Emma stomped home, angered. “What kind of clerk is she anyway?”

She opened the store door and she was greeted by a grinning Olivia. “Emma! You got it, great! Now shush, my aunt’s gonna be here any second! It’s her anniversary and she loves books so I told her she could have the party here! Your aunt says it’s okay! Come on, try the pie I made, it’s good, no?”

Emma was suddenly rushed into the kitchen and she found herself ‘mmm’ing with pleasure as Olivia shoved a small chunk of cherry pie into Emma’s mouth. “Liv, it’s amazing! You think I can have more?”

“There’s plenty, go on, take two, three, and a million! Okay, probably not a million… come on! The others are in your room, getting ready!”

Emma was forced upstairs and Olivia gave her a small push into her room. Emma saw all of her friends in there, sitting in various places, her bed, the corner of the room, chairs, desks, under desks.

“Getting ready for what?” she asked, flabbergasted.

“The party silly!” Olivia said in a hurried and excited voice. “Aunt Darley’s going to be here and we need to get ready!! She said she brought be a gift! Maybe it’s purple hair dye, she has it on her hair right now, I saw it and it looked amazing!”

Emma froze. Weakly, she said, “Was she at the grocery store?”

Charlie gave Emma a weak smile and Olivia said, “Yeah, you saw her?”

Emma froze. “Ye-e-e-a-a-h-h-h…I saw her…will you please excuse me for a second?”

Olivia grabbed Emma’s wrists and said, “Hold on, we have to put on your make-u! Then I want you to put on this dress in the bathroom since everyone else needs this room for THEIR make-up! Erm, did I say that out loud???”

“Make-up?” Billy cried. “We’re just in here to put on MAKE-UP?”

The boys immediately stood up and made a run for the door but Olivia got there first and she blockaded the door with her body. “I am not going to have my aunt’s party ruined by you boys so you need to look nice, it’s just powder and maybe a bit of lip liner and nose liner.”

Tancred stared. “What the heck is THAT?!”

Olivia reached into her pocket and pulled out the lip liner and the nose liner. “It’s like eyeliner, but for your lips and nose so it’s look even! Come on, just a bit!”

Emma, who had no intention that she’ll ever meet Darley again, felt very, very, faint.