The day everyone waited for finally arrived, Monday morning after Sarah's fabulous Halloween party. The school was abuzz with all the events, which made the party a huge success. Marcia, Monica and Sabrina spread the word that they crashed the party and were responsible for the panic that ensued. That knowledge made them instant heroes with the students who despised Sarah and her friends. The rest of the school spread the word that the crickets running around were the hit of the party. Everyone was scared, but the crickets were harmless and caused no danger or harm.

Throughout the morning, the story of the three party-crashers circulated through the school. The students and the teachers passed it around. Monica and Sabrina spent time telling the story of the whole plan. They told of Marcia's planning of the costumes and the gathering of the crickets. They told about three witches, who looked alike to create confusion, as to who planted what. They talked about how easy it was to gather the crickets. They told how they entered the party spread the crickets and waited to watch what happened. When the chaos and panic happened, they left and went home.

The students and teachers who heard this story felt Marcia was a genius and deserved a medal for the plan and execution. Everyone liked that someone finally pranked Sarah. High levels of praise greeted the three girls wherever they went in the school. This level of excitement and praise went on through the morning until lunch.

Sarah and her group talked about how wonderful the party was. It was the best Halloween Party. The crickets made the excitement level higher than ever. Sarah threw the best party ever. Everyone talked about the witch that spread the crickets and how she was in three places at once. No one knew who the witch was and how she came and went. The whole group wanted to know what went on and who the party crashers were. If they listened to the rest of the school, they would know. Instead, Sarah acted as if the prank was her idea and took all the credit. She knew that Marcia was one of the party-crashers, but refused to acknowledge that Marcia won. No one beats Sarah, especially a little nobody from public school.

Sarah and her group spread her version of the party around the school, but not many people believed her. No one really trusted her version because Marcia, Monica and Sabrina had nothing to lose by lying. Listening to the undercurrent chatter, about the party made Sarah angry. Marcia's name popped up in every conversation and by lunch, Sarah fumed whenever she heard Marcia's name.

By the time lunch started, the whole school knew that something would happen. The lunchroom filled with eager students to witness the potential showdown between Marci and Sarah over the Halloween Party and the crashers. Marcia, Monica and Sabrina sat at their table with their friends. Sarah and her clique sat at their table. Both tables ate their lunches and bubbled with noise and laughter. The tension in the room rose and the air became thick with anticipation. Teachers filled the room and stood around the area to control anything that would happen.

Marcia finished her lunch and sat talking with her friends about nothing important, but it irritated Sarah. The noise at Marcia's table got very loud and spilled into the group milling around. As the noise spread, it covered Sarah's group and that was the last straw.

Sarah stood quickly and knocked chair to the floor. The noise of the chair hitting the floor quieted the whole room. All eyes shifted to look at Sarah and follow her movements. She turned, looked at the chair on the floor and kicked it away from the table. It skidded over to the lunch counter and hit the wall nearby. Sarah had a venomous look in her eyes, as she looked at Marcia and her friends. She quickly turned from her table, walked toward Marcia and her friends. The crowd separated as Sarah walked briskly to Marcia. She stopped about 6 feet from the table and stared at Marcia.

She pointed at Marcia and said, "You, Marcia, get out here now!"

Marcia looked up and smiled at Sarah. While she held the smile, she asked, "Why?"

"You tried to ruin my party by crashing it and playing a cruel prank. You have to pay for that behavior. Get out here!" Sarah said through clenched teeth. Her body quivered with rage as she spoke.

Marcia looked at her friends at the table and they shook their heads urging her to go face off with Sarah. A few teachers moved closer to Sarah, in case something bad happened. Marcia slowly stood, moved her chair out of the way and approached Sarah cautiously. The tension in the room ratcheted higher as the two students stood facing each other. Sarah tried to keep an angry staunch visage, while Marcia stood nonchalantly watching innocently.

The girls circled around as if squaring off for a fight. After three minutes of circling, Sarah moved toward Marcia. She got so close, Marcia felt the heat of her anger, but stood her ground not intimidated at all. Marcia shifted her position and stood straighter anticipating the blows coming from Sarah. Sara stood with clenched fists by her side and glared at Marcia smiling back at her.

Sarah quickly raised her right hand and a loud gasp spread through the room, followed by hushed silence. The confrontation began this was it now. Marcia flinched bringing her arms up to protect from the blows surely to follow.

Instead, Sarah smiled extended her hand and said, "I was hurt and really angry about the prank, but it made the party a lot more fun and exciting. I was also mad that YOU crashed my party. Can we shake and be friends?"

Marcia reluctantly shook her hand but squeezed it tightly trying to force Sarah to feel the hurt and pain. They slowly shook and the strength of the two girls showed on their faces. Marcia looked at Sarah's smile and saw a hollow emptiness reflected back. Sarah grimaced with the pain from Marcia's hand, but held on to her.

Marcia knew the offer of friendship was hollow and would never happen, but it was the required gesture. She accepted it grudgingly and stopped pulling Sarah's hand. When the girls stopped shaking hands and stood facing off, the tension seemed to slowly leak out of the room. The crowd relaxed in a slow moving wave, uttering a collective sigh of disappointment. The teachers relaxed, the students filed out of the lunchroom and the normal banter started again. The confrontation ended with a fizzle, but was it really over? The rest of the day was quiet and back to normal.

After three weeks of relative calm and quiet, the students got excited about the Thanksgiving holiday. The school shut down for the whole week of Thanksgiving. Some of the students traveled around the country, others like Marcia, Monica and Sabrina stayed at home and spent time with family and friends. Sarah, who had been coldly civil to the three friends, planned a sleepover at her summerhouse for Monday night into all day Tuesday before Thanksgiving. The invitations arrived at school and the trio of friends each got one.

As they sat at lunch the Wednesday before vacation, Marcia asked, "Are you going to the sleepover at Sarah's?"

Monica replied, "I am not sure I can go yet."

Sabrina replied, "I will go if you go."

Marcia spoke up, "We will all go to the sleepover." The other two friends shook their heads signaling yes.

Marcia stood, walked to Sarah's table and told her that the three girls would be at her sleepover. Sarah smiled and thanked her with a look of dismissal. Marcia turned and walked back to her table but felt there was something amiss. She sat down chatted with her friends glancing occasionally at Sarah. Sarah looked over at them with disdain, almost as if she wished they would not show up there. Marcia saw the looks, but decided to go to the sleepover with her friends and make the best of it. Lunch ended and the trio stowed their waste and walked back to class. The rest of the day was quiet and students bustled around trying to keep up with their friends and take all the mid-term exams.

Thursday came and mid-term exams continued for half the day. They ended just as lunch period began. The trio sat at their table and Sarah sat at her table. Sarah's friends drifted away as their parents came to pick them up from school early. Soon, Sarah sat alone at her table and picked at her lunch. Marcia noticed this and decided to ask if she would like to join them at her table. Marcia stood, walked to Sarah's table and asked Sarah to join them. Sarah looked up, smiled, gathered her stuff and went to sit with the trio of friends. A loud gasp went through the lunchroom when Sarah sat down. Everyone stared at the four friends sitting together sharing lunch and being cordial. Other students drifted into the lunchroom to see the four friends sitting together. Rumors of the new friendship spread throughout the school and students and teachers came to see this event. The bell rang and the four friends walked back to their classroom to finish out the day.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully as the exams ended and students drifted out for an early start of the holiday. The new foursome spent the rest of the day together huddled around a table talking and planning the upcoming sleepover at Sarah's summerhouse. They talked about how they will sleep and where, what they will eat and snack. They asked about entertainment and movies to watch. When Sarah left, she had a list of things to do and setup for the sleepover. Everything fell into place, she felt good about the night as it approached. The one thing Sarah kept to herself was that there were other plans in place for the sleepover. The plans were not final, but she had Naomi and a couple other friends coming over on Sunday to finalize everything.

Friday at school, it was very quiet. Most of the students were already on holiday. Those that were not going away came to school to get the results of their exams, clean out their lockers and desks and prepare for the long holiday away. Sarah came to school and hung out with Marcia, Sabrina and Monica again. One of Sarah's friends, Naomi joined them and they had a wonderful day together just chatting and playing. It was a half-day so no lunch and the students went home instead. Naomi and Sarah left together and Sarah took her home. Monica's mom and brother came after her. Sabrina and Marcia walked to Marcia's house so Sabrina was not alone for a long time at home.

Marcia's mom made lunch for the girls and sat with them while they ate talking about school and the upcoming sleepover. Marcia and Sabrina told of all the things they planned with Sarah at school. Mom agreed that it looked like a fun night was in store for the girls.

"Mom, can Sabrina sleepover tonight?" Marcia asked.

"I don't see why not. I will call her mother and ask her for you." Marcia's mom told her.

"Thanks mom."

The girls smiled, giggled, got up from the table, cleaned up the dishes and ran to Marcia's room. They jumped on the bed and bounced for a while burning off some of that youthful enthusiasm. They looked at each other and laughed for no reason as young girls do. Marcia's mom knocked, opened the door and told the girls Sabrina could stay. A cheer went up that could be heard outside by anyone walking by the house. They went out to the kitchen and waited for mom to grab her purse to take the girls to Sabrina's house.

While at Sabrina's house she changed out of her school uniform, packed her sleeping bag and nightclothes. She grabbed her toothbrush, rolled it into her sleeping bag and ran out to the waiting car. She ran back and locked the door, which she forgot to do. As they sat in the back of the car returning to Marcia's, they talked about maybe inviting Monica to join them.

"Mom, can we invite Monica over too?" Marcia inquired pleading.

"I don't see why not." Mom replied. "We can call her when we get home."

When they got home, Marcia's mom talked to Monica's and a half-hour later Monica appeared at the door with her mother and brother. Monica went to Marcia's room, knocked and jumped on the bed with the other two girls. The trio was back again. They giggled and laughed for a while. When they quieted down, they went to the kitchen to get some juice to wet their throats from all the mirth.

They brought the juice back into Marcia's room, sat on the floor and talked about the upcoming sleepover at Sarah's summerhouse. They went through the plans Sarah had from their planning session on Thursday afternoon. They liked the video tape movies they picked. They giggled and gossiped about the sleepover. They wondered who would be there. They felt privileged to go and wanted it to be the best party that they ever attended.

On Sunday, Sarah gathered her three best friends at her house to set up and plan the sleepover. Naomi, Charlotte, Serena and Sarah sat around the table in her kitchen. They looked and talked about the notes from Marcia, Sabrina and Monica. Some of the ideas were good but others simply would not do. Sarah sat there crossed off the videos and some of the food.

"Now girls we need to discuss how to get back at these three for disrupting my Halloween party. They crashed the party and put those wretched crickets everywhere." Sarah said venomously.

Naomi listened and could not believe what she heard. She heard poisonous thoughts and painful pranks spewing forth from Sarah and Charlotte. She hid the look of astonishment on her face as they plotted their revenge against the trio. They planned to use peppered food specially made and given only to the trio, maybe some special pillows or other things while they slept. The list went on for quite a while and got more vicious as time progressed. Naomi felt bad for the trio and wanted to get out of there quickly. She did not want any part of this revenge.

Charlotte and Sarah planned most of the party, especially the pranks and practical jokes for the trio. Some of the pranks and practical jokes were cruel and could end up hurting the targets physically. Sarah liked those parts, Naomi, Charlotte and Serena strongly felt they were unnecessary, but kept quiet about it. When lunch came, the girls put aside their plans, ate and gossiped about their Thanksgiving celebration plans and the upcoming Christmas break. Sarah bragged about her family leaving to spend the whole break at a posh resort in the Bahamas. The others talked about visiting grandparents and spending time skiing and maybe going to Disney World for a few days. Naomi sat quietly as she listened to the other three girls. The more she heard, the more she realized, she did not belong with these girls at all. She felt she would be more at home with Marcia, Sabrina and Monica. She decided when lunch ended she would call her mom and go home feigning illness.

Naomi called her mom and went home complaining of a stomachache, when in reality it was an aching heart, feeling for the trio. The other three girls bid her get well and don't miss the sleepover. She smiled, but wanted to tell the girls she never wanted to be there again. Naomi's mood brightened as they left the driveway to Sarah's house.

Her mom noticed the change and asked, "Dear, why did you want to go home so early today?"

"Oh mom, those girls planned to play some very cruel tricks on three of the girls invited to the sleepover and I did not want to stay and listen to it anymore. I don't belong with those girls at all." Naomi lamented.

"What can you do about it, Naomi?" Her mom asked.

"Do you know Marcia, Sabrina or Monica's moms?" Naomi inquired.

"I have not met Sabrina or Monica's moms, but I know Marcia's mom and have her phone number and address in my book at home. What did you have in mind?" Mom asked

"I don't know, but I have to tell them of the plans Sarah has to ruin their time at the sleepover. Maybe we can get together at our house and tell them all about it." Naomi pleaded.

Naomi's mom thought for a while and said, "I will call Marcia's mom and talk to her. Then we can decide what we can do. Is that all right?"

"That sounds terrific mom. Thank you. You are the best." Naomi said as she hugged her mom tightly.

Naomi and Marcia's mom spoke for about ten minutes. They agreed to meet at Marcia's house in thirty minutes to discuss the sleepover. Naomi was happy and wanted to get together with the three girls. She liked them more than Sarah and her clique. These girls did not care who you were or what your family was. They cared about you and your needs. She wanted them as friends more than she wanted Sarah as a friend.

When Naomi and her mom drove up to Marcia's house, there were two cars in the drive. Marcia answered the door and led them to the dining room where Monica and her mom sat with Sabrina and her mom and Marcia and her mom. After the introductions made it around the table, the girls went to Marcia's room allowing the moms to talk quietly. The moms became acquainted and talked about the sleepover at Sarah's summerhouse. Naomi's mom filled in the other moms about the cruel plans and pranks. The discussion about the sleepover continued for over thirty minutes and the moms decided to let the girls decide if they wanted to go to the sleepover or have one of their own at Marcia's house.

The girl's came back into the dining room, sat with their moms and listened to the choices they had to make. The girls listened intently and looked at each other. With nods and looks, the girls communicated their choice to each other.

Marcia stood and spoke to the group, "We decided to go to Sarah's party but we will call if we need to come home early. Thanks to Naomi, we are ready to play Sarah's games and thwart her attempts at revenge. If we come home early we will spend the night here in our own sleepover."