Let's party! on Magical Arts Room and Sports

Abigail De La Garza

November 27, 2016 8:04 AM

Pool party! [tag: 4th year girls] by Abigail De La Garza

Abby’s birthday fell in early December, before the Christmas break, so she was still at school for it and thus it seemed like a good idea to celebrate with her friends. There were a lot of people that Abby liked and got along well with at Sonora, even if she was a little disappointed by her lack of close friends, that she could have invited to her party but instead she decided to make the invite list a little more specific. This wasn’t because she wished to exclude anyone, especially since she didn’t think anyone would really care, but because she had a far better idea than simply hosting an event for her own enjoyment.

The Teppenpaw had decided that the fourth year girls needed an intervention. There was no reason why they should all be particularly close friends, as there was obviously nothing wrong with having friends of a different age or sex, but Abby couldn’t help wishing they could be friends at the very least. Even if she considered most of them to be friends by now, she was fairly sure they wouldn’t say the same about her, and even more so about each other. Abby knew that a few of them had failed to get along in the past and she very much wanted to change this.

Therefore the almost-fifteen-year-old spent her spare time leading up to her birthday planning for the party. After much inner debate on the type of party, she had decided a pool party would be a good idea. It was a big step for her, making a conscious decision to do something that put more of her body on display than usual, but she had faith in the selected classmates to be better than that. A pool party also meant there was less pressure on Abby when it came to organising. She didn’t know how she felt about the idea of telling the other girls what to do so a more relax, do-as-you-please kind of party felt ideal.

It had occurred to Abby that she could ask Emmy-Lou for help since organisation was totally the Aladren’s thing, but this time she wanted it all to be her own doing. Emmy-Lou did approach her to offer her services, however, after Abby had sent out the invitations. That conversation resulted in Emmy telling her that she’d sort out the birthday cake, something that had totally slipped Abby’s mind - the Teppenpaw supposed that was because she was more focused about the party bringing the girls together than thinking about it being her special day.

She sent out her invites to Emmy-Lou, Laila, Kira, Ingrid and Wu (even though they shared a room, she still chose to leave an invite on Wu’s bed). They were headed with the words “POOL PARTY” in big letters, the colour theme bright yellow, pink and blue, and the details read:

Dear ______,

Please come to my pool party to help me celebrate my 15th birthday!

Three o’clock this Sunday in MARS room one. Bring your swimming gear.

Fourth year girls only! See you there!

Love Abby x

Abby headed to the water room earlier than the time written on her invitations so she could make sure everything was perfect.

In one corner there was a little hut which offered refreshments, provided by the kitchen. There were an assortment of fruity drinks, smoothies, fruit salads and cute little sandwiches, as well as some more unhealthy treats. Abby had avoided cakes, however, as she wanted to make sure everyone had room for the one that Emmy-Lou was making. It seemed rather summery, the whole theme, but Abby didn’t think that would matter and it was nice to do something so different for her winter birthday for a change. To the side of this was a table and some chairs so people could sit down if they wished.

Abby had some party bags made up, sent by her mother. She knew they were kind of childish but she wanted to give them out at the end afterwards. At least the contents weren’t so childish as the idea. Each were filled with a few make-up bits and pieces, a bracelet, a face-mask packet, a compact mirror, and of course a little candy.

The pool itself was fairly large, with a slide at the far end. There was also a little waterfall you could stand under on one side with a hot tub on the opposite side that could fit all the girls at one time. The end nearest the door had a volleyball net set up and a ball at the ready, which Abby thought could be fun.

To fit with the whole theme, the Teppenpaw dressed in a new flowy floral vest top and a pair of washed out shorts. She had her swimming costume ready to go underneath but there were also some changing huts at the far end of the room if anyone needed them.

“Hi!” Abby greeted the girls when they started arriving. “Thank you so much for coming!”

Subthreads:

You can have your cake and eat it. by Emilia-Louise Scott with Wu Peizhi

Let's party! by Laila Kennedy with Kira Spaulding

8 Abigail De La Garza Pool party! [tag: 4th year girls] 315 Abigail De La Garza 1 5

Emilia-Louise Scott

December 13, 2016 12:53 PM

You can have your cake and eat it. by Emilia-Louise Scott

Emmy-Lou had been excited from the moment that Abby first mentioned her birthday party. A pool party in December? How awesome. It would be so nice to have some warm, relaxing fun as they headed into the darkest, coldest time of year. She thought it a shame that Abby didn’t require her help, but she totally respected that, and was glad when her friend was at least willing to allow her to do the cake.

It seemed that Abby was more focused on bringing the girls in their year together than actually celebrating herself, but that was to be expected. Abby was a Teppenpaw through and through, no doubt about it. Emmy-Lou thought it a neat idea, just keeping it to the girls, and she knew that it wouldn’t have been a pool party otherwise.

It was rather funny to think about how her opinions of some of the girls in her year had varied so much over the years, but that was probably normal when you chucked a bunch of very different teenage girls together. People changed and so did attitudes, although apparently it wasn’t always for the better, which was most unfortunate. But this was Abby’s big day and she was such a sweet person so Emmy-Lou wanted to make sure it ran beautifully.

When she stepped into the MARS room on the day of the party, she was impressed. She was just a little early admittedly, but she had cake! That was a good enough excuse, wasn’t it? Emmy-Lou just wanted to be helpful and make sure that Abby had everything prepared and organised before the other girls arrived - that’s what friends were for.

“Guess who brought cake!” Emmy grinned, waving the big pink box carefully in the air, although obviously Abby was expecting it so it wasn’t much of a guessing game. “I’ll put it over in the hut,” she told her host when she spotted the handy little hut in one corner of the room. “No peeking - it’s a surprise for later,” she added when Abby requested to see it.

She tucked the cake box into a shelf, looking forward to the big reveal later. She’d gone all out with it. It was a three-tiered cake, made of naked Victoria sponge with an assortment of delicious fruits around each tier. Emmy-Lou thought it fit the party quite well and she hoped Abby liked it.

“I see why you didn’t need my help. It looks like you’ve got everything covered here,” she commented cheerfully as she dumped a bag containing her gear down to one side. “Nice job!”

Emmy-Lou finally presented Abby with the large gift bag that she’d had hanging off her other elbow so that her hands had been free to carry the cake. “Happy birthday chica,” she grinned, hugging Abby back when she thanked her. Emmy’s interest in fashion meant she was always observant of people’s outfits and by now she knew Abby’s style well enough to be confident that her classmate would love the items of clothing she’d picked out to make up her birthday present.

“Hey, I love your top, by the way - where’s it from?” The Aladren herself had come dressed in a blue tie-dye dress, her swimming costume already underneath so she was ready to jump right in. She couldn’t wait for the other girls to arrive so they could get the party started!

OOC: Minor power-playing of Abby approved (same author).

8 Emilia-Louise Scott You can have your cake and eat it. 313 Emilia-Louise Scott 0 5

Wu Peizhi

December 16, 2016 1:15 AM

Better late than never, right? by Wu Peizhi

She didn’t own a swimsuit.

For most purposes--at least in the places Wu spent time--this would not have been an issue in December, but Sonora’s swim room provided an all-year opportunity for water activities, and Abby’s birthday party was evidently water-based. Not really knowing what else to do, she wrote to her sister Serenity for advice, but instead of written assistance, the returning owl brought a package. Wu opened it nervously and discovered her sister had picked one for her and sent it on its way.

Much like her ball dress, the Teppenpaw waited until the day of to even try it on, afraid of hating it too far in advance. The suit was, she found with great relief, rather modest, especially for a two-piece: basically a tanktop on top and a skirt/short bottom with only about an inch between the two. It was something she still imagined her father would hate to know she wore in public, and in fact she felt quite uncomfortable with how much skin she showed--her whole arms, her whole legs!--but there wasn’t time now to second guess, so she threw on her school robes as a cover, pulling them closed in the front to further protect her modesty, and headed down to MARS where her roommate was sure to be waiting.

She was running a little bit late, having spent too long looking at the back of her skinny thighs in the mirror, but hey, she was there. Wu meant to announce herself to Abby when the hostess had a moment, just to make sure she saw that she had come, although with only the handful of fourth year girls invited she imagined it would be hard to miss her anyway. For now, however, Abby seemed to Wu that she'd probably be a bit busy. And, Wu rationalized, since she was wearing appropriate attire, she might as well get into the water. So she placed her wrapped present for Abby on a table, placed her robes and the towel she grabbed on her way out on a nearby chair, and went over to the pool.

She seated herself on the side, not ready to fully commit to the cool water into which she slid her legs. Wu kicked at the water lightly, mostly just to occupy her muscles. But the water shifted out of her control, signifying a girl swimming over. Wu took a deep breath in preparation for the interaction. “Hello,” she said with a slightly forced smile.

12 Wu Peizhi Better late than never, right? 316 Wu Peizhi 0 5

Laila Kennedy

December 16, 2016 12:25 PM

Let's party! by Laila Kennedy

Laila had always been sad that the girls in her class did not have a Divine Ya-Ya type friendship. It was one of the things she had most looked forward to about boarding school, but she had only just started to feel like she and Kira had a solid friendship, and Wu had only just come back to her. Abby’s invitation was thus very well-received and Laila happily walked down to MARS with Kira.

“I think this’ll be really fun,” she said to her quiet roommate. “We never got pool parties in December back home! The public pool is outdoors and the high school swim team has their own pool which no one else is allowed to use.”

Emmy and Abby were the only ones at the party when they got there and Laila was glad to see summery outfits on the two of them. She thought it was rather cute. Not having anticipated a pool party, Laila did not have any appropriate clothes with her besides a suit, and so over her white two-piece she wore a teaberry coloured long-sleeve skater dress since she thought it was real pretty and could throw it off to go swimming real quick! She felt a little overdressed now, but once the party started it might not have been as noticeable. She self-consciously tied her curly brown hair up in a ponytail to make her look more casual, and smiled sheepishly at Abby.

“Thanks for the invite!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry, it’s not much because there wasn’t a whole lot of time after church and I’m not allowed to really wander around Phoenix anyway, but I hope you like it!” The little box Laila handed Abby contained a small dove charm from the church bookstore, threaded on intertwining light blue and sparkly gold thread. Although still a religious symbol, the dove had been the most secular item in the store and Laila didn’t know Abby well enough to know if she’d appreciate a cross or saint pendant. Besides, the dove was quite cute and suitable for anyone, even a pureblood witch like Abby.

OOC: Mention of Kira walking to the party with Abby approved by Kira's author

10 Laila Kennedy Let's party! 318 Laila Kennedy 0 5

Kira Spaulding

December 16, 2016 1:31 PM

Probably making it awkward by Kira Spaulding

Kira had been surprised to get an invite from Abby De La Garza for her birthday party and at first, wasn't even sure she wanted to go. She really didn't like parties and wasn't close with any of the girls in her year.Plus, it was a pool part and she was at that age where she felt awkward in a swim suit.

Then again, Kira felt awkard most of the time.Including in her sleep given that she also had dreams about feeling awkward. However, the thing with swimsuits was that even though she had a modest one piece was the whole propriety issue. Even though her family as well as other purebloods went to the beaches of St. Berylla's part of the summer. Of course, Kira was in a cover-up unless she actually went in the water anyway.

Plus, what if the other girls were sizing her up and comparing? Surely they would find the Crotalus lacking and inferior to them. She usually was.

Still, Kira went, wearing basically the same clothing she wore as a coverup over the summer and it was likely staying on. Water was more Natalie's thing anyway so she wasn't sure she was that interested in swimming. However, she didn't want to hurt Abby's feelings. If it had been her birthday-not that that was real likely to happen given her birthday was the second day of term and that was impossible to get together even if anyone outside her own family really cared-and someone she invited didn't show, she'd likely feel incredibly hurt.

Probably a good thing her birthday was September second so it would never be an issue.

She trailed after Laila as they entered the party. Admittedly, her roommate was probably the girl she was closest to among her yearmates and as she was talking to Abby whom Kira was also more comfortable with than the other three based on her generally friendly seeming nature and anyway, it was polite to greet the hostess and, in this case, wish her a happy birthday. So Kira stuck with the other Crotalus.

"Yes, happy birthday." She said quietly as she handed Abby her gift. She didn't know the other fourth year well but knew she was in archery club so had gotten her a pin shaped like a archery bow. Of course, Kira was terrified Abby wouldn't like it and just thinking about that kind of made Kira want to throw up.

11 Kira Spaulding Probably making it awkward 320 Kira Spaulding 0 5

Abigail De La Garza

Abigail De La Garza

Pool party! [tag: 4th year girls] by Abigail De La Garza

Emilia-Louise Scott

Emilia-Louise Scott

You <i>can</i> have your cake and eat it. by Emilia-Louise Scott

Wu Peizhi

Wu Peizhi

Better late than never, right? by Wu Peizhi

Laila Kennedy

Laila Kennedy

Let's party! by Laila Kennedy

Kira Spaulding

Kira Spaulding

Probably making it awkward by Kira Spaulding