Bridgette - Chapter Four: How the Game is Played

It was the day of the pool party and our house was a buzz of excitement.  Mom was in the kitchen preparing all sorts of yummy food; Dad was outside making sure all the chairs, tables, and the pool were clean; Kate, Charlie and I were making sure the music was ready to go, and Jeff. . .well, Jeff was doing what he did best, being Mr. Cool.

At about 11:00 Mom called to us upstairs. “Guys! It’s about an hour till the party starts! You might want to change and get ready.” We had had many parties at our house though the years, but this was the first for one for our senior year and we wanted it to be the best.

After we had all changed, we headed down to the pool.  I always thought it was funny that my parents had built this house with a pool. Neither of them used it much so it just seemed odd that they put one in when the house was built. I suppose they were thinking of us even though we were toddlers when we moved here.

We were standing around talking when people started to arrive. Star was the first one. She had a piano lesson earlier in the day so was just now making it over.  Julia and Trent arrived together which I thought was interesting. I had noticed the last couple days that where one was, so was the other. They seemed awful clingy.

Julia and Trent joined us and we continued to talk. Then Carson and Waverly arrived; they came out to the pool area and she was once again stuck to him like glue.  I was starting to wonder if she was scared or nervous around us.

I walked over to them and tried to put her at ease. “Hey there you two! Glad you could come Waverly!”

“Thanks, Bridge.” She had started calling me that but I could tell it was uncomfortable for her.

“Hope you guys are hungry cause Mom is making a ton of food.  There’s drinks in a tub over by the TV and of course there’s music, the pool, and the hot tub.”

As I talked to both of them, I noticed Waverly’s eyes getting huge.  “Are you okay Waverly?” I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.

“Yeah. . .Since I’ve never been to your house I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.” It had never really occurred to me that our house was overwhelming to others. None of our friends had really taken issue with our house before. Sure, it was a big ranch on a big piece of property, but most people didn’t make a big deal about it. Maybe it was because we didn’t make a big deal about it ourselves. Thanks to Mom and Dad’s careers we had money that allowed us to buy things we enjoyed but we never were the type of people to shove it in people’s faces.

“It’s okay Waverly. Hey, you want to go check out the TV? It’s awesome!” Thank goodness Carson intervened since I had no idea how to respond to her.  I watched as they walked toward the TV with Waverly looking around like a lost child in a museum; not knowing where to look next.

“What was that about?” Kate came up and asked me.

“I’m not sure; something about her feeling overwhelmed by our house. Did you guys feel that way?” everyone else had gathered over to where Kate and I were.

“Maybe a little bit at first, but I got over it once I saw the video game room downstairs.” Trent joked.

“Yeah, I don’t know why Waverly would make such a big deal about it.” Julia piped in.

“Well, whatever the case, I guess we should try to make her feel comfortable and welcome.” I suggested to everyone.

“Why do we have to go out of our way to make her feel comfortable?” Charlie annoyingly asked.

“Because for whatever reason, Carson has started dating her and for that reason alone, we need to be nice to her.” I couldn’t believe the words were coming out of my mouth but we really had no other choice. If we didn’t play nice, we risked losing Carson as a friend. At that point I noticed that Waverly and Carson were heading towards us.

“Hey Bridge, is it okay if Waverly uses one of the restrooms in the house?”

“Of course it is! There’s no need to ask! Do you want me to show you where one is, Waverly?”

“No! I mean, I think I can find it if you tell me where to go.”

“The closest one is through the deck doors. After you go through them, go through the family room into the hallway. Turn left into the hallway and there’s one at the end of it.”

“Thanks. I think I got it.”

“If not, my Mom should be in the kitchen so if you get lost just yell for her and she’ll help you.”

“Thanks! Be back in a minute.” She turned around and walked on to the deck and then into the house.

“Carson, she seems a little. . .nervous, what can we do to make her feel more comfortable?” Kate asked.

“She’ll be fine, just give her a little time and she’ll warm up to you all. She kind of feels like an outsider right now since we’ve all been friends for so long and she’s just coming in.”

“There’s not much we can do about that, bud.” Charlie stated. I gave him a warning glance.

“I know. I really think that with a little bit of time, she’ll start to feel more comfortable.” Carson reassured us.

*****

I entered the house and it was exactly what I thought it would look like. Exquisite furnishings, rugs, paintings; it was absolutely beautiful.  It would figure that her house would be this beautiful.  Bridgette, the girl who had everything, well, almost everything. I had after all gotten Carson which I was sure was eating her up inside.   After three years of being in school together I had finally beaten her at something and in my opinion, it was the one thing that mattered most. She was too stupid to realize what she had right in front of her with Carson and hopefully by the time she had realized it, I had already snatched him up.  I did really like Carson but knowing that I had taken something from her made it even better.

I entered the hallway and looked to the left.  I saw the door at the end of the hallway but instead of turning to go to it, I turned right and headed toward the stairs. I had a huge curiosity about seeing where the princess slept.

I could hear their mom in the kitchen and knew I had to creep as quiet as a mouse up the stairs.  I was grateful that I reached the top of the stairs without one creaking.

When I turned to look down the hallway, I was shocked by the number of doors. There were six to choose from, plus, there was a spiral staircase that led to another floor of the house. How big is this house? It’s gigantic! Once again, I was disgusted by the fact that of course she would live in such a house.

I had passed by this house many times while growing up and had always wondered what it looked like on the inside. I couldn’t believe that I was actually inside it now. When I was little, I often had wondered about the people living inside it and who they were. Once we started school, I had finally found out. They had always been popular. Everyone wanted to be invited to their house and their parties so people were always nice to them. I had tried being friends with Bridgette when we were younger but she acted like I didn’t exist. Ever since then, I had tried to think of a way to get little miss perfect back. Once I had found out she had rejected Carson this summer, I knew I finally had my chance.

I tried the first door on the left and looked inside. It appeared to be a guest room. This is bigger than my parents’ bedroom.

I opened the next door on the left and was looking into a bathroom. The next door on the left was a nursery. I started thinking about this past summer and how Bridgette and Charlie had almost lost their mother. Although I wouldn’t want anything like that to actually happen to anyone, it was kind of satisfying to know that the princess had had some turmoil in her perfect life.  The next door on the left appeared to be the master bedroom.  About what I would have expected.

I then moved over to the right side of the hallway. I tried the door at the end of the hallway. I looked in and noticed that there were two twin beds and the room was decorated in a masculine theme. I guessed that this was Charlie and Jeff’s room.

I must be getting close. The last door in the hallway proved to be the jackpot. I opened it and saw the princess’s room.  It was exactly the same size as the boys room but was done in a very feminine theme. 

I noticed some pictures on the wall and walked over to them.  Some of them were older and were probably Bridgette’s family.  I was about to head to her desk when I was startled by someone.

“Waverly, why are you in my room?”

I turned to see Bridgette standing in the doorway. Crap! She caught me!

“Oh hi Bridge, I got lost finding the bathroom.”

“Um…Waverly, I told you it was on the first floor. Plus, you could have asked my Mom if you’d gotten lost.”

“So you don’t trust me, is that it? I assume since you came looking for me.”

“No, I came looking for you because you had been gone for a while and Carson was worried about you.”

“Oh don’t blame Carson for this, you obviously have a problem with me.”

 *****

What is her deal? She’s the one that’s in my room ! “No Waverly, I don’t really have a problem with you but I do have a problem with you snooping in my room.”

“Oh whatever. You know you have a problem with me, after all, I’m the one who snagged Carson. You were either too slow or too stupid to get him. Maybe it was a little bit of both.” She had a smirk on her face that I wanted to smack off of it.

“Wow, Waverly, here I’ve been trying to be nice to you and instead I should have been the complete opposite. I was feeling bad for you because you seemed to be uncomfortable around us and was trying my best to figure out how to make you feel more welcome. Silly me, I guess now I won’t have to try so hard.” She squinted her eyes at me and then laughed.

“Oh, I would say that you’ll have to be extra nice to me from now on.”

“Why would I be nice to you after this?!”

“Because if you don’t I’m going to tell Carson about how you’ve been calling me names and making me feel unwelcome. Not only that, I’ll make it sound like you’re brother and other friends are giving me a hard time and then Carson will get mad at all of you and stop being friends with you.”

“You really think he’ll believe you? I mean he’s been dating you all of a month or two and he’s known us for years.”

“But he already listens to me. When we first started back to school I told him how uncomfortable I was with all of you and that I thought you all were making fun of me. He talked to you about it, didn’t he? He did mention that he didn’t appreciate you acting upset that he was dating me, didn’t he? That wasn’t him; that was me. He did that because I acted all pitiful and he believed me. So imagine what he would do if I started telling him that you and your friends are making me feel unwelcome and it’s just crushing my heart.”

I stood there stunned for a minute. I had never really liked Waverly but I had thought that it was because I usually found her slightly annoying. But it turned out that my gut feeling about her was right and that there was something about her that was not just annoying but just down right mean.

“Waverly, why would you even think to do that? We’ve been nothing but nice to you.”

“Oh whatever! I tried when we were little to be friends with you and you acted like I was the last person in the world that you wanted to be friends with.”

“What in the world are you talking about Waverly?! I have no memory of you trying to be friends with me.”

“That’s because you’ve always thought you were so much better than me and never gave me the time of day.”

“This is ridiculous Waverly! I mean are you really going to act like this about something that you claim happened years ago and I honestly have no memory of it happening.”

“Oh it doesn’t matter if you have any memory of it; I do. I’ve been waiting to get a chance to get back at you and I’ve finally got it.”

“Whatever Waverly, just get out of my room.”

She walked past me and then turned around. “And by the way, I wouldn’t go telling Carson about any of this or I’ll make sure he stops being friends with you.  I may do that anyway but for now I’ll let you sweat about when it will actually happen.”

With that she turned around and headed downstairs.  I stood there outside my door absolutely stunned by what had just happened.  I wished I could think of a way to stop what Waverly was doing, but I knew she was right. If Carson had really acted the way he had several days ago because of what she had said to him, I was screwed. I was going to have to play her game and wait for a chance to get Carson out from being under her spell.

I walked outside and saw her and Carson standing around everyone. Carson had his arm around her and the moment Waverly saw me, she cuddled closer to him. Just wait Waverly, I don’t know how long it will take, but I will beat you at your own game.