An Exciting Surprise

"Oh. My. Gosh."
"No way!"
"You have got to be kidding me!"
So there I was, surrounded by my caring, loving friends. Oh, and did I mention they were about to kill me?
"Why," demanded Dylan, her emerald-green eyes glaring at me, "are you just now telling us? Hm?" She tapped her foot on the ground, waiting expectantly. I shrugged. Dylan rolled her eyes.
"Okay," she warned, "you earned it! Sarah, you and Lila hold her down."
"No!" I shrieked, grinning. "No, please! Not the tickley-torture!"
But Dylan pounced on me and tickled away. Laughing, I tried to push her off. But she stubbornly remained, until I seriously thought I was going to die from lack of oxygen.
"Okay," I gasped, "I'll tell, I'll tell!"
Dylan sprung off me, leaving Sarah and Lila, my other two best friends, to help me up. Smiling in spite of herself, she raked a hand through her red, curly hair and looked at me. I remained silent, stifling a giggle.
"Well?" said Lila, crossing her arms and grinning.
"There's nothing else to tell, really," I said lamely, aware of my unconvincing tone. I saw my friends exchange knowing looks. "Fine, fine," I said irritably, throwing myself down on my bed. The four of us were at my house, tucked away in my fair-sized bedroom for an end-of-school slumber party. Ever since my first day at Beechnut Academy, when I had walked into my first Algebra class, scared, lonely, and lost, Dylan and Lila had become the two best friends a girl could have. Sarah, slender, stylish, and with a crisp British accent, had come later, nearly a year after me. The four of us were different in many ways, but all shared a common bond. Friendship. For instance, Dylan, with her untamed red curls and snapping green eyes, could come up with the most brilliant come-backs, which came in handy when there was a girl like Claudia around. While I, Emma Maurice, with my completely, utterly embarrassing middle name, if ever faced with a sharp retort, became flustered. Sara had a taste for stylish clothing, while Lila and I preferred t-shirts and jeans (though I did by NO MEANS lack a sense of style). Lila, the most light-hearted person out of all of us, was surprisingly good (and I mean extremely good, she carried off honors in it) at science, considering she talked through half the class. Sarah, we all agreed, had to be the most level-headed person ever to walk the earth. She was never ruffled, except on rare occasions, and if a day came when she allowed herself to be drawn into her friends panic, that day would be marked down in history as the Flying Hedgehog Day.
I glanced up to see all my friends staring at me. I huffed out a frustrated sigh, failing to conceal a grin.
"You guys already know," I shrugged. "I'm going to New York for my birthday."
Lila giggled in delight and plopped down next to me on the bed, making the springs creak.
"But where in New York?" she asked excitedly. "Like, Brooklyn or Manhattan or--"
"Lila," Sarah interrupted, glancing skyward, "I'm pretty sure she means New York, New York. That's what most people mean when they say 'New York.'"
Lila shrugged this off unconcernedly and cupped her chin in her hands, facing me. Her penetrating bluish-grey gaze bored a hole through my head. I blinked. Just fyi, Lila can read minds. Well, not literally, but she's pretty darn good at guessing our thoughts.
"You're hiding something," she said suspiciously, twirling a lock of blond hair around her finger, "what's up?"
I smiled mysteriously. I was immediately tackled by three, 13-year-old bodies.
"Tell, tell, tell!" squealed Dylan.
"Or we'll tickle you!" laughed Sarah.
"Hey, no need!" I shouted, my voice muffled. "I was going to tell you--Dylan, move your elbow, I can't breathe--Ah, much better. Anyway, see, you all--"
"Emma!" My mom's voice sounded outside my bedroom, accompanied a soft tap on the door. I pushed Lila off my legs and struggled to sit up. My mom entered the room and placed a box on my desk chair. "A package just came for you in the mail."
"Ooh! Who's it from?" I said keenly, scurrying over to examine the box, followed closely by Dylan, Sarah, and Lila. It was long and shallow, and someone, no doubt the sender, had marked through a part in the postmark and scrawled 'To be a surprise' across it. Therefore, I couldn't tell what company the package items came from. The only thing I could think of that would fit in a box like that were books. Please don't let it be school books, I grimaced, we just got out!
"Mimi," said my mom, naming my grandmother. She smiled knowingly and walked out the door. I considered running after her and making her tell what was in the package, since she obviously knew, but I decided it would be more fun to find out myself. Dylan, Lila, and Sarah were scrutinized the box carefully.
"Definitely clothes," said Sarah shrewdly.
"Maybe your grandma sent you a dictionary," said Dylan, peering through the minuscule crack between the cardboard flaps. I shook my head a reached across to my desk. Grabbing a pair of scissors, I sliced through the tape on the top flaps. Khhhhrriiiiiiiiip! Then I cut through the tape binding the flaps to the box. Khhhhrriiiiiiiip!
Hands trembling with excitement, I nearly chopped Sarah's toe off by dropping the scissors, and ripped open the flaps. My friends and I gasped in unison. There, laying amid soft, white cotton, lay four beautifully knit hats with matching scarfs. My finger shook as I gently touched a navy blue hat. I couldn't remember the last time I had touched anything so soft.
"Wow," I said softly, my eyes wide.
"Ooh, Emma," breathed Lila, reaching down to stroke an earthy brown one, "they're beautiful."
"I'll say," said Dylan in awe. "These things look really expensive."
Sarah nodded in agreement, eyeing a sky-blue scarf. "They're wonderful. You'll have a set to match every one of your outfits!"
I picked up the navy blue hat and put it on. "Oh, these aren't all for me!" I laughed. "Mimi sent these for all of us. Did I mention you guys are all coming to New York with me?" I said lightly, racing over to examine myself in the mirror. Satisfied, I turned back around to face three pairs of stunned eyes.
"What?" I said innocently, carefully rearranging my hat. The next thing I knew, I was practically suffocating (for the second time) under the weight of my shrieking, laughing, delighted friends. After a few moments of joyful hugging, shrieks, and phrases of astonishment, my friends and I gathered around the box again. Dylan snatched up the green hat and put it on. The shade of green exactly matched her eyes.
"This one's got to be mine," she said decisively a second later, eyeing her reflection delightedly in front of my full-sized mirror.
"Wow, Dylan, you look great!" I gushed, coming to stand beside her, now with my navy blue scarf wrapped around my neck.
"Yeah," giggled Lila, picking the brown hat and scarf for herself, "check this out!" After putting on the hat and scarf, she pranced around the room like a model, swinging her hips and flicking her hair. Sarah whacked her with her own sky-blue hat as she passed her.
"Give it a rest you," she said, shaking her head.


That evening, the four of us gathered around the big, flat-screened TV in the living room. Immediately sensing danger in the form of a giggling group of girls, Jason and Andrew, my two brothers, had fled the room, leaving it boy-free for us girls to watch Enchanted.
"This has to be my all-time favorite movie," I said through a mouthful of popcorn. I heard similar mutters of agreement from around me. For fifteen minutes, we steadily worked our way through two bowls of popcorn. Lila and I shared a bowl, while Dylan and Sarah squabbled over the second one. Suddenly, right when Giselle fell into the waterfall, a shriek came from Sarah. Lila and I glanced over with mild curiosity at an indignant Sarah.
"Dylan!" Sarah shouted. She stared into the empty popcorn bowl, looking hugely miffed. "I hardly had any!"
"What?" Dylan looked up and popped a white kernel into her mouth with an injured look on her face. "You've been hogging the whole bowl! I'm the one who has only had a few handfuls!"
"Excuse me?" snorted Sara, flinging bowl back onto the foot table. She tucked her feet under her, clasping her knees. Dylan shifted on the velvety brown couch and threw a piece of popcorn into the air, letting it fall into her open mouth. Sara narrowed her eyes. Without further ado, she whipped the empty popcorn bowl off the table and let it drop over Dylan's face. There was one problem. The bowl wasn't empty. Sara stared guiltily at the popcorn covered sofa. The couch now resembled a lumpy, chocolate macadamia nut cookie.
"Woops," Sara ducked her head. "Sorry, Emma, I thought it was the empty one."
I grinned, and started scooping up handfuls of the fluffy, snow-white popcorn.
"It's okay, but we'd better get it back in the bowl before my mom comes. She's paranoid about getting food or drink on this sofa. "
Sara nodded, and reached to push a wave of popcorn into a bowl, but paused at the sight of Dylan. She gave an unholy grin.
"Nice look, Dylan," she smirked at Dylan's popcorny hair, "really goes well with you hair, you know?" She ducked, laughing, as Dylan swung a pillow at her. But not fast enough. Fwump! Sarah giggled, forgetting about cleaning up the popcorn, and snatched another pillow, whacking Dylan soundly with it. Before we knew it, a full fledged pillow fight had broken out amid the popcorn-coated sofa.
"Oops, sorry!" shrieked Dylan, laughing as the pillow she had aimed at Sarah hit Lila full in the face. Lila, always the actress, pretended to stagger around the room, groaning in misery. I leapt to Lila's defense, giggling, and landed a hit on Dylan. Sarah joined me and walloped Dylan repeatedly with her pillow. Dylan shouted in pretend alarm and jumped onto the sofa, covering her head with her hands.
"Enough! Enough!" she yelled, her voice muffled. But Sara and I showed no quarter. Mercilessly, we two giggling soldiers continued to pummel away at Dylan's unprotected back.
"Lila!" moaned Dylan, managing to extend a pleaful hand before it was forced to retreat by my pillow. "Help me!"
Regardless of the disturbance before it, Enchanted continued to play. The TV's light cast a flickering light on the four figures racing around the darkened room, beating each other with pillows and squealing in laughter.

§Emma§