncle” every time you want to speak to him, so what do you do?

“You can just call me Ryan,” he said, putting us out of our misery as we stumbled around for a workable option. “And you,” he said, turning to Abi, “can decide for yourself what to call me.”

“How about ‘Dave’?” suggested Abi.

“That’s fine, ‘Gertrude’!” replied her uncle. Playfully, she poked her tongue out at him.

Abi had a really nice uncle, I decided, though she already knew that.

After we’d finished, her uncle asked Abi what our plans for the evening were.

“We’ll be up in my room,” she told him. “You don’t need to keep checking on us, we’ll be fine.”

“I’m sure you will be,” he replied. “Well, you know where I am if you need anything. Have fun!”

She looked at us and grinned. “We will,” she said as we all trouped out and headed up the stairs.

We all sat on Abi’s bed, looking at some of her fashion mags, offering opinions on the various models and clothes and what sort of look would suit each of us. This moved on to analysing, or more like criticising, the way some of the others girls at school looked and dressed. I didn’t like this and didn’t really join in, mainly because I could well imagine at other people’s sleepovers I would be the subject of such criticism. Eventually everyone else got bored of this as well and it went quiet for a minute.

Abi spoke up. “We need to liven this sleepover up!”

We all agreed. But how?

Abi already had the answer. “How about a game of Truth or Dare?”

Bethany was keen, Paige said she was up for it, and so all eyes turned to me.

To be honest, it wasn’t a game I particularly liked because everyone else always seemed better at thinking up dares and questions than I was. But as we had played it at nearly all the sleepovers we’d had since we’d started secondary school, I had expected to be playing it this time and had googled some good dares and questions earlier that day. All I had to do now was try to remember them!

Since Abi and I had played plenty of times before, I knew the sorts of things we were likely to end up doing and I was mainly alright with them. Paige was younger than us so I was pretty sure that she would play the game at a similar level. Bethany though was a different matter. She was one of the oldest girls in our year and she was extremely confident in herself. She was the reason why I wasn’t absolutely certain I wanted to play.

But everyone else did, and I wasn’t about to be the party-pooper, so I said, as confidently as I could, “Count me in.”

[techsavvymale28]

Great story so far, keep up the good work and I look forward to reading more.

[alli55]

Just thought I'd let you know, I'll be posting Chapter 2 Truth or dare tomorrow, once I've finished proof-reading it.

[alli55]

The sleepover that changed my life


Chapter 2 Truth or dare


At Abi’s suggestion, we had decided to play Truth or Dare. Bethany and Paige were both keen on the idea, so I had agreed.

It wasn’t that I didn’t enjoy the fun part of playing the game, because I did. Teasing secrets out of the others; sharing personal information; doing fun and silly dares – all those things I liked as much as anyone else.

It’s just that I had one or two issues that I didn’t want putting in the spotlight. Specifically, I had very low confidence around boys and consequently no experience, and that was because of my other issue: my tits, or rather lack of them. I was nearly 14 and, although my breasts had started to develop when I was 12, I was still practically flat. My mum has small breasts and told me I’ll probably be the same. She assured me they will grow from what they were, but they weren’t exactly hurrying about it!

So that’s why I stuck with the baggy t-shirts, and that’s why I was nervous about playing Truth or Dare. Especially with Bethany. I’d never been to a sleepover with her before, so I didn’t know what sort of level she would play the game at, but I suspected it might be a bit more than we were used to or than I would be comfortable with. But I didn’t want to spoil it for everyone, so I had tried to appear as up-for-it as the others.

We agreed on the rules: you can’t pick the person who just picked you, and no exact repeat questions or dares. This was to stop the game getting to repetitive or too vindictive. Then Abi announced that since it was her sleepover she should get first go, and we happily agreed.

I knew she’d start by picking me, so I was ready for it when she said, “Megs, Truth or Dare?”

There was only one thing I was choosing first time out! “Truth,” I said.

Her question didn’t come as a surprise either, which I suppose comes from knowing someone, so well, for so long.

“Who was the first boy you fancied?”

I looked at Abi and smiled a “thank-you” smile. I knew that she already knew the answer anyway and was just giving me an easy way into the game.

“Flynn at primary school when I was 9,” I answered.

Neither of the other girls had gone to our primary school and they didn’t know Flynn so it meant nothing to them.

Since I didn’t really know Paige, I decided to pick Bethany, and she also chose Truth.

Following Abi’s lead, I tried to ask a question that Bethany wouldn’t mind answering, but I didn’t want it to be too lame.

“Bethany,” I said, “have you ever kissed a boy?” Of course she had and we all knew it.

“Yes, loads,” she replied with a fair degree of pride.

Bethany then picked Paige, presumably so that everyone was quickly included in the game. As I expected, Paige chose Truth.

“Have you got a boyfriend at the moment?”

“No,” said Paige, and no-one had any reason to doubt her. “Abi, Truth or Dare?”

I had a sneaky feeling that Abi was going to be the one to break out the Dares, so I was a little surprised when she chose Truth, but quickly realised that it was the first time she’d been asked, so it was understandable.

“What kind of person do you want to marry when you’re older?” Paige asked.

Oh dear! Paige hadn’t quite worked out the level of the game.

Abi had to think for a while about this one, but eventually opted for a cop-out.

“I’m not sure I want to get married,” she said.

Paige also saw this as a cop-out, so pushed further.

“But if you do …”

Abi gave in and continued, “But if I do, he must be kind.”

Well, duh!

After looking at me, Abi decided instead to pick Bethany, who once more chose Truth. It looked like the game was starting slowly, which was fine by me.

“Okay, Bethany,” Abi said slowly, “who was the last boy you kissed?”

Ooh, this would be more interesting!

“Lewis in Year 10,” replied Bethany.

There was a sharp intake of breath from each of us. Lewis was pretty much the hunkiest, most fanciable boy in school.

Abi spoke for all of us when she said, “Good for you, girlfriend!” and high-fived Bethany. Paige and I also high-fived her. Not surprisingly Bethany looked extremely pleased with herself.

Bethany picked Paige again, and Paige stuck with Truth. This time, though, the question was much tougher.

“Paige, what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?” said Bethany, and she gave Paige a knowing smile.

From that look, I was sure Bethany already knew the answer and that it was going to be pretty embarrassing. My thoughts were confirmed when I looked at Paige and saw she had screwed her eyes up tight and was blushing furiously.

“Come on, Paige,” teased Bethany.

Paige opened her eyes and slowly told her story. “It was when I was 10 and we went on a school trip to some farm place. We were wandering round all these barns and fields and things for ages and I began to really need the toilet. But I kept being told to wait. Well, in the end I couldn’t wait and started to pee myself. When I felt it start to come out I burst out crying and everybody looked at me. I couldn’t stop, so I ended up peeing myself in front of the whole class.”

After looking around the group for a bit, Paige said, “Megan, Truth or Dare?”

Well there was no way I was going to be the first to choose Dare, so it was Truth again.

“Who is your best friend?” Paige asked.

Only Paige could have asked that question. Bethany would have considered it too feeble, and if Abi had asked me it would have thrown up so many questions and doubts about why she was asking that I wouldn’t have known what to think.

As it was, three people answered the question together. “Abi,” said Bethany and I, at the same time as Abi said, “Me.”

Paige looked crestfallen at being seen to be so stupid as to have not picked up on this fact already. I felt sorry for her and, since I was sat next to Paige, I subtly took hold of her hand in mine and gently squeezed it. She squeezed back, looked at me and smiled, and our hands parted.

I was still convinced that Abi would be the first to take a Dare, so I decided to try her. I was right. Maybe she trusted her BFF to not give her anything too hard. I had to get this right, so I took my time. Finally I had one that I thought would work.

“I dare you to let everyone paint your toenails any way they want to.”

Straightaway Abi took off her socks and stretched her legs out so that her feet were in the middle of the room. We got the nail polish and brushes and began to decorate her toes. When we had finished she had multi-coloured toenails and she waggled her feet as the polish dried.

Leaving her decorated feet uncovered, Abi looked at each of us and picked Bethany. Following Abi’s lead, Bethany chose Dare.

“I dare you to sniff everyone’s feet and tell us whose smell nicest and whose smell worst.”

“Including my own?” asked Bethany.

“Including your own,” Abi confirmed.

I wasn’t sure Bethany was flexible enough to do that, but otherwise the dare wasn’t too bad. We had all been only wearing socks since we arrived so, assuming everyone’s basic hygiene was alright, our feet shouldn’t really be stinky. We all took our socks off and stuck our feet out for Bethany to sniff. She made a big play of wrinkling her nose and saying “Ewww” a few times, but I could tell she was only playing around. Eventually she announced the results.

“The award for the nicest smelling feet goes to …” she threw a pause in for effect like they do on X-Factor, “… Megan,” and I stood up and took a bow, “and the award for the stinkiest feet goes to … Abi!”

Abi playfully stuck her tongue out, but it was fair enough since she had come up with the dare. None of us bothered to put our socks back on, so they were chucked into a corner out of the way.

Bethany then picked me, and I had to decide whether to take a Dare or not. I didn’t feel quite ready yet, so I opted for Truth. Bethany and Paige seemed a little disappointed, but I knew Abi understood.

“Megan,” began Bethany, “what do you wear to bed?”

They’d find out later that evening, so there was no point in lying. “A t-shirt that’s like much too big for me so that it comes down a long way, and my knickers,” I informed them. Abi, of course, already knew this.

So far I’d picked Bethany and Abi, so it was only fair that I picked Paige this time. She thought for a while before choosing Truth. I was rather glad that I didn’t have to think up another dare just yet.

“How old were you when you had your first kiss?” I asked her.

She thought for a moment then said “10,” which seemed reasonable.

Paige looked around and then said, “Bethany, Truth or Dare?”

Bethany opted for Truth and seemed quite pleased when Paige asked, “How many boys have you been out with?”

She was quiet for a while and seemed as if she was counting in her head. I wondered at this: surely it couldn’t be that many, could it?

In the end she looked at us and said, “Seven.” I’m not sure if any of us knew whether we should be impressed or not, but I think we all secretly were.

Bethany then took her chance to get Abi back for the earlier feet-smelling dare, and Abi, being Abi, rose to the challenge and took Dare.

A little grin appeared on Bethany’s face as she said, “Abi, I dare you to do a headstand for one minute.” Trying to be helpful, she added, “Someone can hold you up if you need help to do it.”

Abi looked knowingly at Bethany. She had obviously worked out what was going on. Yes, she would need someone to hold her up, but that wasn’t the biggest issue. As soon as she was upside-down, her skirt was going to fall over her top leaving her showing her knickers to everyone. Bethany just smirked at Abi.

“I’m going to do it on the bed so it’s softer on my head,” Abi told us, before selecting me to hold her up.

Abi and I got on the bed and Abi propped herself up against the wall for support. Then, slowly, she pushed her feet further up the wall until she was nearly in position. I stepped in and helped her up the last little bit. Her skirt duly flopped down, giving everyone a fine view of her pink knickers.

“Nice!” said Bethany. “Pink suits you!” I wasn’t sure if she meant it or if she was mocking.

By the time one minute was up Abi’s face had gone the same colour as her knickers, but I was pretty certain that was just the blood rushing to her head rather than embarrassment. When she tried to stand up she was a bit wobbly, which kind of confirmed what I’d thought.

Once she had settled down, she got the game going again. “Megs, Truth or Dare?”

I knew I couldn’t keep taking Truth without appearing a killjoy, and I kind of trusted Abi to not give me too bad a dare. Especially I hoped she would consider what sort of dare I really wouldn’t like.

She did, sort of.

However, I think she was still a bit pumped up from her last dare and that played a part in what she chose for me.

“Megs, I dare you to take off one thing of your clothes and leave it off for the rest of the game.”

My heart skipped a beat and my mouth went dry. The game had just gone up a level.

[alli55]

Will be posting Chapter 3 The clothes come off tomorrow. Just going through the proof-reading, hopefully will catch all the mistakes this time!